Idaho State Archives

Every state has a historical archive/library housing often including searchable databases or indexes. Some have photo collections, newspaper collections, naturalization indexes, historical highway markers, histories of places and people. Today’s scavenger hunt will focus on the searchable indexes at the Idaho State Archives (Idaho State Archives). For the sake of time, we will only use three of the indexes, but all are valuable resources.

1. Find Levi Esh on the Idaho State Archives Reconstructed 1890 Idaho Census

2. Find John Quigley on the Inmate Catalog (All Inmates 1864-1947).

3. Find Josie Kensler on the Inmate Catalog (All Inmates 1864-1947).

4. Find Benjamin Kencke on the Pension Records: Old Age Index.

Hints

1. Click Research in the teal section at the top of the website. Choose “Searchable Indexes” from the drop-down menu.

2. Blue words in the descriptions indicate a link.

3. To search the spreadsheet or pdf index, click to open and then use Ctrl+F, or Command+F on a mac, to open a Search Box. Use the up and down arrows to scroll through results.

4. Search by last name only.

Questions

1. The source for Levi Esh is an 1886 Directory, in the Remarks column what type of business does he own?

2. For what crime was John Quigley convicted?

3. What is Josie Kensler’s alias (aka)?

4. In what year was Benjamin Kencke born?

5. In the Idaho Highway Historical Marker Guide, https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/Idaho-Highway-Historical-Marker-Guide.pdf

Search for “Oro Fino City” (page 16). In 1861, how many restaurants did the town of Oro Fino have?