Idaho Experience looks at the lives of Harry Magnuson, Joe Albertson, and J. R. Simplot to see ways they helped change the state of Idaho. Will there be another generation of titans?
“Taking the Reins” traces the remarkable paths of two Idaho women: Katherine Caroline Wilkins, born to fortune-seeking pioneers in Oregon Territory, was one of the most successful horse-sellers in the United States. And May Arkwright Hutton became one of the richest women in the American West, using her newfound wealth to promote suffrage and later running for the Idaho Legislature.
In 1870 nearly one-third of the Idaho Territory’s population was Chinese. Most of these individuals were men who worked in mines, though a handful of Chinese women found their way to Idaho. Although the majority of the workers ultimately returned to China, they left a substantial impact on the American West, through the infrastructure they built and the Western culture they influenced.
Annie Pike Greenwood was a writer, teacher, mother and farmer's wife who lived in south-central Idaho between 1913 and 1928, when the area had just opened to farming. She would turn her notes about her hardscrabble experience into a book, We Sagebrush Folks. Using newfound material, this documentary helps illuminate Greenwood’s life and work and examines how her legacy lives on.
When the first commercial airmail pilot took to the air in Idaho in 1926, it didn’t take long before many realized airplanes could open the state to a world of possibilities. But before Idaho could reap the benefits of flight, the state needed airports, runways, and pilots who could navigate miles of desert and wilderness. Find out how early pilots took on Idaho’s rugged landscape.
Lt. Mark Calnon Sr., a pilot from Meridian, was shot down over Germany and spent two years in a Nazi POW camp, not knowing if each day would be his last. His story is a tale of courage and survival against the odds.
After a revelation from God, Frank B. Robinson founded Psychiana in Moscow in 1929. Psychiana had no churches, no ministers, no services, but through advertising and mail order it became one of the largest employers in northern Idaho and one of the largest mail-order operations in the U.S.
Benedicte Wrensted and Jane Gay never knew each other. But both took images of Native Americans in Idaho at the turn of the 20th century. In this program, we bring their stories and their photographs out of the shadows. Descendants of those in the photos also discuss what the images mean to them today, and we introduce viewers to two female indigenous photographers practicing their craft.
Some of America’s best-known astronauts visited Idaho in 1969 to train for their moon missions. The training was part of a deliberate strategy by NASA to teach geology to the Apollo astronauts who were, after all, going on the grandest geology field trip of all time. The space-research relationship continues with NASA and Craters of the Moon National Monument.
The Conquest of the Snake reveals the story of how people in South Central Idaho labored together to build towns, plow land and build an irrigation system that would transform the desert and attract thousands of new settlers.
In 1890, the State of Idaho opened Albion Normal School, a teachers college, in order to provide qualified grade school teachers to small communities in Idaho. Idaho Experience looks at how the old teachers college helped grow the state and how educating teachers has evolved over the years.
When the Idaho Constitution was written in 1889, it helped push Idaho to statehood. It created our government and established our rights as citizens. But after 130 years old, the Idaho Constitution is showing its age. Idaho Experience examines the Idaho Constitution in its time and ours – and how the Idaho State Historical Society is preserving the constitution for future generations.
Archaeological work at the site where 350 Shoshone people were killed in 1863 aims to enrich the understanding of the Bear River Massacre in the southeast Idaho. Independent filmmaker Phillip Schoen explores the massacre and its aftermath.
The impact that Idaho had on World War II is greater than most people know. To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end to the war, four Idaho State University honors students have written a photo-centric book titled "Idaho in World War II." Idaho Experience takes a fresh look at the war through the eyes of four young millennials and the professor who guided them through the process.
By the time the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting most women in America the right to vote, Idaho women had been casting ballots and winning elections for 24 years. Ahead of Her Time: Women’s Suffrage in Idaho chronicles the pathbreaking journey to voting rights for women in Idaho and explores how this head start in equality can be seen today.
