The Museum of Idaho (MOI) is a

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and

science museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...

in downtown

Idaho Falls Idaho Falls ( Shoshoni: Dembimbosaage) is a city in and the county seat of Bonneville County, Idaho, United States. It is the state's largest city outside the Boise metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of Idaho Falls was 6 ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

. The museum features exhibits, collections, and programs focused on the social and environmental

history of Idaho The history of Idaho is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Idaho, one of the United States of America located in the Pacific Northwest area near the west coast of the United States and Canada. Other as ...

and the

Intermountain West The Intermountain West, or Intermountain Region, is a geographic and geological region of the Western United States. It is located between the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada on the wes ...

, as well as prominent traveling exhibits on a variety of subjects. Its tagline is “bringing the world to Idaho, and Idaho to the world”. The museum is a private

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

with approximately 12 full-time staff, 90 volunteers, and a 16-member board of trustees. The museum receives about 90,000 visitors each year and operates a store that sells books, educational toys, and souvenirs related to Idaho and MOI exhibits.

History

The Village Improvement Society, a club founded by

women in 1898 to beautify and bring culture to the growing frontier town, secured a $15,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation in 1913 to build a public library at Eastern Avenue and Elm Street. The Carnegie library was built between 1914 and 1916 and served the town until 1977, when the library moved into a new building. Meanwhile, the

Bonneville County Bonneville County is a county located in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 123,964, making it the fourth-most populous county in Idaho and the most populous in eastern Idaho. Its county seat and la ...

Historical Society (BCHS), formed in 1975, began displaying artifacts in a small room in the basement of the

Courthouse in 1979. The BCHS lobbied to save the then-vacant library building from demolition, and raised money to transform it into the Bonneville Museum, which opened in 1985. The historic building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1984 as the Idaho Falls Public Library. In 1992, in anticipation of future growth, the BCHS purchased property immediately north of the Carnegie building. In 2000, local philanthropist Greg Carr offered to donate the nearby former

Masonic Temple A Masonic Temple or Masonic Hall is, within Freemasonry, the room or edifice where a Masonic Lodge meets. Masonic Temple may also refer to an abstract spiritual goal and the conceptual ritualistic space of a meeting. Development and history I ...

to allow the BCHS to expand its building if they also agreed to expand its mission to include traveling exhibits and other offerings beyond Bonneville County's borders. A two-story atrium structure was built connecting the Carnegie building and the Masonic building, and the resulting institution opened in 2003 as the Museum of Idaho. Since then, the museum has continually expanded its mission and offerings to include a wide array of educational programming. Following a capital campaign, the museum expanded yet again, opening a new traveling exhibit hall, education center, and lobby in 2019. The museum then undertook a wholesale renovation of the Carnegie and atrium buildings, which reopened with expanded Idaho exhibits in 2021.

Exhibits and collections

Idaho collections

The museum owns permanent collections pertaining mostly to Idaho history across several disciplines, including archaeology, paleontology, and geology, as well as native inhabitants and early settlers. Museum staff curates in-house exhibits centered around these collections. The museum also houses the archaeologically significant Wasden Collection, which contains thousands of objects and fossils, including mammoth and other megafauna remains excavated from an archaeological site in the desert west of Idaho Falls. Other notable artifacts include a life-size

Columbian mammoth The Columbian mammoth (''Mammuthus columbi'') is an extinct species of mammoth that inhabited the Americas as far north as the Northern United States and as far south as Costa Rica during the Pleistocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line ...

replica, a unique Revolutionary War-era American flag, the Northwest's oldest English-language monument, and remnants from the nearby

National Reactor Testing Station Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of the national laboratories of the United States Department of Energy and is managed by the Battelle Energy Alliance. While the laboratory does other research, historically it has been involved with nu ...

's pioneering early research on atomic energy. The museum's flagship permanent exhibit, "Way Out West," is divided into seven galleries: * Idaho Origins (early Idaho history and fossils) * Out of the Rocks (geology) * Into Nature (flora and fauna) * People & Places (including sections on the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, trappers and traders, mining, homesteading, railroad, and agriculture) * Regional Roots (including “Eagle Rock, USA,” a walkthrough of a street in the 19th-century frontier town before it became

) * A Complex State (items pertaining to Idaho's statehood and issues of discrimination) * Idaho Impact (Idaho technology and the state's public image) The Marie Putnam Discovery Room includes kids' play areas relating to early settlers and natural history.

Research and archives

The museum houses an active collection and continues to collect artifacts, objects, documents, and photographs, as well as stories through an oral history project. The archives are open to the public and researchers by appointment. Archaeologists may submit proposals to perform research on the museum's Wasden Collection.

Special exhibits

In addition to its Idaho exhibits, the museum hosts 1-3 special exhibits each year on a variety of themes. Most are national and international touring exhibitions. * A

T-Rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

Named Sue (2003) *

Columbian Mammoth The Columbian mammoth (''Mammuthus columbi'') is an extinct species of mammoth that inhabited the Americas as far north as the Northern United States and as far south as Costa Rica during the Pleistocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line ...

(2003) * Discovering Idaho: The World of

Lewis and Clark Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

(2004) * The World of Giant Insects (2004) * Space Journey (2005) * Secrets of the Cave (2005) * Savage Seas (2006) * Guns & Hooks (2006) * Ink & Blood:

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

to the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of ...

(2007) * Ice Age Mammals (2007) * World of the

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

s (2008) * Wheels: Are We There Yet? (displays on classic cars, motorcycles, and bicycles) (2009) *

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...

: The Artifact Exhibition (2009) *

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

: Preservation of a Nation (2009) * Wolf to Woof: The Story of Dogs (2010) * Decoding

Da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on h ...

(2010) * Bodies: The Exhibition (2011) * A Grateful Nation: A Look Back at

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(2011) * Teeth, Tails, and Trouble: A T-Rex Named Sue & How to Raise a Dinosaur (2012) *

King Tut Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

: Treasures of the Tomb (2012) *

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in SA) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular pl ...

s: Art and History in Motion (2013) *

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

: The Instrument that Rocked the World (2013) * Race to the End of the Earth (displays on

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

exploration, organized by the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 int ...

) (2014) * Glow: Living Lights (displays on

bioluminescence Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living organisms. It is a form of chemiluminescence. Bioluminescence occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms including some b ...

) (2014) * CSI: Crime Scene Insects (2015) * Real Pirates (2015) * Hatching the Past: The Search for Dinosaur Eggs and Babies (2016) * America’s Revolution: Rebels with a Cause (2016) *

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

: Military Genius and Mighty Machines (2017) * Space: A Journey to Our Future (2017) * Dinosaurs in Motion (2018) * Discover

Steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian ...

(2018) *

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientis ...

: Science and Innovations (2019) * Darwin & Dinosaurs (2019–20) *

Body Worlds ''Body Worlds'' (German title: ''Körperwelten'') is a traveling exposition of dissected human bodies, animals, and other anatomical structures of the body that have been preserved through the process of plastination. Gunther von Hagens develop ...

: Animal Inside Out (2021) *

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; ; xng, Temüjin, script=Latn; ., name=Temujin – August 25, 1227) was the founder and first Great Khan (Emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in history a ...

(2022)

Education and outreach

The museum hosts school field trips from Idaho and neighboring states, and develops exhibit-related lesson plans and activities for teachers to access online. It also holds summer camps, a variety of STEM-based and history-based programs and classes, as well as continuing education courses for educators that include excursions into the Greater

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellow ...

area. For adults, the museum also holds monthly "Museum After Dark" evening events, Haunted History Tours, galas, and regular public lectures on subjects in the humanities and sciences.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Education in Idaho History museums in Idaho Museums established in 1985 Non-profit organizations based in Idaho 2003 establishments in Idaho History of Idaho Buildings and structures in Idaho Falls, Idaho Museums in Bonneville County, Idaho Paleontology in Idaho 1985 establishments in Idaho