Historical Resources
Please note that the majority of our resources are not yet online. If you would like to browse the collections in person, we invite you to visit the Centennial Annex. We are open by appointment Tuesday through Friday, from 9am to 4pm. Please contact us at lchslibrary@latahcountyid.gov or 208.882.1004 to make a research appointment. Research appointments are required to be made at least 48 hours in advance.
Let us help you with your research!
Oral History Interviews
The University of Idaho Library Digital Collections presents digitized audio recordings together with their indexes and transcripts for over 300 detailed recollections of life from the early 20th century. These oral histories were first conducted and collected in the mid-1970s by the Latah County Historical Society.
The University of Idaho Library Digital Collections offers an online archive of photos from the town of Bovill, ID.
Photographs taken around Moscow, Idaho by Rick H. Jones while he was a student at Moscow High School and the University of Idaho. Photos taken between 1950 and 1955.
Digital preservation of this collection made possible by a generous grant from Idaho's State Historic Records Advisory Board.
Publications & Archival Collections
Find a complete archive of our journal, the Latah Legacy, in PDF format. Check the index for a breakdown of each issue by article and author.
Moscow at the Turn of the Century was written by Homer David, and early resident of Moscow. The reminiscences reference many of the town's first businesses and families.
This is a diary kept by William Lieuallen, brother of Almon Asbury Lieuallen, as he and his party moved west from Missouri to Washington Territory. This record is held in the Latah County Historical Society Archives under SC 1992-59.
Ione Adair grew up in Moscow in the historic home at 110 S. Adams Street, known by most as the McConnell Mansion. She enjoyed adventure and as a young woman attempted to establish a homestead claim in northern Idaho, near present-day Avery. She was there in the summer of 1910 when an enormous wildfire erupted. Her journal and letters home from that time period provide valuable insight into her experiences as a woman in a frontier space as well as with the "Big Blowup" that changed forest management throughout the nation.
Before white settlers, Latah County was home to the Nimiipuu and Palus peoples. LCHS only has a few items related to the native history of Latah County.
Newspapers
The J-K Heritage Foundation has an online archive of digitized newspapers for the town of Juliaetta from 1914 to 1937, and for the town of Kendrick from 1891 to 1950 and from1950 to 1998.
The Troy Historical Society has an online archive of digitized newspapers published in and around Troy, ID from 1903 through 1985.
Online Historical Exhibits
Explore curated collections of photos and other archival materials related to special subjects, hosted on the LCHS Google Arts & Culture account. Exhibit topics include:
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League of Women Voters of Moscow
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Growth of Moscow
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Construction of Moscow's Federal Building (current City Hall)
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Psychiana: Moscow's Mail Order Religion
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2017 Women's March on the Palouse
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Voters in Latah County
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The First World War in Latah County
"Newcomers in Latah County, Idaho: A Public History Approach on Cultural Adaption in the American West, 1871-1921" A digital MA thesis by Jessica O'Rourke, Washington State University, focusing on the Taylor Family of Ireland, the Meyer Family of Germany, the Scheyer-Hagedorn Family of Germany, and Nathaniel Williamson of Ireland.
LCHS YouTube Channel
Visit YouTube to find videos of past events and webinars.
Research & Reproduction Fees
If you would like to reproduce images or documents from the collections, or have a research request and are unable to visit the Centennial Annex in person, please see this page for our research and reproduction fees.
We do not keep Birth, Death, or Marriage Certificates in our archives.
Please see the following resources:
Latah County Recorder’s Office
Marriage records - 1888 to present
Birth records - 1907 to 1912
Death records - 1907 to 1941
ID State Vital Records Office
Birth, Death, and Marriage certificates
1911 – present (must make formal request)
Ancestry.com
Marriage certificates and Death records
Beginning of state record keeping – 1980s