Collection Highlights-History

This Todd Protectograph Company check writer was used in the Griffith Grocery store. The store was opened around 1926 and was located on the corner of Main Street and First Avenue in Ketchum, where Sun Valley Culinary Institute is today. The Todd Protectograph Company advertised that the protectograph check writer protected businesses from fraudulent changes because the machine printed precise amounts across the check.   From the Mary Jane and Dave Conger … [Read more...] about Protectograph Check Writer

A rolling pin that was handmade by the donor’s grandfather, “Grandpa Hallis,” in his shop. The pin was brought over the plains in 1853. From the Delaurice Moser Collection (1996.28.04), Center for Regional History. … [Read more...] about Handmade Rolling Pin 

The Sun Valley Ski Pin was awarded for a specific level of sportsmanship. To get this pin, you must complete a run on Baldy from top to bottom without falling. Skiing on Baldy in the 1940s was as challenging as it is today and the mountain itself was a great teacher. You might have run into Olympians, Gretchen Fraser and Jeanette Burr Johnston skiing. There were some differences. There were fewer runs, and if you skied the Warm Springs side, you caught a bus back to the River Run lift. The River … [Read more...] about Sun Valley Ski Pin

Gretchen Fraser was the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in skiing. She was the first American to win a medal in the Winter Olympic Games. Commemorating her winning the gold, the Gretchen Fraser Olympic scrapbook has memorabilia related to the St. Moritz Winter Games and media attention that followed. It has newspaper articles, photographs, telegrams, and letters about her time there and documents her win-- the power and reverberations of the win. On the left side is the famous … [Read more...] about Gretchen Fraser Olympic Scrapbook

These polka dotted shoes were worn by Vuarnettes singer Cherie Kessler, aka Kitty Litter. An apres-ski music and comedy act, the Vuarnettes were a group of four singers and a backup band. This Ketchum homegrown group would create a theme each year, re-write lyrics to select pop music or classic rock songs. They produced their own shows. And with handmade costumes, they performed all winter. Some of the places they performed were the Creekside Restaurant in Warm Springs, the Boiler Room and Ore … [Read more...] about Kitty Litter’s Polka Dot Heels

Figure skating Olympian, Sonya Helen Klopfer [Dunfield], wore these ice skates when she performed at the 1952 Oslo Olympic Games. Representing the United States, Klopfer placed fourth. Klopfer and her teammates, Tenley Albright and Virginia Day Baxter, all made a powerful performance the 1952 Oslo Olympic Games. That year--Albright took the silver and Baxter placed fifth. Sonya went on to coaching fame. Marrying Peter Dunfield, figure skating champion and coach, the Dunfield's coached in New … [Read more...] about Oslo Olympic Games