Sewing Club returns to the Children’s Library in a small group setting. Sewing Club teaches basic hand-stitching through simple projects for kids. Children must be age 7+ to attend. Sign-up is required. Space is limited. You may sign-up online or call the library at 208-726-3493 x3 for registration assistance. Sign-up opens on Thursday, March 10th at 4:00 pm. SIGNUP IS PER CHILD. Children under the age of 9 must be accomanied by a parent/caregiver. 

This month’s project will be a mini Teddy Buddy. 

More Information/Register Here.

Extreme skiing pioneer and Warren Miller film athlete Dan Egan and local historian John Lundin will share their new booksThirty Years in a White Hazeand Ski Jumping in Washington State on Thursday, March 24 from 1-3 p.m. at the Regional History Museum (180 1st St E, Ketchum, ID 83340).

Thirty Years in a White Haze was picked for the Boston Globe’s 2021 Reading List and named this year’s winner of the International Skiing History Association’s Ullr Award. Ski Jumping in Washington State is this year’s winner of the Skade Award from the International Ski History Association.

Join in an afternoon of refreshments, story sharing, and ski culture, and celebrate two awarded authors and their contributions to ski literature and history.

Staff member, Judy Zimmer, leads Paint Club for tweens and teens. Come join us in The Children’s Library where we’ll all make a creation on canvas.

Paint club is open to tweens and teens ages 9+ who can manage the project alone. All supplies are provided. Space is VERY limited so sign-up is required. Please be sure you can make the commitment to attend as we turn many away from this popular offering.

Registration opens on Wednesday, March 9th at 4:00 pm. Sign up online or call the library at (208) 726-3493, option 3 if you need assistance with online registration. 

with Barbara Rae-Venter 

In-Person Event | More Info/Register Here

Join us for a conversation with Barbara Rae-Venter, genetic genealogist, whose technique, dubbed “Investigative Genetic Genealogy,” has been used to solve over 300 cases, many previously considered “unsolvable”. Barbara herself has assisted in solving an approximately 60 additional cold cases. For her work, Barbara was recognized by the journal Nature as one of “10 people Who Mattered In Science In 2018.” She has also been recognized as one of Time100’s Most Influential People of 2019.

Rae-Venter’s first criminal case was to identify Lisa Jensen, a woman in her 30s who was abducted as an infant and then abandoned by her abductor as a 5 year old. Barbara identified Lisa’s mother (missing) as Denise  Beaudin. This identification led the New Hampshire State Police to a suspect for the murder of the Allenstown Four in Allenstown, NH. Barbara subsequently determined the true identify of Lisa’s abductor, a man of many aliases, as Terry Peder Rasmussen. She has also confirmed the identities of three of the four Allenstown victims using a DNA profile obtained from nuclear DNA extracted from rootless hair. Using the same technique as she used to identify Lisa and Rasmussen, Barbara helped identify Joseph James DeAngelo as the notorious Golden State Killer. 

Barbara will share these stories and take your questions during this free event. This program will also be livestreamed and available for later viewing (link forthcoming).

In partnership with Dent, a community of entrepreneurs, technologists, executives, investors, and creatives who are driven to “put a dent in the universe.”

Union Pacific, Averell Harriman and Alf Engen with John Lundin 

In-Person + Vimeo | More Info/Register Here.

The general story of Sun Valley is well known. Built by Union Pacific in the middle of the Great Depression at a cost of $1.5 million, it opened in Dec. 1936, as an oasis of luxury in the wilderness of Idaho, that attracted “the carriage trade,” Wall Street barons, the Chicago social set, Hollywood stars and producers and serious skiers from all over the world. The resort had an ultra-modern lodge offering New York City amenities, chairlifts invented by UP engineers to take skiers to the top of the mountains quickly and in comfort, and a Ski School with Austrian instructors that made skiing sexy. Called “America’s St. Moritz,” Sun Valley brought European ambiance to this country, received extensive publicity, became a cultural icon, introduced modern skiing, and influenced all ski resorts that developed later. 

Yet Sun Valley’s history is more complex and interesting than is generally known. In this presentation, author and lecturer John Lundin will discuss the resort’s backstory that focuses on its time under Union Pacific, and the roles of two individuals who played key roles in making Sun Valley the force it was in our skiing history: Averell Harriman, Chairman of the Board of Union Pacific Railroad, and Alf Engen, the dominant ski jumper of his generation who played an important role at Sun Valley in its early years.

Register to save your seat. Space is limited. The program will also be live streamed and available to watch later. Click here to watch on Vimeo.

. . .and the Doctrine of Discovery with Tony Tekaroniake Evans 

In-Person Event

Tuesday, March 15 | Lecture Hall | 6:00 p.m.

Register here.

Join Tony Tekaroniake Evans for an in-depth investigation of his recent story in High Country News titled “Decolonizing Idaho Road Signs,” about efforts to redress the erasure of Indigenous history and culture on highway markers in Idaho and elsewhere in the U.S. Described as “decolonization where the rubber hits the road,” this report went nationwide on NPR’s Here and Now and was later expanded in coverage by the Smithsonian Magazine and other publications.

Evans will introduce us to the celebrated career of Alexander Ross, whose legacy on a road sign at Galena Summit north of Ketchum has long held that he “discovered” the Sawtooth Valley in 1822. Much to the contrary, Native peoples have passed this way for millennia and continue to do so, taking part in ongoing conservation efforts in the territory of the Shoshone-Bannock people.

Drawing on personal experience, historical research and breaking news stories, Evans will tell the story of the centuries-old legal framework known as the Christian Doctrine of Discovery, how it disenfranchised Indigenous peoples of titles to land during periods of genocide and assimilation and led to common assumption that Indians would no longer play a role in the history of our nation. Times have changed. Indigenous culture and lifeways are being rediscovered by the dominant culture and raised in significance by the Biden administration at a time when non-profits, government officials and citizens are looking for ways to view the land in a more sustainable and responsible manner.    

Photo: A sign north of Sun Valley has for decades announced to passersby that fur trapper Alexander ross ‘discovered’ Galena Summit. A movement is under way to return Native perspectives and historical accuracy to our roadside history. Courtesy of Roland Lane.