|
What's New in Local & Idaho History @Twin Falls Public Library May/June 2020
|
Keeping You Connected, Even at a Distance! Summer is approaching, and while we're not making any big plans for events at the Library yet, we're still committed to helping our community stay connected. In terms of historical resources, we're still here to help! Many of you know we have our online newspaper database (1904-2013); if you can't find what you're looking for, send us an email and we'll try. We also have a chunk of our historical photos online as well. Not all of them are online, so if you want us to search our in-house database, just let us know. For those of you interested in family history, we're working on at-home access to Ancestry.com. We've also set up a new genealogy Facebook Group - Genealogy with TFPL - and we'll have staff on hand to help answer your questions or help you find more resources. Finally, we love a good research assignment! Have a question about Twin Falls history you've always wanted an answer to? Send us an email (tfpl@tfpl.org) or leave us a voicemail (208-733-2964 ext. 200), and we'll see what we can find.
|
|
SUMMER READING Starts June 1 Summer Reading might look a little different this year, but we're in the midst of planning some super-creative ways for the community to read and connect. This year's theme is "Imagine Your Story" and in addition to fantastical stories and fairy tales, we're planning fun ways to help you tell your own story, through biographical prompts and questions. And, while you're sharing your own life story, it is a great time to learn more about your family stories - traditions, customs, and even unique personalities! Look for more information about these historical activities in late May.
|
|
Baseball has always been a favorite sport in Twin Falls, from the heyday of the Cowboys to the growing popularity of CSI's team - and it goes back even further. The April 1905 edition of the Twin Falls News wrote a glowing article on the preparations of the young city's baseball-minded men to field a team that would make the town proud. About the unnamed pitcher, the newspaper claims, "He uses the Shoshone falls drop, the Augur falls twister and the south grade cove curve. He is also practicing on the canal shoot and the cedar draw, both of which are mystifying." Plans were being made to challenge teams from Oakley, Albion, Hailey, Bellevue, and Pocatello. The early nickname for the Twin Falls team was, somewhat obviously, the Irrigators, though in later years they were also called the Comets (1910) and the Magicians (1913). The teams were comprised of young men, mostly in their 20s and 30s, with a few older players not ready as yet to give up the game. In 1915, Twin Falls even got to host the traveling exhibition of the Major League's All-Stars (pictured above). In those days, players didn't make much money during the season, and often went back to their "regular" jobs in the off-season. But players who made the All-Star team could travel the country playing games for fans who didn't normally get to partake in major league games. A definite treat for baseball-mad Twin Falls, even with a final tied score of 4-4 on a blustery November day!
|
|
|
The story of the creative entrepreneur Farris Lind, whose Stinker Station signs were the stuff of legend, revealing the tragedy and the triumph of a man who was the essence of Idaho.
|
|
|
Of Forests and Fields: Mexican Labor in the Pacific Northwest by Mario Jimenez SifuentezThe story of the ethnic Mexicans that toiled in the fields, canneries, packing sheds, and forests who helped turn the Pacific Northwest into one of the most productive agricultural regions in the country. The book explores the struggle of Braceros, Tejanos, and Mexican immigrants, to contest their exploitation in various ways. The history of their resistance culminated in the creation of one of the most important farm worker's unions in the country, the Pineros y Campesinos Unidos Noreste (PCUN).
|
|
|
by Vardis Fisher, with an introduction by Alessandro Meregaglia Originally completed for the Federal Writers' Project in 1939, the manuscript was never published, but is now presented as Fisher intended it--with additional pictures and an introduction by Alessandro Meregaglia, the archivist who discovered it after following a trail of vague references and footnotes. Fisher, with his characteristic biting wit and keen observation, allows us a glimpse of Boise in the last days of the Great Depression-- a snapshot of our past through the eyes of a beloved Idaho author.
|
|
This is the first ever photograph taken in Twin Falls, on May 4, 1904. The two men are I.B. Perrine (left) and Thomas Costello (right). They are just about to drive the stake into the ground at the place they've designated as the city center for the new town of Twin Falls. Once the stake is placed and the paperwork filled out, John Hayes (whose statue now graces the Downtown Twin Falls Commons), will begin surveying the area and developing the plan for the diagonal grid of city streets, which will vex citizens and visitors for years to come! |
|
|
Twin Falls Public Library201 4th Ave. ETwin Falls, Idaho 83301208-733-2964
|
|
|
|