Library and Information Science Commons^™

Introduction To Using Python In The Digital Humanities, Elisabeth Shook

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

The materials here are from the Python for Digital Humanities Workshop taught on December 13, 2021 for the Boise State University Digital Humanities Group. This 3-hour workshop was created to provide both a very brief introduction to the various capabilities of Python and a small lesson in using Python to pull meaningful insight out of text files.

Vardis Fisher's Last Essay, Alessandro Meregaglia

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

When Vardis Fisher died on July 9, 1968, the Idaho novelist left behind an extensive bibliography: more than two dozen novels, collections of short stories, essays, and poetry, as well as three books written for the Federal Writers’ Project. But he also left behind multiple projects in mid-process. Obituaries and memorials noted that Fisher was at work on a book called The American West: The World’s Greatest Physical Wonderland. Biographers over the ensuing decades also mentioned this incomplete project but didn’t elaborate further.

The Father Of Illustration: From Boston To Boise, Memo Cordova

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Special Collections and Archives (SCA) unit at Boise State University’s Albertsons Library houses materials specific to the history of the university and the state as a whole. Among its many documents, personal correspondence, artifacts, and ephemera, the unit also houses three large framed etchings donated by Lois Chaffee, wife of President/Chancellor Eugene B. Chaffee (1936 to 1970), in 1988. These three pieces are signed etchings from paintings done by famed 20th century American illustrator and author Howard Pyle (1853-1911).

Finding Community In The Mitchell Hotel, Alan Virta

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

"Lesbian and gay people are the only people on Earth who have to find their tribe. We aren't born into it. You have to have a place to go find the tribe. And so you will start with the most obvious place."—Phyllis Burke, in the documentary film The Castro

For gay men and women in Boise, there was no "obvious place" in their own hometown until the summer of 1976, when a group of local businessmen, with the help of friends and family, turned a corner of an old hotel into that place: Boise's first gay bar. The hotel, known …

Espe Alegria: Cultural Advisor And Voice Of The Basques In American Radio, Erin Passehl

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation will showcase Basque immigrant Espe Alegria (1906-1991), who spent her life preserving and promoting Basque language, culture, and identity in Boise, Idaho. Espe Alegria’s continuous work left a legacy on the American Diaspora in three areas: her work in radio broadcasting, translation and immigration services, and the arts. Espe hosted The Basque Program, a one-hour radio program that aired every week from 1955-1981. Known as the “Voice of the Basques,” Espe used her social connections to personalize the program in ways that connected with listeners in both cities and Basque-speaking sheepherders. This presentation will also look at Espe’s …

Early Records Of The Episcopal Church In Southwestern Idaho, 1867-1916 : Silver City And Delamar, Patricia Dewey Jones

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

The book is a transcription of old handwritten church registers from the mining towns of Silver City and DeLamar up in the Owyhee Mountains. Albertsons Library Special Collections holds the original church registers, which are now fragile and written in script that is often difficult to decipher.

Old church records like these are important because the State of Idaho did not begin compiling birth and death records until 1911. So before that date, church records (with baptisms, burials, etc.) are often the only vital records there are.

Poplar Neck And The Prince George's Slave Conspiracy Of 1739, Alan Virta

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

During the late 1730 and early 1740s, enslaved African Americans in the British colonies of North America rose up in several independently organized revolts and conspiracies in vain attempts to win their freedom. Maryland was the scene of one of these acts of resistance. According to local contemporary accounts, Prince George’s County escaped massive violence in 1739 only because a conspiracy was discovered and suppressed before the revolt could be executed. The civil authorities apprehended the alleged conspirators and tried them for rebellion and attempted murder. The leader of the conspiracy, an enslaved man named Jack Ransom, was put to …