The Bingham County Historical Society is lucky enough to own one of Blackfoot’s fine century-old homes and to rent another. In 2015, the Society purchased the John and Gertrude Millick home, built in 1918, from the Henscheid family, who had owned it for many years. It is one of many Ab Jenkins houses found in Blackfoot. He was known for his extremely well-built homes, with fine detailing and remarkable brickwork. This house is no exception, featuring two clinker brick fireplaces. This building is located at 121 N. Shilling and has become the Society’s archive. The entire collection of photos, newspapers, books, and magazines are stored there and are available for viewing and research during the summer season or by appointment.

The large living room has been transformed into office space with computer stations, where we are working to computerize the entire collection for eventual access by researchers from their home computers. The dining room houses most of our book collection, with books on each community in Bingham County, school annuals dating back as far as 1907, books on well-known families and books by local authors. A bedroom holds our huge photo collection, and another bedroom has wall-to-wall file cabinets of newspaper clippings on people, businesses, events, clubs, etc.

The computer program that the archive purchased to enter our data lists is called Past Perfect, and is one of the most popular museum database programs available. Each item is assigned a 10- to 12-digit number for identification, then a photo or scan of each item is entered, along with information about the age, history, condition and location of the item. Finally, a keyword list, used for cross-referencing and searches, is added. When the database goes live, any curious person with a computer will be able to search by name, by address, or by subject and see all the data that we have on their subject of interest.

The archive is looking for interested volunteers to help with the Past Perfect project — doing data entry, taking pictures, sorting and filing articles. All help is greatly appreciated.

The Historical Society is also the renter of The Brown Mansion, located at the opposite end of the block at 190 N. Shilling. John and May Brown, who owned two stores in downtown Blackfoot, hired builders from Boise to create this copy of a southern plantation house, from local lava rock and wood shingles. In the early 1900s, an invitation to one of the Brown’s balls, concerts or dinners was a great status symbol around town. This 15-room mansion still looks much as it did a hundred years ago, and is filled with the museum’s collection of furniture, clothing, dishware, tools and Native American artifacts.

It is easy to become a member of the Bingham County Historical Society. We need only your contact information and the annual $20 dues. Your membership card provides you and a guest free admission to The Brown Mansion, plus nine other Idaho museums. You will also receive our newsletter and invitations to special events held by the Society during the year. There are also family memberships available.

The goal of the Historical Society is to promote and preserve the fascinating history of Bingham County. The fact that we get to preserve this history in buildings that are, themselves, historic is just a bonus. History within history. Come check us out.