Museum of North Idaho wants to hear from Shoshone County

As the Museum of North Idaho prepares to enter a new era with a new home, Executive Director Britt Thurman and the rest of the museum board are looking to take the first steps toward revamping what the place has to offer.

“The museum is in a transitional process where we are not only building a new facility that's going to expand the space we have for offerings, but also it’s an opportunity to reimagine what role the museum plays in our community,” she said.

A large part of determining this new role is determining what the citizens of North Idaho want to see and find important in our history. To do this, the museum has planned a series of Q&A sessions where they hope to draw upon the knowledge of residents- both young and old.

“We are the Museum of North Idaho and we focus on Kootenai, Shoshone, and Benewah County,” Thurman explained. “But we have kind of had this reputation over the years of just being a museum of Coeur d’Alene, so we’re really looking to change that and broaden the scope of the content we interpret and the programs that we hold.”

For Shoshone County, the museum will be holding three separate student sessions on Monday, Sept. 13 at Mullan Jr./Sr. High School at 9:05 a.m., Wallace Jr./Sr. High School at 10:15 a.m., and Kellogg High School at 1 p.m. The Silver Valley Chamber Chamber will then host the community meeting at 5 p.m. in the chamber office, located at 10 E. Station Ave. in Kellogg.

Thurman asks that attendees bring a smart device with them so they can complete an online survey when prompted during the sessions. The results of this survey and feedback during the session will help the museum understand what its priorities should be.

““Collaboration is one of my biggest priority areas,” she said. “Whether it be with other businesses, non-profit organizations, museums, or other historical societies that we can share resources and information with.”

NIM director Juli Zook is excited about the prospect of Shoshone County being represented in a greater capacity in the museum.

“I think it’s absolutely a wonderful idea because we have such a rich mining, native american, and logging history here!”