Idaho Territorial Records

Collection

Identifier: AR 1

Staff Only

Content Description

The Territorial Idaho Collection (1863–1890) documents the political, legal, and administrative life of Idaho during its territorial period. Materials include legislative records, court proceedings, executive files, financial ledgers, and requests for pardons that reflect the governance and daily realities of the territory prior to statehood.

Dates

Creation: 1839-1914

History

Idaho Territory was created on March 4, 1863, from the eastern portion of Washington Territory and the western portion of Dakota Territory. At its founding, it covered a vast area that included present-day Idaho, Montana, and most of Wyoming, making it one of the largest U.S. territories of the time. Over the next decade, Montana (1864) and Wyoming (1868) were carved out, leaving Idaho with its present boundaries.

The capital was first located at Lewiston, but moved south to Boise in 1865 as mining booms and settlement shifted the center of population and political influence. Governed by federally appointed officials alongside an elected Territorial Legislature, Idaho held sixteen sessions between 1863 and 1889. These sessions produced laws, resolutions, and administrative records that reflect the challenges of establishing order, managing land and resources, and administering justice in a rapidly changing frontier.

Idaho achieved statehood on July 3, 1890, becoming the 43rd state in the Union. The records of the territorial period remain a vital resource for how life developed in the American West.

Extent

356 Cubic Feet (The Territorial Idaho Collection consists of archival containers, including standard records boxes, oversized ledgers, and bound volumes documenting Idaho’s territorial government and administrative history.)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Processing Information

This is an artificial collection created with the assistance of a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC grant number NAR-10-RB-50092-10), awarded in 2010. The project, titled Revealing Idaho's Territorial Records, helped the Idaho State Archives to "identify, arrange and describe, and promote use of Territorial records." Territorial records were added or selected from existing collections to be housed in a single collection currently referred to as AR 1 Idaho Territorial Records.