North-Central Idaho Speakers
John Bradbury
John was born in Orofino and raised in Headquarters (a company owned logging town). John has a BA from the University of Idaho, and received his Juris Doctorate degree in law from the University of Michigan. He was in the United States Army Intelligence Corp. John practiced law in Seattle, Washington and Anchorage, Alaska before becoming an Idaho District Judge. He is currently retired.
Publications Written:
Frontier History along Idaho's Clearwater River
Equipment needed for presentation:
Projector and Screen for thumb drive
Presentations:
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Idaho's First Gold Rush
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Idaho Struggles for Statehood
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Early logging with horses and log drives
Many of the nation’s leading geography, history and preservation organizations, including the American Association for State and Local History and the Society for American Archaeology, have singled out Steven Branting for the uniqueness and depth of his research and reporting. His work as the lead investigator for the 5th Street Cemetery Necrogeographical Study modeled the best practices in historical field work and the application of core national standards. As a result, he was nominated by the Western Historical Quarterly in 2009 for American Historical Association’s William and Edwyna Gilbert Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the teaching of history through the publication of articles in journals.
Since 2010, Branting has written, designed and installed more than 30 large outdoor historical displays spread throughout the city to showcase its rich heritage.
In 2011 the Idaho State Historical Society conferred upon him the Esto Perpetua Award, its highest honor, citing his leadership in "some of the most significant preservation and interpretation projects undertaken in Idaho," and he was awarded that year’s Outstanding Cultural Tourism Award for showcasing Idaho’s heritage. In 2013, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution awarded him its coveted Historical Preservation Medal.
Branting is the author of a eight-volume history of Lewiston, including two books focusing on Lewiston’s premiere women’s organizations. His articles frequently appear in American and Canadian journals.
During 2018, the Lewiston Tribune published 104 columns under his byline, commemorating people and events from the past of Lewis-Clark State College, which was celebrating its 125th anniversary and for whom he serves as Institutional Historian.
Publications Written:
Books:
Historic Firsts of Lewiston, Idaho
Hidden Lewiston
Lost Lewiston
Wicked Lewiston
Our Fruitful Dreams
A Confluence of Doyennes
Sharing the Legacy
The Words that Were our Names
Interiors
Articles:
The Golden Age (NPCHS) [recurring]
Nostalgia Magazine (Spokane) [recurring]
Journey (LCSC) [recurring]
Western Historical Quarterly
The History Teacher
Idaho Magazine
Idaho Yesterdays
Journal of the Association for History and Computing
Columbia: The Magazine of Northwest History
Equipment needed for presentation:
All presentations include powerpoint visuals.
Please provide projector, with screen, and a room capable of being darkened.
Presentations:
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All things "Lewiston" (brick to brik-a-brac, momentous to minutiae, saints to sinners)
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Techniques for successful historical investigations and the roadblocks to overcome
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Methods and projects to safeguard and preserve your community's heritage
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Making sense of your historical imagery
Garry Bush
Garry Bush has given historic presentations in nine western states, was trained by the National Geographic Society as a NGS Teacher Consultant for the State of Idaho, is a National Park Service Certified First-Person Historic Interpreter and was honored with Idaho’s Esto Perpetua Award for Historic Preservation. As Co-Director of the Chinese Remembering Symposium, he has worked with the West Coast Chinese community for five years. Garry has given historic presentations from pre-school to graduate students and brings a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to all.
Publications Written:
Various Golden Age articles for the Nez Perce County Historical Society
Equipment needed for presentation:
Video Projector for PowerPoint presentations.
Presentations:
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Toussaint Charbonneau/Jean Baptiste Charbonneau
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Lewis & Clark Expedition (first-person presentations)
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Regional Minorities and their history
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Chinese in Idaho
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Historic Downtown Lewiston
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History of Lewiston’s Normal Hill
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Architects of Lewis Clark Valley
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Abraham Lincoln and Idaho
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History of local “Ladies of the Evening”
Thomas E. Eier
Thomas E. Eier was born and raised in Lewiston. He recieved his eagle scout award from the Lewis Clark Trail Council in 1968. In 1997 he helped form the Lewis-Clark Bicentennial Committee in the Lewis-Clark Valley. He has paddled the river of the trail from Lewiston to the Pacific in 2005. In 2006, the first squad corps of discovery left in Mato from Fort Clatsup and paddled up the Columbia River to Walla Walla
Equipment needed for presentation:
No equipment needed. We will bring a dugout canoe and the tools used to build.
We will bring the correct uniforms of 1803-1806.
Presentations:
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Corps of Discovery among the Nez Perce
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Building of the Dugout Canoe
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Uses of the Dugout Canoe
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Mato and Chante on the River Trail of the Bicentennial
Phone Number: (208)-743-2371
Cellphone Number: (208)-791-6384
Email: thomaseier@yahoo.com or thomaseier1805@gmail.com
Marc Entze Ph.D.
Patricia Keith
Marc A. Entze has a Ph.D. in American West and Public History from Washington State University. His research focuses on railroad abandonment, agriculture, and rural communities. Dr. Entze serves on the Board of Directors for the Union Pacific Historical Society and edits the society’s quarterly journal The Streamliner. An article he edited received the David P. Morgan Award for “an outstanding article or paper of lasting significance to the interpretation of North America’s railroading history.” In addition, Dr. Entze teaches classes in the history of the American West and of the World Wars at Lewis-Clark State College, and works as an independent historical consultant.
Dr. Entze has presented on various topics ranging from early fur trading posts and the importance of the refrigerated railcar to PNW agriculture, to issues impacting wheat transportation and railroad advertising during the Second World War.
Publications Written:
“To Fully Photograph A Place,” Railroad Heritage 46 (Fall 2016), 18-39.
“Marengo, Washington: Forgotten Junction of the Union Pacific and Milwaukee Road,” The Streamliner 26 (Summer 2013), 18-27.
Marc A. Entze and Scott J. Lothes, “I’ve Never Ridden a Train Before”: The Challenge of Steam Tourist Railroads in the American West,” NRHS Bulletin 76 (Fall 2011), entire issue.
Equipment needed for presentation:
Screen and digital projector
Presentations:
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Pacific Northwest railroads
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Steamboat navigation
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The Mullan Road
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Agriculture and Rural Communities
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The World Wars
Email: maentze@lcsc.edu
Patricia Keith has been making documentary films since about 2001, while she was still an English professor at Lewis-Clark State College. An early documentary about copper mining at Eureka Bar in Hells Canyon has been broadcast on Idaho Public Television; and a film about the homesteading era in Hells Canyon has been seen by audiences in California and New York and several states in between. While working on these films, she realized that Hells Canyon was an excellent classroom for intensive multidisciplinary studies, and in 2008 she created Lewis-Clark State College's Hells Canyon Institute. Patricia has also worked with the Nez Perce tribe on several documentary projects related to art and culture. Her most recent work has focused on several aspects of American Chinese history in Lewiston, Idaho, and the surrounding region. Other documentary projects have been set in Tibet, Burma, and Ecuador, but what they all have in common are the voices of people speaking intimately about the places they know best--their homes. In 2016, she received an Orchid Award from the Lewiston Historical Preservation Council, and in 2017, an Esto Perpetua award from the Idaho State Historical Society.
Publications Written:
My relevant publications are in the form of documentary films:
Not a Day Goes By: Remembering Hells Canyon (60 minutes)
Good Neighbors: Legacy of American Chinese in Lewiston, Idaho (60 minutes)
Journey to Eureka (30 minutes)
Lewiston's Beuk Aie Temple (13 minutes; to accompany a permanent exhibit of Beuk Aie Temple artifacts)
Timneepe: Heart of the Monster (30 minutes) and The Making of Timneepe (30 minutes)
Equipment needed for presentation:
Viewing screen; PA system; LCD projector; DVD player
Presentations:
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The homesteading era in Hells Canyon
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The history of Chinese people in the region around Lewiston, Idaho
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Filmed stage production of the Nez Perce creation story, Heart of the Monster
Mary Ladelle Minton has been doing historical research for the last 15 years and has written pieces on local historical people important in the 1860s of SE Washington and Idaho. She has also written and co-written scripts for the performance of different types of shows featuring early Lewiston pioneers. This includes performing/directing/co-writing and writing shows based on historical Lewiston for many local productions, dinner/dessert theatres, and conventions, including for Idaho Clerks/Commissioners, DAR Idaho, Idaho Librarians, Red Hat Ladies, City of Lewiston, school history Rendezvous events, City of Pierce, Idaho, Idaho Youth ChalleNGe Academy, and Halloween shows and she has written grants for schools to energize the teaching of history with theatre and history (Washington State Arts Commission “Theatre and Dance Entwined With History” where she coordinated, taught, designed, wrote lessons for Clarkston 4th-8th graders to enliven the study of history). Life-long experience in community theatre and local film performing has played a role in Mary’s work in both science and history. She has collaborated with other performers to brighten classroom performances and presentations.
Mary Minton’s formal education includes an MS research degree in pulping chemistry and chemical engineering from University of Washington and BS Chemistry and BA Liberal Arts and she worked many years as a research engineer and technical manager in the pulp and paper industry. She also holds three US patents, several foreign patents, and scientific publications. She taught hands-on science for 25 years mostly to K-8 and in-service teachers in the LC-Valley, using her background in theatre to animate the classes and increase learning. She has focused on local history for special classes, presentations, lectures.
Theatrical resume and Curriculum Vitae are available upon request.
Publications Written:
“Jane Timothy Silcott: Her Importance in Finding Gold & The Beginning of Idaho” (The Pacific Northwesterner, Volume 64, Issue 1, April, 2020. Whole issue.)
"A Comparison of Lewiston Country to Margaret Day Allen’s Original Draft” (2018-2020 Golden Age, Nez Perce Historical Society) This is a series which is continuing in each issue.
Other scientific publications and patents
Equipment needed for presentation:
Projector, projector screen, room to get into costume, room with sound acoustics or microphone. On-line presentations also available for the public or classrooms.
Presentation Topics
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Lewiston History (1860+, tailored for your class)
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Jane Timothy Silcott and How Idaho Came To Be
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Early Lewiston Pioneers
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A Conversation with Hill Beachey and Madame LeFrancois (two people)
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Magruder Murders
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Territorial Capital of Idaho
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The Discovery of Gold in Idaho Territory
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Early hotels of Lewiston
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Early Idaho Territory Governors
Ta’c ‘éetx papáayn’iinim wenỉikt wées k’uusnim qicxnew’eet soyapoo wenỉikt wées Stacia Morfin. Welcome. My
Indian name is Takes Care of Water, and my given name is Stacia Morfin. I am the owner and operator of Nez
Perce Tourism, LLC a Native-woman business located in the Pacific Northwest. I am a proud member of Nimiipuu
(Nez Perce) nation with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and an Associate degree in Hospitality
Management from Lewis-Clark State College. My business, Nez Perce Tourism, provides a warm welcome to
Nimiipuu Country where guests will experience a true sense of place with Nimiipuu “The People.” Radiating with
cultural wisdom, Nez Perce Tourism is the only place in the world
where you will hear our side of history, witness the stories of our
ancestors, and receive legendary hospitality founded in our cultural
understanding of honor and
respect.
Equipment needed for presentation:
Recommended but not Require Power Point Amenities.
Presentations:
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Nez Perce Cultural Values
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Lewis & Clark from the Nimiipuu Ayat Perspectives
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Welcome to Nimiipuu Country
Presentations:
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Lewis and Clark Expedition
Laurie was born and raised in Idaho. 4th grade Idaho history started her journey to receive her bachelor degree in History from Brigham Young University. She has volunteered at the Teton Flood Museum in Rexburg, Idaho while also teaching Idaho history as a guest speaker in 4th grade classes. She volunteered at the museum if Idaho where she presented to visiting school groups. Following her degree she taught Junior High Humanities while continuing to research and study. Laurie and her family recently moved to the Lewis-Clark Valley where she is now raising her three kids!
Equipment needed for presentation: None
Steven Branting
Laurie Rudd
Mary Minton
Stacia Morfin
J.R. Spencer
J.R. Spencer is a Nez Perce/Ojibwe artisan, educator, and performing artist of Native culture and living traditions of his people. J.R. brings to audiences, the rich history of native stories and traditional music in a moving, fun, and entertaining manner. He strives to present the history and culture of Native people in a lighthearted yet respectful way. He gives to audiences a sense of history and aspects of Native culture that you won't find in history books. J.R. shows the world that there is a lighter side to being Native. In both recordings and video productions, he takes audiences on a journey through time, from legend days to modern times, and back again.
"Most people focus on the conflicts our people had throughout history, there by identifying us by those conflicts. Many Natives have adopted that identity. This is totally wrong. Because we Native people are so much more than that. We have so much more to offer the world, culturally, spiritually, and intellectually." -J.R. Spencer
Equipment needed for presentation:
Small Side Table
Microphone (Depending on size of venue)
Presentations:
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Nez Perce Legends
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Nez Perce Music
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Life Way of Native People
Email: whitebull72@gmail.com
Phone Number: (208)-791-2850
Nan C. Vance
Nan C. Vance, PhD, research plant physiologist emeritus, USDA Forest Service was lead plant physiologist of the biology and culture of forest plants team, Pacific Northwest Research State and on the graduate facility in the Department of Forest Science, and Plant Program at Oregon State University. Presented and public 40 papers in physiological ecology, restoration biology and pollination ecology of native forest and prairie plants of the northwestern U.S.
Equipment needed for presentation:
Projector with screen, usually uses PowerPoint. Microphone if applicable.
Presentations:
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Rabbitbrush, Wait What? (2018)
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Rabbit Crush a Cornucopia (2018)
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Wildflowers of the Inland Northwest and their Insect 'friends.' (2017)
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Notable Plant Species of the Snake - Clearwater River Drainages in North
Central Idaho (2016)
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Friends and Robbers: Flower and Their Insect Visitors (2016)
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Pollination Ecology of Brown's Peony (Paeonia Brownii) (2015)
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Friends and Robbers Flower Plants of the Columbia River Basin and their
Insect Visitors (2013)
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Various talks on North West plant conservation and ecology at elementary
schools in Missoula, Montana, Kooskia, Grangeville, Idaho.
Priscilla Wegars
Priscilla Wegars, Ph.D. (University of Idaho, 1991), is a historian, historical archaeologist, artifact analyst, editor, and proofreader. She founded the University of Idaho's Asian American Comparative Collection (AACC), a unique resource of artifacts, images, and documentary materials essential for understanding Asian American archaeological sites, economic contributions, and cultural history, http://webpages.uidaho.edu/aacc/. In 2017 she received an Esto Perpetua award from the Idaho State Historical Society "in honor and recognition of significant contributions to the preservation of Idaho history."
Publications Written:
Hidden Heritage: Historical Archaeology of the Overseas Chinese (editor, 1993)
Polly Bemis: A Chinese American Pioneer (2003)
Chinese American Death Rituals: Respecting the Ancestors (co-editor, 2005)
Imprisoned in Paradise: Japanese Internee Road Workers at the World War II Kooskia Internment Camp (2010)
As Rugged as the Terrain: CCC "Boys," Federal Convicts, and World War II Alien Internees Wrestle with a Mountain Wilderness (2013)
Polly Bemis: The Life and Times of a Chinese American Pioneer (in progress)
Equipment needed for presentation:
PowerPoint projector with remote charger, laptop, screen, podium with light, glass of water, and a room capable of being darkened. Presenter can supply some equipment if notified in advance.
Presentations:
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As Rugged as the Terrain: CCC "Boys", Federal Convicts, and World War II Alien Internees Wrestle with a Mountain Wilderness (Highway 12)
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Chinese Women in the West
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Imprisoned in Paradise: Japanese Road Workers at Kooskia Internment Camp
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Polly Bemis: A Chinese American Pioneer
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The Chinese in Idaho
