The Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History on the campus of the College of Idaho is nationally ranked as one of the top natural history museums in North America.
Giant silkworm moths at the Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History Friday at Boone Hall at the College of Idaho. The museum has a large collection of exotic insects from around the world.
The Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History on the campus of the College of Idaho is nationally ranked as one of the top natural history museums in North America.
Photo courtesy of Mark Pemble
Fighting Bob is stuffed and mounted in a glass case and can be viewed at the College of Idaho’s Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History in Caldwell.
By Rick Just
Giant silkworm moths at the Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History Friday at Boone Hall at the College of Idaho. The museum has a large collection of exotic insects from around the world.
My out-of-state college friends will ask me what there is to do in Idaho and over time I have somewhat improved my answers to this question and ones like it. A couple of years ago when I was less skilled in adequately defending the honor of Big 43, I ushered my friends to search online for top Idaho tourist destinations. In such group efforts, we encountered multiple lists posted by blog sites and the like that repeatedly championed the College of Idaho’s Orma J. Smith Natural History Museum a ‘top 10’ place to visit.
We laughed aloud. The dusty museum in the basement of the science building? Long after that uninformed dismissal of the museum, a freshman recently asked me about its relatively elusive nature relative to the student body — which spurred me to pay a visit and see for myself. Beneath Boone Hall, the College of Idaho’s lone science building named in honor of its Presbyterian founder William Judson Boone, lies the Orma J. Smith Natural History Museum. What little the College of Idaho’s student body "knows" regarding this literal hidden gem is that it was built out of the remains of a Cold War bunker.
When I asked long-time volunteer and curator of entomology Dr. Alan Gillogly if he could confirm this widely-repeated U.S.S.R.-era rumor, he plainly replied, “I think they used to keep the batting cages down here,” eliciting laughter from his fellow volunteers. In addition to quantitatively demystifying the bunker rumors, he relayed to me his personal history as a draft dodger-turned-impassioned beetle fanatic, as well as the wider history of the museum itself.
Despite the illustrious status the College of Idaho works to maintain, the origin of the Orma J. Smith Natural History Museum is relatively modest. “[The museum] began as an informal gathering of informal collections donated in 1974 and 1975,” said Gillogly. These donations usually came from the private collections of oddities accumulated by College of Idaho faculty, donors and boosters, and other eccentric students of history and natural science. More modest still, Gillogly seemed uncomfortable when I referred to him as an expert. Despite the interdisciplinary demands of their unpaid efforts, which mirrors the interdisciplinary attitudes of the College of Idaho’s curriculum, all involved in the museum downplayed their wide knowledge bases. The newly dubbed project manager, Dr. Ashley Ferguson, brought on to spearhead the digitizing of the many specimens safehoused in the museum, echoed Gillogly’s armchair enthusiasm and “aw shucks” attitude.
Their modesty, however, does not at all equate to a modest collection of exhibits and specimens. Past the gift shop and administrator Lydia Pedraza’s front desk lies dozens of six-and-a-half-foot tall cases filled with drawers containing dozens of beetles, scarabs, and other insects. There is also an impressive assortment of geodes and rocks that almost glint even under the museum’s fluorescent lighting. Among the number of taxidermy animals, including some of the fiercest predators in North America, is Fighting Bob, a century old mother ostrich known for his reckless misadventures and fiery attitude.
Often in step with astronomy tours conducted upstairs by College of Idaho faculty, the museum will often host tours for local elementary and middle schools as well as families of tourists eager to get firehosed with some essential Idaho history. The Orma J. Smith museum is organizing events for students and non-students alike all year round and are more than worth your time.
The museum is open to the publicMonday through Friday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Special thanks to Lydia Pedraza, Alan Gillogly, and Ashley Ferguson for their willingness to speak with me and their essential insights.
