Idaho Biography

Back to Idaho Portal Page►

The best collection of biographical materials of Idaho residents is at the Idaho State Historical Society. There is no statewide biographical index, but you can search state, regional, and county histories for biographical information. Some representative histories that are primarily biographical are:


 * Hawley, James H. History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains. Four Volumes. Chicago, Illinois: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1920. (Family History Library film 1000165 and film 908926.)
 * An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho. Four Volumes in 2. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company, 1899. (Family History Library film 1000164.)

A biographical index to several statewide and regional histories of Idaho is Marvin E. Wiggins, Mormons and Their Neighbors: An Index of Over 75,000 Biographical Sketches from 1820 to the present'''. '''Two Volumes. Provo, Utah: Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, 1984. This source is indexed on the Internet site of Brigham Young University - Idaho: www.byui.edu.

Brigham Young University has a collection, called:


 * Trails of Hope: Overland Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869, which includes information about many Idaho families. It is searchable on their Internet site: http://overlandtrails.lib.byu.edu

Brigham Young University - Idaho has a project, Upper Snake River Valley Idaho Histories, in which many diaries and biographical sketches have been collected. These are indexed on their Internet site.