Grad student creates archive for College of Natural Resources

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in English, Callie Galford ’25 had many paths she could take with her post-graduate career: apply for a job in the city, explore remote writing or remain as a trainer and barista at a local coffee shop.

An option she didn’t expect was to spend three days a week in University of Idaho’s Library cataloguing historic, archival documents related to the history of U of I’s College of Natural Resources (CNR).

Jennifer Ladino, the director of the English master’s program, reached out to me with this opportunity, which she and her colleagues thought I’d be perfect for,” Galford said. “I was originally going to wait to get my master’s degree but being considered for an internship like that was something I just couldn’t say no to.”

The internship would not only fully cover her graduate tuition as a Master of Arts candidate but also would provide a monthly stipend in return for 20 hours per week of work. The project would be done through the Special Collections and Archives department located in the Library’s basement.

“I work on two main projects that go hand-in-hand,” Galford said. “I sort through and catalogue donated boxes of archived material and then, using what I found, create a compilation document that exhibits the history of CNR from 1984 to present day.”

Galford is building on a project pioneered by George Savage, a former professor of forestry at U of I, who created an alumni yearbook that covers the range from 1909, the year CNR became a college, to 1984.

“The amount of information we have about CNR’s past is insurmountable,” Galford said. “I think my role is to reinvigorate all of this rich history and bring it forward to the present day, to continue connecting the past with the here and now.”

On a typical day, Galford will go down to the Special Collections office where she’ll have some fun chit-chatting with her colleagues and supervisors. Then, she’ll head to the processing room where numerous boxes are ready for her to sort through and catalogue.

“I’ve discovered so much just from digging through those boxes,” Galford said. “For instance, CNR has a number of journals and publications, one of them being the ‘Women in Natural Resources’ journal formed by the only four women in the entire college at the time.”

Her methods for learning about CNR’s history aren’t limited to the processing room. Galford has spoken directly with former CNR professors James Fazio and Jo Ellen Force, who have made lasting impacts on the college, in addition to volunteering at Idler’s Rest, an area used by CNR faculty as an outdoor classroom for decades.

“When I was talking to Fazio and Force, they were both talking about how they’d like to see what people have been up to,” Galford said. “That was something they always appreciated about the publications at CNR. They’ve made a point to continue their involvement by supporting the college financially and participating in interviews like the ones I conduct,”

Though the form of Galford’s project is still taking shape, her mission is to ensure that any audience can explore and discover CNR’s vibrant past with ease.

“I think the most important job in all of this is to make it accessible to all generations,” Galford said.

She greatly appreciates the support of her supervisors, Mary Ellen Brewick, director of development, and Stephanie Perez, associate director of development. They allow Galford an abundance of creative liberty on the project’s direction while remaining available for collaboration and clarification regarding the minute details of the college’s history.

“The whole reason why this position was created was because there are so many people in the present who still care and want this history to continue being preserved,” Galford said. “I think that’s a very beautiful thing.”