About Us:

The Potlatch Historical Society, in cooperation with the Scenic Six Community Development Council and the City of Potlatch, will preserve and present the unique history of Potlatch and the surrounding area of Latah County, Idaho, through exhibits at the new Potlatch Library (scheduled to be open in 1999). Additionally, the Society is developing a digital archive of historical photos and documents. A spin-off of the digital archiving project is a World Wide Web Site where historical information and digital images (photos and document) will be available, world wide, to anyone with Internet access.

There are literally hundreds of historical photographs and documents that have never been organized, preserved, or cataloged. These photos and documents exist in personal collections, Potlatch City Hall, Latah County Historical Society, and in the Special Collection Section at the University of Idaho. The Society has formed to preserve this history.

Specific goals of the digital archiving project include scanning all available material, indexing, and ultimately making each image available to the public. Photos are scanned at 300 dpi (dots per square inch) and stored in TIFF (Tagged Image File Format). Each image is assigned an Index Number and entered into a MicroSoft Access database. Other information in the database include, Date (month/day/year), Subject, Description, Owner, Donor, File Size, Acquisition Date, and File Name. A "Search" capabilities based on single or multiple criteria make easy work of finding single/multiple images that match the subject desired. For example: If you are looking for all the photos available of "buildings" taken between "1920 and 1930," a "Search" would produce a list of photos that match the request.

This presentation is the first step in organizing and digitally preserving Potlatch's heritage and make it available to the entire world. The "Computer" has opened a vast new opportunity to store and share information.