Research

Research your history at the Museum

The Bonner County Historical Museum houses and continually adds to an extensive collection of research and archival materials which are available for public research with assistance from museum staff. The collection consists of county newspapers from 1899, maps, reference books, geneaological materials, oral histories, government documents, and 30,000+ historical photographs of Bonner County.
 
The Museum welcomes donations of photographs and documents relating to the history of Bonner County. Photographs can also be copied by museum staff and the original returned to the owner. Every donation adds to the historical record of northern Idaho and ensures that your family history in Bonner County will be preserved in perpetuity. 

We are happy to receive requests for research to be conducted by our staff. Those who cannot visit the archive in person can either write a letter or email the museum. Include complete information about the requested search. Please be specific about what information it is that you are requesting. Also include any background information that may be helpful to our researchers. 

If you visit the Museum in person, the cost of research is the regular admission fee plus the cost of any copies or reproductions you have made.  

If you send us a research request by mail or email, the research fees are $5.00 per obituary request and for all other requests $15.00 per hour for Idaho residents and $30.00 for non-residents. There are additional fees for image reproductions and photocopied materials.  Payment must be received before any materials are mailed. 

 Please send your request to:
bchs@frontier.com
 or
 Bonner County Historical Museum
 611 South Ella Avenue
 Sandpoint, Idaho 83864 

♦ BCHM is currently undertaking a multi-year project to create basic indexes of its archival collections. For more information about this project and to view indexes in progress, please visit the Archives page.