Small business--Management

Scope and Contents From the Collection:

This collection contains recorded interviews with Boise citizens. Notable topics include Boise Bench history, Greenbelt history, Foothills Levy history, Boise Fire Department history, Boise Police Department history, and personal and political histories of former mayors and councilmembers.

Abstract In an interview with Elizabeth Stadley on March 12, 2014, Angela Stewart discusses her letterpress and screen-printing business, Ladybug Press, her experience as a small business owner in Boise, and the product she created as a participant in the Boise 150 project to celebrate Boise’s sesquicentennial. Angela Steward describes how she transitioned from being a corporate designer to finding her love of letterpress and discovering a desire to make her own products. Ladybug Press...

Content Description

This collection documents the activities of the Ashley Sign Company business from 1910-1973. The collection also includes a small set of Arthur E. Ashley’s personal records, and Arthur A. Ashley’s sign business which he operated prior to purchasing his father’s business.

Two photographs from the donor’s business, Idaho Electric Signs, are included in the collection.

Abstract In an interview with Brandi Burns on July 22, 2009, James and Oliver Baxter discuss their family’s ownership of the Baxter Foundry. James and Oliver’s great-grandfather, James Baxter, had a background in mining which brought him to Idaho. He opened the foundry to manufacture mining equipment at the end of Warm Spring Avenue, initially naming it the Boise Iron and Reduction Works. The business was then moved to a location on Capitol Boulevard where it expanded and was eventually renamed...

Abstract Benton “Ben” Wetzel was born August 22, 1939, he is the son of Wilma Dorsey and Kenneth “Bud” Wetzel. He lived with his mother on 27th and Idaho until age 10 when he moved into his father’s home on South Phillippi. He discusses what Phillippi looked like in the late 1940s and 1950s, the businesses that were present, and his life there. He attended Park School at 16th and Main, Whittier Elementary, attended his first year of junior high at old Franklin School before moving to West Junior High...

Content Description

This collection contains correspondence, newspaper articles, art supplies, pamphlets, newsletters, maps, catalogs, photographic prints, and advertisements.

Abstract

In an interview with Brandi Burns and Terri Schulzman on October 27, 2011, and in a second interview with Brandi Burns on November 7, 2011, Robert A. Johnson discusses his employment history at Boise Sash and Door Factory and his ownership of Boise Wood Products. He describes his experience working in the wood product industry in Boise beginning around 1945, the various men and businesses he worked with, and how he came to own Boise Wood Products.

Abstract In three interviews with Brandi Burns on March 1, 2018, March 26, 2018, and March 28, 2018 Marilyn and Kelly Bickle discuss their family’s photography business, Burns Studio. They detail the history of various family members, how they got into photography, and how the Burns Studio was built. The Bickles describe different photography techniques, education, and what life was like as a photographer working from 1910 to 2012. They discuss the challenges and adaptations they experienced as...

Abstract

In an interview with Elizabeth Stadley on March 5, 2014, Carlyn Blake discusses her business Useful Glassworks and involvement in the Boise 150 Merchant Program. Useful Glassworks was founded by Lisa Scales with the mission to increase glass recycling in Boise and help former female inmates job train and obtain stability.

Carlyn describes how the business grew and her experience as part of Boise’s small business community.

Abstract

Glenn Compton discusses his family history, and how their business, Compton Transfer and Storage Company, began in 1902. He recounts what the four warehouse locations in downtown Boise were like in the 1940s and 1950s, and how the company expanded. Glenn also discusses his life growing up in Boise, and how the city has developed.