During August and September 1999, Troy Reeves, the director of the IOHC, interviewed the lion's share of the narrators for the Boise High School Oral History Project. This project, which was his first as the state's oral historian, began with the urging and assistance of Tony Miranda, who was working on a master's degree project, creating an historical archive at Boise High School. This project concluded with 17 interviews (22 narrators), focusing on Boise, Idaho, and Boise High School, particularly the time period between the 1930s and 1940s.

Most narrators, when asked about Boise in the 1930s and 1940s, remembered how small it seemed, especially compared to today's city. These men and women spoke of a town between 20 and 25,000 thousand people, where the faces they saw almost always looked familiar. One couple -- William and Mary Hart -- told a story that depicted that change in Boise perfectly. Recently, while watching a football game at Boise State University, the announcer gave the attendance at over 20,000 people. The Hart's realized that the number of people in Bronco Stadium roughly equaled the number of people who lived in Boise when they were growing up in the late 1930s.

Besides stories about Boise's small-town feel, these narrators also recalled the city's nightlife. Particularly, almost all of these people told their anecdotes about the town's numerous downtown movie theaters. While in school, these students watched not only feature films but also newsreels, serials, and live entertainment at such places as the Ada, Granada, Lyric, Pinney, Rialto, and Rio. These Boise High alumni spun several yarns about these theaters, including working at them -- one particular narrator's job at a theater was short-lived; he refused to let in the theater's manager because he did not have a ticket -- sneaking several friends into the movie on one ticket, and playing hooky to watch Gone with the Wind.

Along with movie theaters, eating establishments also sparked several stories. One, in particular, concerned the Mechanafe. This eatery allowed people to pay one fee and choose what (and how much) food to eat. Food passed through the establishment on conveyor belts, allowing patrons to pluck poultry or pastry or whatever they could. On steak night, according to one narrator, people would sit close to the front of the conveyor belt to get the steaks as they entered the dining room, because the meat would not last long. Besides the Mechanafe these narrators also mentioned other restaurants or diners, including the College Inn, The Cherry Blossom, and Murray's Curb Service, none of which exist today.

The another interesting tale from a narrator concerned the sit-down strike held by some students during the spring of 1937. The oral historian found no mention of the event while conducting background research in the school's newspapers and yearbook. Fortunately his first interview was with William and Dortha Anderson, a couple who attended and dated during their time at Boise High School. Near the end of the interview, William asked Reeves what he knew about the sit-down strike. After Reeves told him he knew nothing about it, Anderson told a tale about rebellion, punishment, negotiation, and capitulation. To summarize the story he told, a student, who he wished not to name (Charles Lenfest), crashed the "Co-Ed (actually female only) Ball" and received a stern rebuke from the principal, Lenfest was removed from an elected position. A large number of students protested this by not attending class and sitting out on the school's lawn. The students and administration agreed to let this young man serve in the position that the students elected him to.

From this story the oral historian asked other narrators who went to high school at the same time about this strike. Reeves got a number of stories that varied greatly from person to person, including at least one person who did not remember the event at all. He also checked Boise's newspapers -- Idaho Statesman and Capitol News -- during March and April 1937 for mention of this event. After searching through all of March and most of April, he finally found an article in the Sunday Statesman on April 18, 1937, about the "Co-Ed Ball." Three days' later articles appeared in both Boise papers for three consecutive days about the sit-down strike at Boise High. These articles described the strike differently than William Anderson did. According to the newspaper articles, Charles Lenfest's name was removed from the ballot as student body treasurer for "unknown reasons." Between 20 and 30 students protested by sitting on the grass and toting protest signs. The student body president reached an agreement with the striking students, which stopped the disturbance and stopped the principal from expelling the rabble-rousers. The protestors, instead of skipping more classes, wrote a petition asking for more student input in the administration's decisions. A counter-petition, signed by the student council, claimed that they "resent the policies of a small group of students... [who are] attempting to create agitation in our school." This article ended with the note that the "leaders of the sit-down movement had announced an end to all such drastic action pending action by the school board on the[ir] petition" ( Idaho Statesman, 4/23/1937, 11).

The story behind the sit-down strike, even this brief, incomplete version offered an excellent example of the strengths and weaknesses of oral history. It was an oral history interview with Bill and Dortha Anderson that allowed me to find out about the disturbance. Other interviews provided additional information. However, sixty-plus years had changed the story for some and even erased it from others. The newspaper articles furnished a nice overview of the event and put it into a specific time frame. The newspaper articles stopped before the event reached a conclusion and never told why the principal removed Lenfest's name from the ballot. The combination of the oral and written evidence offered a better picture of the strike than either could by themselves.