Graduating this May with a Master of Arts in History, public historian Kate Howk offers the Boise State community a unique glimpse into her process for her research project turned exhibition: “The Story Girl of Priest Lake: Nell Shipman’s Idaho Movieland, 1922–1925.” On display through May 12 in Albertsons Library, the exhibit draws from rich materials in the library’s Special Collections and Archives, and the legacy of Tom Trusky, who recovered many of these materials.
The project began with a spark—an elevator pitch from Cheryl Oestreicher and Gwyn Hervochon, archivists in Special Collections and Archives, who introduced Howk to the pioneering and complicated figure Nell Shipman. A silent film actress and independent filmmaker before Hollywood, Shipman operated a film studio in the Idaho wilderness complete with cast, crew and furry friends until the studio eventually went bankrupt, and Shipman fled. Howk approached research into the subject with interest, and a bit of “heavy-handedness,” at first not being able to fully empathize with Shipman, thinking it selfish and irresponsible of her to bring a whole zoo of animals under-equipped for North Idaho weather to Priest Lake, and then leave them behind.
A turning point came when Howk read Shipman’s memoir, written in a romantic and expressive style. “Good historians let the sources tell the stories for them,” Howk said. This memoir transformed her views on Shipman, still taking into account the problematic nature of some of her actions while also deeply sympathizing with the difficult situation Shipman found herself in, and her desire to persevere and create in spite of it. The memoir, along with personal letters and photographs, gave Howk a foundation to reframe Shipman not as a failed entrepreneur, but as a pioneering woman navigating extraordinary challenges.
Working in close collaboration with archivist and exhibit co-curator Hervochon, Howk shaped the exhibit as a narrative experience, with visual storytelling at its core. The resulting exhibit presents Shipman as a multifaceted figure—an actress, animal rights advocate and filmmaker—whose story includes both admirable and uncomfortable truths. “It’s not my job to make people like Nell,” Howk said. “But it is my job to help them understand her.”
Ultimately, Howk sees the project as more than a research project and foray into public programming. “Maybe not a love letter,” she said, “but an appreciation of the risks Nell took as a woman, mother and naturalist for the sake of her craft.”