Informing Policy and Responding to Crisis

Abstract

This article explores historians’ role in shaping public policy amid crises through the programs of the Idaho State Historical Society (ISHS). ISHS navigated the post-2008 recession, aligning with the History Relevance Campaign to redefine history’s societal value and develop a legislative outreach program. This article encapsulates the ISHS’s journey and history’s power—through the agency’s new briefing paper program—to inform, unite, guide policy, and promote informed governance. The article describes the author’s workflow, which features traditional research methodology and adaptable project management philosophies and stresses the value of searchable research libraries as a framework for historians to manage multiple projects.