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Museum Hours:
The Melba Valley Museum opens for the 2021 season on Saturday, May 1st. The Museum is open every Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., May through October. The Museum is closed November - April, except by appointment. We're happy to make special arrangements for out-of-town guests, class reunions, school tours or family events; contact a member of the board to make arrangements.
Special Events:
Melba Olde Tyme 4th of July (tentative)
Lecture Series:
The Melba Valley Historical Society offers a lecture series on topics of local historical interest on the 2nd Thursday of each month at the Melba Senior Center (115 Base Line Road). Lectures begin after lunch (about 1:00) and generally last 30-45 minutes. (If you would like to come for lunch at 12:00, the suggested donation is $4.00 for those 60 and older, and $5.00 under 60.) Lectures will not be held in November-February and July.
Please note: the Melba Senior Center is temporarily closed; stay tuned for more information.
2019 lectures: Philip Gardner and the Gardner family; Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson and early Melba settlers; ice cream social in collaboration with Community Baptist Church of Melba; 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. at the museum and church; and "World War II and Pearl Harbor: The Impact on Melba," researched and written by Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson, presented by Deborah Taylor
2018 lectures: Beverly Wylie Robinson: slide show about the Melba Valley Museum; Madge Cook Wylie: history of the Bowmont community; Linda Morton-Keithley: my trip to the Basque Country; Barbara Perry Bauer, co-author of "Treasure Valley's Electric Railway;" Robert Miller: music in Melba; Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson: military veterans of Melba; Ruth Parsons: Parsons family and Boise Foundry
2017 lectures: Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson on Melba's Convict Hill; Don Zuhlke on his new book, The Map Rock of Idaho Decoded; Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson and the sheep industry in the Melba Valley; Brian McCormick on the history of the Melba Fire Department; "The Civilian Conservation Corps in Idaho: What Did They Do?" by Linda Morton-Keithley; and Idaho Magazine editor/publisher Kitty Fleischman
2016 lectures: Madge Wylie and members of the American Legion Auxiliary on history of Melba's Divin-Slonecker American Legion Post #126; Eriks Garsvo and Melba's relationship to the railroad; Steve Strom and "Trials and Tribulations of an Airplane Mechanic"; Annie Gavica, executive director of the Basque Museum & Cultural Center (Boise), on Basque immigration to Idaho; Rich Ellis, associate pastor of the Melba Friends Church, on the history of the Melba Friends Church; Afine Relk and growing up in Holland prior to World War II
2015 lectures: John Kannegaard, who arrived in what would become the Melba area in 1908 (the town was platted in 1912), by Kurt Greenfield; Les Tanner, contributing author and editor at Idaho Magazine; history of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Melba by Patty Herman; how and why you should do your own family history by Jay Young; history of the Melba Ward LDS Church by Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson; history of Melba's Community Baptist Church by Ruth Parsons; "Canyon County Celebration: This Land of Ours...This Land of Yours" by Patrick Quinn.
2014 lectures: The Bean Business in Melba by Brent Zeyer; History of the IOOF Lodge by Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson, Abraham Lincoln's Connection to Idaho by David Leroy; Melba History by Madge Cook Wylie; Vance Leavitt, Town Blacksmith by Reese and Grant Leavitt; Air Force Career by Steve Miller, AF retired; History of the Melba Gun Club by Lou Mower; Walter's Butte Grange History by Rosie Peck; and Crookham Seed Company and Melba Farmers by Bill Crookham.
2013 lectures: Map Rock and Old Doc Hisom, Melba hermit by Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson; Walter's Ferry, the Swayne Museum and Cleo's Nature trail by Betty Swayne Keith; Historical Cowgirl Society by Brandi Krajnik; Crossroads Transportation Museum by Tom Bicak and Kathy Kerschner, Harry Charters, Melba Cowboy by Dennis Charters; Idaho Territorial and State History by Martin Peterson; and The Webb Family in Melba by E.L. "Ted" Webb, Jr.
Board of Directors:
The Board meets at the Museum on the 4th Tuesday of the month (except November and December) at 1:00 p.m. Members are welcome to attend.
Updated 1/21/2021
Museum Hours:
The Melba Valley Museum opens for the 2021 season on Saturday, May 1st. The Museum is open every Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., May through October. The Museum is closed November - April, except by appointment. We're happy to make special arrangements for out-of-town guests, class reunions, school tours or family events; contact a member of the board to make arrangements.
Special Events:
Melba Olde Tyme 4th of July (tentative)
Lecture Series:
The Melba Valley Historical Society offers a lecture series on topics of local historical interest on the 2nd Thursday of each month at the Melba Senior Center (115 Base Line Road). Lectures begin after lunch (about 1:00) and generally last 30-45 minutes. (If you would like to come for lunch at 12:00, the suggested donation is $4.00 for those 60 and older, and $5.00 under 60.) Lectures will not be held in November-February and July.
Please note: the Melba Senior Center is temporarily closed; stay tuned for more information.
2019 lectures: Philip Gardner and the Gardner family; Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson and early Melba settlers; ice cream social in collaboration with Community Baptist Church of Melba; 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. at the museum and church; and "World War II and Pearl Harbor: The Impact on Melba," researched and written by Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson, presented by Deborah Taylor
2018 lectures: Beverly Wylie Robinson: slide show about the Melba Valley Museum; Madge Cook Wylie: history of the Bowmont community; Linda Morton-Keithley: my trip to the Basque Country; Barbara Perry Bauer, co-author of "Treasure Valley's Electric Railway;" Robert Miller: music in Melba; Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson: military veterans of Melba; Ruth Parsons: Parsons family and Boise Foundry
2017 lectures: Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson on Melba's Convict Hill; Don Zuhlke on his new book, The Map Rock of Idaho Decoded; Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson and the sheep industry in the Melba Valley; Brian McCormick on the history of the Melba Fire Department; "The Civilian Conservation Corps in Idaho: What Did They Do?" by Linda Morton-Keithley; and Idaho Magazine editor/publisher Kitty Fleischman
2016 lectures: Madge Wylie and members of the American Legion Auxiliary on history of Melba's Divin-Slonecker American Legion Post #126; Eriks Garsvo and Melba's relationship to the railroad; Steve Strom and "Trials and Tribulations of an Airplane Mechanic"; Annie Gavica, executive director of the Basque Museum & Cultural Center (Boise), on Basque immigration to Idaho; Rich Ellis, associate pastor of the Melba Friends Church, on the history of the Melba Friends Church; Afine Relk and growing up in Holland prior to World War II
2015 lectures: John Kannegaard, who arrived in what would become the Melba area in 1908 (the town was platted in 1912), by Kurt Greenfield; Les Tanner, contributing author and editor at Idaho Magazine; history of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Melba by Patty Herman; how and why you should do your own family history by Jay Young; history of the Melba Ward LDS Church by Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson; history of Melba's Community Baptist Church by Ruth Parsons; "Canyon County Celebration: This Land of Ours...This Land of Yours" by Patrick Quinn.
2014 lectures: The Bean Business in Melba by Brent Zeyer; History of the IOOF Lodge by Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson, Abraham Lincoln's Connection to Idaho by David Leroy; Melba History by Madge Cook Wylie; Vance Leavitt, Town Blacksmith by Reese and Grant Leavitt; Air Force Career by Steve Miller, AF retired; History of the Melba Gun Club by Lou Mower; Walter's Butte Grange History by Rosie Peck; and Crookham Seed Company and Melba Farmers by Bill Crookham.
2013 lectures: Map Rock and Old Doc Hisom, Melba hermit by Ann Pettijohn Tomlinson; Walter's Ferry, the Swayne Museum and Cleo's Nature trail by Betty Swayne Keith; Historical Cowgirl Society by Brandi Krajnik; Crossroads Transportation Museum by Tom Bicak and Kathy Kerschner, Harry Charters, Melba Cowboy by Dennis Charters; Idaho Territorial and State History by Martin Peterson; and The Webb Family in Melba by E.L. "Ted" Webb, Jr.
Board of Directors:
The Board meets at the Museum on the 4th Tuesday of the month (except November and December) at 1:00 p.m. Members are welcome to attend.
Updated 1/21/2021
