Peek into the life of a teenager in mid-century Moscow

This week, the Latah County Historical Society opened its newest exhibit, “A Portrait of Mid-Century Moscow: The Teenaged Photography of Rick Jones” at the Moscow Chamber of Commerce + Visitor Center. The photographs on display are only a tiny glimpse into what we at LCHS call the Rick Jones Collection: a sprawling stockpile of almost 1,500 negatives taken by Jones as a student in high school and college between 1948 and 1956.

Donated to the Historical Society in 2016 and digitized in 2019 thanks to a grant from the Idaho State Historical Society, very little information was available as to their provenance or background, although it was immediately obvious that they were something special. Eventually, through some creative sleuthing, we were able to find and contact Rick Jones, who graciously shared his background with us, as well as the who/what/where behind many of the photos in the collection.

Jones became a photography enthusiast in the eighth grade while working at Hodgins Drug Store. Throughout his time at Moscow High School and the University of Idaho, he took photos for both school’s newspapers and yearbooks, as well as freelancing for local newspapers and television. His images appeared in a wide variety of publications, including The Idaho Engineer and Life magazine. The latter, published in the November 1954 issue, showed UI football coach Skip Stahley at the moment the Vandals beat Washington State College (now WSU) for the first time in more than 30 years.

This collection is remarkable not only because of its demonstration of Jones’ skill and knowledge of photographic technique, but also because it is such a clear snapshot of life for the average teenager in Moscow, Idaho, during that time. Another especially intriguing element in these photos is that, in many ways, they show a world that just doesn’t exist anymore.

One prime example of this is a series of 17 photos that show an obviously staged bank robbery, train heist and gunfight. According to Jones, these were taken for the April Fools’ edition of the Wocsomonian, the MHS school paper. The group of young men got permission to stage the holdup in and around First Trust & Savings Bank at Third and Main Streets. This included acting out a standoff with actual police officers in the alley behind the building, then moving to the railway station to commandeer a train for an attempted getaway (spoiler alert: things don’t turn out in the robbers’ favor in the end).

The gangsters’ pea coats were loaned by Tri-State Outfitters, then known as a war surplus store, while the Moscow Police Department was kind enough to let them borrow several long guns, handguns and a Thompson submachine gun. The young men later learned that a dentist with an office across the street from the bank was on the verge of grabbing his own gun and running out to help the police before he realized the scene was staged. Imagine anything like this happening today, especially orchestrated by a group of high school kids!

Other notable images in the collection are clearly taken from locations that would be nearly impossible for the average citizen to access today. These include a number of downtown rooftops, including one used to document a 1953 fire in the building right next door. Another series of photos were taken in and around the current “I” water tower at the University of Idaho as it was being built. Visible in the background is the old “I” tower just feet away, with the campus and the city spread out below and Moscow Mountain in the distance.

These images and more will be available for viewing at the Moscow Chamber of Commerce through the month of October, with an Artwalk reception Oct. 17. We are also in the process of getting the entire collection available to view through the LCHS online collections hub. Everyone at the historical society is very excited to share such a fun and fascinating medley of mid-century Moscow.

Pierson works as the office coordinator at the Latah County Historical Society, where she is able to make great use of her own enthusiasm for photography.