The Oneida Pioneer Museum hosted fewer visitors in 2025 than in the past several years although reasons are not known. The Museum had over 500 visitors sign the guest register. Because only one member of a group or family usually signs the guest register, the Museum likely hosted close to 700 visitors. (Past years have seen nearly 900 visitors each year.) The Malad Elementary School’s 3rd grade visited in May, bringing 81additional young visitors to the Museum. 

The Museum opened on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend with its annual Bake Sale and closed on Labor Day. Mary Moss, Bobby Hannah, Maggie Willie, and Kristle Jensen worked as hosts this summer. Many of the Museum Board members volunteered as hosts on at least one day during the summer.

The local camp of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers continued to hold its monthly meetings at the Museum except during the summer. The DUP assisted the Museum by cleaning the main floor in preparation for the opening in May.

The Malad Valley Welsh Festival was again the single event that brought the largest number of visitors (57) to the Museum.  Memorial Day brought 46 visitors to the Museum, many to buy baked goods. 

As shown on the following table, visitors from Malad and Oneida County accounted for 193 of the visitors who signed in (including the 81 3rd graders).  At least 77 visitors came from other places in Idaho. The rest of the visitors came from 20 states (not including Idaho) with 183 coming from Utah. The Museum also hosted visitors from Brazil and Chile. (Some visitors do not indicate their city or state when they sign in.)

TOTAL 600

Malad/Oneida County 193

Idaho 77

Utah 183

Washington 12

Maryland 11

Montana 9

Georgia 8

California, Oregon 7

Iowa 6

Wyoming, New York        5

NC, TX, MN 3

PA, MO, MA 2

NV, NM, FL, VA 1

Brazil 1

Chile 5

The following table indicates the number of visitors during the months when the Museum was officially open in 2025, compared to the past five years:

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

May 41 124 145 117 81 56

June 59 143 259 197 275 139

July 133 173 172 257 145 171

August 86 88 91 95 80 103

September 25 79 25 21 13 22

Other visitors made appointments to tour the Museum during the months when it is closed.

The window display committee of Dotty Evanson, Sharon Harris, Janice Vaughan, and Hailey Sweeten decided to honor the 100th anniversary of the Oneida County Hospital by creating exhibits with medical equipment that had been donated to the Museum and pictures of former hospital buildings.

The tenth annual “Friends of the Museum” campaign had another successful year with 81 supporters of the Museum donating money to assist the Museum in its efforts to preserve the history of Malad and Oneida County. The names of the donors at each level (Annual, Handcart, Covered Wagon, Stagecoach, and Steam Engine) are on a plaque in the Museum. 

The Museum receives annual allocations from Malad City and Oneida County that allow the Museum to hire hosts and to pay for operation of the HVAC system.

Under the direction of Dotty Evanson, the main floor of the Museum underwent extensive changes. The archives, including histories, newspapers, journals, yearbooks, photographs, and miscellaneous items, were sorted into categories. Brent Bowen is assisting the Museum by scanning books and documents so that indexes can eventually be organized.

The back corner of the main floor became “The Welsh Corner,” featuring the Welsh quilt originally created by the Oneida Quilters, the Bard’s Chair, a Welsh flag, and other items to remind visitors of Oneida County’s Welsh origins. 

Maps are available at the Museum to guide visitors to the historic markers located at 20 sites throughout downtown. Additional information about each site is available on the Museum’s website (www.oneidapioneermuseum.org), which is kept up to date by webmaster Liz Kent.

The Museum Board meets at least quarterly to discuss maintenance, operations and ways to improve the Museum. Board members are Chair Jean Thomas, Vice-Chair Bill Lewis, Secretary Nicole Smith, Historian Janice Vaughan, Treasurer Julie Willie, Dotty Evanson, Sharon Harris, Joan Hawkins, Marvin Hess, Lorna Brignone, Sarah Robbins, Hailey Sweeten, and David Gilgen.  

Donations to the Museum of artifacts important to the history of Malad Valley and Oneida County are always welcome. Those wishing to donate an item to the Museum may contact any Board member.  Donors will be asked to sign a Memorandum of Ownership to transfer permanent ownership to the Museum. All donations must be identified as to owner, use, and relationship to Oneida County.