MSS 244

Forty-Five Years of Studies, Plans, and Reports Addressing the Growth
of Boise and Ada County

Collected by Charles F. Hummel

The bulk of this collection consists of 49 published studies, plans, and reports documenting the City of Boise's efforts to plan for growth and development in the latter half of the twentieth century.  They were donated to Boise State University in 2005 by Charles F. Hummel, now retired, who has had a long and distinguished career as an architect in Idaho's capital city.   Most of the publications were issued by local governmental and quasi-governmental bodies, and address the usual planning concerns of a growing metropolitan area: zoning, commercial development, transportation, etc., with a particular emphasis on the issues of downtown redevelopment and revitalization, proposals to build a regional mall outside of the city center, and residential expansion into the Boise Foothills.  The collection also contains several folders of papers relating to Hummel's work as a consultant for the Mayor's Select Committee on Downtown Redevelopment in 1982.  That committee attempted to reformulate a strategy that would save the downtown commercial center from eclipse by suburban shopping opportunities.

Charles Frederick Hummel was born in Boise in 1925 to a family of distinguished architects.  His grandfather's firm designed the Idaho State Capitol; his father designed Boise's Egyptian Theatre.  Hummel attended Boise Junior College, received a bachelors degree from Catholic University and a masters from Columbia University, and spent his career in Boise in partnership with his father and uncle Frank and then with Chet Shawver in the firm now known as Hummel Architects.  He is a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving with the U.S. Army in France during World War II and with the Army Corps of Engineers during the Korean conflict.  The many buildings he has designed include the federal courthouse in Boise and the original library building for Boise Junior College (1964).  In addition to his work as an architect, Hummel has been an active participant in the civic affairs of his home town.  He was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Governor's Awards in the Arts program in 2006.

This finding aid is divided into two sections: a list of the titles of the studies, plans, and reports donated by Mr. Hummel, followed by a listing of the papers relating to his work with the Mayor's Select Committee on Downtown Development. 

A closely related collection is MSS 250 (Boise Redevelopment Agency documents), containing documents issued by both the BRA and the private companies proposing development projects.  Together with the governmental reports in this collection, they offer a large trove of primary source material about planning and development in Boise from the 1950s to the turn of the century.

In 2005, Boise historian J.M. Neil conducted several hours of interviews with Charles F. Hummel.  Mr. Neil presented copies of his tape recordings (7 recordings) to Boise State University.  They are kept in Special Collections as oral history collection OH-59.

Collection Number:  MSS 244
Inclusive dates:  1957-2002
Size of collection: ca. 2 ft. in 5 boxes
Processed by:  Alan Virta, 2006

List of Documents

This is a listing of the titles donated to the Special Collections Department by Charles F. Hummel in 2005.  They are listed chronologically in three categories:  General plans, Downtown Boise, and the Foothills. The titles of the works are in italics, following the name of the corporate author or issuing authority.  The location within Special Collections is denoted in smaller type, and will refer to either a Box number within the Hummel collection or a call number in the book collections; or both if the Library holds multiple copies.

General Plans