Sandra Hansen Honored with 2025 Esto Perpetua Award
On June 5, 2025, Sandra Hansen, of Cambridge, was honored by the Idaho State Historical Society (ISHS) with the Esto Perpetua Award, at the Idaho State Museum in Boise. This award was given in recognition of Sandra’s many years of dedicated service to the Cambridge Museum.
The ISHS Website explains more about this award, “This special award takes its name from Idaho’s state motto, meaning “Let It Be Perpetual.” This award honors those whose work ensures that Idaho’s rich history is preserved, shared, and celebrated for generations to come. Since the award was created in 1999, ISHS has recognized the inspiring local preservation efforts of more than 200 individuals and organizations throughout the Gem State. The work of an Esto Perpetua awardee reflects dedication, commitment, and passion for Idaho and it’s history.”
Sandra worked at the Cambridge Museum for over 40 years. The story of how Sandra would become museum director, began as her youngest son was about to graduate from high school. Sandra and her husband Norman would soon become empty nesters and she wanted something to do in the community. Unsure of what she wanted to do, she prayed for guidance.
It wasn’t long before Sandra was in town touring the museum. The museum building had been donated to the City of Cambridge by the Burgess brothers, Elmer and Floyd. As Sandra walked through the museum she was impressed with the available artifacts. Soon after touring the museum, she went to the bank and ran into Jo Soules, who was a bank employee and also on the city council. Sandra asked Jo, “When does the city plan to open the museum?” Sandra then went on to tell Jo how impressed she was with the museum artifacts. At this point, Jo looked at Sandra and said, “How would you like to do it?” Sandra’s first thought was that she wasn’t qualified for such an undertaking.
During this time, Thel Pearson, who was in charge of recruiting volunteers for the museum, prepared a grant application to fund an internship for the museum director position. Before Sandra knew it, she was headed to Boise for three weeks of training. Even though she was petrified, she thought it would be an interesting training. At the training, she met Ken Swanson, who was in charge of the Boise Museum. Ken took Sandra under his wing, telling her he would teach her what she needed to know. She told him, what she really wanted to know was, “What not to do.” During this training she would find her cup of tea to be genealogy.
After returning home from the 1983 training, Sandra used the local paper to let the community know what the plans were for the museum. She said the perfect number of people applied. Each of these volunteers had individual talents, that fit in perfectly with the goals of the program. Sandra stressed that these volunteers were fantastic people who were willing to do anything. The Cambridge Museum had its grand opening in August of 1984.
Through the years Sandra and the museum volunteers wrote four books based on the area. These books are one of the things that she is most proud of. These four books are titled, They Came Before Us. The four volumes cover 1862-1874, 1875-1884, 1885-1900, and Advent Gulch. There’s an additional book that the museum was given permission to reprint titled, Saga of Salubria & History of Washington County Revisited. The introduction to this book explains, “This book is actually the reprinting of two books written and published about 1950. The Saga of Salubria by Mickey Aitken, and The History of Washington County by Judge Frank Harris.” The book was reprinted exactly how it was written, with additional pictures added by the museum volunteers. All of these beautiful books are available for purchase at the Cambridge Museum. One interesting fact about the series was that there were no authors named in any of the They Came Before Us books. Sandra said that it was a group effort and it would have been too hard to give credit to just a few people.
Sandra enjoyed the awards ceremony, with its amazing food, speakers and introductions. Governor Little and Senator Jim Risch were both in attendance. She said that she felt honored to be acknowledged by the ISHS. She was presented with a beautiful glass plaque along with other special items commemorating her Esto Perpetua award.
Our community has been blessed to have a museum director, who has given over 40 years to our local community and museum. Sandra retired as the museum director in the fall of 2024, but will continue to go to the museum to find items for the new director and be a gopher for a while.
