Pete Cenarrusa
Retired Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa, a Basque American who served more years of elected office in Idaho than anyone else, is giving his personal and political papers to Boise State University.
The collection includes tens of thousands of items, including letters, photos, reports, clippings and other memorabilia. Boise State library administrators say it will take about a year to catalog.
The 91-year-old held a state office uninterrupted for five decades. Cenarrusa served in the Idaho House from 1950-1967, when he was chosen to replace then-Secretary of State Edson Deal, who died in office.
Cenarrusa, the son of Basque immigrants, was Idaho Secretary of State until 2003.
Some parts of his collection will be included in a database the university created last year after expanding its collection of Basque literature, making it globally accessible.
The Basques are an ethnic minority that began immigrating to the United States from its homeland on the Spanish-French border during the 1880s.
An estimated 15,000 Basques live in Idaho, making up the third-largest Basque concentration in the world after an enclave in Argentina and the Basque homeland located where the Pyrenees Mountains separate Spain from France.
Boise State has a Basque studies program, which was created in collaboration with Cenarrusa and his wife, Freda.
Cenarrusa began moving his personal and political papers to Boise State University in 2004. (AP)
