It’s science, it’s history ...it’s a potato

The Spectacular Spud Museum has a uniquely Idaho name, but don’t expect a shrine to Idaho’s famous tubers that get made into french fries, tater tots or hash browns. The Spectacular Spud Museum is all about learning about everything from NASA to fish fossils.

The museum sits in the shed in the backyard of founder and administrator Erin Keuter Laughlin. She describes the nonprofit museum as devoted to “eclectic education.” She said she wants to provide support for children’s education.

“So much is lacking in schools that I used to have,” she said. “It was so much more hands on. We were outdoors more.”

She recalls a childhood where she made mud pies, caught insects and made an ant farm out of an empty Nestle Quik can.

“I was able to roam free on 20 acres,” she said. “I just want kids to have fun, like I had fun.”

She started the museum in 2007 in honor of her brother after he passed away. It became a nonprofit five years ago. While it’s not devoted to potatoes, it does have a Spokes Spud, a Mrs. Potato Head wearing a lab coat, granny glasses and a beehive hairdo. She comes along anytime museum volunteers take museum materials to a classroom.

“This is Professor Beatrice Beehive,” she said. “She goes around with us.”

Keuter Laughlin said she has a little bit of everything in her exhibits.

“It’s science, it’s history,” she said. “Call it STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and science). We have virtual reality kits.”

The museum has offered an online resource library for years on its website, Spectacularspudmuseum.com, to teachers who want to use information on everything from spiders to meteorology in their classrooms.

“Anytime they want to stop in from the classroom, they have access,” she said.

One of her goals is to expose children to things they might not get to see locally, Keuter Laughlin said.

“Not every child gets to leave Idaho,” she said. “It’s a fun world out there.”

Being exposed to a wide variety of information allows children to explore what they’re good at and what they’re interested in and passionate about, she said. It can help them determine what they want to be when they grow up.

“Trades are important, too,” she said. “I think every kid has a fit out there.”

Russell Merriman is the vice president of the museum’s board of directors. He said he met Keuter Laughlin and her husband through work and became involved in the museum after attending a few board meetings. He has a background in chemistry and is working on a food science degree, so the focus on education appealed to him.

“I love science and really it was everything nerdy and sciency and everything I adore,” he said. “I like how it provides an opportunity for kids to grown and learn.”

He agrees that education needs community support, particularly when it comes to opportunities for hands-on learning.

“I’m very much a hands-on learner,” he said. “I’ve seen how the kids interact with exhibits we have and how they light up.”

He said he has loved the experience of serving on the board for the last several years.

“I just help support the museum in any way that I can,” he said.

Last August, the museum moved into the shed in Keuter Laughlin’s yard. She has a large storage unit and half a basement full of exhibits that rotate through the museum, which is only open by appointment right now.

“We did shut down for the winter,” she said. “It’s cold and there’s no power. We can still keep our virtual pages open.”

Once a little more finishing work is completed on the shed, Keuter Laughlin hopes to set regular hours and host field trips later this year.

“We’ve just exited virtual and hit reality,” she said.

There’s more reality in the future, though Keuter Laughlin said she’s being careful to only expand as much as donations will support. Eventually she’d like to find a spot for the museum that’s not in her backyard and that could lead to actual spuds. “When we get more property, we want to bring in indigenous potatoes and grow them,” she said.