Category Archives: History Exhibits

Local History Exhibits by Snohomish County Heritage Groups

MALSTROM AWARD Nominations for 2011

Five nominations were received for the 2011 Malstrom Award. Each is an excellent entry and, as always, nominees reflect only a small portion of the worthy projects done last year by our LOSCHO groups. Those nominated break new ground in research and interpretation of Snohomish County history. The order of the projects listed below is random. This year’s judge will be Eric Taylor, Heritage Lead for 4Culture of King County.  The award will be announced and presented on March 17th at the Heritage Day & Malstrom Luncheon.

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Project Name: Interpretive Displays at Heritage Park Museum. (Interpretive Museum Displays) Sponsor: Alderwood Manor Heritage Association.

Description: The group recreated rooms in the upper floor of the Wickers building where the Wicker’s family once lived upstairs when it was their Alderwood Mercantile (Wickers Store) The exhibit includes stories of the Wickers Building and other buildings in Heritage Park. Lynnwood is located in an area that was originally called Alderwood Manor. Alderwood Manor was a planned community built by the Puget Mill Company after they logged off more than 6,000 acres prior to the 1920s.  The project was a collaboration between AMHA, Sno-Isle Genealogical Society and the City of Lynnwood.

Project Name: Stuck In the Mud, The History of Warm Beach Washington by Penny Hutchison Buse. (a print publication) Sponsor:  Stanwood Area Historical Society

Stuck in the Mud - A History of Warm Beach

Description: Stuck in the Mud: The History of Warm Beach, Washington is the first and only history of Warm Beach and is a substantial contribution to Snohomish County and regional history covering the place’s geography, biology, early explorers, the Port Susan Logging Company, Standard Oil, the building of a small town, the colorful people who made it happen and much more. Penny has done decades of research but Warm Beach is clearly “her place” and she brings much of her personal experience to the work. The book is an excellent read: 363 pages in length and illustrated with black and white and color images, published in 2011 by Penny Hutchison Buse, Fairwinds Writings at mARiTime, printed by Snohomish Publishing Company. While the book itself is a treasure, Penny has taken no money for its sale and has instead offered it as a fundraiser to the Stanwood Area Historical Society and other heritage groups.

 

Project Name: Chirouse: The Reverend Father Eugene Casimir Chirouse, Pioneer in Oregon and Washington Territories by Betty Gaeng. (a print and online publication).    Nomination by Sno-Isle Genealogical Society.

Description: CHIROUSE tells the story of Father Eugene Casimir Chirouse, O.M.I, a Catholic missionary whose life journey took him from his home country of France to the newly developing Oregon Territory (what became eastern Washington), the Puget Sound region, Tulalip and finally British Columbia. He is best remembered for his work among the Coast Salish of the Puget Sound region, particularly 21 years at the Tulalip Reservation. In Betty’s research, she has uncovered and presented information previously unknown to readers. and offers this writing as both a printed book and online publication http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wasigs/chirouse.htm

Granite Falls Record (newspaper)Project Name: Converting Historic Newspapers into Research Assets. Sponsor: Granite Falls Historical Society. Fred Cruger, Project Director.

Description: Granite Falls Historical Society undertook a newspaper digitization project beginning in 2010 and completed in 2011. 10,000 pages of Granite Falls newspapers (1922-1970s) were converted into text-searchable electronic files, making it possible to easily retrieve mentions of a particular family, business, or topic, whether in news articles, social columns, editorials, or advertisements. The project was done through Small Town Newspapers and funded in part with two grants from the Snohomish County Heritage Preservation Commission, the remainder of the funds provided by Granite Falls Historical Society

Vietnam RememberedProject Name: Monroe 2011 Veterans Day Event and Exhibit. Sponsor: Monroe Historical Society. Project Manager Butch Ohlsen.

Project Description: This year local veteran Butch Ohlsen and the Monroe Historical Society held a special Veterans Day remembrance. The day also marked the opening of the exhibit “Vietnam Remembered: Veterans Stories” in the Monroe Historical Museum, curated by Ohlsen and Chris Bee . Publicity about the event and exhibit, produced by Historical Society member Tami Beaumont , brought a crowd of nearly 400 people who braved a miserable cold, windy, rainy afternoon for the hour-long ceremony, after which about 100 visitors crowded into the museum to see the new exhibit. Vets who had never talked about their service, even to family members, opened up with each other that afternoon. The exhibit brought to light items that soldiers carried home from Vietnam, most of which had been packed away and forgotten for 45 years. Those items were joined by memorabilia saved by the families. Oral histories document survivors’ stories. Notebooks containing photos and documents for each soldier rounded out the exhibit.

 

Announcing – Snohomish County Heritage Day and Malstrom Award Luncheon

Save the Date –Saturday March 17th, 2012
9 am – 3 pm
Floyd Norgaard Cultural Center   27130 102nd Ave NW    Stanwood WA

The League of Snohomish County Heritage Organizations Board has decided to expand its traditional Malstrom Awards Luncheon to include more opportunities for sharing ideas on history projects in and around Snohomish County. Volunteers, staff, board members, docents of our local heritage groups are invited to participate in several workshops and meetings for heritage organizations.  The workshops are designed as refreshers and to do some brainstorming on new ideas for historic preservation, exhibits, programming, education and school projects, genealogy and collections management.

Topics of the workshops include sponsorships/fund- raising, “High Tech History from Granite Falls, school programs (history day), historic preservation, mobile museums, exhibits, Snohomish County Mapping Project, volunteer recruitment, working with Past Perfect and collection management.
Heritage groups and individuals are invited to bring tabletop displays of recent projects and publications to sell.  Tables will be available around the perimeter of the main hall so all who attend will have a chance to converse informally with each other.

There is sure to be more than one topic here of interest to board members, staff, researchers, writers, volunteers and docents of our heritage groups of Snohomish County and surrounding counties. Details and registration information are now posted here.

Special thanks to the Stanwood Area Historical Society for hosting this event at their wonderful historic buildings – the D. O. Pearson House, the Floyd Norgaard Cultural Center (former Public Hall) and History Museum.

Special note:
The League Board Annual Meeting for Board member elections will be held January 9th 2012 at10 am. All League members and more than one representative from each group are encouraged to join us at this meeting also in Stanwood at the Floyd. Nominations are open for new League Board members.

The Malstrom Award Nominations for projects completed in 2011 will be due Friday January 20th, 2012.

Hibulb Cultural Center, Tulalip

From Margaret RiddleLonghouse at Hibulb Cultural Center

Longhouse at Hibulb Cultural Center

Special Introduction from Margaret Riddle —

Decades in the planning, Tulalip’s Hibulb Cultural Center opened on Friday August 19, 2011 to Tribal members and invited guests and to the general public on the 20th and 21st.  My husband and I attended on Saturday with Snohomish County Museum Director Barbara George and, simply said, the museum is really impressive—very modern in display concept and the spaciousness of the interior made me feel as though I was in a natural setting.  Even the entrance walkway appears to be a stream.

Entering the main museum space, we were greeted with bays that told the stories of two friends: cedar and salmon.  Both displays were very moving.  Continuing on, we read about glacial retreat, the land bridge, archaeology and Indian whaling.  Then we were reminded of the sad story of the Point Elliott Treaty, the loss of a way of life and the tragedy of the Indian Boarding School, where, in Harriette Shelton Dover Williams’ words, the day consisted mostly of “Marching, Marching, Marching.”  All of the displays include Lushootseed text.

Walking through the museum I had a strong sense of the spirit and history of the Tulalip Tribes, clearly told in their own words.  Literally so since oral history audio and video accompany many of the displays.  Best perhaps with “Warriors: We Remember,” an exhibit that honors men and women who participated in our country’s various wars.  I linger here for some time, watching video oral histories—personal stories of tribal warriors who served, interspersed with actual war footage.  On the walls nearby were the oval portraits of many who served as well as portraits of Gold Star women, mothers of World War I dead.

At the end of the main hallway is a cedar longhouse which is built into the museum.  You can watch a video about the history of the longhouse and the role it has played in the lives of the Coast Salish.  I was continually drawn to the fine craftsmanship of the structure, the smell of the cedar and the art of the story poles.  Throughout the museum there are works of contemporary artists in the building itself, story poles, carvings and art-stenciled window etchings.

The Tulalips have dreamed of this place for many years and Director Hank Gobin and his staff (Melissa Parr, Inez Bill, Joy Lacey, Jaedean Jess, Lita Sheldon Mowrer, Tessa Campbell, Richard Young and Gene Enick) has worked to make it happen but it only became a reality when the Tribes gave $19 million to build the 23,000 square foot cultural center, a 10,000 square foot collections wing, and a 42 acre natural history preserve.  This is an important place.  The Tulalips have not only built a great museum but a gathering place with classrooms and meeting space where they can share their knowledge and stories with one another, a place where they can rediscover their traditions and share them with their children and all of us. For info about visiting see

http://www.hibulbculturalcenter.org/