Here's to the Children!

Tomorrow's the BIG Day, the opening of our 42nd season of service from our location here in beautiful Fort Walla Walla park. We already have something approaching 2,000 participants booked for the admission-free school tour program this spring. The program is open to public, private, and home schools and is generously sponsored by Pacific Power Foundation;Boise, Inc's Wallula Mill; The Blue Mountain Area Foundation; the J.L. Stubblefield Trust; and the Bonnie Braden Trust.

Most years we get kids from across Washington and Oregon, as well as from Idaho. As school budgets have been strapped the past couple years, we've seen a bit of a decline in numbers, but the progam still averages more than 5,000 participants each year. Not a bad way to put kids in touch with their heritage!

Many schools that arrive at the Museum also manage to book a tour at Whitman Mission for the other half of their day. I'm told that many schools also take their students to either the Yakama Nation Museum or to Tamastastlikt Cultural Institute, the museum of The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. When they're through touring, the kids end up with a pretty good base of regional historical knowledge.

We enjoy being a part of the region's educational efforts. Kids who know of their heritage are far more capable of helping to lead our communities into the future. To that end, the past is just about our only road map into the future and we ignore it to our peril. It doesn't matter if your family has lived here for umpteen generations or if you just finished unloading the moving van, this is the region's heritage and now it's yours. Knowing it helps us cope with daily existence as well as helping to make a brighter tomorrow for us all.

These days, we interact with regional school kids only once or twice in their K-12 years. We'd like to make that five or six times. Our plans for the future include hirring an Education Coordinator so that we can do more outreach in the schools and have more things for kids while they're at the Museum. History class is too often a 'death match' between kids and the guy at the front of the class (and he'd win if it weren't for graduation!) ... I think it's all about people and that should make it all the time interesting.

So here's to the kids! Bring 'em to the Museum this week during Spring Break ... it's one of the best things parents can do for their kids.

Enjoy the photos ... I like the one of Walla Walla's Edison School with the kids near their busses, all waving.

Snow, man!

Snow?!? Waking up yesterday was a bit of a shock. Having moved here from Montana nearly a dozen years ago, snow in March was hardly unusual ... nor is April or even May blizzards. In the years I lived in that state, I saw it snow on every major holiday. But a late March snow in Walla Walla seems like something our grandparents would have referred to from the 'old days.'

Snow or rain (but not gloom of night), Museum work continues. Each year we take a day to shoot new photos of our Living History participants so that they'll look fresh in newspaper articles, web site postings, and wherever else they might appear. In the past, we did the shoot in late February and it seemed that more often than not we were dodging cold rain or snow flurries under an overcast sky that was hardly repesentative of local weather during the bulk of our season. We try hard to portray the community in its best light (no pun intended), knowing that our many guests from 'the wet side' travel this far to enjoy dry, sunny weather. Shooting in the gloom largely defeats that purpose.

This year we pushed picture day back a month to try to take advantage of better weather. Saturday's day-long rain and Sunday's snow nearly doused that hope, but by Sunday afternoon the clouds parted and things had warmed up. A goodly number of the Company arrived for group and individual portraits, including Chloe, the first kid we've seen in the Company for awhile. All dressed up in 'Sunday-go-to-Meetin' pioneer garb, she was quite a lovely sight.

Today is gloriously sunny ... out my office window I can see the farthest windmills on the ridge west of town, even see the blades rotating. That means its quite clear today, so let's all get out when we can and enjoy as much of the day as possible. It's Spring Break for Washington School kids and teachers and the Museum opens April 1 for visitation. Looks like a good opportunity to have a little family fun at Fort Walla Walla Museum!

Workin' for the Kids

Serendipity or Progress ... which is better? As Fort Walla Walla Museum continues to work into our Services and Facilities Enhancement Project, we'll gladly accept both and not look too closely at a gift '33-mule team's' teeth. Progress, I suppose, is when things move along according to plan. Serendipity is when good things happen perhaps because of, but even in spite of, one' s best laid plans.

Yesterday brought us a little serendipity in our construction project. Excavating for utilities left us with a large pile of pretty darn good topsoil that we might have stored for a long time until we could use it elsewhere in the steps of our expansion. We asked Jim Dumont, who heads the City's Parks and Recreation Department if he knew of any pressing needs for good earth within within Walla Walla. As it happens, such a need exists at the Eastgate Lions Little Leaugue field. A lot of our focus is directed towards children, so being able to support 'the All-American game' made us feel really good. Large dump trucks began hauling away the topsoil yesterday and are already continuing to do so today at 7:45 am.

Here's a cool thing. The history of baseball in the region dates back almost to the origins of old military Fort Walla Walla. Soldiers posted here after the Civil War likely revived interest in the game of "Base Ball" from their time spent back east. Through the years, teams from the Fort participated in a number of leagues in the region that came and went as time went by. Now it's full circle .... Fort Walla Walla Museum resides upon the former military reservation of US Military Fort Walla Walla; now earth from the old Fort will support youth baseball in the city. That's a pretty neat little historical nugget we can pass on to the kids.

Today's photos show the removal of the dirt pile and from the Museum's collection, FWWM # 86.42.12, of a young man in baseball uniform that reads "14th Cav" across his chest. On the back, it says, "Sincerely yours, G.W. Mills, Sergt., Troop C, 14th Cav., Fort Walla Walla, July 5, 1908." If that's Sgt. Mills in the photo, he looks like he'd have no trouble knockin' one over the fence, eh?

Building on a Firm Foundation

This is our 42nd season of service to the community from the ridge atop Fort Walla Walla Park. We are fortunate to to be the beneficiaries of 50 years hard work from those who first built the place we love. Their selfless dedication is a monument to perserverance and pride of community.

As we undertake our expansion project, it's interesting to know that the Exhibit Hall our founders brought forth, when all the numbers are counted, may be re-used or recycled to the tune of nearly 95% of volume. A week or so ago as the building came down, all the concrete blocks and the pad were hauled away to be crushed. Earlier this week we saw the return of the crushed rock and saw it spread over the area where a new pad will be poured before too long.

What we'll end up with is a new building built literally on the firm foundation we received from our own pioneers, the folks who built this great place. Call it a hat tip or a salute, but we're thrilled at being able to do something so 'green' and at the same time remember our past and carry it into the future!

You can see a little more of the construction and other video clips at http://www.youtube.com/user/FortWallaWallaMuseum

Enjoy!

Reaching Out

We're doing a lot of outreach these days. Sometimes that happens here at Fort Walla Walla Museum with an off-season tour permitted for a group of folks from the Boise area last Friday who would not otherwise be able to conveniently see the Museum (the young woman above is 17-year old Sierra from the Boise 'VW Things' group). At other times, Museum staff and volunteers go into the community to make contact with groups seeking entertanment through our Living History Company. Barbara portrayed Walla Walla's first professional school marm Sarah Miner at the VA yesterday (That's her, seated at the Museum's Union Schoolhouse). Today, we host our annual volunteer meeting on the grounds (the other pic is from such a meeting a few years ago)and this afternoon the Director and I will give a short presentation to the residents at Garrison Creek Lodge, our neighbor around the corner on The Dalles Military Road.

In the course of a year, we do a lot of this sort of thing. Museum staff and volunteers represent the Museum in a wide variety of ways and places. Don sits with the City's Parks and Rec Advisory Board and serves as a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador, Carolyn is the Secretary/Treasurer for the Columbia County Cemetery Association (there's quite a few historic cemeteries in that county), and I sit on the Union-Bulletin's Community Board. James, the Director, is on quite a few Boards, including Tourism Walla Walla, the School Boundary Task Force, the Historical Advisory Board, and a bunch of others.

We like to give back to the community that supports us so strongly and it helps when we can answer invidiuals' questions about what's going on at the Museum ... not everything gets into the news. If you have a question, stop in to see us or call 509.525.7703. You can email us at info@fortwallawallamuseum.org, too.

Volunteer Day

Tomorrow is the day Fort Walla Walla Museum hosts its annual volunteer orientation meeting. The Museum survives (really) because of the efforts of more than 400 volunteers ... we truly could not do all that we do without their many, varied and wonderful talents. A number of those volunteers are once-a-year participants in our special events. Last year we had nearly 100 historical re-enactors at Fort Walla Walla Days. Day to day in the season, we use the services of a smaller but tremendously dedcated group of about 90 folks.

Esther, Barb, & Sally help with the textile collection, both in terms of curation and maintenance, but also in developing and creating exhibits. Helen helps us with exhibits, particularly in posterboard-mounting the text and images visitors see. Vi heps with the gardening, as a Store Assistant, Tour Docent, and keeping my paper files from devouring my office. Millie is a mainstay among the Building Attendants. Steve, like Vi, is a jack-of-many-trades helping with collections and exhibits and as a Tour Docent. A Touchet-area family has helped us garden in recent years, all four showing up to lend a hand. The list is a long one and no one is left out who wishes to participate.

On Friday we hosted a group of 20 or so young people from AmeriCorps. Each of them is required to come up with a service project and Patrick chose the Museum as a place to assist (his gal-pal Emily is the young woman, also a volunteer, you can see signing the Pledge of Allegiance through the Volunteer page on our web site: www.fortwallawallamuseum.org/volunteer.htm ). These folks helped primarily with the myriad chores of cleaning the pioneer village in preparation for visitation season, now just 8 days away. Their sheer numbers make light work of an otherwise immense project for Laura, our already heavily taxed Collections Manager.

If you're interested in giving back to the community, sharing oour wonderful community with vistors from across the country and around the world, or if you just like hanging out with like-minded folks having a good time, then come on over at 10 am Wednesday morning. The coffee pot will be on and somebody always brings cookies!

Here We Go!

Here we go!! We are finally underway with our Museum expansion project ... demolition of Exhibit Hall 1 was accomplished yesterday. After years of planning, months of fundraising ... followed with what seemed interminable waiting, the project got a grand beginning. Exhibit Hall 1 is the oldest of our formerly five display buildings and nearing the end of its 'life expectancy.' Nevertheless, it proved remarkably resiliant beneath the force of pneumatic power. As the Museum takes a step into the future, we can assume Carl Penner and others among our founders would be applauding along side the rest of us.

As I stood out in the cold drizzle to record the event, I coouldn't help but ponder the nature of reality: from destruction comes life ... the plant kingdom is fully aware of that maxim and it seems to apply to our situation, too. The new Entrance building will largely cover the footprint of Exhibit Hall 1. To take it a step further, nearly 95% of the old structure has been/will be re-used or recycled. Much of the concrete will be crushed for aggregate in the new building ... we are truly building on a foundation provided by our own 'pioneer forebearers.' More than 300 2 x4s were removed for future use and seemingly acres of strand board were salvaged. Much of the insulation was offered to interested parties. Even the two steel doors were rescued and donated to a local church.

Today a crew is hauling away the detritus. Soon we shall see the beginnings of the Museum's future rise Phoenix-like from the same location.. We'll keep you posted.

Preserving & Sharing Via Technology

The last couple of days have seen an interesting convergence of 19th century atrifacts and 21st century technology at Fort Walla Walla Museum. The first item that comes to mind is the grant we received Monday; the entire operation was done online, relating to the funding of our 1805-1806 Lewis & Clark diorama.

Another idea on the horizon is to turn a cd full of pictures of regional century+ old barns into a screen saver set for purchase through the Museum Store ... we have a couple of other notions on deck in that realm, too. These are things we can do in-house to had depth to a visitor's experience at the Museum. We have a collection chock full of interesting photographs dating way back to the community's origins; surely something can be done with some of those images, too. Ditto the several books whose copyrights we control.

All of this brings me to our mission: to preserve and share Walla Walla regional heritage. A few years ago, we acquired software that allowed us to put our entire collection records into digital format. We now know exactly how many items we have in the collection at any one time and, in theory, exactly where to locate any particular artifact. Sounds simple, but we have more than 42,000 items in the collection ... and they don't sit still.

Items are routinely rotated in and out of archival storage for displays, inter-museum loans, off-campus displays (see the exhibit case in the lobby of the Marcus Whitman Hotel & Conference center), and the always possible "other" category. Digitizing the collection was a major boon to preservation, allowing us to keep track of each and every item and devote regular periodic attention to its maintenance.

If technology allows us to enhance preservation (don't forget the digitized controls of the 'climate controlled' buildings and artifact repositories), it also helps us to share the wonderful heritage of the region's past. Being able to take a home a digital chink o' the past is a whole "brave new world" for the Museum and we'll likely move more in that direction.

Helping Hand for New Exhibit

Much of import happened while I was away yesterday! Fort Walla Walla Museum plies the grants market several times each year and we were rewarded with an announcement that one of those 'asks' had been acknowledged. It was a national-level grant that will help us move forward with some of the inside, visitor-visible aspects of Phase I construction.

Exhibit Hall I was emptied of all its various and sundry trasures over the winter and will soon be demolished (maybe starting today?). Among the exhibits housed in it was our life-size Lewis & Clark diorama. The scene depicted involved three mannequins representing Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Yellept, a headman of the Wallah Wallah people. They are in the midst of a gift exchange, Cap't. Clark's military saber for Yellept's "eligant white horse," as it was described in the journals. Behind it stood a mural representing Wallula Gap, just south of where the Walla Walla River enters the Columbia. Much of that exhibit was re-displayed in our Headquarters for this season, but we had to bid adieu to the mural.

In the new Entrance building about to arise phoenix-like from the demolished Exhibit Hall I, the diorama will be re-created. We have had preliminary discussion with a local artist of renown and acclaim to produce a new mural with seasonal coloring more appropriate to the actual time frame depicted, as well as a new view of the Gap from the far bank of the Columbia River where stood Yellept's village. As a whole, the scene will be more historically accurate, and colorwise, more pleaseing to the eye. Thanks to the new grant, we shall be able to proceed with the plan.

Stay tuned! Big things are under way!!

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch ...

An off-campus meeting today about diversity training, then a long weekend. The work continues back at Fort Walla Walla Museum, where a new season is just 19 days away. Just yesterday, Operations Manager Don landed our food vendor for the season, no small trick in a shaky economy. Collections Manager Laura continues work on the new Headquarters displays for 2009, Ops Assistant Anne continues to re-stock the Museum Store, and Building & Grounds Manager Jim gears up for the final steps in sprucing up the appearance of the place. Even Tour Coordinator Bill is busy, as we already have a number of school tours booked, a string of Columbia River cruise tours headed our way, and even a pre-season special booking by an auto-enthusiast group from Boise. Bookkeeper Carolyn keeps us on the straight and narrow ... her work has ensured seven consecutive years of finishing 'in the black' (before depreciation).

I sent off a news release to the MSM yesterday about how so much about this season is NEW. New exhibits, new Living History characters, a new building in progress, new food vendor ... it's amazing! There's never been a better year to get involved at Fort Walla Walla Museum!

If you'd like to volunteer, there's lots of great opportunities. Call Don at 509.525.7703 and join the fun!

No blog on Monday, so see y'all Tuesday. -Paul (that's me doing an interview at the Museum with CNNMoney when it named Walla Walla as the best place to retire)

Laura's Sense of Sunshine

Everyone, I think, is pretty happy that the gloomy days of winter are getting to be fewer and farther between. As I look out my office window, the sun is shining even if it is just 20F out there ... even that beats the heck out of dreary gray fog and drizzle.

At Fort Walla Walla Museum, sunshine presents a bit of a problem for Laura, our Collections Manager, however. As we are in a construction season, we will have a number of exhibits in our Headquarters Conference Room this year. The wall of south-facing windows have nice blinds, but even when closed the amount of light that 'leaks' in will cause damage to fragile artifacts. One of the exhibits planned for spring is a selection of our wedding dress collection (pictured), some dating to the mid-1800s. Other textile exhibits will also be displayed in the room this year, including our Annual Heritage Quilt Show in autumn(2008 show pictured).

What to do? When the going gets tough, the tough get busy. This week, Laura and her volunteers ... Esther, Sally, Sis, Helen ... are cutting poster board to fit over the windows. There will also be a drape covering the entire wall, so between the two, sunlight will be effectively blocked. Our mission is to "preserve and share" the heritage of the Walla Walla region. We can't share what we don't preserve, so we take that pretty seriously. "Preserve" means forever, and while current technologies don't let us guarantee that, we do look to get things about 200 years into the future. Our successors can then figure out how to take care of the next several centuiries, so that the fabulous story of the people of the Walla Walla valley can continue to be told for future generations.

Coffee Day a Little Different Today

It sometimes feels like the whole world runs on coffee, doesn't it? Just think about all the various places even in a small town like Walla Walla where you can get a cuppajoe, from the many drive-throughs to the restaurants, from the coffee shops to the grocery stores, and so many folks at home. It's easier to count up my non-'evil brown brew*'-swilling friends than those who do imbibe.

Wednesday at the Museum is coffee day, it seems, as several of our stalwart volunteers (Rod, clad in his Living History gear above, and Steve, the '2nd story man' working on a new display in our Headquarters) arrive to share a moment or two with us before we get on with the day. The staff is rolling in, too: Don's back, Jim's here early, as ever, and Anne is here, too. Laura will be in soon, herself. The coffee's the same today, at least no worse than usual, but the conversation is a little more animated. We got the last approval we needed yesterday to begin the demolition of Exhibit Hall 1, the first step in constructing our new Entrance Building!

Those are two of the architect's rendering of the new entrance building pictured at the top.

We concluded 2008 with just enough money in our capital campaign to make a really nice start on Phase I construction ... call it 'Phase I-A,' if you will. We're still actively fundraising this year to acquire some items currently unfunded, so if you'd like to help, give us a call at 509.525.7703. If you'd like to use a credit card, go to our website at http://www.fortwallawallamuseum.org/ and look for the DonateNow button in the left margin toolbar. We're carrying the past into the future ... you can help carry the load!

*hat tip to Mike Schultz, Head Librarian at University of Montana-Western

Outreach ... A Great Way to Listen

Community outreach ... we do a lot of that around Fort Walla Walla Museum. It seems like everyday one or the other of us is making a presentation, repesenting the Museum at a meeting, or generally being out and about in the area. It was my turn today as a participant in the local newspaper's, The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, (http://www.union-bulletin.com/) community board.

A dozen or so of us show up at 7:00 in the morning to coffee, donuts, and interesting conversation. While the talk mainly centers around the function of the paper, it spreads effortlessly into the role of the paper in the community. It's an interesting cross section of the community that participates, along with a handful of U-B employees ... this time including about-to-be new publisher Rob Blethen. There's a representative from local tourism interests, the Sweet Onion Festival folks, a school teacher, a retired judge, a retired doctor and others from around the community. A pretty representative group

Others of the Museum staff sit on the local Parks & Rec Advisory Board, the local Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors, a nearby county's cemetery board, Tourism Walla Walla, and a host of other heritage-related groups. It's good for us to get out and give back to the community that's been so generous to us. It also keeps us from talking in an 'echo chamber,' that kind of self-referentialism that happens when outside viewpoints fail to enter a discussion. We like to think we provide a service to the community, but if no one takes advantage of that service, it's time to change direction, right? So far, the listening has paid off ... I think we're on the right track.

Hob-nobbing with My Fellow Museumistas

This may be the coolest job ever ... I know it's the coolest job I've ever had. I get to meet all kinds of people from all over the world, spend a lot of my time writing about things I know and care about, and put almost everything I've ever learned and done to use at a worthy enterprise.

Last year at this time I had a hand in organizing the regional museums into what hs become known as "The Blue Mountain and Columbia Basin Museum Cooperative." We exist to cross-promote one another, back-up a sister institute in the event of an emergency, and generally serve as a source of information. Hangin' out with my peers is especially cool because they are so interesting. We run new ideas past each other, communicate about big ideas and small, proof each other's work ... on and on and on. Not long ago, I referred one member seeking information about the 'Blalock Flume' (that's him in the photo) to another I knew had that information.

There are all kinds of organziations in the co-op: not-for-profits, house museums, a tribal cultural insititute, a for-profit tour company organizations with no place (yet) and a place with no organization (anymore) ... take your pick, there are 20-something of us. You can download our brochure from Fort Walla Walla Museum's web site: http://www.fortwallawallamuseum.org/area_museums.htm just scroll to the bottom of the page. The map side of the brochure is posted here for you to see.

Do you recall the scene in The Wizard of Oz near the end when the Wizard is about to leave Oz in his "Omaha State Fair" hot air balloon? He tells the denizens of the Emerald City that he's going off to "hob nob with my flellow wizards." I feel like that today ... our biennial meeting is being held today at the Franklin County Hisotrical Society Museum in the Tri-Cities. I'll be rubbing elbows with some of the best!

We started our day out here at the Museum much like our pioneer ancestry did ... without computer connectivity. Like them, we are still subject to the whims of Mother Nature. It appears lighning took out our ISP's hardware up in the Blue Mountains.

Faced with that, we began work the old-fashined way ... by talking, and then by hand. By 11:00 or so, the system had come back on ... much sooner than anticipated ... and we were left to ponder the vagaries of modern technology, yet how pervasive (and necessary) they are to our daily lives.

Wouldn't the pioneers be amazed at what we can do? They might also be amazed at how few folks, comparativley, are involved in putting food on the table.

Enjoy the 'then and now' photos of regional agriculture.

Kids at the Museum

We love kids at Fort Walla Walla Museum! We have an admission-free School Tour Program that offers kids, their teachers, and schools an opportunity to walk through the past. Walla Walla wasn't always a sleepy little town at the end of the trail, but was something of a big deal, leading to the long-standing claim of 'Cradle of Northwest History.' The program attracts about, 5,000 participants each year and receives some generous corporate sponsorship from Boise, Inc.'s Wallula Mill, Pacific Power Foundation, and others.

We see lots of other young folks in the course of a year, too. From babies in backpacks, to toddlers in strollers, and schools kids all the way through their high school years, as well as some college students. Some of the latter have been among our most vibrant, active volunteers, putting the lie to "What's the matter with today's kids?" Well, not much in our view ... they are active in the community and already giving back of their own time. That makes us feel pretty good about the long-term prospects of preserving our heritage.

Today's blog is a salute to those wonderful young folks whose energy we envy and direction we try to quietly mentor. There may be problems in the world, but 'our' kids aren't among them. We think kids who make contact with their community's heritage are much better equipped to help make the decisions about a community's future.

Grandparents

Grandparents and grandchildren ... is there a more wonderful bond that exists in the world? Grandparents often are beyond the angst of child-rearing and the duties of discipline that fall more heavily on parents. Children get a little more freedom, but are still under the auspices of caring adults. For kids, the concept of their parents' parents is wonderful to explore ... "these are the people who knew my mom when she was my age."

We see lots of grandparent-grandchildren visitors at Fort Walla Walla Museum and we try to do our part to encourage that. The concept of the wisdom of elders being shared with a new generation is the foundation of human progress. On Grandparents Day, Sunday, September 13, the Museum offers free admission to all children under 12 who arrive with one or more grandparent. Day in/day out, the Museum offers a senior discount at $6 for those 62 and above and charges kids 6-12 just $3; kids under 6 get in free.

It's important for kids to know that many things they take for granted requires a lot of hands-on labor. Food doesn't magically arrive at the store, nor do their toys and clothes. Being able to equate their labor with productivity is a good way to ensure that things keep rollin' along the way they ought to.

Don't wait for a special occasion. We all know that parents are frightfully busy these days, so if you have an afternoon, grab your young ones and bring 'em out to the Museum. It's educational, it's fun, and it's a wonderful way to show those special kids how much you care about them.