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.
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