Meet Me at the Museum!

It is clear as a bell this morning at Fort Walla Walla Museum and this looks like it will be a great day, perhaps to be followed by a glorious weekend. Finally! Sunny and warm, just classic Walla Walla weather.

The weekend also brings a couple of Museum events. Today we open the first of our "A Special Season" of six temporary exhibits. Because of construction, we felt a need to keep value high for our visitors. We did not raise rates this year as we might have (due to construction; still the same for a third straight year), but as the building going up is replacing one that held most of our changing exhibits, we thought we should provide something 'extra' this year.

Collections Manager Laura and her mini-army of volunteers have put together four 'permanent' exhibits in the Headquarters foyer and today we unveil When Grandma & Grandpa Were Kids: Children's Clothing from 1875-194. It's pretty cool to see ... one section features a variety of underwear, including a small-scale set of back-flap long-handles. Elsewhere are christening gowns and ... yep ... a boy's dress. I'm told in the long ago, young boys wore such things before their first pair of short pants. Who knew? There's some children's toys that are of interest, too, including a miniature washing machine of the hand-powered variety and a pair of spring shoes, sort of like a pogo stick without the stick for each foot. Seeing is believing. There is also a parasol-covered wicker pram that is a must see!

On Sunday you can chat up Walla Walla's first mayor, E.B. Whitman, as portrayed by local attorney Dan Clark. The Living History performance is preceeded by 19th century popular music played by the Museum's own Oregon Trail Band. The OTB recently acquired themselves a pump organ, though I'm not sure know they have anyone to play it yet ... are YOU interested?

The Museum is open 10 am - 5 pm daily, including weekends and holidays. The Oregon Trail Band plays at 1:30 pm and ol' E.B Whitman strides through almost 150 years of history in a return to the community over which he once presided. Be sure to ask him what he thinks of all the changes in that time!

Today's photos include Dan as E.B Whitman at the Museum's Union Schoolhouse, the back-flap long-handles and wicker pram in When Grandma & Grandpa Were Kids, and the the 2008 edition of the Oregon Trail Band. This weekend, call your friends and tell 'em "Meet me at the Museum!"