WSHM from the Chihuly Bridge of Glass Native American beaded bags and beads color block Children enjoying the History Lab Time Connector The History Museum and the Museum of Glass color block Salish weavers in the Hall of History

Featured Exhibits
at the History Museum in Tacoma

COMING SOON!

Hope in Hard Times:
Washington During the Great Depression

February 20 through November 4, 2012

A "Hooverville" painting by Ronald Debs Ginther. These communities arose in many cities during the Great Depression, built by unemployed and displaced people. WSHS Collections, 1967.137.29.

The 1929 Wall Street collapse plunged Americans into a period of great uncertainty as unemployment skyrocketed, banks failed, and housing foreclosures hit record highs. President Herbert Hoover put it succinctly: “About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.”

Hope in Hard Times shares how ordinary people worked for change in their communities, pulling together to find ways to deal with the crisis. A billy club used during the 1934 "Battle of Smith Cove," WPA artifacts, and everyday items are among some of the objects showcased in this exhibition. The paintings and sketches of Ronald Debs Ginther, also featured in the exhibition, comprise one of the most complete visual records of the Great Depression.

Organized by the Washington State History Museum.


COMING SOON!

Hope in Our Times

February 20 through November 4, 2012

Detail of photograph by Breonna Rose, Key Peninsula Middle School.

Students in the digital photography classes at Key Peninsula Middle School share images of what they believe hope to be. Is it a symbol, a person, a place, or a phenomena that best evokes our idea of hope? As a companion exhibit to Hope in Hard times, this enchanting exhibit allows visitors to enter the world of hope through a teen's eye view.

Organized by Key Peninsula Middle School and the Washington State History Museum.


COMING SOON!

Intertwined:
Requiem for the Trees

March 10 through May 6, 2012

Detail from The Sentinel by artist Margo Macdonald.

Laminated root rot problems at Kopachuck State Park, Henderson Bay, resulted in local artists creating artworks to remember the diseased trees before they are cut down. Local artists Robin Peterson and Margo Macdonald spearhead the project.


Mason and the Mummy

October 20, 2011 through November 30, 2012

Allen Mason next to the coffin of Ankh-Wennefer, the mummy he brought home from Egypt. WSHS Collections.

Mason and the Mummy" features the story of noted Tacoma businessman Allen C. Mason and his purchase of the Egyptian mummy Ankh-Wennefer. Mason set out on a 6-month around-the-world journey to Egypt in 1890 with the intention of finding and bringing home a mummy. He succeeded, and later donated Ankh-Wennefer’s mummy to the Historical Society in 1897.

The mummy and its beautifully painted coffins have been the subject of much study over the decades, with the most recent work being done by Dr. Elias and the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium. Tacoma General Hospital worked with the Society to make high-resolution scans of the mummy which were used to create a forensic portrait of the late Ankh-Wennefer. Find out who Ankh-Wennefer was, what the Book of the Dead is, and when the ancient rite of mummification was at its height here in "Mason and the Mummy."

Organized by the Washington State History Museum.


Klee Wyk: Artists on the Nisqually Flats

February 17, 2011 through January 30, 2012

Detail of a totem pole illustration. Courtesy of Bud McBride and Richard Schneider.

The Nisqually Flats, twenty minutes from Tacoma, was home to an artists cooperative in the 1950 named Klee Wyk. Founded by artist and curator Del McBride, (Cowlitz/Quinault), Klee Wyk made a big splash locally through its use of Northwest Coast Indian imagery in design work. The History Museum hosts the pottery, paintings, tile work, letter press prints and sculpture of Klee Wyk in this new exhibit.

Organized by the Washington State History Museum.


Favorite Icons of Washington

Now through November 2012

See the wagon Ezra Meeker drove along the Oregon Trail. (Washington State Historical Society)

Guests voted for their favorite artifacts during the Icons of Washington History exhibit, and for those chosen items, we've extended their display life in this annex of the popular exhibition. We also asked guests to vote for their favorite icons of the Evergreen State that didn't make the original cut, and have displayed Sasquatch masks, a canoe model, a Native house post, and more in Favorite Icons of Washington.

Do you want to learn more about icons of our state? Visit Washington Stories for more information and activities.

Organized by the Washington State History Museum.

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