TACOMA – May 28 - The Washington State Historical Society is pleased to announce the winners of the Society’s awards for distinguished achievements in state and local history. The awards will be presented at the 117th Annual Meeting at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, Saturday, June 21. Presenting the awards are David Nicandri, director of the Washington State Historical Society, and John Hughes, chairman of the awards advisory committee of the Board of Trustees.
The Society’s annual meeting will also include the 12th annual Curtiss Hill Lecture, with historian Doris Pieroth presenting “A Diamond in the Rough Meets Lady Bountiful.” She will discuss May Arkwright Hutton, the Ladies’ Benevolent Society, and the part each played in the creation of the Hutton Settlement in Spokane, Wash. Pieroth is a former Historical Society board member and last year’s recipient of the Robert Gray Award. The Curtiss Hill Lecture is made possible by a memorial gift to the Society presented by Dr. Frank de Milt Hill of San Francisco, Calif.
The Robert Gray Award for lifetime achievements, the Society’s oldest award, goes to the late Walt Crowley (1947-2007). Crowley changed the face of Pacific Northwest history as an activist, journalist and more recently as the founding president and executive director of History Ink, the non-profit historical organization that produces HistoryLink.org, the free online encyclopedia of Washington state history. Crowley’s brainchild is the nation’s first encyclopedia of local and state history created expressly for the Internet. Since its launch in 1998, HistoryLink.org has served more than 124 million files to 6.5 million visitors. Crowley was also active in numerous social justice and historic preservation causes since the 1960s, and penned more than a dozen books on local history and institutions, including Rites of Passage: A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle.
The Peace and Friendship Award is presented to a Native American and a second individual who have worked to advance public understanding of the cultural diversity of the peoples of Washington State. This year’s awards are presented to two people who have worked together for more than a decade to further that cause, Roberta Conner and James Payne.
Conner is the director of Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, a tribally-owned museum which works to preserve the tribes’ culture and accurately present the tribes’ history, and an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Payne has served as executive director of Fort Walla Walla Museum since 1998. Over the past decade, they have developed a collaborative relationship between their two institutions in areas of program and event development, consulting, research, artifact loans, and more. Their efforts culminated in 2007 with the creation of a reciprocal agreement among Fort Walla Walla Museum, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute. The ongoing collaboration between Conner, Payne and their organizations serves to promote community building and increase public awareness of the shared history between their two cultures.
The Governor’s Award for Teaching History recognizes an outstanding contribution by a teacher of Pacific Northwest history in Washington. This year’s award is presented to Dori Wuepper, who has been teaching history and language arts at Canyon Park Junior High School in Bothell, Wash. since 1995. Wuepper started a History Day program with a single class in 2001. Now, it includes ten teachers and all 8th grade students. Nine students from the program have competed in the national contest including 2 finalists—silver and gold medal winners.
The David Douglas Award is presented to a person, group, or organization for significant contributions to Washington state or local history. This year’s award goes to Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project (www.densho.org). Densho, which means to pass on to future generations, collects and shares in an online digital archive the life stories of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II. Beyond the Internet, Densho’s public lectures and presentations, teacher training workshops, and collaboration with schools, museums, and community groups expand the impact of this innovative heritage organization. Receiving the award is Tom Ikeda, Densho’s founding executive director who has volunteered his full-time services to the organization for more than 11 years.
The John McClelland, Jr. Award is presented by the Society to the author of an article that best exemplifies the popular history approach of Columbia: The Magazine of Northwest History. It is presented this year to Andrew Fisher for “Invasion of the Boardheads,” about windsurfing and the transformation of the Columbia River Gorge. Fisher is an assistant professor of history at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. His research focuses on modern Native American history, environmental history, and the American West. His first book, Shadow Tribe: The Making of Columbia River Indian Identity, is scheduled to be published by the University of Washington Press in 2009.
The Charles Gates Memorial Award, established in 1965 in honor of former University of Washington professor Charles Gates, is awarded for the best article published in the Pacific Northwest Quarterly in the previous year. The 2007 award is presented to Stephen Moore for his article, “Cross-Border Crusades: The Binational Temperance Movement in Washington and British Columbia.” In it, he compares American and Canadian approaches to liquor reform in the early 20th century. Moore is an assistant professor of history at Central Washington University. He is currently working on a book-length manuscript that explores the Canadian-American relationship in the Pacific Northwest during the prohibition era.
The Lorraine Wojahn Award, named in honor of the retired state senator and former Society trustee, recognizes exceptional volunteer service to the Society. This year’s recipient is William Crosby Bruzas who has served as a volunteer archivist at the Washington State History Research Center in Tacoma since 1994. He recently began doing digital photography at the Research Center as well. Bruzas is a retired mental health professional who worked for the government of King County.
The Jean Richards Award recognizes exceptional volunteer service to the State Capital Museum and Outreach Center in Olympia. This year’s recipient is Kelsea De Costa who has volunteered at the museum since 2001, when she was still in high school. She helped with numerous public programs and special events, exhibition installations and school field trips, among others. De Costa is currently a senior at Western Washington University, majoring in international business and political science. This summer, she will intern at the American Embassy in Singapore.
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About the Washington State History Museum
The Washington State History Museum, flagship of the Washington State Historical Society, is located
at 1911 Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma, just off 1-5. The Washington State History Museum presents
exhibits, programs, and events that bring to life the stories of Washington's history. The Washington State
Historical Society has been dedicated to collecting, preserving, and vividly presenting Washington's rich
and varied history since 1891.
HOURS - Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., with extended hours and free admission every
Thursday night, 5 – 8 p.m.; Sunday NOON – 5 p.m. During the summer, from Memorial Day through Labor Day,
the Museum is open on Mondays from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
ADMISSION - $25 for families (two adults and up to four children); $8 for adults; $7 for seniors, age 60
and above; $6 for students and military with valid ID; children, age 5 and below, and members are always
FREE.
CONTACT – 1-888-BE THERE,
www.WashingtonHistory.org
Media Contact:
Marketing Office
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253-798-5877
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