What can you see at the History Museum?

Over the past ten years, acclaimed artist Judy Gelles has interviewed and photographed more than 300 fourth-grade students from a wide range of economic and cultural backgrounds. These students’ stories capture the gamut of societal issues that we face today.

UW students are working with Borderland Collective to create work that explores migrant farmworker family life. Explore their photographs, documents, and objects, alongside items from the permanent collection of the Washington State Historical Society.

Visitors are transported back to a time when, if you were Black, it took bravery and a Green-Book to cross the country safely. The exhibition includes film, photographs, art installations, interactives, oral histories from travelers and Green-Book business owners, and comparisons of Green-Book sites then and now. It also features historical objects from the Smithsonian and from Green-Book sites, including a rare example of a Green-Book, matchbooks, business signs, brochures, "sundown" signs, and historical documents.

IN THE SPIRIT is an annual summer celebration of diverse Native American arts and culture, including a juried exhibition at the Washington State History Museum, an Artist Awards event, artist talks, and an indoor/outdoor community festival with an arts market. 

Explore the history, artistry, and production of Hawaii’s enduring fashion statement, the Aloha Shirt. This exhibition of sixty objects, including original textile artwork, production sketches and swatches, advertisements, and vintage shirts tells the story of an early innovator, John “Keoni” Meigs, in an industry that has left an indelible mark on fashion in the United States and the world. Meigs was a self-taught painter whose talent became known to the early shirt manufacturers in Honolulu. In 1938, he created his first designs, concentrating on Polynesian tapa patterns inspired by the originals he had studied at the local Bishop Museum.

The Animation Academy explores the unique world of animation and storytelling, from traditional hand-drawn cels to exciting breakthroughs in stop-motion and CGI.

See original cartoons and illustrations from the Washington State Historical Society's collections, many of which have never been shown in a gallery setting.