COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS
The Collections Highlights section features artifacts and images from the Washington State Historical Society Collections. The WSHS Collections currently includes artifacts, ephemera, books, maps, manuscript collections, photographs and negatives, and "born digital" items.
Also featured in this section will be items from exhibitions, programs, educational media, events and other historical subjects with a collections focus, which collectively tell the stories of Washington State's rich history and cultural diversity.
Beginning in 2006, the Washington State History Museum and The Evergreen State College Longhouse Education and Cultural Center partnered to bring the annual In the Spirit Northwest Native Arts Market and Festival, a juried art exhibition and arts market, to the Tacoma Museum District. Artists compete for a variety of valuable awards, including the WSHS Purchase Prize. One piece from the exhibition is purchased by the Society to become part of our permanent collection, and featured on this website.
On Exhibit at the History Museum
March 29, 2008, through August 10, 2008
by Jan Hopkins
Sneak a peek into the inner workings of a museum curator's mind with Curators' Choice. Six of the Collections Department staff share their personal favorites from the permanent collections of the Washington State Historical Society.
Featured items include a contemporary basket made of dried orange peels, a Japanese Katana sword, a turtle costume worn during the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle, WA, and the first American edition of the Koran. More than 30 artifacts, maps, ephemera, photographs and works of art will be on display. Organized by the Washington State Historical Society.
Ice Ax from WSHS Collections on Loan
To American Mountaineering Museum
On December 5, 2007, an ice ax formerly belonging to Mountaineer Pete Schoening was placed on long term loan from the Washington State Historical Society collections to the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum in Golden, CO. The ice ax is one of 382 articles in the WSHS collections, permanently donated to WSHS in 1998 from The Mountaineers of Seattle, WA.
The ice ax is noted for being used in 1953, during a climb of K-2 where a party of climbers was trapped in a storm at 25,000 feet. During the descent, an avalanche caused the fall of the entire party, and Pete Schoening saved five of his fellow climbers by a belay using the ice ax.
The BWAMM is scheduled to open in February, 2008, where the ice ax will be one of many mountaineering artifacts on display in the main gallery.
A new collections-based podcast series, hosted by Fred Poyner, of our Collections staff. Join Fred in the search for pieces of the original Galloping Gertie, an examination of the "Good Old Days", and many more topics to come!