Yakima Valley Museum Newsletter

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ON EXHIBITS A Tale of Two Exhibits Developing an exhibit—researching and writing the storyline and designing the exhibit components—represents about 75% of exhibit production work; construction and installation are the remaining 25%. These proportions vary with every exhibit, depending on whether it is “objectbased” or “story-based.” Object-based exhibits demand more construction/installation time, and story-based exhibits require more research/writing time (the work required to design the exhibit components also varies with every exhibit but is a separate factor, independent of whether the exhibit is object-based or story-based). Good examples of an object-based exhibit and a story-based exhibit are the object-based American Indian Collections, recently completed, and the story-based Yakamas At Home. The new American Indian Collections exhibit is all about the objects. There are over 300 objects on view …and about 5 pages of label text. Designing the display cases to meet the conservation requirements demanded by the delicate artifacts, allowing for convenient rotation of artifacts from storage to exhibit, and making the largest case portable was a time-consuming design challenge. And because of the unique nature of these cases, fabrication and installation was also very time-consuming. Labels, on the other hand, which merely identify the objects and briefly discuss the museum’s collection policy and concerns, are a minor part of the exhibit and physically separate from the objectbased displays; yet they could not be written until the exact position of all the objects on exhibit was known. Because of this, label-writing was delayed, and, as I write this article, the few labels have still not been installed. Yakamas At Home, part of the “Homes” section of the museum’s core exhibits on Yakima Valley history, is storybased; it will have about 50 objects on view …and about 30 pages of label text. Like the adjacent exhibit on the Mattoon Cabin, Yakamas At Home could be described as an in-depth historical narrative illustrated with objects, both from our collections and created especially for the exhibit. It tells the story of how Yakama families Detail view of artifacts in the new portable exhibit case. have lived—their homes, family By Andy Granitto, Curator of Exhibitions Lights from the Neon Garden reflect off the new portable exhibit case, the centerpiece of the American Indian Collections exhibit that will display a rotation of the museum’s vast American Indian collections. life, and social structure—from 7,000 years ago to the present. And we are incorporating in-depth research and rare photographic and written documents from our archives in the telling of the story. Development of the narrative labels for this exhibit began more than ten years ago. The half-scale replica of a Yakama teepee from our collections, the “big sexy hook” for the exhibit, was installed six years ago. This is one our exhibits that seems to be forever in production. Because of the amount of research and writing required, it has been an ongoing project, always on the back burner and never at the top of the priority list. But it is being completed now. The objects in Yakamas At Home are homes. The central anchor of the exhibit is a life group/diorama of a household root-gathering encampment, ca.1850, and it represents the midpoint of the story, a time when the Yakama had access to horses, steel tools, and other items available from other tribes and White traders, yet they still had unrestrained access to their homeland; the conflict and injustices of the “Reservation Era” was just around the corner. An interpretive wall will tell the story of changes in Yakama home life over time, from the earliest “pit houses” to modern wood-frame homes on the Yakama Nation today. Similar to the life-size ca.1850 encampment scene, but on a much smaller scale, will be miniature replicas of prehistoric pit houses, tule mat teepees and winter lodge of the pre-contact era, canvas teepees of the 19th century, and a wood-frame reservation house from the turn of the Yakima Valley Museum Newsletter, Fall 2011 Page 4
20th century. These models were painstakingly crafted by volunteer model-maker Gary Brueggeman. The labels were written using many historical documents from the museum archives and original research by local historian Jo Miles, and are supplemented with historic photos from our own museum archives and some from the archives at Maryhill Museum. After many years of planning and development, Yakamas At Home will be completed early this fall. Intricately detailed models made by Gary Brueggeman trace the history of Yakama home life. These miniatures will be fit into tiny dioramas illustrating the text of Yakamas At Home. NEH Challenge progress Thanks to the Board of Trustees and some close museum friends, the very first donors to the NEH Challenge have formally given or pledged $261,200—roughly 17% of the $1,500,000 required to match the $500,000 National Endowment For The Humanities Challenge Offer. This is another example of the tremendous generosity individuals have demonstrated on behalf of your museum. And it is especially impressive when one thinks about the fragile state of the American economy and all the various community needs that continue to grow at the same time that government support is being curtailed. Yakima’s private sector is once again stepping up to ensure that both services to the less fortunate and places which contribute to our quality of life remain sound. In the case of the Yakima Valley Museum, I cannot overemphasize how important private philanthropy for this NEH Challenge is to our growth, and even survival. As one of the few nationally-accredited museums without any consistent government support for operations, we are in a better situation than the state museums in Tacoma and Spokane, which rely on public funding. Since both Tacoma’s Washington State History Museum and Spokane’s Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture were cut from the State of Washington’s proposed 2011-2013 biennial budget, they were slated for closure. Funds were transferred to them from the Secretary of State’s office in the final budget, and they will remain open, but this is only a 2-year “reprieve.” It is, therefore, becoming increasingly necessary for the private sector to keep our museums alive. The Yakima Valley Museum is the keeper and teller of the stories of our region–stories of individuals, families, businesses, organizations, and communities. It gives meaning to past lives and actions before as well as informs contemporary residents. In many cases, it is the Yakima Valley Museum collections that include the maps for water rights, architectural plans needed for the refurbishing of Zaepfel Studium, and objects that maintain the identity of such important groups as the Japanese who helped build this Valley in the early 1900s. Without your generosity, none of this would have happened. --John A. Baule, Director Yakima Valley Museum Newsletter, Fall 2011 Page 5
Page 1 and 2: yakimavalleymuseum.org “Your View
Page 3: the Skewered Apple BBQ The Dave Raw
Page 7 and 8: Explore Central Washington (ECW), t
Page 9 and 10: WMA Award Winners Left to Right: Mi
Page 11 and 12: CALENDAR Special Exhibitions On Exh

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