January Dr. Kimberly Jensen, Professor of History and Gender Studies at Western Oregon University, spoke about her new book, Oregon’s Others:Gender, Civil Liberties, and the Surveillance State in the Early Twentieth Century. Oregon’s Others explores the era of the First World War and efforts to identify and restrict “alien enemies,” implement eugenic policies and curtail the rights of women, and examines the collision of civil liberties and persecution through the lens of gender, gender identity and presentation, ability, race, ethnicity, and class.
2024
Tim Greyhavens presented on Artistic and Life-Like: Photography in Washington, 1850-1900, the first detailed examination of nineteenth-century photography in our state, which he structured around key themes that illuminate the social, economic, and physical aspects of growth in the state as portrayed through 200 rarely seen photographs. Released in May 2024, Kirkus Reviews described Tim’s book as “a masterpiece of local history.”
October 24, 2024
Hanna Brooks Olsen gave a lively presentation on her recently published book, Notoriously Bad Character: The True Story of Lou Graham and the Immigrants and Sex Workers Who Built Seattle, regaling our audience with facts and myths about Lou Graham, Seattle’s most famous madam and a dominant figure in the rough and tumble early days of Seattle.
Hanna Brooks Olsen (left) alongside the cover of her recently published book, ‘Notoriously Bad Character’
September 27, 2024
At its monthly meeting on September 27, the Pacific Northwest Historians Guild awarded its 2024 Pacific Northwest History Award to historian and Seattle Pacific University Emeritus Professor, Dr. Richard D. Scheuerman. First presented in 1986 to Murray Morgan, the award recognizes those who have made significant contributions in writing, preserving and promoting Pacific Northwest history.
The award presented to Dr. Scheuerman recognizes “his lifetime efforts chronicling the cultural, agrarian, and economic history of Eastern Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest, including scholarly works on Native American history and culture, notably of the Palouse people and Chief Kamiakin and his people; German pioneers in the region; agrarian themes in art and literature; and heirloom grains.” The award includes a lifetime Guild membership.
Also in attendance at the ceremony were past History Award winners Bill Woodward, Judy Bentley, Junius Rochester and Larry Kreisman.
Richard D. Scheuerman (right) is presented with the Guild’s 2024 Pacific Northwest History Award by Guild president Jim Rupp
August 3, 2024 – West Duwamish Greenbelt Hike with Judy Bentley and Ken Workman
Twenty hiking historians explored the West Duwamish Greenbelt on August 3, 2024, under the leadership of Judy Bentley and Ken Workman, a fifth-generation descendant of Chief Seattle. The greenbelt has been home to Coast Salish people for thousands of years, with a riverfront village dating from 400 CE. The woods were home to Ken and his brother, who roamed them growing up on Puget Ridge in the 1950s.
The hike started at South Seattle College, wove through the Chinese Garden, entered the greenbelt and followed various trails, some official, some home-grown, to the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center where Ken spoke of the cultural and political history of the Duwamish in West Seattle. The group lunched at həʔapus, the village site across from the Longhouse on the Duwamish Waterway, then returned to the top of Puget Ridge. Judy spoke of the Ridge to River (R2R) goal of both the Duwamish and local communities of developing a user-friendly trail from the top of the ridge to the Longhouse through the greenbelt.
For the story of how the West Duwamish Greenbelt grew from a donation of land for Puget Park to 500 acres, the largest contiguous forest in Seattle, visit the Log House Museum in West Seattle and the website of the West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails group.
February 22, 2024 – The Evolution of the Northwest Passage as a Cartographic Image.
Using historic maps drawn from the collections of the Washington State Historical Society, the Washington State Library, and the Library of Congress, David Nicandri discussed the history of the Northwest Passage with a particular emphasis on how the western portal for same evolved between 1753 and 1853. His presentation drew on mid 18th century speculative depictions of the northwest quadrant of continent, plus charts associated with a variety of explorers including James Cook, George Vancouver, Alexander Mackenzie, Lewis & Clark, and others.
Everyone talks about research, but what does that mean, and what’s happening locally? Anne Jenner, Curator of the Pacific Northwest Collection at University of Washington Special Collections, Anna Elam, Library Collections Manager at the Museum of History and Industry, and Ann Ferguson, Curator of the Seattle Collection at the Seattle Public Library shared with us information about what types of research are happening in their collections. It was an evening of inspiration and ideas, and they shared an insight into what’s hot in history.
Here’s a link to the “What’s Up With Research” panel discussion.
2023
November 30, 2023 – Pacific Northwest History Award meetingat the Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds, Washington
The Guild awarded its 2023 Pacific Northwest History Award to art historian and curator David F. Martin. The award presented to Martin recognizes “his lifetime of efforts to document and preserve, and help draw public attention to, the reputations and works of so many forgotten, unrecognized and under-represented Pacific Northwest artists, including his numerous scholarly writings and books, his many years as a principal of Martin-Zambito Fine Arts and his significant work as curator of the Cascadia Art Museum.” The award also includes a lifetime Guild membership.
October 26, 2023 – Heartbreak City: Seattle Sports and the Unmet Promise of Urban Progress
Shaun Scott spoke about his forthcoming book, Heartbreak City: Seattle Sports and the Unmet Promise of Urban Progress. In his book, he takes the reader through 170 years of Seattle history, chronicling both well-known and long-forgotten events, and uncovers how sports have both united Seattle in pursuit of triumph and revealed its most profound political divides.
August 19, 2023 – Hike to the Glines Canyon Overlook
Judy Bentley, former Guild president and co-author of Hiking Washington’s History, led a hike to the Glines Canyon Overlook. The walk ended at the overlook of the former dam site on the Elwha River. All along the hike, Judy recounted the history and natural history of the area.
May 18, 2023 – Annual Business Meeting and Stomp & Shout – The Untold Story of Early Northwest Rock ’N’ Roll
Peter Blecha told the story of music in the Pacific Northwest from the 1940s to the 1960s, a golden era that shaped generations of musicians to come, offering highly entertaining firsthand accounts gleaned from hundreds of interviews. There is unfortunately not a recording of this lecture.
April 27, 2023 – Pushed: Miners, a Merchant, and (Maybe) a Massacre
Stehekin author Ana Maria Spagna explored the so-called Chelan Falls Massacre. In this talk, Spagna described her research into the event including encounters with historians, archaeologists, Indigenous elders, migrant workers, and descendants of “Gold Mountain sojourners.” She explored the phenomena of historically ignored and “fake” massacres in attempt to discover what really happened to these Chinese miners.
Here’s a link to the talk, Pushed: Miners, a Merchant, and (Maybe) a Massacre. Click here to buy Ana Maria Spagna’s Pushed.
March 23, 2023 – Turning Research into Fiction with Robin Oliveira and Kirby Larson
New York Times bestselling author Robin Oliveira and 2007 Newbery Honoree Kirby Larson talked about what it is required to turn historical facts to historical fiction and how they balance historical accuracy and creative writing. Thought provoking and insightful, both authors also compared notes on their processes, opening our minds to yet another way to share history.
February 23, 2023 – Biking Uphill in the Rain with Tom Fucoloro
Tom Fucoloro, Founder and Editor of Seattle Bike Blog, discussed the history chapters of his upcoming book Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from behind the Handlebars, due out from UW Press in August 2023. Biking has been part of Seattle’s culture since the days when someone riding through the woods beyond Capitol Hill might encounter a bear. In addition to uncovering long-lost figures and stories from the city’s early biking history, Tom’s research also places bicycling within the context of the rapidly growing city. We apologize that there is not a recording of this event.
January 26 – 7pm – Reclaiming the Black Past with Quin’nita Cobbins-Modica
Quin’Nita Cobbins-Modica discussed aspects of her research and provided overall insights into the importance of studying black women in the region, including the ways that her engagement in the digital humanities (through Blackpast.org) seek to make this history more visible and accessible to broader publics.
Here’s a link to the recording of Reclaiming the Black Past.
2022
November 30 – 7pm- Live Membership Meeting- Mountaineers Seattle Program Center
At this in-person meeting, the Guild reported on its yearly activities and presented Pacific Northwest History awards to Karen Blair, Lawrence Kreisman, and Densho.
October 27- 7pm – The State of Small Museums
Numerous small historical museums are one of the essential ways that local history stays alive across the state. In this panel discussion with Amy Frost, Executive Director of the Lopez Island Historical Society and Museum; Joseph Govednik, Museum Director at the Cowlitz County Historical Museum; and Nancy Salguero, Executive Director of the Highline Heritage Museum, several museum staff members came together to discuss the issues they face, how they have adapted, and what’s exciting to see in their galleries.
Here’s a link to the recording of The State of Small Museums
September 29 – 7pm – Trevor James Bond discusses Restoring Nez Perce Material Culture: Reparative Description and the Future of Archives and Museum Curation
Trevor James Bond, Associate Dean in the Libraries and the Director of WSU’s Center for Arts and Humanities, presented on the story of the Wetxuuwíitin’ Collection and the fate of other Nez Perce items held in museums and private collections. He explored a long-term collaboration between WSU and the Nez Perce Tribe to curate this and other collections on the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal. On November 23rd, 2021, the Ohio History Connection (formerly the Ohio Historical Society) returned $608,100 to the Nez Perce Tribe. The reclamation of these Nez Perce artifacts is the subject of Bond’s book, Coming Home to Nez Perce Country, published by the WSU Press in 2021 and nominated for a 2022 Washington State Book Award.
Here’s a link to the recording with Trevor James Bond.
May 19: 6:45pm – Member meeting; 7pm – Program by Jim Rupp, The Unfortunate, but Encouraging, History of Native American Art in Seattle’s Public Spaces
This meeting began with a short membership meeting at 6:45 P.M., followed at 7:00 P.M. by Jim Rupp’s program. Jim Rupp is the Guild’s incoming president and the author of Art in Seattle’s Public Spaces (UW Press 2019). Jim’s talk focused on the use of totem poles and other Northwest Coast native forms from outside of the Puget Sound region, as symbols of Seattle; the appropriation of Native culture by white Seattleites in the twentieth century; and more recent focus on bringing to our public spaces contemporary works inspired by local Coast Salish culture.
April 28 – 7pm – Lowell Skoog and Northwest ski culture
Skiing historian Lowell Skoog spoke about his recently published book, Written in the Snows, a history of the past century of Northwest ski culture. Skoog’s book traces the development of skiing in Washington from the late 1800s to the present, covering the beginnings of ski resorts and competitions, the importance of wild places in the Olympic and Cascade mountains, and the friluftsliv, or open-air living spirit, of backcountry skiing.
March 24 – 7pm – Richard Heisler on the Seattle’s Civil War legacy
Historian Richard Heisler talked about the more than 3000 Civil War veterans of the Seattle area, highlighting their rich and varied experiences in the war, as well as their intriguing lives and legacy.
February 24 – 7pm – Boosting the New West with John Putnam
Dr. John Putnam discussed his recent publication, Boosting a New West: Pacific Coast Expositions, 1905-1916, (https://wsupress.wsu.edu/product/boosting-a-new-west/), which explores the cultural and social meaning of Portland, Seattle, San Diego, and San Francisco expositions held between 1905 and 1915, detailing biased racial attitudes, perceptions of the cities at the time, and local leaders’ attempts to shape a new western identity.
Tom Ikeda, founder of Densho, reflected on 25 years of documenting and preserving Japanese American stories of the past. Densho is dedicated to preserving, educating, and sharing the story of World War II-era incarceration of Japanese Americans to deepen understanding of American history and inspire action for equity. Learn more at www.densho.org
2021
December 2 – 7pm – Mike Bergman spoke on the history of Seattle’s streetcars.
Through narrative, maps, and previously unpublished photographs, author Michael Bergman delivered a detailed jaunt through Seattle’s fascinating streetcar era.
Seattle author Dale Kutzera spoke about his work, Paul Hayden Kirk and the Rise of Northwest Modern, the first comprehensive account of the career of Pacific Northwest architect Paul Hayden Kirk (1914-1995).
September 23 – 7pm – Professor Alexandra Harmon presented her award-winning book, Reclaiming the Reservation.
Professor Alexandra Harmon spoke about her award-winning book, Reclaiming the Reservation: Histories of Indian Sovereignty Suppressed and Renewed, which delves into Quinault, Suquamish, and pan-tribal histories to illuminate the roots of Indians’ claim of regulatory power in their reserved homelands.
May 27 – 7pm – A Tale of Three Cities: Urban History, Settler Colonialism, and Indigenous Survivance
University of British Columbia professor Coll Thrush delivered A Tale of Three Cities: Urban History, Settler Colonialism, and Indigenous Survivance in Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria. Thrush emphasized that the story of urban development in Cascadia is a story of dispossession, in which the rise of cities depended on the labor of Indigenous peoples, but also on their expulsion from “modern” civic spaces. Today, Indigenous peoples have continued to maintain connections to places within urban landscapes and assert sovereignty in both unceded and treatied spaces.
April 22 – 7pm – Pacific Dreams: Puget Sound, the Northwest Passage, and the Transcontinental Railroads
In his talk, Dr. Sean Fraga uncovered the long history of transpacific trade through Puget Sound and showed how interest in trade with Asia first brought European explorers and American settlers to the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Fraga argued that an enduring American obsession with Asian trade shaped Puget Sound as a commercial center across more than two hundred years.
March 25 – 7pm – Speakers from the Newcastle Historical Society discussed The Coals of Newcastle.
Speakers from the Newcastle Historical Society talked about their new book, The Coals of Newcastle – A Hundred Years of Hidden History.
February 25 – 7pm – David B. Williams presented Puget Sound: A Maritime Highway.
In this talk, which is based on research for his next book, Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound, Williams explored the 13,000-year history transportation in this extraordinary waterway to illustrate how landscape has a central influence on the residents of a place and how they live their lives.
January 28 – 7pm – Megan Churchwell presented A Whirlwind History of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
Megan Churchwell, curator of the Puget Sound Naval Museum, explored more than 125 years of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard’s history, from its establishment to its modern role as an aircraft carrier homeport.
2020
December 3 – 7pm – Eric Wagner spoke about his book, After the Blast, The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Helens.
Eric Wagner shared a fascinating look at Mount St. Helens through the blast area and beyond and how scientists began to think in new ways about how life responds in the face of seemingly total devastation.
October 21 – 7pm – Clay Eals and Jean Sherrard discussed their Seattle Now & Then column.
Jean Sherrard and Clay Eals shared stories about their long-running SeattleNow & Then column. Created by Paul Dorpat in 1982, the column has been delighting readers of the Seattle Times Sunday magazine with glimpses of history for decades.
September 24 – 7pm – Author BJ Cummings spoke about “The River that Made Seattle.”
The Guild’s first virtual meeting. Great presentation this evening from BJ Cummings about the history of the Duwamish River on whose banks Seattle was founded! For more about the history behind BJ’s book check out her blog at https://duwamishhistory.com/.
To learn more about the river, its history, and its future, check out the following links including an initiative currently underway to rename parks along the river: (https://www.portseattle.org/NameIncredibleParks)
Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist William Dietrich has updated and added a new introduction to Northwest Passage, The Great Columbia River. He will share with us the status of the mighty Columbia, the health of its salmon runs, the state of its dams, and the river’s growing importance in light of climate change.
October 27, 7:30 p.m. Fred Brown, author of The City is More than Human, An Animal History of Seattle, will talk about his book published this month by the University of Washington Press. You may remember Fred’s talk about cows in urban spaces at a Pacific Northwest History conference when his research was in process.
September 22, 7:30 p.m. A Guild September tradition—report on research. Guild members will gather to share the regional history topics they are researching and share resources. We will be joined by a librarian from the Seattle Room of the Seattle Public Library who will share the topics users of that room are pursuing and the gaps in research she sees.
July 30, 2016 – Annual History Hike: Yakima Pass with Judy Bentley. Join historian and author Judy Bentley for our annual history hike, this year to little-known Yakima Pass at the headwaters of the Cedar River. An ancient Yakama Indian trail goes through this pass which George McClellan surveyed in his 1853 search for a transcontinental railroad route through the Cascade Mountains. The hike is 5.2 miles roundtrip, with some elevation gain, going past Cottonwood Lake and Mirror Lake before joining the Pacific Crest Trail.
May 26, 2016 – Talk: “Those Mysterious Seacoast Forts: Homeland Defense the Old-Fashioned Way”, Dr. William Woodward, Seattle Pacific University, Ames Library Seminar Room (directions/parking below) 7 pm. Long nagged by memories of the only successful attack on our nation’s capital before 9/11/01, the British invasion of 1814, advocates for “homeland security” in the 1860s and 1870s turned to massive coast guns to protect the three American coasts. One of the first installations came at the mouth of the Columbia River; within a generation, Puget Sound had its own defenses. Now quaint state parks, these artifacts of a past obsession with “Never again!” raise fascinating questions about threats both imagined and real, and responses both psychological and tangible. I tell the tale of these silent sentinels as a virtual tour. What unfolds is the story both of America’s changing engagement with the world and its reliance on new technologies to “guarantee” security. Who knew that the massive disappearing guns at Fort Worden would lead to the electronic computer, or that inadequate manpower in the active Army would require augmentation by local reserve and National Guard units, leading to today’s “Total Force”?
The Seattle Pacific University Ames Library is located off 6th Avenue West, between W. Bertona and W. Dravus Streets on lower North Queen Anne hill.
April 28, 2016 – Annual Membership Event and Business Meeting. Keynote Speaker : Lorraine McConaghy Details can be found here.
March 31, 2016 — Slide Show/Talk: Dan Kerlee “Rare glimpses of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition”. Seattle Pacific University, Ames Library Seminar Room
Was Seattle’s 1909 AYPE just another pretty face in the world of World’s Fairs between 1893 and 1915? Local private researcher Dan Kerlee will display rare and uncommonly seen images of, and relating to, the AYPE, which took place on the University of Washington campus and attracted four million visitors from around the world over a four and one half month span. Topics that have not been widely discussed will be covered, and others may get a fresh look. Dan has studied the AYPE for over two decades and maintains an in-progress website on the AYPE, aype.com.
Feb. 25, 2016 — Talk : “Graduate Student Research Forum 2016” Kevin McKenna, Josue Estrada. University of Washington Allen Library – Allen Auditorium, 7 pm. Postwar politics in the Pacific Northwest come alive in two talks by current University of Washington graduate students. Kevin McKenna will present on “Complicating Liberalism: The Gay Community’s Fight Against Initiative 13 in Seattle.” McKenna is a PHD candidate who has taught courses on the history of sexuality and presented widely on the history of Seattle’s Gay Community. Josue Estrada’s paper, “Democratizing Washington State: A History of the Mexican American Voting Rights Movement, 1965-1970,” calls attention to the struggles of Mexican Americans to achieve political enfranchisement, representation, and to be recognized as full citizens in the Northwest, with a focus on Washington’s Yakima County. Estrada, a doctoral student with a MA in American Studies, studies questions of race, migration, politics, and citizenship, including voting right
2015
Wed, April 15, 2015 —Talk: Linda DiBiase “Neither Harmony Nor Eden: Margaret Peppers and the Exile of the Japanese Americans” University of Washington Allen Library Auditorium.
Join University of Washington Collections Development Librarian Linda DiBiase for a presentation on her article “Neither Harmony Nor Eden: Margaret Peppers and the Exile of the Japanese Americans” (Anglican and Episcopal History, Vol. 70, No. 1 (March 2001). Linda will highlight her research on Margaret Peppers, an Episcopal lay worker assisting Japanese Americans in Seattle and at Camp Minidoka.
Set apart as an Episcopal deaconess in 1918, Margaret Peppers served ten years as a missionary in the Philippines, followed by three decades in western Washington, primarily in parish ministry at St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s, two Seattle area Japanese American congregations. When the people of St. Peter’s were sent to the Idaho desert during World War II, she made the unprecedented choice of accompanying them to the internment camp. Come learn about this remarkable and complex woman, who both accepted and resisted the norms of her church and society.Linda Teresa Di Biase’s research interest in overlooked women of the 19th and early 20th century American West has led to publications in the Southern California Quarterly, Alberta History, Anglican and Episcopal History, and most recently, the Spring 2015 issue of Columbia (“Zoe Kincaid: A Western Journalist Discovers Japan”). In 2012 she received the Frank Sugeno Award from the Episcopal Women’s History Project in support of her research on Margaret Peppers, an Episcopal lay worker assisting Japanese Americans in Seattle and at Camp Minidoka. She hopes to write a book based on Peppers’ unusual life. Linda has been with the University of Washington Libraries for more than 25 years as Collection Development Librarian, her work ranging from coordinating e-book acquisitions to serving on the Special Collections reference desk.
Tues. May 19 2015 6:30 pm. Talk – “Harry Truman, LBJ, Wilbur Mills and Ronald Reagan : The Politics of the Passage of the Medicare Act, on the 50th Anniversary.” Seattle Pacific University Otto Miller Science Bldg).
Medicare will be 50 years old on July 30, 2015. It is a very popular program with much of the US public. According to Dr. John Ryan, “Medicare has done amazing things for the medical-industrial complex. It was bitterly contested in the years leading up to the battles on the Congressional floor, in the White House and in the living rooms of American Citizens.” The cast of characters in this political battle are interesting: Harry Truman, JFK, LBJ, Wilbur Mills, and Ronald Reagan. Dr. Ryan will discuss the evolution of the bill and its transformation of American medicine. Come hear him talk about these political figures and the historic law they created.
Saturday,July 25 2015 – Walk and history talk. Snoqualmie Pass vicinity.
Walk the Snoqualmie Wagon Road and the Sunset Highway with Judy Bentley, author of Hiking Washington’s History (University of Washington Press, 2010). The hike begins at the Franklin Falls trailhead (Exit 47 from I-90) and follows the wagon road David Denny promoted and re-built in 1899. Meet at the Mercer Island Park and Ride (east end) to carpool at 9:30 a.m. Bring a lunch. The hike is about three miles roundtrip to reach Snoqualmie Pass and return. The walk is partly in the woods and partly on the old paved roadway which is only lightly used. Side-trips are possible for those who’d like to make a full day of it. This hike is for Pacific Northwest Historians Guild members and their guests.
The route along the south fork of the Snoqualmie River was in succession an Indian trail, a cattle drive, a footpath for miners, a wagon road, an early auto road for tourists, and the Sunset Highway, all predating I-90.
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October 24, 2024
Hanna Brooks Olsen gave a lively presentation on her recently published book, Notoriously Bad Character: The True Story of Lou Graham and the Immigrants and Sex Workers Who Built Seattle, regaling our audience with facts and myths about Lou Graham, Seattle’s most famous madam and a dominant figure in the rough and tumble early days of Seattle.
Hanna Brooks Olsen (left) alongside the cover of her recently published book, ‘Notoriously Bad Character’
September 27, 2024
At its monthly meeting on September 27, the Pacific Northwest Historians Guild awarded its 2024 Pacific Northwest History Award to historian and Seattle Pacific University Emeritus Professor, Dr. Richard D. Scheuerman. First presented in 1986 to Murray Morgan, the award recognizes those who have made significant contributions in writing, preserving and promoting Pacific Northwest history.
The award presented to Dr. Scheuerman recognizes “his lifetime efforts chronicling the cultural, agrarian, and economic history of Eastern Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest, including scholarly works on Native American history and culture, notably of the Palouse people and Chief Kamiakin and his people; German pioneers in the region; agrarian themes in art and literature; and heirloom grains.” The award includes a lifetime Guild membership.
Also in attendance at the ceremony were past History Award winners Bill Woodward, Judy Bentley, Junius Rochester and Larry Kreisman.
Richard D. Scheuerman (right) is presented with the Guild’s 2024 Pacific Northwest History Award by Guild president Jim Rupp
August 3, 2024 – West Duwamish Greenbelt Hike with Judy Bentley and Ken Workman
Twenty hiking historians explored the West Duwamish Greenbelt on August 3, 2024, under the leadership of Judy Bentley and Ken Workman, a fifth-generation descendant of Chief Seattle. The greenbelt has been home to Coast Salish people for thousands of years, with a riverfront village dating from 400 CE. The woods were home to Ken and his brother, who roamed them growing up on Puget Ridge in the 1950s.
The hike started at South Seattle College, wove through the Chinese Garden, entered the greenbelt and followed various trails, some official, some home-grown, to the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center where Ken spoke of the cultural and political history of the Duwamish in West Seattle. The group lunched at həʔapus, the village site across from the Longhouse on the Duwamish Waterway, then returned to the top of Puget Ridge. Judy spoke of the Ridge to River (R2R) goal of both the Duwamish and local communities of developing a user-friendly trail from the top of the ridge to the Longhouse through the greenbelt.
For the story of how the West Duwamish Greenbelt grew from a donation of land for Puget Park to 500 acres, the largest contiguous forest in Seattle, visit the Log House Museum in West Seattle and the website of the West Duwamish Greenbelt Trails group.
February 22, 2024 – The Evolution of the Northwest Passage as a Cartographic Image.
Using historic maps drawn from the collections of the Washington State Historical Society, the Washington State Library, and the Library of Congress, David Nicandri discussed the history of the Northwest Passage with a particular emphasis on how the western portal for same evolved between 1753 and 1853. His presentation drew on mid 18th century speculative depictions of the northwest quadrant of continent, plus charts associated with a variety of explorers including James Cook, George Vancouver, Alexander Mackenzie, Lewis & Clark, and others.
Everyone talks about research, but what does that mean, and what’s happening locally? Anne Jenner, Curator of the Pacific Northwest Collection at University of Washington Special Collections, Anna Elam, Library Collections Manager at the Museum of History and Industry, and Ann Ferguson, Curator of the Seattle Collection at the Seattle Public Library shared with us information about what types of research are happening in their collections. It was an evening of inspiration and ideas, and they shared an insight into what’s hot in history.
Here’s a link to the “What’s Up With Research” panel discussion.
2023
November 30, 2023 – Pacific Northwest History Award meetingat the Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds, Washington
The Guild awarded its 2023 Pacific Northwest History Award to art historian and curator David F. Martin. The award presented to Martin recognizes “his lifetime of efforts to document and preserve, and help draw public attention to, the reputations and works of so many forgotten, unrecognized and under-represented Pacific Northwest artists, including his numerous scholarly writings and books, his many years as a principal of Martin-Zambito Fine Arts and his significant work as curator of the Cascadia Art Museum.” The award also includes a lifetime Guild membership.
October 26, 2023 – Heartbreak City: Seattle Sports and the Unmet Promise of Urban Progress
Shaun Scott spoke about his forthcoming book, Heartbreak City: Seattle Sports and the Unmet Promise of Urban Progress. In his book, he takes the reader through 170 years of Seattle history, chronicling both well-known and long-forgotten events, and uncovers how sports have both united Seattle in pursuit of triumph and revealed its most profound political divides.
August 19, 2023 – Hike to the Glines Canyon Overlook
Judy Bentley, former Guild president and co-author of Hiking Washington’s History, led a hike to the Glines Canyon Overlook. The walk ended at the overlook of the former dam site on the Elwha River. All along the hike, Judy recounted the history and natural history of the area.
May 18, 2023 – Annual Business Meeting and Stomp & Shout – The Untold Story of Early Northwest Rock ’N’ Roll
Peter Blecha told the story of music in the Pacific Northwest from the 1940s to the 1960s, a golden era that shaped generations of musicians to come, offering highly entertaining firsthand accounts gleaned from hundreds of interviews. There is unfortunately not a recording of this lecture.
April 27, 2023 – Pushed: Miners, a Merchant, and (Maybe) a Massacre
Stehekin author Ana Maria Spagna explored the so-called Chelan Falls Massacre. In this talk, Spagna described her research into the event including encounters with historians, archaeologists, Indigenous elders, migrant workers, and descendants of “Gold Mountain sojourners.” She explored the phenomena of historically ignored and “fake” massacres in attempt to discover what really happened to these Chinese miners.
Here’s a link to the talk, Pushed: Miners, a Merchant, and (Maybe) a Massacre. Click here to buy Ana Maria Spagna’s Pushed.
March 23, 2023 – Turning Research into Fiction with Robin Oliveira and Kirby Larson
New York Times bestselling author Robin Oliveira and 2007 Newbery Honoree Kirby Larson talked about what it is required to turn historical facts to historical fiction and how they balance historical accuracy and creative writing. Thought provoking and insightful, both authors also compared notes on their processes, opening our minds to yet another way to share history.
February 23, 2023 – Biking Uphill in the Rain with Tom Fucoloro
Tom Fucoloro, Founder and Editor of Seattle Bike Blog, discussed the history chapters of his upcoming book Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from behind the Handlebars, due out from UW Press in August 2023. Biking has been part of Seattle’s culture since the days when someone riding through the woods beyond Capitol Hill might encounter a bear. In addition to uncovering long-lost figures and stories from the city’s early biking history, Tom’s research also places bicycling within the context of the rapidly growing city. We apologize that there is not a recording of this event.
January 26 – 7pm – Reclaiming the Black Past with Quin’nita Cobbins-Modica
Quin’Nita Cobbins-Modica discussed aspects of her research and provided overall insights into the importance of studying black women in the region, including the ways that her engagement in the digital humanities (through Blackpast.org) seek to make this history more visible and accessible to broader publics.
Here’s a link to the recording of Reclaiming the Black Past.
2022
November 30 – 7pm- Live Membership Meeting- Mountaineers Seattle Program Center
At this in-person meeting, the Guild reported on its yearly activities and presented Pacific Northwest History awards to Karen Blair, Lawrence Kreisman, and Densho.
October 27- 7pm – The State of Small Museums
Numerous small historical museums are one of the essential ways that local history stays alive across the state. In this panel discussion with Amy Frost, Executive Director of the Lopez Island Historical Society and Museum; Joseph Govednik, Museum Director at the Cowlitz County Historical Museum; and Nancy Salguero, Executive Director of the Highline Heritage Museum, several museum staff members came together to discuss the issues they face, how they have adapted, and what’s exciting to see in their galleries.
Here’s a link to the recording of The State of Small Museums
September 29 – 7pm – Trevor James Bond discusses Restoring Nez Perce Material Culture: Reparative Description and the Future of Archives and Museum Curation
Trevor James Bond, Associate Dean in the Libraries and the Director of WSU’s Center for Arts and Humanities, presented on the story of the Wetxuuwíitin’ Collection and the fate of other Nez Perce items held in museums and private collections. He explored a long-term collaboration between WSU and the Nez Perce Tribe to curate this and other collections on the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal. On November 23rd, 2021, the Ohio History Connection (formerly the Ohio Historical Society) returned $608,100 to the Nez Perce Tribe. The reclamation of these Nez Perce artifacts is the subject of Bond’s book, Coming Home to Nez Perce Country, published by the WSU Press in 2021 and nominated for a 2022 Washington State Book Award.
Here’s a link to the recording with Trevor James Bond.
May 19: 6:45pm – Member meeting; 7pm – Program by Jim Rupp, The Unfortunate, but Encouraging, History of Native American Art in Seattle’s Public Spaces
This meeting began with a short membership meeting at 6:45 P.M., followed at 7:00 P.M. by Jim Rupp’s program. Jim Rupp is the Guild’s incoming president and the author of Art in Seattle’s Public Spaces (UW Press 2019). Jim’s talk focused on the use of totem poles and other Northwest Coast native forms from outside of the Puget Sound region, as symbols of Seattle; the appropriation of Native culture by white Seattleites in the twentieth century; and more recent focus on bringing to our public spaces contemporary works inspired by local Coast Salish culture.
April 28 – 7pm – Lowell Skoog and Northwest ski culture
Skiing historian Lowell Skoog spoke about his recently published book, Written in the Snows, a history of the past century of Northwest ski culture. Skoog’s book traces the development of skiing in Washington from the late 1800s to the present, covering the beginnings of ski resorts and competitions, the importance of wild places in the Olympic and Cascade mountains, and the friluftsliv, or open-air living spirit, of backcountry skiing.
March 24 – 7pm – Richard Heisler on the Seattle’s Civil War legacy
Historian Richard Heisler talked about the more than 3000 Civil War veterans of the Seattle area, highlighting their rich and varied experiences in the war, as well as their intriguing lives and legacy.
February 24 – 7pm – Boosting the New West with John Putnam
Dr. John Putnam discussed his recent publication, Boosting a New West: Pacific Coast Expositions, 1905-1916, (https://wsupress.wsu.edu/product/boosting-a-new-west/), which explores the cultural and social meaning of Portland, Seattle, San Diego, and San Francisco expositions held between 1905 and 1915, detailing biased racial attitudes, perceptions of the cities at the time, and local leaders’ attempts to shape a new western identity.
Tom Ikeda, founder of Densho, reflected on 25 years of documenting and preserving Japanese American stories of the past. Densho is dedicated to preserving, educating, and sharing the story of World War II-era incarceration of Japanese Americans to deepen understanding of American history and inspire action for equity. Learn more at www.densho.org
2021
December 2 – 7pm – Mike Bergman spoke on the history of Seattle’s streetcars.
Through narrative, maps, and previously unpublished photographs, author Michael Bergman delivered a detailed jaunt through Seattle’s fascinating streetcar era.
Seattle author Dale Kutzera spoke about his work, Paul Hayden Kirk and the Rise of Northwest Modern, the first comprehensive account of the career of Pacific Northwest architect Paul Hayden Kirk (1914-1995).
September 23 – 7pm – Professor Alexandra Harmon presented her award-winning book, Reclaiming the Reservation.
Professor Alexandra Harmon spoke about her award-winning book, Reclaiming the Reservation: Histories of Indian Sovereignty Suppressed and Renewed, which delves into Quinault, Suquamish, and pan-tribal histories to illuminate the roots of Indians’ claim of regulatory power in their reserved homelands.
May 27 – 7pm – A Tale of Three Cities: Urban History, Settler Colonialism, and Indigenous Survivance
University of British Columbia professor Coll Thrush delivered A Tale of Three Cities: Urban History, Settler Colonialism, and Indigenous Survivance in Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria. Thrush emphasized that the story of urban development in Cascadia is a story of dispossession, in which the rise of cities depended on the labor of Indigenous peoples, but also on their expulsion from “modern” civic spaces. Today, Indigenous peoples have continued to maintain connections to places within urban landscapes and assert sovereignty in both unceded and treatied spaces.
April 22 – 7pm – Pacific Dreams: Puget Sound, the Northwest Passage, and the Transcontinental Railroads
In his talk, Dr. Sean Fraga uncovered the long history of transpacific trade through Puget Sound and showed how interest in trade with Asia first brought European explorers and American settlers to the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Fraga argued that an enduring American obsession with Asian trade shaped Puget Sound as a commercial center across more than two hundred years.
March 25 – 7pm – Speakers from the Newcastle Historical Society discussed The Coals of Newcastle.
Speakers from the Newcastle Historical Society talked about their new book, The Coals of Newcastle – A Hundred Years of Hidden History.
February 25 – 7pm – David B. Williams presented Puget Sound: A Maritime Highway.
In this talk, which is based on research for his next book, Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound, Williams explored the 13,000-year history transportation in this extraordinary waterway to illustrate how landscape has a central influence on the residents of a place and how they live their lives.
January 28 – 7pm – Megan Churchwell presented A Whirlwind History of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
Megan Churchwell, curator of the Puget Sound Naval Museum, explored more than 125 years of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard’s history, from its establishment to its modern role as an aircraft carrier homeport.
2020
December 3 – 7pm – Eric Wagner spoke about his book, After the Blast, The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Helens.
Eric Wagner shared a fascinating look at Mount St. Helens through the blast area and beyond and how scientists began to think in new ways about how life responds in the face of seemingly total devastation.
October 21 – 7pm – Clay Eals and Jean Sherrard discussed their Seattle Now & Then column.
Jean Sherrard and Clay Eals shared stories about their long-running SeattleNow & Then column. Created by Paul Dorpat in 1982, the column has been delighting readers of the Seattle Times Sunday magazine with glimpses of history for decades.
September 24 – 7pm – Author BJ Cummings spoke about “The River that Made Seattle.”
The Guild’s first virtual meeting. Great presentation this evening from BJ Cummings about the history of the Duwamish River on whose banks Seattle was founded! For more about the history behind BJ’s book check out her blog at https://duwamishhistory.com/.
To learn more about the river, its history, and its future, check out the following links including an initiative currently underway to rename parks along the river: (https://www.portseattle.org/NameIncredibleParks)
Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist William Dietrich has updated and added a new introduction to Northwest Passage, The Great Columbia River. He will share with us the status of the mighty Columbia, the health of its salmon runs, the state of its dams, and the river’s growing importance in light of climate change.
October 27, 7:30 p.m. Fred Brown, author of The City is More than Human, An Animal History of Seattle, will talk about his book published this month by the University of Washington Press. You may remember Fred’s talk about cows in urban spaces at a Pacific Northwest History conference when his research was in process.
September 22, 7:30 p.m. A Guild September tradition—report on research. Guild members will gather to share the regional history topics they are researching and share resources. We will be joined by a librarian from the Seattle Room of the Seattle Public Library who will share the topics users of that room are pursuing and the gaps in research she sees.
July 30, 2016 – Annual History Hike: Yakima Pass with Judy Bentley. Join historian and author Judy Bentley for our annual history hike, this year to little-known Yakima Pass at the headwaters of the Cedar River. An ancient Yakama Indian trail goes through this pass which George McClellan surveyed in his 1853 search for a transcontinental railroad route through the Cascade Mountains. The hike is 5.2 miles roundtrip, with some elevation gain, going past Cottonwood Lake and Mirror Lake before joining the Pacific Crest Trail.
May 26, 2016 – Talk: “Those Mysterious Seacoast Forts: Homeland Defense the Old-Fashioned Way”, Dr. William Woodward, Seattle Pacific University, Ames Library Seminar Room (directions/parking below) 7 pm. Long nagged by memories of the only successful attack on our nation’s capital before 9/11/01, the British invasion of 1814, advocates for “homeland security” in the 1860s and 1870s turned to massive coast guns to protect the three American coasts. One of the first installations came at the mouth of the Columbia River; within a generation, Puget Sound had its own defenses. Now quaint state parks, these artifacts of a past obsession with “Never again!” raise fascinating questions about threats both imagined and real, and responses both psychological and tangible. I tell the tale of these silent sentinels as a virtual tour. What unfolds is the story both of America’s changing engagement with the world and its reliance on new technologies to “guarantee” security. Who knew that the massive disappearing guns at Fort Worden would lead to the electronic computer, or that inadequate manpower in the active Army would require augmentation by local reserve and National Guard units, leading to today’s “Total Force”?
The Seattle Pacific University Ames Library is located off 6th Avenue West, between W. Bertona and W. Dravus Streets on lower North Queen Anne hill.
April 28, 2016 – Annual Membership Event and Business Meeting. Keynote Speaker : Lorraine McConaghy Details can be found here.
March 31, 2016 — Slide Show/Talk: Dan Kerlee “Rare glimpses of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition”. Seattle Pacific University, Ames Library Seminar Room
Was Seattle’s 1909 AYPE just another pretty face in the world of World’s Fairs between 1893 and 1915? Local private researcher Dan Kerlee will display rare and uncommonly seen images of, and relating to, the AYPE, which took place on the University of Washington campus and attracted four million visitors from around the world over a four and one half month span. Topics that have not been widely discussed will be covered, and others may get a fresh look. Dan has studied the AYPE for over two decades and maintains an in-progress website on the AYPE, aype.com.
Feb. 25, 2016 — Talk : “Graduate Student Research Forum 2016” Kevin McKenna, Josue Estrada. University of Washington Allen Library – Allen Auditorium, 7 pm. Postwar politics in the Pacific Northwest come alive in two talks by current University of Washington graduate students. Kevin McKenna will present on “Complicating Liberalism: The Gay Community’s Fight Against Initiative 13 in Seattle.” McKenna is a PHD candidate who has taught courses on the history of sexuality and presented widely on the history of Seattle’s Gay Community. Josue Estrada’s paper, “Democratizing Washington State: A History of the Mexican American Voting Rights Movement, 1965-1970,” calls attention to the struggles of Mexican Americans to achieve political enfranchisement, representation, and to be recognized as full citizens in the Northwest, with a focus on Washington’s Yakima County. Estrada, a doctoral student with a MA in American Studies, studies questions of race, migration, politics, and citizenship, including voting right
2015
Wed, April 15, 2015 —Talk: Linda DiBiase “Neither Harmony Nor Eden: Margaret Peppers and the Exile of the Japanese Americans” University of Washington Allen Library Auditorium.
Join University of Washington Collections Development Librarian Linda DiBiase for a presentation on her article “Neither Harmony Nor Eden: Margaret Peppers and the Exile of the Japanese Americans” (Anglican and Episcopal History, Vol. 70, No. 1 (March 2001). Linda will highlight her research on Margaret Peppers, an Episcopal lay worker assisting Japanese Americans in Seattle and at Camp Minidoka.
Set apart as an Episcopal deaconess in 1918, Margaret Peppers served ten years as a missionary in the Philippines, followed by three decades in western Washington, primarily in parish ministry at St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s, two Seattle area Japanese American congregations. When the people of St. Peter’s were sent to the Idaho desert during World War II, she made the unprecedented choice of accompanying them to the internment camp. Come learn about this remarkable and complex woman, who both accepted and resisted the norms of her church and society.Linda Teresa Di Biase’s research interest in overlooked women of the 19th and early 20th century American West has led to publications in the Southern California Quarterly, Alberta History, Anglican and Episcopal History, and most recently, the Spring 2015 issue of Columbia (“Zoe Kincaid: A Western Journalist Discovers Japan”). In 2012 she received the Frank Sugeno Award from the Episcopal Women’s History Project in support of her research on Margaret Peppers, an Episcopal lay worker assisting Japanese Americans in Seattle and at Camp Minidoka. She hopes to write a book based on Peppers’ unusual life. Linda has been with the University of Washington Libraries for more than 25 years as Collection Development Librarian, her work ranging from coordinating e-book acquisitions to serving on the Special Collections reference desk.
Tues. May 19 2015 6:30 pm. Talk – “Harry Truman, LBJ, Wilbur Mills and Ronald Reagan : The Politics of the Passage of the Medicare Act, on the 50th Anniversary.” Seattle Pacific University Otto Miller Science Bldg).
Medicare will be 50 years old on July 30, 2015. It is a very popular program with much of the US public. According to Dr. John Ryan, “Medicare has done amazing things for the medical-industrial complex. It was bitterly contested in the years leading up to the battles on the Congressional floor, in the White House and in the living rooms of American Citizens.” The cast of characters in this political battle are interesting: Harry Truman, JFK, LBJ, Wilbur Mills, and Ronald Reagan. Dr. Ryan will discuss the evolution of the bill and its transformation of American medicine. Come hear him talk about these political figures and the historic law they created.
Saturday,July 25 2015 – Walk and history talk. Snoqualmie Pass vicinity.
Walk the Snoqualmie Wagon Road and the Sunset Highway with Judy Bentley, author of Hiking Washington’s History (University of Washington Press, 2010). The hike begins at the Franklin Falls trailhead (Exit 47 from I-90) and follows the wagon road David Denny promoted and re-built in 1899. Meet at the Mercer Island Park and Ride (east end) to carpool at 9:30 a.m. Bring a lunch. The hike is about three miles roundtrip to reach Snoqualmie Pass and return. The walk is partly in the woods and partly on the old paved roadway which is only lightly used. Side-trips are possible for those who’d like to make a full day of it. This hike is for Pacific Northwest Historians Guild members and their guests.
The route along the south fork of the Snoqualmie River was in succession an Indian trail, a cattle drive, a footpath for miners, a wagon road, an early auto road for tourists, and the Sunset Highway, all predating I-90.
