Washington County, Oregon - Washington County Museum

The Washington County Museum is a small museum on the Portland Community College Rock Creek campus.

Having gone through a number of changes, the museum is currently making an effort to go deeper and see farther. Some good examples of this can be seen through the current featured exhibit, "This is Kalapuyan Land".

The exhibit revises a previous exhibit that was over a decade old, put together in cooperation with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

It was not a bad exhibit, but the perspective was limited. Guest Curator Steph Littlebird Fogel chose an interesting and effective way for building on the existing structure.

Instead of starting over with new placards, new text and strike-through lines went up in red, allowing an easy comparison of old and new perspectives.

The old artifacts and archeological findings are still there, and still part of the story. They are simply not the entire story.

There is also information on the confederation today, and work for contemporary artists, because the people are not relegated to the past.

This includes updates on contemporary ways of working with traditional crafts.

There are special opportunities, like a beading class with Carol Haskins.

There was also an event with a guest speaker, David G. Lewis, who had offered feedback on the original exhibit. It was not really taken at the time, but remains a part of what can be built on today.

There were also some interesting integrations of technology, like a program to see and hear Native animal names that involved print, but sound and pictures so that reading English was not required for enjoyment, and a game that allowed one to "practice" spear fishing.

It is impossible to not be aware of the Washington County Museum's limited space, but gratifying to see that they are making good use of it.

http://www.washingtoncountymuseum.org/home/