The Washington State Jewish Historical Society (WSJHS) is celebrating a year of Jews in sports and are looking for stories from you! The project, wittily titled: Instant Replay, seeks to document the participation of Jews from all over Washington state who participated in competitive sports, in all different capacities — whether it be a team or league or an individual player, athlete, coach, manager, team owner, sports writer, announcer, doctor, broadcaster — then or now, from high school level on. Those interested in sharing their stories can submit information about themselves, or people they know, by downloading a submission from the project’s website. The society is interested in stories, photos and memorabilia, which may be included in a future publication about the project. Stay up to date with all the Instant Replay events and news through the WSJHS’s blog and events page.

Smokestack Arias promo © 2011 courtesy of Robin Holcomb

4Culture is excited to announce the premier of Smokestack Arias – a song cycle inspired by the labor uprising that culminated in the events of November 5, 1916 known as the Everett Massacre. Composed by Wayne Horvitz with text by Robin Holcomb, the work will be performed by Maria Mannisto (soprano voice) and Cristina Valdes (piano). Each song assumes the perspective of a different woman affected by the tumultuous occurrences, creating an intimate and personal account of this seminal event in the history of the labor movement in the Pacific Northwest. Dayna Hanson, experimental stage artist and choreographer, will direct. Eight performances are scheduled for February 2 – 12 at ACT Theatre in Seattle. This is a Central Heating Lab Event, funded in part by 4Culture’s Individual Artist Projects program.

For more information visit acttheatre.org or call (206) 292-7676.

Section of triptik map showing transportation options in Des Moines, 1921, published by Automobile Club of Western Washington (AAA)

Join the Des Moines Historical Society at the Des Moines IOOF Hall, Wednesday February 8th at 7pm to hear the fascinating story of “Des Moines Transportation From the Beginning” as told by Al Ramey, President and Founder of the Northwest Public Transportation Historical Group. Mr. Ramey will present a program on the history of public transportation between Des Moines and Seattle, from early boat travel to motor vehicles and road development. Bring your questions, and stay for refreshments and stimulating conversation afterwards.

“Des Moines Transportation from the Beginning” lecture by Al Ramey
IOOF Hall, 728 S. 225th Street, Des Moines, WA
Wednesday, February 8th, 7 – 9 p.m.
Questions? Call (206) 824-52226

LRP funded deck restoration project, Vashon © 2011, courtesy of Marian Brischle

Funding through the Landmark Rehabilitation Program is open to private, nonprofit, and public stewards of designated King County (WA) landmarks and landmarks in cities that have  interlocal agreement with the King County Historic Preservation Program. Landmark Rehab supports project planning, stabilization, and restoration projects. Guidelines, required application support materials and links to the online application are available at www.4culture.org/apply/landmarkrehab.

In 2011, 15 applicants were funded totaling $107,070 in support for county-wide projects. A portion of Lodging Tax revenues collected in King County, WA provides all of the funding for this program. First time applicants need to arrange a site visit with 4Culture Preservation Lead, Flo Lentz, prior to applying. Questions? Contact Flo at 206.296.8682 or flo....@4culture.org.

Image: LRP funded deck restoration project, Vashon © 2011, courtesy of Marian Brischle

Somebody's Grandma exhibit © 2010, photo courtesy of the Nordic Heritage Museum

The guidelines are up! The applications are open! 4Culture’s 2012 Heritage Special Projects and Cultural Education opportunities are now available online. Open to individuals and organizations, these programs fund creative and innovative proposals that document and interpret King County’s history. The Cultural Education program provides funding for the development of classroom-based heritage education projects in partnership with K-12 schools. The deadline for both programs is Wednesday, February 29th, 5pm PST.

An example of projects funded through the Heritage Special Projects program is the Nordic Heritage Museum’s 2010 exhibit “Somebody’s Grandma.” The exhibit strove to reveal the Norwegian-American experience and capture the living heritage of a vibrant multi-generational community through first-person interviews, portrait photography, and film. 4Culture funding supported the planning costs, cultural specialists’ fees, and direct project expenses for developing the exhibit, which was on display July through September 2010 at the museum. For more information about the exhibit, contact the museum.

For current funding program guidelines, project criteria, and how to apply visit 4Culture’s Heritage Program page, www.4culture.org/heritage, and click on “Heritage Special Projects” or “Heritage Cultural Education.” Staff are also offering FREE workshops throughout King County about these programs, the locations and dates of which are available on the funding program’s web page. Feel free to ALSO contact Eric Taylor, Heritage Lead, directly at 206.298.8688 or eric...@4Culture.org, for a one-on-one chat about your proposed project.

The Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center received 4Culture support to produce an educational documentary that weaves the testimonies and artifacts of local Holocaust survivors with contemporary issues of bullying, bystanders, and world genocides.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The documentary was created to provide teachers with material for Holocaust education units and social justice awareness. The project was funded through 4Culture’s 2011 Heritage Special Projects program. The entire documentary is available to educators through the center’s website, visit www.wsherc.org/teaching/withmyowneyes for order information and other stories of Holocaust survivors.

Owners of the Beall house on Vashon, recently completed repairs to the front porch with partial support for materials from 4Culture’s annual Landmark Rehabilitation Program. This 1900 landmark was constructed by a local carpenter for the Beall family, who pioneered the floriculture industry in western Washington and, by the 1930s, had garnered world-wide fame for their orchid production.

Restoration work included pouring new reinforced concrete pad footings for supports, and replacing rotten wood in the columns, column bases, and portions of the porch deck. After repairs were completed, the entire porch (including the roof) was painted to blend the new with the old. Work was completed this fall, primarily by the owners themselves, but with some help from four-legged friends. For more information on 4Culture’s Landmark Rehabilitation Program visit www.4culture.org/apply/landmarkrehab.

Images: Beall house on Vashon 2011 ©, courtesy of Robert Henry

nominees for the 2010 AKCHO Awards © 2010, courtesy of AKCHO, photo by Kimberly Jacobsen

The Association of King County Heritage Organizations (AKCHO) is seeking nominations for their 2012 Awards, which recognize excellence and individual commitment to King County’s history. There are nine categories to choose from, and nominations can be submitted by an individual or group. Guidelines and additional information can be found on the AKCHO Awards website: www.akcho.org/awards. The deadline to submit nominations is Friday, February 17, 2011 at 4pm.

Many thought-provoking heritage-related exhibits, presentations, and other projects that identified and shared the unique history of King County were completed this year – so fill out a nomination to honor your organization, your staff, your colleagues, or your volunteers. 4Culture is a proud supporter and community partner of AKCHO. Don’t forget to ‘Save the date’ for the annual AKCHO Awards ceremony, which will be held on the evening of April 24th, 2012 at the Museum of History and Industry.

Black Bear Manufacturing Company workers, date unknown, courtesy of the Renton History Museum.

The Renton History Museum recently completed cataloguing and digitally scanning its oversize photograph collection, over 650 images representing important Renton industries such as coal mining, clay and coal processing, and logging. Digitizing this collection made this formerly inaccessible set of large photographs available for research and publication, while safely storing the originals in archival materials to protect them from light, dust and handling.

Andrea Cohen, a student intern, assisted with the cataloguing process and wrote short blog pieces about her research for select photos. These can be viewed on the Museum’s website www.rentonhistory.rentonwa.gov under the “News” tab. The oversized image collection contains many items of note, including a rare 1902 image of Renton’s amateur baseball team, a 1923 group portrait of the Central Council of the Pacific Coast Coal Company on the company’s first anniversary, and an image of women workers at the Black Bear Manufacturing Company around the turn of the twentieth century. Other images are of early school plays, the lumber industry, panoramas of Renton, and short-lived local businesses. With the completion of the oversize photograph collection, all 15,000 of the Museum’s historic photos are now catalogued and searchable from the Museum’s computers.

2011 © Tom Ikeda with Bill and Melinda Gates

4Culture would like to give a special shout-out to one of our Heritage Advisory Committee members, Tom Ikeda, who was recently honored by the Microsoft Alumni Foundation as a 2011 Integral Fellow. Congratulations Tom!

The Foundation fellowships celebrate former Microsoft employees who have used their talents, time, and resources to make a meaningful difference in the daily lives of others. Tom Ikeda was honored as the founding director of Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, a digital archive committed to sharing the stories of Japanese Americans incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II. Densho uses digital technology to preserve and make accessible firsthand accounts, historical images and teacher resources, which allow users to explore principles of democracy and promote equal justice.

4Culture has been proud to support the Densho project through our Heritage programs for many years, and are thrilled to have Tom’s expertise and innovation as a regular contributor to our all-volunteer Heritage Advisory Committee. For more information about 4Culture’s board and advisory committee members visit our “Leadership” section under “Who We Are” on our main website.

A National Historic Landmark, the Panama Hotel was built 1910 as a single-room occupancy (SRO) hotel, primarily serving newly immigrated Japanese. Designed by Sabro Ozasa, a Japanese immigrant and one of the first Japanese architects to practice in the Seattle area, the hotel retains much of its original character both inside and out. Visitors can stay in one of the single rooms, or tour the original Hashidate Yu bathhouse, a traditional Japanese-style bathhouse in the basement of the hotel, or explore the ground level retail. Approaching the hotel from the street, visitors will also see the original, beautiful worked, iron fire escapes located on the east and west exterior walls. 4Culture funds will go towards stabilizing these working fire escapes for continued use in the future. Extant features like these are what cement the Panama Hotel’s key position in historic Nihonmachi (Japantown) and as a contributing building within the International District.

Also constructed in 1910, the West Kong Yick building was one of two twin buildings erected side-by-side in the I.D. by the Kong Yick Investment Company. The investment company pooled money from local Chinese American community members to fund the construction of buildings that would serve as the anchor of a “new” Chinatown. These buildings originally functioned as gathering spaces for the Chinese American community and as temporary residences for Chinese immigrants. 4Culture funds will be used to continue the owners’ massive rehabilitation effort by stabilizing the roof and south wall of the building. Work is currently underway, and if you have passed by the building recently, you will see 4Culture’s banner proudly displayed on the S. King Street façade.

In Seattle, the Murakami family stores have served as a social gathering place for Japanese patrons and community members in since Sanzo Murakami opened the original Higo Ten Cent Store in 1909 on Weller Street. In 1931 he relocated the store to a newly constructed building on S. Jackson Street, where the Higo Variety Store operated for the next seventy years. More than just a place to purchase traditional Japanese items/foodstuffs, locals would come to socialize, locate relatives, and get information about jobs and housing. The space currently holds a small gallery featuring Japanese crafts and design, yet the “Higo Variety Store” sign still stands as a physical reminder of the important role the Murakami store played in Seattle’s Japanese American community. 4Culture funds will be used to rehabilitate the sign, an illuminated steel and plastic design that was installed in 1957.

For more information on 4Culture’s Landmark Challenge Grant program, which funded these projects, contact Flo Lentz, Preservation lead, at flo....@4culture.org or 206 296.8682.

Images: 2011 © Panama Hotel, courtesy of Jan Johnson; 2011 © West Kong Yick building, 4Culture staff; 2011 © Jackson Building/Higo Variety Store, courtesy of Paul Murakami

The American Association of State and Local History (AASLH) is offering its smaller institutional members the opportunity to apply for funds (up to $1,000) to hire a summer intern through their Alderson Grant Internship Program. The host institution must provide information on what they expect their intern to do and match funds at a 1:4 level (that is $1 for every $4 AASLH provides). Applications must be received by AASLH office by 5 p.m. on December 9, 2011. For additional program requirements or to download the application visit www.aaslh.org/alderson.htm.

Two scholarships are available for New Professionals (applicants must have been working in the field for three years or less) and two for the Workshop Diversity Fellowships (applicants must represent a minority group in the U.S.). The deadline to apply for these scholarships is December 12, 2011. For a list of workshops for which these scholarships apply, or for more information on how to apply, go to www.aaslh.org/workshop.htm.

The University of Washington’s Museology Program will be hosting their first internship fair on November 28th, from 11:30am-1:30pm at the UW Tower. This will be an opportunity for Museology students and local cultural organizations or museum representatives to meet and discuss upcoming possibilities for internships or projects. Some cultural organizations may have ideas of projects for students already, and some may just want to attend to see what the UW Museology Program is up to – chat with students and staff and brainstorm all of the possibilities that come with developing strong collaborative relationships through professional graduate internships.

The internship fair will take place in conjunction with the Museology Program’s annual “Museums and Social Issues Poster Reception” where students will be showcasing some of their class project work.  Cultural organizations or museums who are interested in attending should RSVP by November 18th to ensure a table will be set up. For questions or to RSVP, contact Nick Visscher at viss...@uw.edu or (206) 221-0763.

Image: Kids at a picnic © courtesy of Eastside Heritage Center

HistoryLink.org has added three new essays with video components, thanks in part to a recent award from 4Culture. See the giant egg nest corsage that Betty McDonald received after signing the one millionth copy of The Egg and I for Washington Governor Mon C. Walgren on September 17, 1946. Its fabulous! Also for your viewing entertainment are Ruth Ittner guiding us along the Iron Goat Trail and a wicked cool TV commercial promoting Century 21, the Seattle 1962 World’s Fair! To view other video and audio clips, click on the “Audio/Video Enhanced” link under the features menu on HistoryLink.org.

Offered webinars:
Telling a Good Story
November 17, 2011
Time: 2-3:15 pm Eastern   
A good guided tour is a good story, told well, says guest speaker Linda Norris. Join her in exploring story telling to create more meaningful tours and to connect with visitors who arrive at your site with many different interests.

Creating Historic House Interpretive Plans that Connect
December 8, 2011
Time: 2-3:15 pm Eastern
Interpretive plans that connect with your visitors and their lives are the keystone for a positive visitor experience. Guest speaker Nancy Bryk will show participants how research is an integral part of the interpretive planning process.

Redefining Audiences
January 27, 2012
Time: 2-3:15 pm Eastern
Who are our current audiences and how can we engage new ones? Looking at the most recent U.S. Census, Susie Wilkening will discuss demographic change and the valuable ways in which history organizations can use census data.

Register for one or all three! Pre-registration is necessary, so visit www.aaslh.org/Webinars.htm to register online. Funding to support this project was provided by an IMLS 21st Century Museum Professionals grant.

Below is a brief list of events happening in King County:

Seattle Public Library
visit www.spl.org for a list of participating libraries
Bring the kids to your local participating Seattle public library between October 22nd and November 12th to learn about Dia de los Muertos activities around Mexico and the United States. Activities will include craft making – Dancing Calacas (skeletons), luminarias, and sugar skulls.

El Centro de la Raza
2524 16th Ave South, Seattle
www.elcentrodelaraza.org
Ofrenda Exhibit opens November 1st and continues through November 18th. Celebrate a FREE festival on Tuesday, November 1, 2011. Dinner at 5:30pm, reception at 6:30pm. El Centro de la Raza’s Dia de los muertos events were supported in part, through a 4Culture’s Group Arts Projects award.

South Park Community Center
Dia de los Muertos Literary Reading
8319 Eighth Ave. South, Seattle
On Wednesday, November 2, between 6:00pm and 8:00pm, come to the center as Los Norteños presents a Day of the Dead reading. Before the reading, a community altar will be built. Feel free to bring an ofrenda or offering to the dead. Pan dulce, juice, coffee and tea will be served.

Olympic Sculpture Park
13th Annual Dia del los Muertos Celebration
2901 Western Avenue, Seattle
SAM is celebrating the annual celebration of el Día de los Muertos at the Olympic Sculpture Park. There will be a tapete (sand painting) inspired by Oaxaca traditions. On Friday, November 4 a free drop-in art activity will be offered as well as a family-friendly artist reception with live performances from 6:00pm – 8:00 pm!

Phinney Neighborhood Center
Dia de los Muertos Festival
6532 Phinney Ave N.,  Seattle
FREE festival on Friday, November 4th between 6:30pm and 9:00pm, which will include a parade, dancing (Bailadores de Bronce), music, and story telling. The festival will begin with a remembrance at the community altar, feel free to bring photographs and remembrances of your relatives and loved ones.

Images:© 2010, Peter Howard, images taken in and around Patzcuaro, Mexico

Twenty applications were received this year for 4Culture’s Heritage Collections Care program, and all twenty were funded, providing $52,500 for countywide collections projects for the fourth year in a row. New to this round of funding are projects in Sammamish, Tukwila and Duvall which all seek to build digital collection databases to provide improved public access to their collections.

Sammamish Historical Society received $4,960 to purchase a computer and PastPerfect software to begin cataloging items and perform a condition assessment of their collection. This will allow the society to organize its collection prior to moving into a permanent home, the first since the organization was founded in 1999. The Tukwila Historical Society received $2,938 to purchase PastPerfect software, a computer and contract with an intern to organize and catalogue a collection newly housed in the Tukwila Heritage and Cultural Center. Duvall Historical Society received $3,009 to purchase archival supplies and hire a professional to initiate the transfer of its collection information to a digital database.

The Heritage Collections Care program was inaugurated in 2008 to address critical needs for preservation of local heritage collections. Priority is given to basic collections care, and for needs assessments and implementation of resulting recommendations. To view a full list of funding awards visit the Heritage Collections Care program page and click on the “Recipients” tab. For more information on this or other Heritage programs, contact Eric Taylor, Heritage Lead, at eric...@4culture.org or 206-296-8688.

Image: Erica Varga working with the Skykomish Historical Society’s collection © 2006, courtesy of Skykomish Historical Society

“The first century of Seattle’s economic development was accompanied by the rise of a lively music culture, long before the city gained fame as the hometown of Jimi Hendrix and the birthplace of grunge rock. For a place whose survival was predicated upon connection with the outside world, music forged links as important as those provided by railroads and steamships.” –Kurt Armbruster, Before Seattle Rocked: A City and Its Music.

Armbruster’s new book is filled with personal anecdotes and memories from many of Seattle’s most beloved musicians and historic photographs of Seattle’s changing music scene from the 1890s to the 1960s. Want to find out more? Join the discussion of Seattle’s musical roots at one of the several UW Press events scheduled for October:

Tuesday, October 4, at 12:40 p.m. on  KUOW’s “The Conversation”

Thursday, October 6, at 7 p.m. at  University Book Store

Tuesday, October 11, at 7 p.m. at Village Books

Thursday, October 13, at 6:30 p.m. at the Northwest Branch of the Seattle Public Library, with  Ravenna Third Place Books

Saturday, October 29, at 2 p.m. at the New Orleans Restaurant with Elliott Bay

Publication of Before Seattle Rocked was funded in part by a 2011 4Culture Heritage Special Projects award.

Image: book cover for Before Seattle Rocked © 2011, courtesy of UW Press.