New Board, New President, New Look at Organization
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January 2020 ushers in a new decade, new initiatives, new board members, and a new president for the museum. Bruce Haulman has accepted the helm from past president Brian Brenno. Elsa Croonquist, hired as the museum’s first executive director, has been developing her new role over the past six months. Mike Sudduth has stepped into the role of treasurer, and former treasurer Cyrus Anderson has become finance chair. Sue Hardy continues as vice president, and Alexandra Seaman continues as secretary, rounding out our executive committee. Deb Dammann has stepped down from the board but continues to take roles in special projects. New board members include Sharon Briskman, Glenn Gray, Terry Hershey, and Tim Heryford. All of them bring capabilities to the organization that will keep us tracking well
into the new decade...
—Bruce Haulman, President
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A Look Forward at Making History
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The museum shares Vashon's history through the work of its volunteers, who collect and tell the stories of our heritage and culture. Sometimes this sharing of stories actually becomes a part of the history of Vashon. A case in point is
IN AND OUT: Being LGBTQ on Vashon Island, the like of which has never been produced and presented in a small community like Vashon. This award-winning exhibit will be shown until early May, when we will have a huge end-of-exhibit party that we think will rival the 650 attendees who joined us on opening night. Watch for the announcement because the “Ladies” have been requested for a repeat performance and promise to be there in full regalia.
In June we will open our new year-long special exhibit,
Wild Wonder: A Journey Through The Natural History of Vashon-Maury Islands. Continuing our look into 2020, we plan to bring a full year of our beloved programs and events to Vashon as well as a few new events. The response from our sponsors and donors has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic, generous, and strong.
We started off the year with the continuation of our LGBTQ film series, BIG JOY Weekend, the seventh annual Vashon History Contest and mini exhibits in Vashon schools. Our Programs Committee and Mini Exhibits Committee will be joining forces to present Green Tech film nights at the Vashon Theatre along with exciting and thought-provoking mini exhibits in the museum gallery once a quarter.
We have plans for a “Spring History Party,” and our Old Time Ice Cream Social will kick off Strawberry Festival Friday. A very special thank you party honoring our volunteers will take place in August; then “all aboard” for the Virginia V cruise later in the month. October will bring fall colors and our first ever Old Home Tour in Dockton. With December comes a special “Holiday Show to Vashon,” presented in partnership between the museum and Jeff Hoyt’s Greater Radio.
Join us, get involved, and enjoy. Read on!
—Elsa Croonquist, Executive Director
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Museum & Friends of Mukai Partner to Archive Collection
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The Friends of Mukai (FOM) organization and VMIHA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, by which heritage association will provide climate-controlled archival storage for a small collection of documents and photos. The history of the Mukai family, home, and garden offers a glimpse of one of Vashon Island’s successful Japanese immigrant families. B. D. Mukai was a strawberry farmer and entrepreneur who developed a process to preserve berries by packing them in barrels with sugar and freezing them. His berries were then shipped to markets across the country. Mukai’s second wife, Kuni, created a traditional Japanese-style stroll garden, an unusual achievement for a Japanese woman. During World War II, the Mukai family left Vashon to avoid internment, returning after the war’s end. (For more information, visit the
Mukai Farm & Garden website.)
The missions of the two organizations align well, and VMIHA looks forward to helping preserve FOM’s archives. As one of FOM’s volunteers works to catalog these materials, the information will become accessible to museum visitors.
The Mukai Farm & Garden represents a blending of two distinct cultures. B. D Mukai, a Japanese immigrant, became a successful Vashon business owner and entrepreneur while his wife Kuni expressed her ethnic heritage by designing and installing a traditional Japanese stroll garden around their very American-looking home.
The family balanced their Japanese heritage with a newly adopted American lifestyle. They became prosperous and accepted members of the Vashon-Maury Island community. Their house, Japanese garden, and barreling plant together reflect this successful assimilation.
Today, the Mukai Farm & Garden reminds us of the powerful contributions of the Mukai family and the broader Japanese American immigrant community to twentieth-century agriculture, business, and community life on Vashon.
— Laurie Tucker
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Seventh Annual History Contest for Students
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Some consider seven a lucky number. If so, this is a great year for our island’s fourth- and fifth-graders (or if you are age 9 through 11) because it is time for our seventh annual History Contest. Students have two months (February and March) to work on a project of their own choosing, as long as it is related to Vashon. It can be presented in any format—poem, essay, video, poster, drama, dance, and so on. Projects are due at the Vashon Heritage Museum on Friday, April 3. If you have a child, grandchild, neighbor, or friend who qualifies, encourage them to enter. Cash prizes are awarded to the top three projects.
Click here to download the poster and rules. More information is available on the
VHM website and at the museum.
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IN AND OUT: What Viewers Say
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The groundbreaking exhibit
IN AND OUT: Being LGBTQ on Vashon Island is only open for a few more months (held over until May 1, 2020). Some museum visitor responses:
"What a beautiful exhibit! Such essential info & inspiration, so creatively presented! Makes me proud to be an islander and to have raised my kids here.”
“This exhibit fulfills an important service in informing us about the LGBTQ “ancestors” who went before us and on whose shoulders we stand. Thank you for honoring their stories of love, oppression, action, and resilience. We hope many people of various backgrounds and ages can see and learn from this exhibit.”
“So beautiful to experience! I love the personal stories and the photos—bringing the LGBTQ movement and AIDS crisis to life. Thank You!”
“This story is the story of Vashon, and it’s also universal.”
—Ellen Kritzman and Stephen Silha
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Mini Exhibit: Music Exhibit at Vashon High School—Vashon's Plymouth Rocker Mania
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It was the fall of 1964 when Steve Self was asked by the Vashon High School junior class president about doing a school fundraiser. City high schools were all hosting live bands at their dances, so Steve said he would put together a band for a post-football game soc-hop—and the Sovereigns were formed. The group only played instrumentals, but the teens really got into it. As Self recalls, “It was like the Beatles came to town” because it was the first live music performance Vashon students had ever experienced. That was the launching board for what eventually led to a music mania on Vashon Island and the formation of the Plymouth Rockers. The founding members included: Steve Self, Class of ’66 (vocals, saxophone, harmonica, and flute); Ron Frombach, Class of ’64 (bass guitar and vocals);
Bruce Williams, Class of ’66....
—From an article by Jackie Merrill
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Save the Date for 2020 Events!
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Ice cream, Vashon entertainment, parties, boating, and tours! Got your attention? The events coming up in 2020 are not-to-be-missed. Soon you'll receive a save-the-date for a new “historic” party to celebrate our museum. It will be a fundraiser sure to delight supporters of Vashon heritage. This spring we will bring stories to life with live entertainment and a party at the O Space. You can expect a great time, live music, Vashon-produced food and beverages, and a performance from Jeff and Cindy Hoyt of Greater Radio. This party will be in the running to become a new island tradition. If you want to be the first to know when we set the date or you'd like to be involved, click on the link below to send me an email.
On
Friday, July 17, the Ice Cream Social in the backyard is back. This is the greatest way to kickoff Strawberry Festival. The event was so popular last year, we ran out of ice cream several times, thank you Island Queen and IGA for resupplying us! Whether playing carnival style games, covering your ice cream with strawberries and chocolate sauce, or enjoying live music, this is where islanders of all ages come together to have so much fun. If you are an ice cream lover, join the committee chaired by Islander extraordinaire Tom Langland—there are planning roles and day-of jobs that we'd welcome help with.
On
Sunday, August 30, the
Virginia V will be back in her home waters to circle the island. Purchase your tickets early to support the museum and ensure your place on the space-limited historic cruise. We love bringing this boat home to Vashon, and you love riding her—history really comes alive when you are on the
Virginia V.
Saturday, October 10, will be another historic day in Dockton as we host our first Old Home Tour. We're so excited to launch this tour in historic Dockton. It will be a great day of storytelling and adventure. If you love old homes or Dockton or both, join our committee. We would appreciate your contributions, and we especially need a copywriter and some support with advertising.
In
December, the museum will be partnering to present “Vashon Isle," a festive show that features the extraordinary livability of this island we call home.
There is a lot more coming in 2020. We'll be hosting exciting events at the Vashon Theatre and opening and closing great exhibits.
IN AND OUT: Being LGBTQ on Vashon Island closes with a First Friday party on
May 1, and Wild Wonder opens the following First Friday,
June 5.
We look forward to seeing you at the museum this year. If you'd like to become involved with any of these events, send me
an email.
—Marissa Tsaniff
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Wild Wonder: A Journey Through the Natural History
of Vashon-Maury Islands
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An exciting new exhibit opens at the Vashon Heritage Museum on First Friday, June 5, 2020. A joint effort of the museum and the Vashon Nature Center, the exhibit is curated by Bianca Perla and Maria Metler; and a wide range of island scientists and environmentalist is involved in its creation.
This interactive, sensory-rich experience invites visitors to explore the island’s diverse wildlife and habitats and learn the personal stories of people connected to them. Step outside yourself and into the wings, hooves, roots, and fins of your wild neighbors while learning about the connections between living things that exist across space and time. Explore the forces of change that have created our island’s natural heritage as we see it today. The exhibit draws on photographs, maps, oral histories, and artifacts from historical times through the present day.
Wild Wonder is more than an exhibit—it is a community-based collaboration that takes the visitor beyond the museum’s walls. Concurrent programs celebrating our natural heritage will include art shows, self-guided tours, workshops, talks, and a Vashon Nature Center BioBlitz survey. The exhibit is designed around nine major themes:
migration, geology, forests, streams, wetlands and bogs, meadows and madrone forests, shorelines, marine life, and humans....
—Bianca Perla and Maria Metler
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Miyoko Matsuda has been a volunteer with the Heritage Museum since the mid-1990s, when she served a three-year term on the board and then became involved in cataloging the White Books in the museum’s research room. During this time, the White Book catalogs grew from 30 binders filled with Vashon history to the 100 books we have today. The White Books, aka the museum’s research catalog, came by the name because binders used to house the information are white. In addition to the White Books, the research room contains birth-death-marriage records, a photo collection in the black binders, and a library of books that are available for public view.
“Miyoko is such a lovely person...”
—Elsa Croonquist and Bruce Haulman
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WE COULDN'T DO IT WITHOUT YOU
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We Met Our End-of-Year Fund Drive Goal! Thank You!
Thank you to our board of directors for their challenge match and to all who donated to our End-of-Year Campaign. We reached our goal of $8,000 to keep operations running:
$500 Level
Claire Kallsen
Reed Fitzpatrick
Cyrus Anderson
Bruce Hallman
$250 Level
ACE Hardware
Martin Brigham & H. Rubenstein
Deb Dammann
Mildred Evaskovich
Kathleen Hendricks
John Hill
Bruce Kirschner
Sunny Haughton Speidel
John Stratten
Michael Sudduth
Rick & Karen Wallace-Baer
$200 Level
Brian Brenno
Ellen Call
Susan & John Rowley
$150 Level
Austin Donnelly
$100 Level
Carol Butler
Katherine Coutts
Karin & Robert Desantis
Arthur Hodgins
Kevin & Eadwynne Hoffberg
Ted & Susan Kutscher
Kenneth Merideth
Janet Stults
Morris Williams
Up to $50
Karen & Matthew Boyle
Michael Brown
James Carlisle
William D. Carr
Wendell Clark
Helen and Joe Green Jr.
Bruce Inaba
R. M. Jones
Rhoda Karusaitis
Carrie S. Knight
Don & Marguerite Lofstrom
Janet & Douglas Milligan
Philip & Esther Norton
Sue Rack
Linda Schwartz
Harriet Shull
James A. Smyth
Carol & Robert Spangler
Nola Sparks
Marcy Summers
Ellen Trout
Joanne Wind
Donna Zaglin
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WELCOME TO THE MUSEUM!
New and Renewing Members in December and January
Anne Atwell
Mary Beth Beck
Lisa Cates
Tom Constans
Anne Crow
Toni Doane
Julie Hempton
Kelli Howes
Jennifer Johnson
Karen LeVasseur
David Littlefield
Mary Beth Moser
Dana Ness
Kathleen Sanders
Amy Seyfried
Lorelei Stevens
Jay Stewart
Patty Van Den Broek Custer
Dan Van House
Dave Van House
Eric Van House
Jim Van House
Kyle Van House
Mark Van House
Scott Van House
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Grocery Receipt Fundraiser
The generosity of Vashon Thriftway and IGA Vashon Market in donating 1 percent of grocery receipts as part of their Community Donation Program has helped fund Vashon Maury Island Heritage Association’s programs and exhibits. Please keep those grocery receipts coming into the museum during open hours or mail them to VMIHA, P.O. Box 723, Vashon, WA 98070.
Thank you to all who faithfully submit their receipts. Program requirements:
- All receipts must be less than ten months old
- Vashon Thriftway requires a signature and phone number written on each receipt
- IGA Vashon Market has no other requirements
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Betty Lewis, in memory of Bob Brenno
Rita Schaab, in memory of Bob Brenno
Pat and Craig Harmeling, in memory of Bob Brenno
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THANK YOU!
If you’d like to learn more about sponsorship or donations to support the Vashon Heritage Museum and our vision to partner with our Vashon community, please contact:
Elsa Croonquist
, Executive Director, or
Marissa Tsaniff
, Events Coordinator.
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Don't forget that when you join this year, you can request a free individual membership for a friend—just drop us a line! You can become a member; buy a brick to be installed in the Heritage Museum's sidewalk; order a book, t-shirt, or hat from the Museum Shop; read about exhibits and events; or make a donation—all by visiting our website,
vashonheritagemuseum.org
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