The Lopez IslandHistorical Society& Museum

Newsletter Fall 2005P.O. Box 163 • Lopez Island, WA 98261 • lopezmuseum@rockisland.com • www.rockisland.com/~lopezmuseum

D etails tell the story. We have thousands of photos in our collection. Some were donated by current islanders, some came

from descendants of Lopez settlers, and some photos arrive in the mail with small notes saying, “We think this picture came from Lopez Island, but we aren’t sure, and we don’t know when it was taken, but it was in a box we found in my grandmother’s attic, and we know she spent some time on Lopez.” Sometimes we

can match those mystery photos with others in the collection, but we also get photos that show people or places that look familiar, but…

We are lucky to have folks like Frances Kring, Uncle Phil, Ona Jean Goodrow, the Lovejoys, Melba Gaddis, Duane Weeks, Mary Harris, the Burts, the Jenisons, and many others to help us fi ll in the blanks on some of the older photos. The older baseball team photo (top) has a cryptic note on the back that says, “Taken at Orcas, 1935 Co.

Champs.” At one of our photo ID sessions, one of the participants pointed to the happy fellow in the middle and said “Well, that’s T.J. Blake—he was the pitcher.” Someone else added T.J. was left-handed. The photo made its way around the table, and we were able to fi ll in most of the names. The bottom left photo had no information, but Chuck Deach recognized most of the players—and guessed the date to be around 1980-81—and also recognized the setting as Odlin Park. Someday, someone is going to come to the museum looking for information about their baseball-playing great-grandfather, and be very grateful to fi nd this.

Sometimes, labels that have been on photos for many years prove to be wrong. Barbara Towell recognized her grandfather in a photo on our website. Unfortunately, we identifi ed the photo as “May & Harry Towell.” Harry would be her great-grandfather. The correct caption is shown here.

It’s great fun to play detective, identifying people and places in old photos, to sort out what stories the photos tell. But it’s much better to know who is in the picture, when and why it was taken.

Top row (L to R): Otto Kjargaard, Richard Pick-ering, Sr., Ed Foley. Middle row: ?, ?, T.J. Blake, Homer Evans. Bottom row: Buck Wilson (possi-bly), Phil Hastin, ?

May Stevens Towell with her son Leo.

Top row (L to R): David Chicovsky, M.R. Buffum, ?, ?, Bob Salisbury, John Bostick. Bottom Row: Hal Seifert, ?, ?, Dave Anderson, Kevin Zoerb.

Amy Frost, one of our summer interns, put together a sheet of photo handling and labeling guidelines—give us a call and we

would be happy to send you a copy.

The Lopez IslandHistoricalSociety& Museum

LIHS Board MembersPresident: Mike EllisVice president: Charles GivensTreasurer: Barbara JenningsSecretary: Ginger LowellTrustees:Bob RowlandColleen SmithDirector: Mark Thompson-KleinInterns: Julia McCallum Amy Frost

Gale McCallumPaul HaywardGreg Ewert

(360) 468-2049 • lopezmuseum@rockisland.com

W e had a very successful summer. More than 2,000 people visited our Museum and the reactions to Maritime Lopez

were very positive. It was a pleasure to see the faces of visitors—children and adults—light up as they came through the door and realized there was a high quality experience ahead. I’m pleased to say that many are so pleased with our “new” museum that membership and donations have increased and we are optimistic that we will balance our budget

We are well along, thanks in part to the work of intern Julia McCallum, with our 2006 theme After Hutch: Lopez from 1850 to 1900. We have a very rich lode of materials to mine to represent this very dramatic period in the development of Lopez. This one is going to be terrific—it’ll be opening in May 2006.

The Lopez History Forum is nearly settled. We will host presentations at Lopez Center on the second Thursday of February, March, April and May. More details soon.

This year’s Annual General Meeting will take place on December 14th. The results of the elections to the Board will be announced then. However, the Board has agreed that because the full results of the 2005 fiscal and operating year are not yet available in December, these results will be shared at the January 10th, 2006 meeting when the new Board is seated. After this transition, the Annual General Meeting for each year will be held the second Wednesday in January. Be reminded all our meetings are open and you will be especially welcome at the upcoming December and January meetings.

—Mike Ellis

Things We NeedGood quality hand toolsA fireproof file cabinet

Magnifying glassesReading glasses

Slide viewerMany thanks to the generous folks who responded to our

request for file cabinets in the previous newsletter.

Message from the Board

You may order Historic Lopez notecards by calling the museum.

Prices are $7.50 for a 4-pack; $18.50 for a 10-pack.

We have a great selection of photos to choose from.

Volunteer Opportunities

Barlow Bay 1 Richardson Fishing Season Barlow Bay 2

Lopez Ferry Landing c. 1925Winter in Lopez Village

T his may come as a surprise, but we have decided to change the format of our annual fund raising auction. The "big event" next

year will be on July 22, and we will have several other Walnut related events in spring and early summer.

The new event is inspired by the magnifi cent walnut tree in the snapshot—one of Lopez Island's landmark trees. The canopy spreads more than 70 feet, and in summer when the tree is in full leaf, the canopy encloses what feels like a completely different weather system. Even on a hot day, it's cool and moist, has a wonderful earthy smell, and the fi ltered light has an almost unreal soft quality. In winter, the tree's massive structure is open and perfectly balanced.

Here's how the Walnut Tree Invitational will work. We

are inviting Lopez painters, sculptors, quilters, photog-raphers, potters, writers, and musicians to produce an original work in their specialty that interprets the walnut tree. We will auction their work at the big celebration

in July. We are try-ing to make this event rewarding for the art-ists as well—they will receive a percentage of each sale, and we will host at least two opportunities in spring and early summer for contributing artists to show and sell their other work.

On July 22, you will have the opportunity to eat fabulous food, drink fi ne wine, and support both the Lopez

Island Historical Society and Lopez artists.

Please call Mark TK at the museum (2049) if you have questions or suggestions, or if you would like to volunteer to be part of this exciting event.

Walnut TreeInvitational

I think it's safe to say that our summer intern program was a success. Julia McCallum and Amy Frost brought energy and skills to

LIHS that made the museum a better place this summer. We plan to continue the program next year—most likely with one intern who will focus on collection management.

With summer over, we are investing more time, and more of our budget, in stabilizing and cataloging our collection. We hope to have two catalogers trained and working part time next year. Other Collection Management volunteers will continue to sort through boxes and stabilize items as needed, then store the items in appropriate, acid-free sleeves or boxes. We will exhibit some recently discovered photos and artifacts next year.

Before we leave this year though, I want to thank our Maritime Lopez sponsors: Lopez Island Pharmacy, Hayward Design & Construction, Sunset Builders Supply, Doug James Flooring, Ledger Investments, Islanders Bank, Island House Realtors, Islanders Insurance, Islands Marine Center, Tanbark Marine, Spencers Landing Marina, and Lopez Village Properties. Their generous donations helped us produce a fi ne exhibit.

The Port Stanley School is being rented more frequently, with dance classes, painting classes, and community organization meetings. We have two weddings already booked for next summer, and have had inquiries from three artists to teach classes at PSS next year. We hope to have the school booked year-round in '06. Please call the museum for rental information.

I received a note last week from a woman I'll call L.W. who has been researching her family history. She started her project more than a year ago, and has found bits and pieces, but not much of substance. She has dozens of photos, but they either aren't labeled, or they have only a vaguely descriptive title. Very few of the photos list names or places. She knows her grandfather was on Lopez for several years—our records confirm that, but provide little additional detail.

L.W.'s note reads, "Dear Mark, Regretfully I will not be coming to Seattle next week. My mother passed away this morning and I will be leaving for Chicago for an indefinite period of time. Hopefully she is having a conversation with her father William and they will guide me along my search for answers to the past."

Please remember to label all your photos, and store them safely. Your children, and their children will be most grateful.

LIHS News by Mark Thompson-Klein, Museum Director

Please join the Lopez Island Historical Societyto help collect, preserve, interpret, and share local history.

To become a member (or renew your membership) complete this form and return it with your check. Memberships and donations are fully tax deductible. Thank you for your support.

❒ Individual $15 - $99 ❒ Family $25 - $99 ❒ Business $50 + ❒ Sponsor $100 + ❒ Benefactor $1,000 +

Name __________________________________________________ Phone _________________________

Address ________________________________________________ Email __________________________

City ________________________________________________ State __________ Zip ________________

The Lopez Island Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization Your gift is tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

Lopez Island Historical Society • P.O. Box 163, Lopez Island, WA 98261

This is one of the photos L.W. sent us. It is labeled, "Taken from our beach," and it is mounted on a page titled "First trip to our land, 1913." Please let us know if you recognize this setting.