November 2015 Talk: Music Club Celebrates 100 years

Thursday, November12, 2015, 7:30 p.m.

Whatcom Museum Rotunda Room • 121 Prospect St. • Free

Bellingham Music Club: Sharing Music for 100 Years

You couldn’t have lived in Bellingham or Whatcom County for that matter, without noticing that we have a lot of beautiful music being made here. The Whatcom Chorale, Kulshan Chorus, Whatcom Symphony Orchestra and many programs at WWU provide stirring programs. Musical theater and other musical arts abound. But music in our county wouldn’t be where it is today without its historical beginnings.

The Bellingham Music Club’s 2015-2016 season marks its 100th year of nourishing musical and cultural life of Bellingham and the Northwest. The largest music club in Washington, the BMC also ranks among the oldest of its kind in the nation. The Whatcom County Historical Society November’s history talk is being presented by BMC President, Kristin Van Schelt, Award Committee Chair, Gail Haines, and Program Chair, Isabelle Cormier.

 Women Had a Vision

The Bellingham Women’s Music Club was born on February 22, 1916, at Lairmont Manor, the stately residence of Mrs. C.X. Larrabee. The new club soon became the heart of Bellingham’s musical life. Members would audition for the privilege of performing for invited audiences, while bestowing occasional awards on exceptional student musicians at Western Normal School. Eventually though the parlor piano proved no match for the movie palaces, radios, record-players and TV of a media-happy culture, and performances had to be outsourced.

 The Club was founded on the belief that making live music together nourishes the soul, uniting family, friends, and community. Over the years, that belief has driven the metamorphosis from an exclusive sorority of musically gifted socialites into a wide-open organization, welcoming all who cherish dedication to serious music by local artists – especially our youth – and recognize it with performance opportunities and student competitions.

BMC Today

Today, men and women belong to the club, fulfilling the vision of the original club: to bring quality music and encourage young performers in their musical pursuits.

 In addition to BMC history milestones, November 12 talk will present an overview of BMC philanthropic endeavors and current Centennial Season.

 Join Us

Social time begins just before 7:00 PM in the Rotunda Room. Cookies and our famous punch is there for enjoyment. Books, memberships and our journals are on sale.

Searching for Ella Higginson

March 12 2015 7:00

Whatcom Museum Rotunda Room • 121 Prospect St. • Free

Join us for a fascinating talk about Ella Higginson with Laura Laffrado, professor of English at WWU. Laffrado will speak about her efforts to reintroduce readers to Higginson’s life and work and to reclaim Higginson as a significant voice in American literature. A new publication from the Whatcom County Historical Society on Higginson is due out soon. Laffrado is the author.

An Early Voice of the Pacific Northwest

The first prominent literary author from the Pacific Northwest, Ella Rhoads Higginson (1862?-1940) has been largely forgotten as a key American writer. During the turn from the nineteenth century into the twentieth century, readers across the nation were introduced to the remote Pacific Northwest region by Higginson’s descriptions of majestic mountains, vast forests, and scenic waters, as well as the often difficult economic circumstances of those dwelling near Puget Sound. Higginson was celebrated for her award-winning fiction, her lyric poetry which was set to music and performed internationally, and her distinguished position as the first Poet Laureate of Washington State. Throughout her literary career, Higginson published hundreds of poems, stories, and essays in leading magazines and newspapers, while also writing books, including the novel Mariella, of Out-West (1902) and the nonfiction work Alaska, the Great Country (1908).

Lost to Time but Relevant Today as Precise Look at Our Region 100 years ago

First Program of the New Year 2015

Happy New Year!!

Here at the Whatcom County Historical Society, we all wish you the very best day and year to come. Please join us for our first presentation of 2015.

Incarceration of Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II”

 

Presented by Fumio Otsu and Carole Teshima

Thursday, January 8, 2015, 7:30 p.m.

Whatcom Museum Rotunda Room • 121 Prospect St. • Free

A Difficult Chapter in Our Nation’s History

More than 120,000 Japanese and Japanese American families were incarcerated in the United States during WWII. This presentation will give an overview of the incarceration on the West Coast and follow the experience of two families’ pre-WWII, during WWII and post WWII.

Presenter Fumio Otsu was born in the Tule Lake Concentration Camp where Japanese families from Bellingham were also imprisoned. The overview will include a timeline for the incarceration beginning with the evacuation order by President Roosevelt in 1942 to the formal apology by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. People of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated in 10 concentration camps and 29 prison locations. The post war impacts of their release will be discussed from the perspective of each of Otsu’s families. Teshima will present research on the established Bellingham families who were forcibly removed from their homes and businesses, gave up everything and never returned.

Spring Sale

We’re having a Garage Sale to benefit the Territorial Courthouse on Saturday April 6th, 2013 from 8 a.m.-4 p.m.  Donate your gently used clothing, art, toys, books, and household items at our pre-sale drop off times this Saturday March 30th from 10am-1pm and April 4th and 5th from 4pm-7pm.  Bring an item to donate (or just donate!) and we’ll give you a quick tour of the restoration work.  See you there!

History Holiday

Annual History Holiday

Open Mike Sharing and Annual Membership Meeting

Thursday, December 13, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Whatcom Museum Rotunda Room • 121 Prospect St. • Free • All Welcome

Join us for a festive and informative evening of open mike sharing and holiday goodies! All are welcome (members and non-members alike) to sign up for a 5-minute slot during which you may share anything that relates to local or regional history – a personal story, research items, an artifact, or anything else that comes to mind. We will also be passing out forms to collect ideas for the upcoming trivia night at the Whatcom Museum and gather ideas for other Historical Society projects.

The line up so far

Already lined up for a spot at the mike is Janet Oakley, who will be sharing about “Two gals and a Guy at Gettysburg: Making history while painting picket fences.” In September, along with Edradine and Harald Hovde participated in the Friends of Gettysburg work-vacation. Oakley went to honor her great-grandfather who was a Union surgeon at the battle. Hovde went to bring the story of George E Pickett on Bellingham Bay to the national park there. Hard work and high times ensued.

Vaughn Sherman is also lined up. Sherman is the author of “Sea Travels: Memoirs of a Twentieth Century Master Mariner – The story of J. Holger Christensen as told to his nephew Vaughn Sherman.” Sea Travels tracks two generations of the Christensen family from Puget Sound’s pioneer days, to the Alaskan Gold Rush and onto the world’s open oceans. Their saga includes hard times and history ― taking President Truman salmon fishing on Puget Sound and La Blanca’s dynamite-fueled explosion on a Tacoma shore, one of the most dramatic Puget Sound maritime episodes to this day ― as well as the high jinx and heroism of rootless and restless men of the sea. 

Members who have a project they’d like to share,  sign up before the program. There’s still room.

We will also get a sneak preview of the Society’s newest books and members at $25 and above can pick up their copy of Journal Twelve, hot off the press. A very brief election of board members will precede the program. See you there!

YOU CAN HELP

The courthouse has been restored, but our most pressing need is a handicap lift to install and future interpretation.  You can help in several ways.

For the lift, a donation as small as $10.00 could help. If we got a  1000 people to donate, we could match the money to get the lift purchased and the final installation.  Before the lift, we can’t have public programming.  And we want you to see the beautiful insides and plans we have for educational tours and school workshops.

You can also:

BUY A PRINT

First, by purchasing a print of the Ann Parry by well-known maritime artist Steve Mayo.  Based on research in local and national archives it details the Ann Parry unloading bricks.  Call Rick Tremaine to purchase at (360) 734- 7381

BUY A BRICK

Purchase brick to be placed on a future walk way on the side of the building. Remember a family member or a time in history with a simple inscription. Bricks are $50.00.  The back is all ready for installation once we get the lift.

Great Big Garage Sale

Support the Whatcom County Historical Society & Come join us for our Annual Garage Sale

T.G. Richards & Co built a “brick house” for the Frazer River Gold Rush in 1858. We’re having a gold rush of sorts with great items for sale. All sales go to support the courthouse restoration and maintenance, in particular the purchase of a wheelchair lift in the back. Once that is installed, the building can be opened to the public on a regular basis.

Why should you care? This is the first and oldest brick building in the state of Washington. History was made here.

FAQs

When: Saturday and Sunday Sept 29th & 30th

Where: 1308 E Street

Time: 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM

One More Thing…

Oldest Brick Building in Washington State is Restored

Well, almost. The insides are lovely and the brick, drainage, roof, and windows done. We can’t wait to open it for events and other public happenings. Only we need one more thing: A wheelchair lift. Such a lift is essential for being approved by the city of Bellingham and final permitting.

The picture below is similar to what we have in mind, a lift that a disabled guest could enter and be lowered down to the main floor. (The building is kind of quirky. Built on a beach in 1858, the street was raised to its second floor around WW I.) One of the things we can’t change as it is a nationally registered historic place, is easy handicap access to this floor, where court was held. But the downstairs is where the jail was located and courtroom lobby and the lift would go to there.

Foundation in Place

The foundation for the lift is in place.  The concrete was poured several months ago, but our funding has been short. In order to finish the project we need to raise a minimum of $10,000. Without the lift, we can’t go forward with plans for interpreting early Bellingham history upstairs or holding public events.  The future also includes school tours.  We are applying for grants, but that will take a while.

Why Should You Care?

Bellingham is fortunate to have two rare structures that date from the 1850s Washington Territorial days –the Pickett House and the T.G. Richards. The Richards building was built during the Fraser River Gold Rush (1858), introducing Bellingham Bay  and infant Whatcom County to the center of 19th century West Coast enterprise, San Francisco. Known only for the coal in Bellingham Bay Coal Mine, the gold rush brought thousands to the bay. Though it was short-lived and many miners left discouraged, others stayed to homestead. During this time, Captain George E. Pickett of Gettysburg fame and James W. Forsyth of Wounded Knee massacre, both were frequent visitors while stationed at Fort Bellingham. Pickett’s house was just up the hill.

The T.G. Richards building became a territorial courthouse in 1863, hearing probate and other civil cases until 1889. It was a GAR meeting place, housed a pharmacy and printing press as well as contain a treasure room and jail. During the 20th century, a church and Akers Taxidermy occupied the building.

How You Can Help

From now until our open house August 25th, we hope to reach our goal. We know times are tough, but a donation of $10.00 or more to our restoration fund can really benefit the project.  If 1000 people donate just that amount, we can reach our goal. To participate, send money to:

Attn: Rick Tremaine

Whatcom County Historical Society Restoration Fund

PO Box 2116

Bellingham, WA 98227

Make checks out to: Whatcom County Historical Society.

Thanks so much!! Be sure to join August 25th to celebrate.

Traffic Jam on Bellingham Bay 1858

Talk: Thursday March 8

Time: 7:30

Where: Old City Hall

One of the Most Exciting of Times

The summer of 1858 on Bellingham Bay was one of the most exciting times as the population on the bay swelled to several thousand. The Frazer Gold Rush was on. Sometimes, rivals, the settlement of  Sehome was platted and sold lots at $200.00 a piece. Whatcom sought to get a dock out beyond its muddy flats.  Ships and steamers dropped miners off a couple of hundred at a time.  It was a wild time. The forests around the bay were so thick that “a cat barely had room to squeeze through.”

Maritime History on Bellingham Bay

Historian Janet Oakley has been researching the Ann Parry, the bark that brought the bricks for the T.G. Richards building (Whatcom Territorial Courthouse) for the past six years and has made some exciting discoveries from reading the Shipping Intelligence in the Daily Alta California, the leading newspaper in not only San Francisco, but the state. But nothing has been as exciting as the year of 1858 when our community was put on the map.

Come join us for the talk.

“Good Time Girls Present: Bellingham’s Historical Identity”

February’s Talk Will Be Fun

Come join us for a fun tour of our town’s early history with Marissa McGrath & Sara Holodnick.

When: Thursday, February 9th, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Whatcom Museum Rotunda Room • 121 Prospect St. • Free

What’s it about?

”There is properly no history; only biography.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

The study of history helps us better understand how we came to be by exploring stories about, and written for, people. It is easiest to connect to this history when the reader/participant shares common ground with the people of the past. Bellingham’s unique history is rich with stories about the great people who built this city. And, yet, whole groups of people are still as they once were: Marginalized.

Join Marissa McGrath & Sara Holodnick—The Good Time Girls, for an exploration of Bellingham’s civic and historical identity. Their historical guided walking tours of Bellingham highlight overlooked groups—indigenous peoples, sex workers, immigrants and profiteers—to help educate,entertain and inspire tour goers by introducing them to relatable characters of Bellingham’s past. They aim to give voice and pay homage to everyone who had a part in building this great city, not just authoritative members of a privileged class. The Good Time Girls are the only business providing guided walking tours in old-timey Bellingham, Washington. Marissa & Sara will discuss how they make history accessible to tour-goers, the importance of highlighting our city’s well-rounded past, and the value of “edutainment”– informative entertainment–when discussing underrepresented and marginalized groups. For more information, visit their website at Good Time Girls

Come join us!