From the Alps of Austria to the Outback of Australia, from the sandy beaches of Hawaii to the frozen tundra of Alaska, over a thousand events are taking place today in 78 countries and 46 U.S. states.  Check it all out here.

Advance notice of an upcoming workshop at the State Capital Museum, sponsored by the Washington State Historical Society.

Saturday, February 6, 1 to 4 PM

Lessons in Northwest Basketry; Identification and Preservation

Presented by the State Capital Museum Outreach Services of the Washington State Historical Society, this workshop will focus on the fundamentals of Northwest basketry including design, weaving techniques, materials and basket care and preservation. The last hour will be set aside for review of baskets belonging to workshop participants and from the collection of the Washington State Historical Society.

Lynette Miller is the Head of Collections at the Washington State Historical Society. She studied Native American art at the University of Washington and received a Master of Arts in Art History. Her thesis was written on Plateau cornhusk bags. She has worked at several museums in Washington State and in New York City and Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has studied baskets for many years and is the author of several articles. She is a member of the Northwest Basket Weavers Guild and enjoys making baskets and learning new basketry techniques.

Pre-registration required. Cost is $20 from December 09 – January 15, 2010, $25 January 16-February 1. To register contact Mark Vessey at the State Capital Museum. 360/586-0219.

The Historic American Building Survey (HABS) office of the National Park Service has announced the 2010 Charles E. Peterson Prize Competition. The Peterson Prize annually recognizes the best sets of architectural measured drawings of historic buildings produced by college students and submitted for inclusion in the HABS Collection at the Library of Congress. The Prize, jointly sponsored with the Athenaeum of Philadelphia and the American Institute of Architects , is named in honor of Charles E. Peterson, FAIA (1906-2004), a founder of the HABS program and is intended to increase awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of historic buildings throughout the U.S. Deadline for submission is June 30, 2010

The only year that a Washington state team and property has been recognized with the Peterson Award was in 1986 when then Washington State University architecture students Steven Nys and David Burger received the top prize for their drawings of the round Leonard Barn located near Pullman.

More detailed information concerning the 2010 Peterson Prize Competition, along with a presentation of the 2009 winning entries, can be found at the Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) website.

Applications to protect farm and ranch lands sought

January 15, 2010 ranking deadline set

SPOKANE, Wash., (Nov. 13, 2009) — To help protect working agricultural lands in Washington, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced that $1.7 million will be available to successful applicants this year through the agency’s Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP).

There is a continuous, year-round sign-up for the program, but January 15, 2010 has been set as the deadline for evaluating applications for this year’s funding.

“This program can help communities preserve farm or ranch land and cultural resources,” Jeff Harlow, NRCS program liaison, said. “It’s an excellent way to keep prime farmland in agriculture and, at the same time, keep farming and ranching communities thriving by relieving development pressures,” he said.

Since its inception in 1996, about 10,000 acres of Washington’s farm and ranch lands have been enrolled in the program. Last year, Washington received $5.8 million in funding, enough to enroll nearly 3,700 acres on 23 parcels of land.

“Interested land owners need to contact an eligible entity that would pay 50 percent of the easement cost,” Harlow said. However, to be considered for funding, the application needs to identify an entity with the capability to acquire easements, he said.

“That entity applies and nominates a parcel that has a pending offer of value at the time of application,” Harlow said. “If they do not have a pending offer from a land owner in writing at the time of application, the application is not eligible for ranking.”

Wednesday, Nov 18 at 7:00p at The United Churches of Olympia, Olympia, WA.

Presented by Art Deco Society Northwest. 

A talk by award-winning author Joe Welsh and nationally known artist J. Craig Thorpe of Issaquah. The talk will focus on noted industrial designers during the Art Deco period and the fabulous locomotives, train cars and the stations of that era. They will also discuss the work of the railroad companies to attract riders by building and marketing trains with the latest in design and luxury.

Price: $4 donation

Phone: (360) 459-1009  

 

 You are Invited to a Special Community Event!  

Sustainability, Economics and Historic Preservation  

 A Presentation by Donovan Rypkema

Date:            December 7, 2009

Time:           7:00 pm

Location:        Carwein Auditorium                

University of Washington Tacoma                

Keystone Building Room 102  

 

How does historic preservation contribute to sustainability?

What are the economic benefits of historic preservation?  

As part of its Historic Preservation Plan and Policy update project, the City of Tacoma is hosting a free presentation on economic and sustainability considerations in historic preservation. Community members, professionals and students are invited to attend.  

The event will feature Donovan Rypkema, one of the leading national figures in the field of historic preservation, economic revitalization and real estate market analysis. Mr. Rypkema is the principal of the Washington, DC-based consulting firm PlaceEconomics which specializes in downtown and neighborhood commercial district revitalization and the reuse of historic structures. He is the author of several publications, including The Economics of Historic Preservation.   

Mr. Rypkema’s presentation will focus on the importance of linking historic preservation strategies with community-wide goals for sustainability and economic development. This discussion will help set the stage for updated goals and policies that will be part of Tacoma’s new Historic Preservation Plan, which is currently under development.

DAHP has received word from the National Park Service regarding the recipients of the 2009 Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program Awards. This grant program resultes from Public Law 109-441: Preservation of Japanese American Confinement Sites including provision of grants to organizations “to preserve and interpret the confinement of sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II.

The announcement mentions that for the 2009 grant cycle, 32 applications were submitted out of which 19 projects were funded for a total of $980,000. While Washington state did not have a confinement site, Public Law 109-441 does encompass associated properties other than the 10 War Relocation Authority camps, such as Minidoka in Idaho. In Washington, associated sites include the Eagledale Ferry site on Bainbridge Island, the Puyallup Fairgrounds, McNeil Island, and a detention site near Toppenish.

Of the funded applications, one Washington entity, Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, received $112,500 for iits oral history effort entitled “Stories Less Told: Video Oral Histories of Japanese American Incarceration” focusing on oral histories of subjects at the 10 relocation camps. (www.densho.org).

The National Park Service also notes that it has scheduled seven “Listening Sessions around the nation during the next month to gather comments about the first grant round and the upcoming grant round for 2010. One listening session is scheduled for Seattle on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009 at the Densho office at 1416 South Jackson Street. Contact the NPS at 925-943-1531 ext 122 for more information.

On November 11, 1919, in a showdown between members of the American Legion and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), four Legionnaires were killed and an IWW organizer, Wesley Everest, was tortured and lynched.  Eight IWW members were sentenced to 25-40 years in prison for shooting the Legionnaires, but no community members were ever brought to trial for the lynching of Everest.

 To commemorate the 90^th anniversary of this tragedy, several events will be held in Centralia this week.

 All Events are Free and Open to the Public

 Friday, November 13 – 7-10pm

Music by folk legend Marc Ross

A Screening of Lewis County:  Hope and Struggle, a film by Anne Fischel

Discussion

Location:  Corbett Theatre, Centralia College

600 Centralia College Blvd.

 

Saturday, November 14 - 9:30am-12:30pm – Washington Hall, Centralia College

 9:30 am – 10:00 am: Live music with Brendan Phillips

 10:00 am – 11:00 am:

Overview of the IWW: The Broader Context – Aaron Goings
The Centralia Tragedy – An Overview – Anne Fischel
Documents That Tell the Story – Sandy Polishuk

 11:00 am – Roundtable Discussions

A) WalMart and Retail Organizing – Gary Lyle, UFCW
Organizing in the Woods- Steve Fluke, Bill Street, Chip Elliott (IAM/IWA)

B) The IWW Today – Brendan Maslauskas Dunn and the Olympia IWW

C) Organizing at Fort Lewis – Josh Simpson, IWW

D) Immigrant Workers and Immigrant Rights - Antonio Flores, El Comité Pro-Reforma Migratoria y Justicia Social (In Spanish)

E) Songs of the Wobblies – Patrick Edalbacher, Brendan Phillips, Mark Ross

F) The Ghost of Hangman’s Bridge – View of a developing feature film-Ursula Richards Coppola

G) Dramatic reading/performance of affidavits of witnesses, jurors, journalists, arrestees, legionnaires, & Wobblies collected by Wobbly defense committees: Sandy Polishuk and Johnny Stallings.

 12:30 – 1:00 pm Box Lunch

 1:00 – 3:30 pm: Walking/Busing Labor History Tour of Centralia (gather at the Centralia College Diversity Tower)

 8:00 pm:

Alexander Berkman Collective, Olympia

Mark Ross and Brendan Phillips in concert.

For more information, email maslauskas84@gmail.com

For more information, contact Peter Kardas at the Evergreen Labor Center:  (360) 867-6526 kardasp@evergreen.edu or go to http://laborcenter.evergreen.edu/

The Wilson Building before

Great story from the Yakima Herald on the uncovering of a long suffering historic downtown building in Yakima!

Washington State Historical Society Annual Awards Submission deadline: January 28, 2010

The Washington State Historical Society invites nominations for its annual awards recognizing excellence in advancing the field of history in the state of Washington through writing, teaching, historic projects, understanding cultural diversity and voluntarism. Help honor those who work to advance the Society’s mission “to make the study of history in Washington illuminating and inspiring” by nominating candidates for the following 2009 awards: David Douglas Award, Governor’s Award for Teaching History in Washington State, Peace and Friendship Awards, and the Robert Gray Medal. Awards are presented each year at the Society’s annual meeting on June 19, 2010.  Nomination Instructions: All nominations must be submitted electronically; supporting materials as noted below should be submitted by regular mail to: WSHS Awards, 211 – 21st Avenue SW, Olympia, WA 98501 Multiple nominations are welcome, but separate letters for each nomination are required. For each award, email a separate, one-page letter of nomination detailing the individual or organization’s contributions and achievements during 2009 related to the specific award (Robert Gray Medal nominations should detail lifetime contributions and may be up to two pages long).

On October 29^th Congress wrapped up its FY10 Interior Department and related agencies appropriations bill (HR 2996) that provides a $4.66 billion spending increase over fiscal 2009.  President Obama signed the bill into law October 30 (PL 111-88.)

The law provides particularly large increases for the National Park System, with boosts for operations, maintenance, recreation and preservation, and about every other line item. The law also provides a major increase for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), establishes a $474 million emergency fire-fighting fund, and boosts spending across-the-board for the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. In total the conference bill appropriates $32.24 billion for the Interior Department and related agencies and is $90 million under the President’s request of $32.33 billion.

 THE BREAKDOWN: Here is a comparison of the conference version of the bill, compared with the Senate, the House, the administration and fiscal 2009: (from Federal Parks & Rec 11/6/09)     

* PARK SERVICE OPERATIONS: Conference, $2.262 billion; Senate committee, $2.261 billion; House, $2.261 billion; administration request, $2.266 billion; fiscal 2009 appropriation, $2.132 billion;

* NPS CENTENNIAL CHALLENGE: Conference, $15 million; Senate committee, no money; House, $25 million; Obama administration, $25 million; fiscal 2009, no money;

* NPS REC AND PRES: Conference, $68.4 million; Senate committee, $67.4 million; House, $59.4 million; administration, $53.9 million; fiscal 2009, $59.7 million;

* NPS CONSTRUCTION: Conference, $233 million; Senate committee, $219.7 million; House, $213.7 million; administration, $206 million; fiscal 2009, $233.2 million;

* SAVE AMERICA’S TREASURES: Conferees, $25 million; Senate, $20 million; House, $30 million; administration, $20 million; fiscal 2009, $20 million; and

* PRESERVE AMERICA: Conferees, $4.6 million; Senate committee, $3.2 million; House, $6 million; administration, $3 million; fiscal 2009, no money.

*SHPOs/THPOs: Conferees, $46.5/$8 million; Senate same; House same; administration same; fiscal 1009, $42.5/$7.5.

* HERITAGE AREAS: Conferees, $16.8 million; Senate, $16.7 million; House, $16.8 million; administration, $15.8 million; fiscal 2009, $15.7 million;

* FEDERAL LWCF: Conferees, $265.3 million; Senate committee, $262 million; House, $212.4 million; administration, $199 million; fiscal 2009, $160 million;

* FEDERAL LWCF BY AGENCY (with fiscal 2009 in parenthesis): Park Service, $86.3 million ($64.2 million in fiscal 2009); Fish and Wildlife Service, $86.3 million ($42.5 million in fiscal 2009); Bureau of Land Management, $29.7 million ($14.8 million in fiscal 2009); and Forest Service, $63 million ($49.8 million in fiscal 2009);

* STATE LWCF: Conferees, $40 million; Senate committee, $35 million; House, $40 million; administration, $30 million; fiscal 2009, $20 million;

* STATE WILDLIFE GRANTS: Conferees, $90 million; Senate, $80 million; House, $115 million; administration, $115 million; fiscal 2009, $75 million;

* NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM: Conferees, $1.551 billion; Senate committee, $1.556 billion; House, $1.565 billion; administration, $1.507 billion; fiscal 2009, $1.510 billion;

* NATIONAL FORESTS RECREATION: Conferees, $292.6 million; Senate committee, $290.1 million; House, $292.6 million; administration, $280.1 million; fiscal 2009, $277.6 million;

* FOREST TRAILS: Conferees, about $85 million, but not precisely specified; Senate committee, $82.2 million; House, $85.3 million; administration $82.1 million; fiscal 2009, $81.2 million;

* NATIONAL LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION SYSTEM: (not broken out but conferees did ask for $2 million more for monuments and conservation areas than the $28.8 million the administration requested); Senate, $75 million; House $74 million; fiscal 2009, $67 million;

* WILDLIFE REFUGE MANAGEMENT: Conferees, $503.3 million; Senate, $488.6 million; House, $503 million; fiscal 2009, $468 million;

 The Interior bill also included an extension until December 18^th of the transporation bill, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act.

From DAHP staff, Russell Holter:

Good news can wait; so first the bad news.  The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has reassigned their training coordinator and has suspended their cultural resources training program indefinitely, that according to a member of the training steering committee.  This news comes despite the fact that the program broke-even, thereby not costing the DNR more than the staff time to coordinate.  The DNR had implemented their cultural resources training only two years earlier.  It had been the expectation of DNR staff to expand the program to allow additional time for more regulatory and compliance topics.  They had also planned to expand the program from an annual to a biannual training. 

Cultural Resources Training (CRT) sponsored by the Department of Transportation and DAHP will be pulling up stakes and re-locating to Ellensburg in the Spring of 2010, that according to Scott Williams, the Environmental Manager for WSDOT’s Environmental Services Office.  The program had been facilitated from Wenatchee in 2009 after it was decided to discontinue the popular training at the Dalles, Oregon.  The Wenatchee location offered several museums for participants’ use.  It also offered a wonderful opportunity to learn the importance of Traditional Cultural Places at Peshastin Pinnacles State Park outside of Cashmere.  The downside was a lack of any really interesting archaeological sites such as those found near the Dalles.  The CRT Steering Committee members are hopeful that the move to Ellensburg will provide a greater opportunity for teachable moments by visiting sites in areas such as Olmstead and Gingko State Parks.

Washington State Parks, which has been reeling from budget cuts and staff re-assignments, is slowly gearing up to bring back the Principles of Preservation training program.  The program, taught biannually at Fort Worden State Park, was unceremoniously cut due to budget considerations last year even though it was required for all Park Rangers to take the class for their cultural certification.  Alex McMurry, Parks Cultural Resource Specialist and Training Coordinator, says they plan to start leaner and meaner than before — hopefully by the fall of 2010.  Undoubtedly few of these training slots will be made available to agencies outside of Parks as they attempt to get their staff caught up on necessary certification. 

The following is a remembrance from DAHP staff, Susan Goff, on last night’s fire at the Whatcom Middle School. The school had been undergoing earthquake retrofitting and it was reported that welders were working on the roof as late as 10:30 pm last night. The fire was reported at 1:00 am and by 4:00 am, flames were seen shooting from all parts of the roof. Officials have not yet given a damage estimate to the century-old building, which was originally constructed in 1903.

This morning I learned that Whatcom Middle School in Bellingham was being ravaged by a fire.  Several historic buildings have been unfortunately destroyed within the last few months throughout the state, but this one stuck me very personally.

 

My family lived in the neighborhood from 1916 through 1979 with my father a graduate of Whatcom High School and me a student later when it was known as Whatcom Junior High.
Now the block south of Dupont and F Street that was the site of Battersby Field with be joined by the absence of the majestic school building to the north that stood there for over a century with its motto over the main entrance “Waste Not Thy Hour.”

Registration is now available for this much anticipated conference that arrives at Seattle’s Washington State Convention and Trade Center on February 4 through 6. Themed “Building Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities” the conference will allow participants to explore in depth “smart growth” principles in shaping healthy and sustainable communities. Hopefully, historic preservation will be included in the mix of sessions that focus on new trends in transportation, infrastructure, park/recreation, and sustainability. Fourteen mobile workshops are also offered that explore inner city redevelopment, impact of the new LINK light rail, retrofitting auto-oriented suburbs, as well as bicycle tours to historic towns and evolving suburbs in the region including Mercer Island, Snohomish, Port Townsend, and Langley. Registration runs from $219 to $309 and can be made by visiting the conference website at www.NewPartners.org. The conference is organized by Sacramento-based Local Government Commission and involves a number of sponsors including among others: Sound Transit, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Highway Administration, and the Urban Land Institute.

The recent death of famous landscape architect Lawrence Halprin has received widespread notice across the nation. While practicing much of his career in the San Francisco Bay area, his work spanned the globe including the northwest with important examples executed in Washington and Oregon. Most familiar to Washingtonians would be Freeway Park in Seattle and the Washington Water Power (now Avista) Corporation headquarters campus in Spokane. Perhaps not as well known is his Water Garden fountain installed at the East Capitol Campus in Olympia in 1972. For those familiar with his work, the Water Garden would be easy to identify as bearing Halprin’s design signature and is reminiscent of the later Freeway Park (1976) and his fountain installations in downtown Portland (1965).

Since the 1970’s, like many examples of properties from the recent past, or “familiar past”, the Water Garden fell into disuse and disrepair because of leaks and changing design trends. As a result, the water was eventually turned off and the surrounding pedestrian plaza often seemed desolate.

In anticipation of a major re-design of the East Capitol Campus, in 2004 the State Department of General Administration (GA) commissioned the Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation (then Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation) and the Washington State Arts Commission to evaluate the Water Garden to assess its architectural, artistic, and historic merit plus make recommendations regarding its repair and long-term preservation. The report was authored by former DAHP employee Donovan Gray who, in fulfillment of the commission, personally interviewed the colorful Halprin at his home in the Bay Area suburbs. The report provides detailed analysis of the Water Garden and its design derivations, but is also a good overview of Halprin’s background, career, and his other installations. It is also a good read that provides a glimpse into 1960s era politics and decision making processes surrounding government sponsored art and design. Not to be missed in the appendix are the results of a survey that was conducted of nearby office workers and neighborhood residents to obtain their personal opinion of, and interaction with, the Water Garden. For the record, a large majority of those who responded to the survey liked the fountain and favored preservation.

Following completion of the study, then GA Director Rob Fukai, decided to retain the Water Garden. While the Water Garden remains within the redesigned East Capitol Campus, the flow of water over and around its sculptured concrete forms has not been restored. Nevertheless, it is a positive signal for historic preservation that this important example of modernist landscape architecture has not suffered from alteration or removal that faces other reminders of the recent past.