After
a year of extensive curriculum planning and restoration work, the
Karshner Museum will reopen this fall as the Karshner Museum and Center
for Culture & Arts.
The
newly restored teaching museum will open to the public September 3 and
remain open this fall from 1 to 4 p.m. each day that school is in
session.
A
grand reopening ceremony is planned from 1 to 2 p.m. on Friday, October
10. The facility is located at 309 Fourth St. N.E. in Puyallup,
adjacent to Stewart Elementary School.
The
one-hour ceremony will feature guest speakers and musical performances;
however, students will continue to perform until 4 p.m.
Diane
Nason Karshner, one of several remaining ties to the museum’s namesake
Dr. Warner Karshner, said she looks forward to attending the grand
reopening. The Gig Harbor resident is the wife of the late Dr. Warner
Karshner, who was a great-nephew of the museum’s founder and shared his
same name.
“Our
family is excited for the students, the teachers, and the community at
large,” said Nason Karshner, who retired last year after 38 years as a
school counselor. “The facility provides a unique opportunity to
showcase culture and the arts combined with the original intention of
Dr. and Mrs. Karshner to have a vibrant, hands-on learning environment.”
The building houses one of the few school district-operated teaching museums in the United States.
When
the teaching museum reopens on September 3, guests will be invited to
take self-guided tours of a traveling “Legacy Washington” history
exhibit titled “Moving Forward, Looking Back: Washington’s First Women
in Government,” that will be on display through mid-October.
The
exhibit is one of three that will be loaned to the facility this year
as a result of a new partnership between the Karshner Museum and Center
for Culture & Arts and the Secretary of State’s Office.
An expanded purpose
The
Karshner Museum and Center for Culture & Arts will be a cultural
hub for third-grade school field trips that begin in February, as well
as for staff trainings and workshops.
The field trip will align with the third grade social studies curriculum, which includes a unit on Native American culture.
Educators
have spent the past year planning the Native American unit, which is
also aligned to the Common Core State Standards and English Language
Proficiency standards.
Lesson
plans focus on Washington’s coastal and plateau Native American tribes,
said Brian Fox, executive director of communications, information, and
arts education.
The
curriculum also meets the requirements of House Bill 1495, which
requires schools to teach about Native Americans unique to their area,
and integrates proven instructional strategies known as Guided Language
Acquisition Design (GLAD).
Upon
their arrival at the teaching museum, students will learn about
artifacts related to their classroom lessons, use modern technology to
support their research and learning, and do art projects and other
hands-on activities, said Jennifer Torgerson, a school district GLAD
project trainer.
The
learning will continue in the weeks following the trip, she said, as
third graders prepare reports, do art projects, tell stories, and
incorporate technology related to their museum visit.
Torgerson
worked with Indian Education Program Specialist Michelle Marcoe and
other committee members to help develop the Native American unit.
The
lessons were presented for the first time last spring to Firgrove
Elementary students and will be expanded this year to elementary schools
around the district.
The
Karshner Museum and Center for Culture & Arts will also be home to
events and activities related to the arts, including the annual Dan
Vesey–Deb Munson Art Exhibit in May. Winning student artwork will also
be showcased there.
Staff
trainings and workshops will also be held at the center throughout the
year. An annual summer leadership meeting for all district
administrators, for example, was scheduled there this month.
“The
purpose of the center will be to fulfill Dr. Karshner’s vision of
providing students an opportunity to learn about the world’s diverse
cultures through participatory education,” Fox
said. “Through the integration of visual arts, drama, movement,
storytelling, music, and critical thinking strategies, students and
teachers will experience history and culture through field trips,
teacher workshops, and special events.”
Restoration work
Significant
restoration work has been done inside the facility, including the
refinishing of natural wood floors. Walls are a light fir wood and there
is increased natural lighting to resemble a Native American longhouse,
Fox said.
Longhouses
were a style of residential dwelling built by native peoples in various
parts of North America. Separate longhouses were also often built for
community meetings.
A
hand-carved Native American canoe and welcome figure displayed for
years in the museum will continue to be prominently displayed in the
large main room, also referred to as the great hall.
The
great hall can be used for large meetings or gatherings of up to 200
visitors, with a drop-down projection screen for presentations.
The
room is wired with modern technology that supports six 50” wall-mounted
computer monitors, which are spaced around the room. The monitors
facilitate small-group work, Fox said.
The spacious area is also suitable for students and other groups to dance or do other physical activities.
A
turn-of-the-century pioneer classroom remains unchanged, as does a room
where Dr. Karshner’s collection of 10,000-plus artifacts from around
the world are stored.
Rooms
along the north side of the building are galleries with 10 newly
crafted rolling display cases that will showcase artifacts that can be
turned different directions and moved about the facility.
The
display cases have been designed with wood removed from the interior
walls, as well as with slate from chalkboards that used to hang in the
building.
Rosemary
Eckerson, a former curator and director of the Karshner Museum for 27
years, is helping to arrange artifacts in the display cases this month
in preparation for opening day.
Eckerson
served over the past year on a transition committee, made up of
educators and community members, that helped plan the repurposing of the
museum.
“I
have such a love for the museum collection,” she said. “What foresight
Dr. Karshner had, as the artifacts are as relevant today as they were in
1930. The items will tie in keenly with what students are studying.”
An
enclave in one of three gallery rooms will feature an exhibit honoring
Dr. Karshner, including a roll top desk, some of his books, and other
artifacts and memorabilia that reflect his life, Fox said.
Native
American baskets, a longhouse plank, and Dale Chihuly glass art will
also continue to be featured throughout the center, Fox said.
A
room on the south side of the building will be used as a modern
classroom, complete with an interactive white board and mounted
projector. Staff can meet in this room for workshops or trainings, Fox
said, and students can do art projects or other lessons during classroom
field trips.
Bathrooms
have been remodeled to meet building code, directional lighting has
been added to gallery room ceilings to spotlight display cases,
soundproofing panels have been installed in galleries and the main room,
an office has been created in the entry, and new coats of paint have
been added throughout the building.
A
wall was also removed between two rooms in the back (east side) of the
building and doorways reopened in other areas to improve air flow and
create more space for people to move about the facility, Fox said.
Additionally,
a covered porch facing the parking lot on the south side of the
building has been restored and will be an ideal place for outdoor
gatherings, music, or student projects, Fox said.
Entry to feature Puyallup Tribe of Indians exhibit
Inside
the front entry, a glass-enclosed display case has been added to
prominently feature an exhibit about the Puyallup Tribe of Indians.
The
display, which is expected to be completed in time for the reopening
ceremony in October, will feature artifacts in chronological order
dating from the early years of the Puyallup Tribe to the present.
Brandon
Reynon, an archeologist with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, visited the
Karshner Museum and Center for Culture & Arts last month to begin
planning the exhibit. He said it will be the only one in the City of
Puyallup that features Puyallup tribal history.
“It will be our story,” Reynon said. “The tribe will have the opportunity to have our culture here and share our history.”
Honoring the past
Karshner
Museum was founded in 1930 by Dr. Warner Karshner and his wife Ella as a
lasting memorial for their son Paul, who died from polio in 1924 during
his senior year of high school.
The
museum opened in 1930 at Puyallup High School and was moved in 1965 to
its present location in the old Stewart School building.
The
original wooden “Paul H. Karshner Memorial Museum” sign will remain
above the front door entry to honor the “rich history of the museum,”
Fox said.
Other pieces of the museum history have been repurposed, he said.
A
stuffed bison that stood on a platform in the main room, for example,
was on loan and has been returned to the Washington State Historical
Society.
An
elephant’s foot — a popular item among students and adults alike for
its signature smell — is safely stored with other archives and will be
displayed during certain times of the year, Fox said.
The
goal, he said, will be to display more of Dr. Karshner’s collection for
students and community members here and around the region to learn
about and enjoy.
A
new Karshner Museum and Center for Culture & Arts logo, featuring
an image of the building’s cupola, will be featured on the front doors
and in publications and other marketing materials.
The museum restoration project is being paid for with a combination of general and capital (construction) funds.
“Legacy Washington” partnership
The
teaching museum will host three traveling history “Legacy Washington”
exhibits in 2014-15, beginning with the women in government display.
That exhibit will be replaced in mid-October with “Grand Coulee to
Grunge: Eight stories that changed the world.”
In
February 2015, the same time that third graders begin field trips to
the museum, the exhibit will switch and feature one that relates to
students’ study of coastal and plateau tribes. The exhibit is titled
“We’re Still Here: The Survival of Washington Indians.”