FREE! Museum After Hours: On Almost the Exact Same Land...

Museum After Hours: On Almost the Exact Same Land—Creating Historical Places History is often tied to place and time. But how are historical places created? How do we turn our landscapes into something that is historic? Put up a monument, preserve old buildings, and place interpretive signage? Living history, the practice of embodying and performing history for an audience, also has a hand in creating historical places. Looking at the twin case studies of Fort Nisqually Living History Museum (Tacoma, WA) and Fort Walla Walla Museum (Walla Walla, WA), we will talk about the role living history programming and its interpreters play in imagining spaces as historical places — especially when old buildings no longer stand in their original locations! The speaker for this Museum After Hours is Colby Dragon. Originally from the other side of the mountains, Colby came over the Cascades to study Anthropology and History at Whitman College, graduating in May 2022. During her time in Walla Walla, Colby served on the board at Fort Walla Walla Museum, welcomed visitors into the museum on Saturdays, and even lead a handful of tours around the museum grounds. A summer internship at Fort Nisqually Living History Museum (in Tacoma, WA) inspired Colby to learn more about the practice of living history and its place at regional history museums like Fort Nisqually and Fort Walla Walla. Her curiosity developed into a full-scale senior thesis, "It's Always 1855 Here," in which Colby investigates how volunteers and staff at Fort Nisqually 'do' living history and how this practice shapes their interactions with visitors. She also found that living history has a critical role in carving historical spaces out of our landscapes - a topic she is excited to talk with you more about at this Museum After Hours!