White River Valley Museum is a historical museum located in

Auburn, Washington Auburn is a city in King County, Washington, United States (with a small portion crossing into neighboring Pierce County). The population was 87,256 at the 2020 Census. Auburn is a suburb in the Seattle metropolitan area, and is currently rank ...

History

Created through the combined effort of the City of Auburn and the White River Valley Historical Society, the White River Valley Museum has been open to the public as far back as January 1996. Since then, the museum has published a monthly newsletter, "White River Journal", while working to preserve regional historical artifacts and sites, including the

Mary Olsen Farm Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

. In 2001, the White River Valley Museum applied for and received the Mary Olson Farm's placement onto the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Mission

The White River Valley Museum's mission statement is: "The White River Valley Museum is a partnership with the city of Auburn and combines history and culture to create an exciting and educational experience for visitors."

Exhibits

The White River Valley Museum has both permanent exhibits and four temporary exhibits per year. The museum's collections focus on local

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

history, Northwest Indian culture,

Japanese-American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asia ...

s, and the

Northern Pacific Railroad The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by 38th United States Congress, Congress in 1864 and given ...

. *1924 Auburn Depot - visitors can view and experience the

depot and

caboose A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in switching and shunting, keeping a lookout for load shifting, damag ...

. *1915 Japanese Farmhouse - teaches visitors about the Iseri Family of Thomas Washington, including

picture bride The term picture bride refers to the practice in the early 20th century of immigrant workers (chiefly Japanese, Okinawan, and Korean) in Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States and Canada, as well as Brazil selecting brides from their nat ...

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

home altars, and life on

truck farm A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to ...

s. *Downtown Auburn in the 1920s - includes the Auburn Public Market and the Auburn Hat Shop with replica hats that museum visitors may handle. *

Muckleshoot The Muckleshoot ( lut, bəqəlšuł ) are a Lushootseed language, Lushootseed-speaking Native American tribe, part of the Coast Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest. They are descendants of the Duwamish and Puyallup peoples whose traditional t ...

Indian Tribe (the original settlers of the region) - includes a c 1890 river canoe display and a scale model of a winter house. *Northern Clay Company, aka

Gladding, McBean Gladding, McBean is a ceramics company located in Lincoln, California. It is one of the oldest companies in California, a pioneer in ceramics technology, and a company which has "contributed immeasurably" to the state's industrialization. During ...

- illustrates the architectural terra cotta of Seattle and Tacoma, and the clay industry of the

Green River Green River may refer to: Rivers Canada * Green River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Lillooet River *Green River, a tributary of the Saint John River, also known by its French name of Rivière Verte *Green River (Ontario), a tributary of ...

Valley, the Auburn laborers, and Vienna designers. *Tourist Hotel of 1924 - illustrates Auburn as a boom town in the 1920s and includes photos of the 1924 mayor Otto Bersch and a conductor for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Examples of the museum's temporary exhibits include "On Track": a collection of railroad photographs of Warren McGee taken between the 1930s and 1970s, and a collection of ''Auburn "Our Story" Videos'' covering a variety of regional historical topics.

Collections

The White River Valley Museum's collections include the historic site Mary Olson's Farm, as well as an archive of the monthly museum publication "White River Journal". The museum's photograph collection contains thousands of regional historic images dating between 1894 and 1982, while the museum's small research library holds books, diaries and regional newspapers from the same period. The museum also has an extensive collection of regional artifacts from both historic Auburn and its people, as well as objects from regional Native American tribes, including the

Salish Salish () may refer to: * Salish peoples, a group of First Nations/Native Americans ** Coast Salish peoples, several First Nations/Native American groups in the coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest ** Interior Salish peoples, several First Nat ...

and

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Auburn, Washington Museums in King County, Washington History museums in Washington (state)