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Featured Exhibits

Whales in Our Midst

COMING SOON!

JUNE 2 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 1, 2012

Killer whale

Orcas in Puget Sound.
Erik Stockdale photo, Wikimedia Commons

Whether you call it orca or killer whale, this charismatic and complex animal is an icon of Pacific Northwest waterways, where it can be found from Alaska to California. The exhibit focuses on orca populations that inhabit the Greater Puget Sound region and the contiguous international waters shared by Washington and British Columbia.

Organized by Bainbridge Island Historical Museum.


Northwest Treaty Trail, 1854–1856

Isaac Stevens at the Council with the Blackfeet, by Gustav Sohon. (Washington State Historical Society)

ONGOING

Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens held 11 treaty councils with Northwest Indians. Native people ceded portions of their traditional homelands, from Puget Sound to the Canadian border and from northeastern Oregon to the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana. Those treaties still shape Washington society today.


Respecting the Knowledge: Ethnobotany of Western Washington

Detail of a traditional bentwood box, by Peter Simpson, Jr. (Washington State Historical Society)

ONGOING

Ethnobotany is understanding the relationship between plants and peoples. Native communities, past and present, have used plants for food, medicine, and tools. The exhibit includes beautiful photographs of native plants and descriptions of their traditional usage, handmade tools and implements, baskets and a bentwood box.

State Capital Museum and Outreach Center
211 SW 21st Avenue
Olympia, WA 98501
(360) 753-2580
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