Events and Programs
THIRD THURSDAYS @ 6 PM, FREE PUBLIC PROGRAM
The History Museum is proud to be the host of Community Cinema, a ground-breaking
public education and civic engagement initiative featuring free monthly screenings
of films from the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. A lecture or open
discussion follows each film. There will be adjunct screenings of the films at the History Museum in Tacoma and the
State Capital Museum in Olympia.
Presented by the Washington State Historical Society and
Independent Television Service (ITVS).
UPCOMING FILMS:
Cheryl Haworth in competition.
Strong!
THURSDAY, MAY 17 at 6PM
Cheryl Haworth is a young woman with a dream to be the strongest woman in the world. As the 300-pound U.S. Olympic weight-lifter prepares for Beijing 2008, she struggles with injury, confidence, and her place in a world where larger women are not readily accepted.
Magic Lantern Shows
FRIDAY, JUNE 1 at 7:00pm, FREE program at the Knights of Pythias Hall
Magic lantern slide depicting an Egyptian scene. WSHS collections, C1975.26.18
See for yourself was the excitement was all about at a FREE magic Lantern slideshow at the Pythias Hall in Tacoma!
SATURDAY, JUNE 23 at 7:30pm, Tickets: $12 each, available from the Magic Lantern Society
The American Magic-Lantern Theater presents a Magic Lantern Show, the authentic Victorian, big-screen extravaganza that led to the movies. This program will be held in the Washington State History Museum Auditorium.
FIRST FRIDAYS @ 3 PM, FREE with museum admission; always free to members
UPCOMING TALKS:
A glimpse into the Tacoma nightclub scene of 1935. WSHS 1957.19.10.424.
"Gangsters and G-Men"
FRIDAY, JUNE 1 at 3PM
Desperate times lead to desperate actions. The 1930s were the era of Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, and J. Edgar Hoover. But Tacoma had its share of famous crooks and daring lawmen—hear the stories of notorious kidnappings, cons, and the men who hunted murderers down in "Gangsters and G-Men."
Other upcoming topics include:
"Sin, Scandal, and Sabotage," "Hard Times in Hooverville," and a repeat (by popular demand!) of "Riding the Rails."
"Lightning Walker", by Chholing Taha, selected as Best in Show in 2011.
In the Spirit Exhibit Opening
THURSDAY, JUNE 21 @ 6 PM
Join us for the opening of In the Spirit, our seventh juried exhibit of contemporary Native American art. Mingle with the artists whose work hangs in the exhibit and applaud their success at the awards ceremony. We will be presenting four awards; Best in Show, Celebrating the Northwest, Celebrating Tradition and Celebrating Innovation. Voting will begin for the People’s Choice Award which will be presented during the In the Spirit festival on August 11.
Model Railroad Operators' Hours
FIRST SATURDAY of every month, 11 AM-4 PM
A model train passes over a bridge in the History Museum's model railroad display,
the largest permanent model train display in the state. (Washington State Historical
Society)
The Puget Sound Model Railroad Engineers (PSMRE), the all-volunteer organization
which operates the History Museum's permanent model railroad exhibit, holds a special
Operators' Hours on the first Saturday of every month. Operators' Hours is an opportunity
to watch the masters at work and ask questions of the model railroad experts!
Using a fast clock (a clock six-times faster than normal) PSMRE members operate
the trains according to schedules followed by Northern Pacific, Great Northern,
Union Pacific and Milwaukee Railroad companies in Tacoma in the 1950s. Each train
is operated by a conductor, with a dispatcher on radio in another room to control
the mainline. See priority passenger and scheduled freight trains, as well as local
freights, and train make-up and break-down in the yards.