Events and Programs
Exclusive member opening!
Saturday evening, February 18, 5:30 to 8 PM
Come party like it's 1929! WSHS 1957.19.09.204.
See our new exhibit and meet our new executive director, Jennifer Kilmer. Join us for a brief behind-the-scenes talk with curator Gwen Perkins. Sample soup in a “Depression-era soup line” provided by Infinite Soups, and enjoy a libation during the performance of 1930s dances in the Grand Lobby.
RSVP by contacting Laura Berry at 253.798.5899 or send e-mail to laura.berry@wshs.wa.gov.
February 20 > ALL DAY
This photograph was part of a 1930s public awareness campaign about child hunger. WSHS 1957.19.04.353.2
Want to see Hope in Hard Times at Depression-era prices? Bring a box or can of food to the museum on Monday, February 20 (Presidents' Day) and receive FREE admission.
All food donations benefit Northwest Harvest.
THIRD THURSDAYS @ 6 PM, FREE PUBLIC PROGRAM
The History Museum is proud to be the Tacoma 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
State Capital Museum in Olympia.
Presented by the Washington State Historical Society and
ITVS.
Courtesy of Independent Television Service
February 16, 7PM:
More Than a Month
Shukree Hassan Tilghman, a 29 year old African American filmmaker, goes on a cross-country
campaign to end Black History Month. With Morgan Freeman.
March 15, 7PM:
Revenge of the Electric Car
It’s not just the next generation of green cars that’s on the line. It’s the future
of the automobile itself. Revenge of the Electric Car follows the race
to the first and the best.
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.