Hosted by East Benton County Historical Society
Space restrictions allow most museums to display only about 10 percent of their holdings. However, there are often surprising political, philosophical, artistic, environmental, and historic reasons why museums keep objects from view. Journalist Harriet Baskas will present a fast-paced, photo-filled and, at times, somewhat offbeat tour of Washington history through the stories of museum artifacts that are rarely – or never – shown to the public. Examples include Bing Crosby’s toupees in Spokane, a quilt made of Ku Klux Klan robes in Yakima, and Native American spirit boards in Tacoma. We will explore how those objects came to be in the local collections and who makes decisions about what is kept from view.