12/18/2024
Christmas Gift Ideas for Local History Buffs
Let’s face it, odds are good somebody on your Christmas list loves learning and reading about local history. For can’t-go-wrong Christmas gifts, local history books deliver smiles year after year. 2024 has ushered in several new Grays Harbor history books as well as a few rare finds that have re-surfaced just in time for Christmas.
In the brand-new department, “Hoquiam Schoolhouse Memories” is at the top of my list for new titles that contribute significantly to the local historical record and is a must-have for anyone with ties to Hoquiam schools. Sisters Karen and Diane Taylor have compiled a 242-page treasure trove of Hoquiam school history with photos, maps, tables and more. In seeking information on their great-grandmother, Nettie Connell, a teacher in Hoquiam starting in 1896 and promoted to assistant principal of Hoquiam Public Schools in 1898, the Taylor sisters began a years long research journey that has culminated in this comprehensive history book.
While the book chronologically details Hoquiam's various schools dating back to the 1870s, the Taylor sisters have added a cornucopia of local school trivia that is sure to delight readers: early published rules and regulations, profiles of early teachers, details on neighboring rural schools at places like Newton, Chenois Creek, Copalis Beach and more. Non-public schools affiliated with religious or ethnic groups such as St. Mary’s Catholic and the Finnish School are addressed as well as activities that students participated in outside of schools at places like the YMCA, the Hoquiam Library and the 1939 Bunyan Jubilee. All of the district’s elementary schools along with its Junior High and High Schools are chronicled into the 1960s and a wealth of historic photos, ephemera and maps are included. Notably, Polson Museum board members Larry Jones (also a long time Hoquiam principal and administrator) and Lee Thomasson share insightful first-hand histories from their respective eras in the schools. This meticulously researched book culminates with a wonderful reference chapter on the “evolution” of Hoquiam's schools that chronologically and geographically details these historic houses of instruction. If ever the game show “Jeopardy!” chose to quiz contestants with a column on Hoquiam Schools, this book would provide all the answers.
I’d also like to give a shout out to the local history book Karen Taylor published in 2023 called “The Magic Healer’s Daughter,” a collective biography of Lizzy Snyder and her father William Wilson who in 1901 established a “magic healing” practice on Market Street in Aberdeen. Taylor, great-great granddaughter to Lizzy, spent countless hours compiling a visual museum-like exhibit-in-a-book, sharing a treasure trove of collected ephemera saved by her family’s ancestors. In the days when snake oil salesman and trained doctors competed for medical business, the practice of “magnetic healing” fell somewhere in the middle and proved incredibly popular through the teachings and promotions of Professor Sidney Weltmer whose Weltmer Institute and American School of Magnetic Healing in Nevada, Missouri trained hundreds of individuals at the turn of the last century. William Wilson earned his “professor” title in “Weltmerism” and in turn opened his practice in Aberdeen. When his office was destroyed in the devastating fire that wiped out much of Aberdeen’s downtown in 1903, Wilson and his daughter relocated to Hoquiam with Lizzy ultimately running the operation on her own following Wilson’s death in 1910. Through this book, author Karen Taylor has chronicled an obscure yet especially fascinating chapter of Aberdeen and Hoquiam history. $24.50 paperback.
In the “old-is-new” category, we’ve landed two small caches of new-old-stock Harbor history classics, all in hardback. Edwin Van Syckle’s “River Pioneers: Early Days on Grays Harbor” is a must read for anyone wanting to learn about early exploration and settlement history here. The books are pristine and still wrapped in their original cellophane wrappers and best of all, we’re selling them for the $22.95 they were priced at when new in 1982! We also have a selection of used paperbacks of this title for those looking to spend even less. Van Syckle’s 423-page masterpiece is a pleasure to read and covers everything from the native peoples to explorers and settlers to the origins of the towns we all know and live in today. The book is simply indispensable as a historical reference for our county. Appendices include a myriad of useful and fun topics such as the 1855 Isaac Stevens treaty with the Indians, early Grays Harbor churches, pioneer rosters from across the county, Indian place names, and even two fun poems by Charlie Gant: “The Road to Aberdeen” and “Think of Me Hill.”
The other NOS hardbacks are “On the Harbor: From Black Friday to Nirvana,” written by John C. Hughes and Ryan Teague Beckwith at the turn of the most recent century. For those not familiar with this book, it’s a wonderful collection of essay-length chapters on the top news stories from the twentieth century on Grays Harbor. Throughout its 24 chapters, readers will explore such topics as the dangers of woods work, the devastation of Aberdeen’s downtown-destroying 1903 fire, and the downfall of community tolerated prostitution. Included are infamous characters such as Billy Gohl, the purported serial killer “Ghoul of Grays Harbor” and John Tornow, the “Wild Man of the Wynoochee” whose nearly two year manhunt ended tragically for Tornow and his pursuers. The famous is covered too: President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1937 trip to our county, Pat Boone’s promotion of Ocean Shores and Harbor native Kurt Cobain’s rise to stardom as the lead man for the grunge band Nirvana. Nicely illustrated with historic photographs and augmented with fact-rich sidebars, this limited supply won’t last long at the original $29.95 price tag.
For local logging history fans, we have a robust stock of Peter Replinger’s “Schafer Brothers: Pioneer Loggers of the Satsop Valley.” A very limited run of the book was first published in 2018 which quickly sold out. We have this second edition now available and chock full of fabulous historic photographs from the Schafer’s heyday, many of these in color. The book covers the company’s logging and sawmilling operations as well as their tugs, shipping and more. As one of Grays Harbor’s largest employers and the last big family-owned timber companies of our region, the Schafer’s empire is well documented in this second print run. Extensive appendices provide detail of the Shafer’s logging innovations, rolling stock, locomotives, camps, steam donkeys and more. Replinger has even provided an appendix of employee records – a substantial addition to our local history record. $39.95 paperback.
To discover what life was like for women on America’s most north western frontier in the early decades of the last century and before, two books by the brother/sister duo Gary Peterson and Glynda Schaad are not to be missed. “Women to Reckon With: Untamed Women of the Olympic Wilderness” is a graphically beautiful hardback loaded with silky black and white photography, maps, ephemera and a helpful Chinook Jargon glossary at the end. As the title emphasizes, the dozen women profiled here all had fortitude and grit in pioneering the harsh landscape of the northern Olympic Peninsula. $21.95 hardback.
“High Divide: Minnie Peterson’s Olympic Mountain Adventures, the Early Years 1915-1962” chronicles the Peterson siblings’ grandmother Minnie Peterson. Minnie’s personal motto, “never let work get in the way of pleasure,” is a marvelous way to summarize the themes throughout this 140-page book which is full of family photos and stories detailing the development and growth of the northern Olympic Peninsula. $21.95 softback.
So if you’ve reached crunch week and are still trying to find the right gift, look no further than the Polson Museum Store where these and numerous other local history books are in stock. We’re also offering the beautiful “Historic Hoquiam” 2025 calendars and an all-new cookbook that Saron Lutheran Church has produced as a fundraiser for their steeple/window repair projects – items we’re especially promoting following the lightning strike that demolished their church steeple a few weeks ago. If someone on your list needs a wardrobe upgrade, check out our new shipment of Polson apparel T-shirts and quarter zip pullovers that prominently sport the historic Polson Logging Company letterhead inspired museum logo. And, of course, don’t forget to stuff a stocking with a Red Car Raffle ticket for the new “Firecracker Red” Jeep Gladiator we’re giving away on the 28th of December. With just a few dozen tickets left to sell, this would be the week to get your chance.
Through December 22, the Polson Museum is open Wednesday to Saturday from 11-4 and Sunday 12-4. From all of us at the Polson Museum, we wish you and yours a joyous Christmas! For more information please call 360-533-5862.
