Farming the Waters: Japanese Oyster Growers in Willapa Harbor, Washington
The Center for Columbia River History's 2009 James B. Castles Fellow, Katy Fry, will explore the history of the oyster industry in Washington State, in two presentations. On September 7 she will speak at WSU Vancouver at 12:00 p.m. in MC 22. On September 8 at 7:00 p.m. she will speak in Ilwaco.
This talk illuminates the lives of Japanese American oysterers, how they interacted with the surrounding community, and their fate upon America’s entrance into World War II.
Farming the Waters
Katy FrySep 07-08 - 12:00 p.m., Vancouver; 7:00 p.m., Ilwaco
Washington State University, Vancouver, WA
Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, Ilwaco, WA
14204 NE Salmon Creek Ave., Vancouver, 98686
115 SE Lake Street, Ilwaco, 98624
Phone: 360-258-3289
Image courtesy of the Wing Luke Museum
Washington State’s oyster industry has never received the same iconic status as other natural resource industries. Consequently, the story of an important group of oyster laborers also goes unnoticed. When Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, six of the eight most important oyster packing houses almost exclusively employed Japanese and Japanese Americans. Almost half of the oysters opened in Willapa Harbor in the southwest corner of the state occurred in Japanese American owned businesses. These companies played an instrumental role in creating and sustaining the oyster industry in Willapa Harbor, with important cultural and economic reverberations in the greater Columbia River Basin.
This program will be presented at Washington State University Vancouver. Click here for directions and a campus map on September 7 at 12:00 p.m. in MC 22 and at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum on September 8 at 7:00 p.m.
Katy Fry is a doctoral candidate in the History department at Washington State University in Pullman, where she also received her Master’s degree in American Studies (2006). Her work revolves around issues of immigration and labor in the American West. This talk presents a portion of her dissertation project, which explores the intersection of race/ethnicity, labor, and the environment in Washington state’s oyster industry history.
The Castles Programs are funded through a generous endowment from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, of which James B. Castles was a founding trustee and twenty-year board member. Born in Montana, Jim Castles spent his life pursuing and promoting the art, culture, and heritage of the Columbia and the American West. He valued public, informal education that stimulated discussion about the history of the region he loved. The James B. Castles Endowment fund supports free public programming by the Center for Columbia River History.
Chinookan Culture at the Cathlapotle Plankhouse
Tony JohnsonOct 10 - 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Cathlapotle Plankhouse
Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge
28908 NW Main
Ridgefield, Washington
Phone: 360-887-4106 or 360-258-3289
The Center for Columbia River History (CCRH) will partner with the Friends of the Cathlapotle Plankhouse in a day of Chinookan culture during the Ridgefield Birdfest & Bluegrass weekend, October 9 & 10, 2010.
A blessing by Sam Robinson at the Cathlapotle Plankhouse, 2009
CCRH will sponsor a talk on Sunday, October 10, by tribal artist, linguist, and Cultural Committee Chair of the Chinook Nation, Tony Johnson, during Birdfest & Bluegrass in Ridgefield, Washington. Visitors can take part in guided walks to the Cathlapotle Village site and the Lewis & Clark Wapato Portage site, children's activities, docent led tours, and other talks. A salmon, oyster, and clam bake with a blessing by Vice Chairman of the Chinook Nation, Sam Robinson, will take place in the afternoon, with complimentary sampling while supplies last.
Game Changers and History Makers: Women in the Pacific Northwest
This special gathering for the 63rd annual Pacific Northwest History conference will be held November 3-5, 2010. The conference commemorates the centennial of Washington women’s suffrage and will feature nationally known speakers and compelling stories, all at Spokane’s historic Davenport Hotel.
63rd Annual Pacific Northwest History conference
Nov 03-05Spokane, WA
The Washington State Historical Society, permanent sponsor of the Pacific Northwest History Conference, along with the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture and the Northwest Oral History Association commemorate the centennial of Washington women permanently winning the right to vote in 1910.
Entangled in the Fur Trade: Or, The Archaeology of Contact on the Lower Columbia River
Dr. Kenneth Ames, Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Portland State University
2010 James B. Castles Lecture
Dr. Kenneth AmesNov 18 - 5:30 p.m.
Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave.
Portland, Oregon
Scholars have often presented the fur trade era on the Lower Columbia River through the lens of Euro-American documentary sources. Archaeological research on the lower river since 1987 provides significant evidence of local and regional Native responses to, and participation in, the fur trade. For example, fur traders on the Lower Columbia entered an ancient, well-established system of trade, exchange and values. Anthropologists use the term “entanglement” to describe such two-way contact. “Entanglement” can also describe ways in which modern archaeology is no longer a one-way scholarly street, running from archaeologists to descendent communities. In this illustrated talk, Dr. Ken Ames will explore archaeological entanglements, both past and present. Dr. Ames is an expert on Native people of the Northwest Coast and the Intermontane Plateau.