Suquamish Museum

Last updated

Suquamish Museum
Suquamish Museum Logo.png
Established1983
Location6861 NE South St, Suquamish, Washington
Coordinates 47°43′46″N122°33′27″W / 47.729493°N 122.557378°W / 47.729493; -122.557378
Type Tribal Museum
Key holdingsOld Man House artifacts, Baba'kwob site artifacts
DirectorJanet Smoak
PresidentRobin Sigo
CuratorLydia Sigo
Owner Suquamish Tribe
Website suquamishmuseum.org

The Suquamish Museum preserves and displays relics and records related to the Suquamish Tribe, including artifacts from the Old Man House and the Baba'kwob site. It is located on the Port Madison Indian Reservation in Washington state and was founded in 1983. The museum currently occupies a facility opened in 2012.

Contents

History

The Suquamish Museum opened in 1983 as the Suquamish Museum and Cultural Center, then only the second tribal museum in the state of Washington. [1] [2] In 2009 the Suquamish tribe launched a capital campaign to construct a new facility, enlisting Senator Patty Murray and former Washington Secretary of State Ralph Munro to help lead the effort. The new facility opened in 2012 and is triple the size of the original building. Constructed at a cost of $6 million, the 9,000-square-foot (840 m2) purpose-built structure is set in a small botanical garden on the Port Madison Indian Reservation and consists of two galleries, a gift shop, a 50-seat auditorium, and a climate-controlled storage room used to house artifacts not on display. [3] The facility was designed by the Seattle architectural firm Mithun and is a LEED Gold certified building. In 2013 it received a citation from the Washington Council of the American Institute of Architects. [4]

Operations

Collection

The main entrance to the Suquamish Museum, pictured in 2014 Suquamish Museum.jpg
The main entrance to the Suquamish Museum, pictured in 2014

In addition to a large repository of photographs documenting tribal life from the 1860s to the present, the museum's collection includes 496 archaeological artifacts recovered from the site of the former Old Man House, a massive, 240 meters (790 ft) long longhouse that served as the Suquamish capitol until its destruction in the late nineteenth century. Originally in the custody of the Burke Museum at the University of Washington, the artifacts, which include harpoon points, smoking pipes, and jewelry, were transferred to the Suquamish tribe in 2013. [5] [6] In 2014, the Port of Seattle transferred additional artifacts to the museum, including crockery and glass bottles, discovered during archaeological excavations in the 1970s at the Baba'kwob site, a pre-contact village located in what is now Seattle's Belltown neighborhood. The controversial transfer was contested by the Duwamish, an unrecognized tribe and historic Suquamish rival who claim ownership of the artifacts. [7]

Suquamish ritual paraphernalia on display at the Suquamish Museum in 2014 Suquamish Museum interior.jpg
Suquamish ritual paraphernalia on display at the Suquamish Museum in 2014

Exhibitions

The museum's main gallery features a permanent exhibit titled "Ancient Shores – Changing Tides" that showcases drawings, documents, and historic photographs related to the Suquamish Tribe, contemporary and historic crafts, and interpretative panels and multimedia elements. [8] The centerpiece of this exhibit is a 300-year-old carved canoe that was last used in the 1989 Paddle to Seattle, the first of a now annual series of canoe journeys through the Salish Sea undertaken by tribal members. [9] A second gallery is used to house rotating exhibits from the museum's permanent collection, or items on loan from other museums, including traveling exhibits from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). Exhibits have included a SITES display "Native Words, Native Warriors", chronicling the history of Native Americans in the U.S. armed forces. [10]

Management

The Suquamish Museum is governed by a five-member board of directors appointed by the Suquamish Tribal Council. The galleries and auditorium of the museum are open daily during the summer, and five days per week the rest of the year. The museum's storage vault is open to tribal members and accredited researchers weekly. [11]

Related Research Articles

Kitsap County, Washington U.S. county in Washington

Kitsap County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, its population was 251,133. Its county seat is Port Orchard, and its largest city is Bremerton. The county was formed out of King County and Jefferson County on January 16, 1857, and is named for Chief Kitsap of the Suquamish Tribe. Originally named Slaughter County, it was soon renamed.

Bainbridge Island, Washington City in Washington, United States

Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington, United States, located in Puget Sound. The population was 23,025 at the 2010 census and an estimated 24,846 in 2018, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County.

Bremerton, Washington City in Washington, United States

Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,235 in 2018, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap. Bremerton is connected to downtown Seattle by two ferries: a 60-minute ferry that carries both vehicles and walk-on passengers, and a 28-minute Fast Ferry that carries passengers and a limited number of bicycles.

Poulsbo, Washington City in Washington, United States

Poulsbo is a city on Liberty Bay in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is the smallest of the four cities in Kitsap County. The population was 9,200 at the 2010 census and an estimated 10,927 in 2018.

Suquamish, Washington Census-designated place in Washington, United States

Suquamish is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 4,140 at the 2010 census. Comprising the Port Madison Indian Reservation, it is the burial site of Chief Seattle and the site of the Suquamish tribe winter longhouse known as Old Man House.

Tulalip group of Native American tribes and settlements in Washington state

The Tulalip Tribes of Washington, formerly known as the Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation, is a federally recognized tribe of Duwamish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skagit, Suiattle, Samish, and Stillaguamish people. They are South and Central Coast Salish peoples of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their tribes are located in the mid-Puget Sound region of Washington.

Suquamish

The Suquamish are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American people, located in present-day Washington in the United States. They are a southern Coast Salish people. Today, most Suquamish people are enrolled in the federally recognized Suquamish Tribe, a signatory to the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott. Chief Seattle, the famous leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Tribes for which the City of Seattle is named, signed the Point Elliot Treaty on behalf of both Tribes. The Suquamish Tribe owns the Port Madison Indian Reservation.

Kitsap Peninsula region of Washington state, US

The Kitsap Peninsula lies west of Seattle across Puget Sound, in Washington state in the northwestern US. Hood Canal separates the peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula on its west side. The peninsula, a.k.a. "the Kitsap", encompasses all of Kitsap County except Bainbridge and Blake Islands, as well as the northeastern part of Mason County and the northwestern part of Pierce County. The highest point on the Kitsap Peninsula is Gold Mountain. The U.S. Navy's Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, and Naval Base Kitsap are on the Peninsula. Its main city is Bremerton.

United Indians of All Tribes is a non-profit foundation that provides social and educational services to Native Americans in the Seattle metropolitan area and aims to promote the well being of the Native American community of the area. The organization is based at the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in Seattle, Washington's Discovery Park. UIATF has an annual budget of approximately $4.5 million as of 2013.

Port Madison, sometimes called Port Madison Bay, is a deep water bay located on the west shore of Puget Sound in western Washington. It is bounded on the north by Indianola, on the west by Suquamish, and on the south by Bainbridge Island. Port Madison connects to Bainbridge Island via the Agate Pass Bridge to the southwest. Two small bays open off Port Madison: Miller Bay to the northwest, and another small bay to the south which, confusingly, is also called Port Madison Bay.

Port Madison Indian Reservation

The Port Madison Native Reservation is an Indian reservation in the U.S. state of Washington belonging to the Suquamish Tribe, a federally recognized indigenous nation and signatory to the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855.

Martha George was repeatedly elected chairperson of the Suquamish tribe, serving from the late 1920s to the early 1940s. She was a descendant of Chief Seattle in present-day Washington state. She founded the Small Tribes Organization of Western Washington.

Agate Pass high-current tidal strait in the Puget Sound region

Agate Pass or Agate Passage is a high-current tidal strait in Puget Sound connecting Port Madison and mainland Kitsap County. It lies between Bainbridge Island and the mainland of the Kitsap Peninsula near Suquamish. It leads south towards Bremerton, extending about one mile (1.6 km) in a straight, southwesterly direction. The depth is about 20 feet (6.1 m). The shores are wooded and fairly steep. The shoreline is mostly rocky and fringed with kelp to Point Bolin. The tidal currents have velocities up to six knots; the flood tide sets southwesterly, and the ebb tide northeasterly.

Old Man House United States historic place

Old Man House was the largest "bighouse" in what is now the U.S. state of Washington, and once stood on the shore of Puget Sound. Lying at the center of the Suquamish winter village on Agate Pass, just south of the present-day town of Suquamish, it was home to Chief Sealth and Chief Kitsap.

Kitsap Regional Library library system in Washington

The Kitsap Regional Library is a public library system in Kitsap County, Washington. Founded in 1944, the library system serves over 260,000 Kitsap residents with nine locations across the county and through a variety of outreach services.

Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort

The Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort is a casino and hotel located in Kitsap County, Washington and owned by Port Madison Enterprises, the economic development authority of the Suquamish tribe. It is one of two Native American casinos in the county.

Haleets

Haleets is a sandstone glacial erratic boulder with inscribed petroglyphs on Bainbridge Island, Washington. The Native American Suquamish Tribe claims the rock, on a public beach at Agate Point on the shore of Agate Passage, as part of their heritage. The exact date the petroglyphs were carved is unknown but is estimated to be around 1000 BCE to 400 or 500 CE, the latest date being when labrets were no longer used by Coast Salish peoples.

Cannabis on American Indian reservations

Cannabis on American Indian reservations historically largely fell under the same regulations as cannabis nationwide in the United States. However, the August 2013 issuance of the Cole Memorandum opened discussion on tribal sovereignty as pertains to cannabis legalization, which was further explored as the states of Washington and Colorado legalized marijuana. A clarifying memo in December 2014 stated that the federal government's non-interference policies that applied to the 50 states, would also apply to the 326 recognized American Indian reservations. U.S. Attorney for Oregon, Amanda Marshall, stated that the clarification had been issued in response to legal questions from tribal nations, but that only three unnamed tribes, in California, Washington state, and "the Midwest" had stated explicit interest in legalizing.

Heather Purser is an LGBT advocate, diver, and member of the Suquamish tribe in Seattle, Washington. She is known for pioneering same-sex marriage rights for her tribe, making the Suquamish tribe the second Native American tribe to amend their laws to recognize same-sex marriage, the first being the Oregon Coquille tribe. Purser is openly lesbian and came out during her teens.

Pritchard Park is a 50-acre (20 ha) former Superfund environmental cleanup site on the shore of Bainbridge Island's Eagle Harbor in Washington state.

References

  1. ↑ "Suquamish Museum and Cultural Center". nativeamericanencylopedia.com. Native American Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 6 September 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  2. ↑ Sheppard, Derek (26 April 2009). "Work to Begin This Week on New, Bigger Suquamish Museum". Kitsap Sun . Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  3. ↑ "New Suquamish Museum Opens to the Public" (PDF). suquamishmuseum.org. Suquamish Tribe. 6 September 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "Suquamish Museum". Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce. 24 May 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  5. ↑ Walker, Richard (24 May 2013). "Suquamish Tribe celebrates return of ancestral objects". North Kitsap Herald. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  6. ↑ "Old Man House Collections Come Home". burkemuseum.org. Burke Museum. 24 October 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  7. ↑ Walker, Richard (4 March 2014). "Ownership of objects from two ancestral sites will be transferred to Suquamish Tribe, Muckleshoot Tribe". Bainbridge Review. Bainbridge Island, Washington . Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  8. ↑ "Ancient Shores – Changing Tides". suquamishmuseum.org. Suquamish Museum. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  9. ↑ Cantwell, Brian (26 January 2013). "Learn about Chief Seattle and his tribe in a pilgrimage to new museum". Seattle Times . Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  10. ↑ Oxley, Richard (25 April 2014). "National-touring exhibit stops in Suquamish". Bremerton Patriot. Bremerton, Washington . Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  11. ↑ "Research". suquamishmuseum.org. Suquamish Museum. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.