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current exhibits
The Mapmaker’s Eye exhibit commemorates the bicentennial of fur agent and cartographer David Thompson’s explorations in the Northwest between 1807 and 1812. It will be at Clark County Historical Museum for a limited engagement through June 6.
Click here for a video to hear Susan Tissot, Executive Director, talk about the Mapmaker’s Eye exhibit.
The Mapmaker’s Eye: David Thompson (1770-1857) on the Columbia Plateau, is a traveling exhibit based on a book by Spokane, WA historian Jack Nisbet. The exhibit opens at the Clark County Historical Museum at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29 and runs through June 6, 2009. The exhibit commemorates the bicentennial of fur agent and cartographer David Thompson’s explorations in the Northwest between 1807 and 1812. Thompson, the counterpart of America’s Lewis and Clark, was an English-Canadian fur trader who worked for the Hudson Bay Company in Manitoba, Canada, before joining its competitor, the Northwest Company. Thompson was the first European to navigate the full length of the Columbia River. The maps he made of the Columbia River basin east of the Cascade Mountains were of such high quality and detail that they were used well into the mid-20th century. He also was the first Euro-American to make the acquaintance of many Plateau tribes.
The exhibit originally was designed by the Museum of Arts & Culture in Spokane. It is made available via the Washington State Historical Society’s traveling exhibit service. It features excerpts from Thompson’s field journals and reproductions of his maps and sketches; historic paintings by Paul Kane, Henry J. Ware, and Gustavus Sohon and; photographs of period surveying instruments, fur trade items and tribal artifacts. It also includes related objects from the Clark County Historical Museum Collection.
Two books about David Thompson are available at the Museum:
 The Mapmaker's Eye: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau By Jack Nisbet Washington State University Press; 2005 |
 Columbia Journals Bicentennial Edition By David Thompson (Edited by Barbara Belyea) University of Washington Press; 2007 |
For Immediate Release: Boomer! exhibit extends its run to end of 2009
Where: Clark County Historical Museum, 1511 Main Street, Vancouver, WA 98660
Contact: Lisa Christopher, (360) 993-5679 or cchm@pacifier.com
Boomer! generation speaks: Exhibit extended through 2009
The baby boom generation has never been shy about telling the world what’s on its mind. Clark County Historical Museum has extended the run of its Boomer! exhibit through 2009 due to baby boomer demand. “Baby boomer” is a term commonly used to describe the 76 million people born between 1946 and 1964. The Boomer! exhibit, exploring the ways the baby boom generation transformed American culture, places particular emphasis on Southwest Washington. The exhibit originally was scheduled to close at the end of April 2009. It now will run through the end of 2009.CCHM is located in Vancouver’s 1909 Carnegie Library. Regular museum hours are:
Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is charged.
The museum also is open free from 5 to 9 p.m. the first Thursday of the month, between
February and November, for First Thursday Museum After Hours. A wheelchair
accessible entrance to the museum is located on the east side of the museum building on
16th street.
www.cchmuseum.org
Boomer! Scavenger Hunt. Please click here for a Scavenger Hunt for the Boomer! exhibit. Completing the Scavenger Hunt can enrich your tour of the exhibit and challenge you to find all the important themes and details from Boomer! An answer key is included.
First Thursday Museum after Hours Lectures related to the Boomer! exhibit:
August 7, 2008, 7 PM Matt Love, Author and Educator, will speak on: The Far out Story of Vortex 1
October 2, 2008, 7 PM Dr. Laurie Mercier, WSU Vancouver History Professor and author will speak on: The Forgotten Decade: A Social History of the 1970’s.
November 6, 2008, 7 PM Roger
Hart, Former & Current Manager of Paul Revere & The Raiders, From
Hockinson to
For more information contact
the
Woven History: Native American Basketry
December 2, 2004 - Ongoing
On December 2, 2004 we celebrated the release of our 98 page, full color Woven History: Native American Basketry publication and the opening of our exhibit by the same name. The publication and the exhibit showcase the amazing baskets in our museum collection.
Woven History, the publication was made possible by a generous grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust and also a very generous donation of time and labor by the book’s editor and authors. "What the community needs to understand is that this phenomenal collection of baskets belongs to them," stated museum director Susan Tissot. "We hold the museum collection in public trust for the people of Clark County. The book is a tribute to the history and resources of Clark County." In 2005 Woven History was awarded the Washington Museums Association Excellence in Publications Award. Woven History, the exhibit was sponsored by a grant from the National Park Service, the Colf Family Foundation, the Kelso Sales Barn and the Anderson Glass Company. Due to popular demand, the exhibit run dates have been extended until further notice. Contact the museum for more information.
Related Resources
We have a mystery for you to solve but to do it you must get involved. Look around town and you will see the answers to our mystery. A successfully solved puzzle will earn you a FREE softbound copy of Naming Clark County. To claim your prize, return your completed solutions to our Architectural Scavenger Huntto the Clark County Historical Museum.
Stop by the Museum for your scavenger hunt form or click here for the small grayscale scavenger hunt form (744KB))
Click here for the large colored scavenger hunt form (1MB)