Secretary Wyman and crew this week celebrated a new partnership with Karshner Museum and Center for Culture & Arts.

Wyman and her Legacy Washington team traveled to the newly renovated Karshner Center in Puyallup, meeting with Puyallup School Superintendent Tim Yeomans and top officials of the district and the Center that operates one of America’s few district-owned teaching museums.

The stunning museum, with longhouse-style great hall, classroom, gallery and natural history and performing arts spaces, is housed in a repurposed pioneer brick schoolhouse.  References to teaching/learning, culture and the arts, and history are everywhere.

The original museum, the gift of Dr. Warner and Ella Karshner, has operated since the 1930s. A major make-over will be on view to the public and school groups, starting with re-opening on Sept. 3 and a grand opening at 1 p.m. Oct. 10.

The main gallery currently features an exhibit first developed by Wyman’s Legacy team for her office lobby in the Capitol in Olympia, a celebration of the women “firsts” in elective politics in Washington. The display, called “Moving Forward, Looking Back: Washington’s First Women in Government,” begins with female legislators and state school superintendent elected in 1912, the first year women could vote in the state, following approval of suffrage. Washington was the fifth state to allow women to vote.

After a successful exhibit launch in Olympia that included then-Gov. Chris Gregoire and other women firsts, the panels were a popular draw for an estimated 40,000 schoolchildren and other visitors to the Capitol.  Then, under an agreement with Karshner Center, the exhibit moved to Karshner lock, stock & lesson plans.  Over the years, other Legacy Washington exhibits will move on to Karshner (and other sites).  Next up: “Grand Coulee to Grunge: Eight Stories that Changed the World,” and  “We’re Still Here: The Survival of Washington Indians.”

The Legacy exhibits are financed with private funds, and use images and resources from the Washington State Archives and Washington State Library.

Said Wyman:

“We are delighted to partner with the amazing Karshner Center and to join our diverse resources to help schoolchildren and adults of all ages experience the joy of learning more about the stories of Washington, its rich history, culture and arts.  We and the Center share a vision of making it fun and accessible!”