A South King County Treasure

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White River Valley Museum


The White River Valley Museum - photo courtesy of Barbara Mattoon



Auburn, Kent, Algona, and Pacific

Those of us who live in South King County are fortunate to have many local museums and historical societies that hold records and artifacts relating to this area. One of these repositories is the outstanding White River Valley Museum in downtown Auburn. Its collection covers the communities of Auburn, Kent, Algona, and Pacific.


Exhibits

The interactive exhibits include a room from The Tourist Hotel which was located just down the street from the Auburn Depot; The Northern Clay Company, later known as Gladding McBean which used clay from the Green River Valley, artisans from Vienna, and laborers from Auburn to produce the architectural terra cotta that still adorns high-rise buildings in Tacoma and Seattle; a Muckleshoot Indian canoe, and a tour through a replica of Auburn downtown in the 1920s. You can learn about the immigrant experience by visiting a Japanese-American farmhouse, ca. 1915; and the Auburn Depot and caboose, ca. 1924.


Family History Resources

The library contains 108 recorded oral histories, including a series of Nisei interviews conducted in 1988. There are interviews with members of the Japanese-American families who settled in the valley, as well as many names that are familiar to those of us who have lived here for any length of time.

There are sixty-nine Moving Pictures, among them several more oral history interviews. Particularly moving are the stories of the hardships experienced by our Japanese-American neighbors during and after World War II.


Library and Archive

Exhibits are only a small part of the resources available at the Museum. The library and archive of newspapers are stunning. You can search The White River Journal 1894–1899 online. The Museum website lists twelve newspapers from the valley that they hold in their library. An additional ten fragile valley newspapers dating from 1893–1966 are kept in the archives and require an appointment to view. The Auburn branch of the King County Library System, just across the parking lot, has ten valley newspapers from 1909 through 1999. If your family settled in the valley, you will surely find them here.


Photo Collection

The Yamada Photo Collection contains 639 photos showing many of the Japanese-Americans who settled in the valley. It would be invaluable to anyone studying their Japanese ancestors in this area.


Muckleshoot Tribe Collection

The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe Collection contains videotapes, books, pamphlets, baskets, a rattle, Muckleshoot family trees and photographs, and more oral history interviews. Browsing through this collection, I learned about the White River Massacre of 1855, in which a small band of Muckleshoot Indians killed nine white settlers which began the period of the Northwest Indian Wars. The Muckleshoots are part of the Coast Salish peoples and have inhabited this territory for thousands of years.


Other Collections

The Museum hosts a large collection of the photographic works of George Kinkade, a local photographer, mountaineer, and typesetter for the Auburn Globe newspaper, and a lovely collection of baskets, fans, and mats donated by the Seattle Marshallese Community. They have even collected a series of 2020 photos of local citizens wearing masks during the COVID epidemic.


Education

Education is an important mission of the Museum. Tours of the Museum and the associated Mary Olson farm are offered to school children, home-schooled students, church, and scout groups throughout the year.


Management

“A seventeen-member board manages the Museum as a partnership between the White River Historical Society and the City of Auburn.” It receives additional support from donors, 4Culture, King Conservation District, Humanities Washington, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. [1]


Admission

The Museum is located at 918 H Street SE in Auburn, adjacent to the Auburn Branch of King County Library System. It is open Wednesday – Sunday, 12 pm – 4 pm. Admission is free through the end of 2021. The website is wrvmuseum.org.



Barbara Mattoon





[1] “About”, White River Valley Museum, wrvmuseum.org

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