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Press Releases
February is Birthday Month
February is “Birthday Month” at the Heritage Museum in Independence. Oregon was founded on February 14, 1859, and on February 26, 1885, Thorp’s and Hill’s Towns of Independence were incorporated, making February our City’s birthday month! To celebrate we will be featuring a traveling exhibit from the Oregon Historical Society, “Oregon Voices.” Visitors will learn about the evolution and expansion of Oregon industries, social justice movements, migration and immigration, environment and energy, and Indigenous nations in Oregon from WWII to present day. The exhibit will be on display from February 1 to March 3, 2024. Additionally, the museum will feature the local non-profit, the Thoughts & Gifts Project as our monthly mini-exhibit. The Thoughts & Gifts Project began its path many years ago after founder and president, Jean Love, was driving along country roads to visit family during the holiday season and heard a commercial about providing gifts for youth who may not otherwise receive presents. Upon conclusion of the commercial, she wondered to herself why there were not more programs to help celebrate other important days in children’s lives, such as their birthdays. For many years she continued to think about this idea. Then, in 2017, she began the process of turning the idea into a reality. Today, the Thoughts & Gifts Project serves Polk County, to not only celebrate birthdays for underserved youth, but also for qualifying intellectual/developmental disabled individuals and senior citizens. Come celebrate with us at the Heritage Museum!
Ella Curran: Feeding the Community
A new permanent exhibit opening at the Independence Heritage Museum, Ella Curran: Feeding the Community, tells the remarkable story of Ella Curran, Independence’s food bank namesake. Ella was born in 1929, and in her 48 years of life, she impacted the Independence community in many ways. The food bank officially became a non-profit in 1984, but Ella had long been fulfilling the food bank’s mission before it ever became an official organization. The Ella Curran Food Bank has been providing a safety net for this community for over 40 years – and it is 100% volunteer-powered. Through community partners, loyal donors, strong leadership, and dedication the food bank provides more than nutritional sustenance. The food bank welcomes all who need food, resources, or a volunteer opportunity. If you’re looking for a snapshot of Independence, walk into the food bank! Natascha Adams, museum director, along with Amy Christensen, museum curator, created this exhibit intentionally utilizing multidimensional learning opportunities for folks of all ages, learning styles, and abilities. This exhibit digs deeper into the complicated issue of local food insecurity. Often the greatest barrier to asking for assistance is breaking through the stigma of what it means to ask for food and help when there just aren’t enough resources available. Those who utilize the food bank come from all walks of life and this exhibit shines a light on the diversity of need. The exhibit opens to the public on August 31, 2023. The museum will be accepting donations of non-perishable food to benefit the Ella Curran Food Bank until the end of October 2023. And, in union with the new exhibit’s opening, the museum has partnered with Oregon State University and the Food Hero program. The museum will host four free cooking workshops throughout September and October which will help families make healthy food choices, provide advice on stretching a meal-time dollar, and how to maintain a basic food pantry. Visit this exhibit to learn about Ella Curran, the history of the food bank, the impact of food insecurity, and what we can do as a community to help those facing hard times.
Confronting Violence: Improving Women’s Lives/ Enfrentando la violencia, mejorando la vida de las mujeres
The Independence Heritage Museum is pleased to host a traveling exhibit from the National Library of Medicine (NLM): Confronting Violence: Improving Women’s Lives/ Enfrentando la violencia, mejorando la vida de las mujeres.
Activists and reformers in the United States have long recognized the harm of domestic violence and sought to improve the lives of women who were victimized, but there was a time this was not so. Until the late 1970s, medicine as a whole had largely dismissed or failed to acknowledge domestic violence as a significant health issue.
Nurses took up the call for change, standing in the frontline as they pushed the larger medical community to identify victims, adequately respond to their needs, and work towards the prevention of domestic violence. With passion and persistence, they developed best practices for care based on research and their professional experience and took part in activism to put domestic violence on the map as a national public health concern.
Confronting Violence: Improving Women’s Lives/ Enfrentando la violencia, mejorando la vida de las mujeres tells their story.
The six-banner, bilingual, traveling exhibit will be at the Heritage Museum November 21st to December 30th, 2023. It includes images, manuscripts and records that tell the stories of the nurses who witnessed the effects of domestic violence and campaigned for change.
The National Library of Medicine produced this exhibition and companion website. The English only website Confronting Violence includes an education component with curriculum for grades 9-12, a university module, and a digital gallery that features a curated selection of fully digitized items from the historical collections of the NLM, which are also available in their entirety in NLM Digital Collections.
Activists and reformers in the United States have long recognized the harm of domestic violence and sought to improve the lives of women who were victimized, but there was a time this was not so. Until the late 1970s, medicine as a whole had largely dismissed or failed to acknowledge domestic violence as a significant health issue.
Nurses took up the call for change, standing in the frontline as they pushed the larger medical community to identify victims, adequately respond to their needs, and work towards the prevention of domestic violence. With passion and persistence, they developed best practices for care based on research and their professional experience and took part in activism to put domestic violence on the map as a national public health concern.
Confronting Violence: Improving Women’s Lives/ Enfrentando la violencia, mejorando la vida de las mujeres tells their story.
The six-banner, bilingual, traveling exhibit will be at the Heritage Museum November 21st to December 30th, 2023. It includes images, manuscripts and records that tell the stories of the nurses who witnessed the effects of domestic violence and campaigned for change.
The National Library of Medicine produced this exhibition and companion website. The English only website Confronting Violence includes an education component with curriculum for grades 9-12, a university module, and a digital gallery that features a curated selection of fully digitized items from the historical collections of the NLM, which are also available in their entirety in NLM Digital Collections.
Oregon: 150 Years of Statehood; 150 Million Years in the Making
Like its people, Oregon’s landscape is diverse. It was built from many parts, each adding its own character to the state. Oregon grows and matures as islands and pieces of continents come crashing in, the Cascades erupt, lava covers the landscape, desert mountains grow, and huge floods sculpt the scenery. Oregon is indeed a masterpiece of geologic artistry! In 2009, Oregon celebrated 150 years as a state, but Oregon’s landscape has a much longer history. Geological processes have been building the state's landscape for more than 150 million years! The windows in the traveling exhibit from the Oregon Historical Society illustrate how geology crafted Oregon’s landscape and natural resources and continues to shape the land and lives of its citizens. The most iconic of Oregon’s landscapes; Crater Lake, Multnomah Falls, Newberry Crater, Steens Mountain, the Painted Hills, and so much more, display Oregon’s geologic splendor. Developed by and on loan to the Heritage Museum from the Oregon Historical Society, this exhibit was created in collaboration with the Oregon State University Department of Geosciences, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, Oregon Paleo Lands Institute, OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center, Portland State University, and the Oregon Department of Energy. The Heritage Museum invites you to explore these 16 windows into how Oregon's landscape was assembled during the past 150 million years — and to celebrate those who learned to read the landscape before and during Oregon’s 150 years of statehood. The exhibit opens July 18th and is on display until September 23, 2023.
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