As a lifetime resident of Orcas Island, I did not expect to discover Orcas to have such a rich and fascinating history. This summer, I had the opportunity to explore that history through an internship at the Orcas Island Historical Museum. An amazing grant opportunity through my school, Whitman College, paid me to volunteer at the museum. After a summer of researching local history, archiving artifacts, interviewing residents, and acting as a docent at the Orcas Island Historical Museum, I can now share more about this amazing place that I have always called home.
I am someone who lived their entire life on Orcas Island before coming to Whitman College. After three years in Walla Walla, I realized that through the classes I was taking at Whitman, I knew more about the history of Walla Walla and the region than I did my own island. To remedy that, this summer I interned at the Orcas Island Historical Museum. As a museum supported mostly by volunteers, my internship was a novel situation for the museum, so we worked creatively together in building it. My internship was not a traditional 9-5 work setting. Instead, I had a lot of flexibility and control of my schedule working both live at the museum and remotely from home or the library. From archiving old files, photographs, newspapers, and memorabilia to conducting interviews for the museum’s oral history project, each day was always a little different from the day before.
One of the projects I was really excited to work on this summer, was to sort through and archive boxes of unknown contents that were donated by the family of the preservationists of the original schoolhouse on Orcas Island, the Crow Valley school. I found some real treasures in those boxes and discovered some missing puzzle pieces from the school’s history, such as the original deed of purchase for the school and never been seen documents from the school’s origin, 140 years ago. One of those documents was “Rules for Teachers and Students” from the late 1800’s. Some of these strict rules were shocking by today’s standards, like what books they could read, when and where they could go into town, and rules for corporal punishment for the students.
Another project I was really proud of this summer was conducting research on behalf of the museum. The museum was very flexible and allowed me to pick whatever I wanted to research, so I chose a place that was very important to me growing up: the historic Sea View Theatre. The Sea View is the first and only movie theatre on the island, built in 1960, and has always been a hub for entertainment and community. Although this project will have less impact for me on my career path, it is a project that has major significance for me personally as well as the community that loves the Sea View! The theatre has needed to shut down at various points in its history, including last year after the death of the owner (and John Mount’s best friend) Ingrid McClinton. It has just reopened under a nonprofit by a group of close friends of mine who rallied to save the historic theatre. My research project, which documents the history of the theatre with photos and newspaper articles is my lasting contribution to both the museum and the nonprofit theatre.
Overall, my summer internship at the Orcas Island Historical Museum (provided to me through a Whitman Internship Grant) has affirmed my interest in museum studies, and I know I will use the experience I gained this summer for the rest of my career path, whether that’s working with other museums or attending graduate school for museum studies. If you’re a college student (or Not!) I highly encourage you to get involved with the Orcas Island Historical Museum. You’ll learn more about Orcas by visiting the museum and exploring the archives than you will anywhere else!
Mona Evans ’27 (she/her) is a History, Philosophy double major and a Classics minor from Orcas Island, class of ’23. She interned this summer at the Orcas Island Historical Museum, working closely with Michelle Hassebrock, Program Administrator and Parker Pavitt, Operations Coordinator.
Glenn is part of a 7th generation homestead family on Orcas Island. He lives full time in Deer Harbor and is grateful for this great community.
Glenn works and owns a media production company and spends his free time volunteering on Orcas. In addition to the Orcas Museum board, Glenn is also Vice President and Historian of the Deer Harbor Community Club. He is also a SJC Cemetery Commissioner serving Orcas. All of these provide a fulfilling opportunity for serving our community.
Michelle (she/her) grew up in Whatcom County and has lived on Orcas Island since 2020. In the spring of 2022, she joined the Museums as a weekly docent. Within a year, Michelle decided to bite the bullet and become a full-time staff member. She now works as the Program Administrator, and is currently working on revitalizing the Oral History Project and designing new exhibits.
An Orcas resident since 2017, Debbie has family ties to what feels like half of Olga and beyond. She teases she knows more of her husband’s family history than he does. Debbie is our museum admin, but also bookkeeper for many island businesses, and treasurer to several non-profits beyond the park.
Nancy has lived on Orcas since 2020 coming here as an empty nester with her avid sailor husband. Nancy is New Mexico born, raised in Singapore and then has had many other stints up and down the West Coast. She has over 30 years in the non-profit industry always working in the areas of arts, culture, literature and heritage. She has a BA degree in Economics from Scripps College and a MA in Urban Planning from UCLA with an emphasis on the history of the built environment.