Springfield History Museum

Starting on Monday, June 8th, all ages are welcome to register for our online Summer Reading Challenge to Plant a Seed, Read!

Join us for fun challenges throughout the summer and our amazing Plaza Programs which will kick off on June 17th!

wheremindsgrow.beanstack.org and wheremindsgrow.org/events

A partir del lunes 8 de junio, todas las edades están invitadas a registrarse en nuestro desafío de lectura de verano en línea para ¡Planta una semilla, lee!

¡Únete a nosotros para divertidos desafíos durante todo el verano y nuestros increíbles Programas de Plaza!

wheremindsgrow.beanstack.org y wheremindsgrow.org/events

Springfield History Museum ILLUMINATION Advisory Committee (IAC) spent Saturday afternoon in Blue River at the ILLUMINATION Freedom & Belonging in Oregon Community Forum —a conversation about belonging, identity, resilience, and what it means to find your place in a world that doesn’t always make it easy.

We extend our deepest respect and gratitude to the vulnerability and grace of our panelists Michael Kay Klindt and Sheena Puls, for sharing their experiences and perspectives as members of the African American and Native American communities.

IAC member Melissa"Mimi" Nolledo reflected, "What stayed with me was not the weight of what they have carried, but the quiet strength with which they continue to move forward—not as victims of their circumstances, but as people who refuse to be defined by them."

Gatherings like this don't happen without great intention. We are grateful to IAC members Antonio Huerta for his leadership in organizing this rural program series, and to facilitators Aimee Yogi and Irene Rasheed, for creating and holding this space with such care. Other IAC members were in the room to support including Dr. David Lewis, Melissa "Mimi" Nolledo and Ofelia Guzmán.

Special thanks to the O’Brien Memorial Library for co-hosting this community conversation with us! Thanks is also due to Oregon Humanities for supporting this important work and making this series possible.

IAC member Ofelia Guzman sums it up well, "I'm grateful to be part of a project that creates space for these hard conversations. The work isn't always easy, but seeing people show up with open minds gives me hope for the direction our communities are moving."

Join us for our next Community Forum on Tuesday, June 2nd in Junction City, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. in the High School Cafeteria.

Join us for our Summer Reading Kick-Off event, Rhythms of Tahiti: An ‘Ori Tahiti Cultural Presentation on June 17th!

Anavai O Te Ora means “the river of life.” The mana flows from the ancestors to the current culture keepers of this extraordinary dance group, to YOU, and onward to future generations.
🕶️☀️🎶🌴🌊🌺
Acompañanos para el evento inaugural de la lectura de verano el 17 de junio ¡Los ritmos de Tahití: una presentación cultural de ‘Ori Tahití!

Anavai O Te Ora significa «el rio de la vida». El mana fluye desde los ancestros hasta los guardianes culturales de este grupo de bailarines, hasta a ustedes y a las generaciones futuras.

Happy Memorial Day! We were so excited to see our friends at Laurel Grove Cemetery highlighted in Lookout Eugene-Springfield this morning. Museum Curator Maddi and Museum volunteer Steve are part of the volunteer board, and we’re so lucky to get to welcome people to the Cemetery to learn about our community at this special place during our Solstice tour. Thank you Lookout, and thank you to our friends at The Crypt for pitching in!

Goths, grass clippings, gravestones: How Laurel Grove Cemetery gets ready for Memorial Day Volunteer historians and local Goths put in the work to get Glenwood’s historic Laurel Grove Cemetery ready for Memorial Day, one of the busiest days of the year for an American graveyard.

An update on our quilt processing project: all 29 of our quilts have been photographed, cataloged, labeled, and housed! Thanks to volunteers Ginny, Diane, and Cathy, even our most fragile quilts can now be seen virtually while physically safe in storage. Go team! 🧵
👉 View the entire quilt collection here: https://hub.catalogit.app/springfield-history-museum/folder/quilts

Join the Springfield Public Library and History Museum at the O'Brien Memorial Library in Blue River on Saturday, May 30th, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. for our second event presented our ILLUMINATION Advisory Committee:

**ILLUMINATION Freedom and Belonging in Oregon: American Indian and Alaska Native, Black and African American Experiences**

**La Libertad y pertenencia en Oregon: Experiencias Indígena Americanas y Nativas de Alaska, Negras y Afroamericanas**

We will explore freedom, belonging, and marginalization through the lens of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Exploraremos temas como la libertad, el sentido de pertenencia y la marginación a través del contexto del próximo 250 aniversario de la declración de independencia.

FREE Event | Open to the Public
Evento GRATUITO | Abierto al público

Free Food and Refreshments
Comida y refrigerios gratis

May is Bike Month! Nationally celebrated by the League of American Bicyclists since 1956, and in Lane County since 2014, Bike Month showcases the many benefits of biking and invites more folks to give it a try. Community members are encouraged to get out and ride for fun and exercise as well as for essential errands and trips throughout May. People have been riding bikes in Springfield for 150 years, and these photos from our collection highlight some of them!
🚲: Crystal Bryan Fogle on an early tricycle circa 1915, 2017.003.598
🚲: Lowell Noble on his bicycle in Springfield, date unknown, 1992.020.008
🚲: Girl Scout bicycle parade on Main Street, 1933, 1989.001.682
🚲: Jeanne Dianiels and friend on bicycle in Springfield, circa 1940, 2018.009.002

Check out our catalog for more transportation photos! 👉 https://wheremindsgrow.org/history_catalog

Do you enjoy yardwork, lovely views, and local history? We're hosting a spring cleanup at Laurel Grove Cemetery this Saturday from 9am to 12pm! We'll have tools available, but bring your own if you have them! Help us maintain this local treasure while learning more about your community! 🧹🌷🧼

Last week, Curator Maddi and Collections Tech Sara joined our colleagues from across the state in Woodburn for the Oregon Museums Association annual conference! It was a wonderful opportunity to share stories of success and struggle, learn new skills, and celebrate the power of museums in a wonderful community. Thank you to the City of Woodburn Government for hosting us!

May marks AANHPI Heritage Month, inviting us to reflect on the vital role Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders have played in shaping our community.

Explore oral histories and stories from Springfield’s AANHPI community:
👉wheremindsgrow.org/illumination

Explore even more stories in our Online Catalog:
👉hub.catalogit.app/springfield-history-museum/folder/oral-history-illumination-aanhpi-experience