Research Library

Our research library is open by appointment.

Holiday Open House & Wallowa County History: How We Know What We Know Lecture

December 7

Shop local history books, renew your membership or purchase memberships as holiday gifts. Tour our recent renovations and improvements to our buildings.

Wallowa County History: How We Know What We Know November 26 & December 7

Presented by David Weaver. Research tools for genealogists, educators, students, writers, natural resource specialists, researchers, and the curious.

STANLYNN DAUGHERTY’S AFRICAN WILDLIFE CONSERVATION Thursday, November 7

Stanlynn Daugherty’s presentation on enriching biodiversity on former farmlands, conserving black and white rhinoceroses, and supporting rural communities through conservation.

HELLS CANYON SONGS PROJECT- JAM SESSION & SONG SWAP Wednesday, November 6

Continuing the Hells Canyon Songs Project with a jam session welcoming all kinds of acoustic music about people and events of early northeast Oregon.

HELLS CANYON SONGS PROJECT Tuesday, July 16

Gary “Ol Slim” Eller’s presentation and performance followed by a jam session with local musicians in the Warehouse.

4th of JULY OPEN HOUSE

In conjunction with the City of Wallowa’s Small Town 4th of July Celebration unveiling of our newly renovated Warehouse featuring the visiting Josephy Center Exhibit, “Nez Perce: Renewal & Return.”

PROMISE DRIVING TOURS

Back by popular demand, Promise area Historians lead small groups through Promise while sharing the rich history of the area.

RENDEZVOUS Tuesday, June 4 & Wednesday, June 5

A hands on history day of rotating stations for K-8 Students throughout Wallowa including City Hall, The Wallowa Public Library, and the Wallowa Nez Perce Homelands. Our theme is technological innovations featuring: early social media, food preservation, rag dolls, and mystery house hold items.

DEDICATION OF THE MARY ANN MCCRAE BURROWS RESEARCH LIBRARY Saturday, May 25, 2024

To honor our founder Mary Ann McCrae Burrows who started the Wallowa History Center in 2001, a dedication ceremony was held to officially rename the Ranger Station Office Building in her honor.

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE Saturday, December 2

In conjunction with the City of Wallowa’s Holiday Bazaar the Wallowa History Center held an open house to celebrate gifting of local history works.

THE LIFE OF FANNIE APPLEGATE JOHNSON Saturday, Oct. 21

A presentation about Fannie Applegate Johnson, early Lower Valley pioneer, discussing her role as a healer and interactions with the Nez Perce.

THE SETTLEMENT OF WALLOWA’S LOWER VALLEY Hosted by Dale & Lu Johnson Saturday, Sept. 16

A presentation and opportunity to socialize and share stories of the Nez Perce, homesteaders, and lower valley’s early residence.

4th of JULY OPEN HOUSE

In conjunction with the City of Wallowa’s Small Town 4th of July Celebration unveiling of our newly renovated Research Library featuring new exhibits showcasing the Edsel White Postcard Collection and Early Photographer Frank Reavis.

PIONEER CEMETERY DRIVING TOUR #2
Sunday, May 21

We were grateful the sun came out for this tour! Marilyn Hulse guided us through the McCubbin/Findley and Lostine Cemeteries, and David Weaver led us to Old Chief Joseph’s original burial place.

PIONEER CEMETERY DRIVING TOUR #1
Sunday, May 7

More than thirty people braved the pouring rain to hear local historian Marilyn Hulse tell stories of the Lost Diamond and Bramlet Cemeteries near Wallowa.

The 1879 robbery of old chief joseph’s grave

This double-feature on Sunday, April 23rd, kicked off our spring cemetery series at Fishtrap’s new offices in downtown Enterprise. Sarah Silbernagel introduced the Oregon Commission on Historical Cemeteries, and David Weaver of the Wallowa History Center discussed the claim that the grave of Tiwi-teqis (Old Chief Joseph) was first robbed by two men in 1879 or 1880.

HOW ANIMALS DEAL WITH WINTERS IN WALLOWA COUNTY

On January 29th, 2023, at 2pm at Wallowa City Hall, Janet Hohmann presented a slide program using her own photographs taken over forty years as a seasonal wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service. This was a joint program put on by the Wallowa History Center and the Friends of the Wallowa Public Library.

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE & BOOK SIGNING

On Sunday, December 3rd, the Wallowa History Center held an open house to celebrate our new Operations & Development Coordinator, Sadie Kennedy, and to launch local historian Linda McCrae Bauck’s new book, Homesteading the North End, vol 2.

THE UNTOLD STORY OF NEZ PERCE RESISTANCE AND THE LAND SURVEY OF 1866

David Weaver presented a lecture at the Wallowa History Center interpretive center on the circumstances and effects of the 1866 and 1867 land surveyors entering the Wallowa Country to conduct surveys intended to prepare the area for settlement. Tuekakas, known as Old Chief Joseph, led the Wal'wa-ma band Nez Perce in a campaign of resistance to save their homeland from an invasion of settlers.

LOST APPLE PROJECT TALK & POTLUCK

EJ Brandt presented on the Lost Apple Project and its mission to locate and identify lost apple varieties. Everyone brought their favorite apple dessert to share after the presentation.

Do you know of an old apple tree that might be a lost variety? Please contact the Lost Apple Project to coordinate collecting and sending in samples of ripe apples for identification.

Land Survey of 1866 Leads to Eventual Expulsion of Nez Perce from the Area

David Weaver gave this talk to a full house at the Wallowa Lake Lodge for their Thursday Evening Speaker Series on Thursday, September 1st, 2022. Admission was free and open to the public.

UNSCHEDULED HISTORIC HAIL STORM

August 11th’s storm brought baseball-sized hail to Wallowa. We sustained major damage, losing every west window and some siding. Many wood shakes on the roof went missing and part of a tree went down. We found glass embedded in the walls opposite windows inside our buildings but we were incredibly fortunate not to lose any historical documents or photos.

MEET-N-GREET EVENT

We threw open the doors to our interpretive center and event space for a volunteer and community meet-n-greet to celebrate our first employee, Sadie Kennedy, and the opening of our The Sky Beyond the Mountains exhibit.

The Sky Beyond the Mountains EXHIBIT

We opened this exhibit about the life and times of the Findley pioneer family of Wallowa County on July 4th, 2022, in our new interpretive center warehouse and event space. The wall panels include both historic and modern photos along with excerpts from the History Center’s upcoming book of the same name.

The Wallowa Story

We showed the digitally-restored slide presentation of The Wallowa Story as part of our annual 4th of July Open House. Narrated by KWVR’s Dave Nelson, this 45-minute presentation was originally created for the Wallowa County Centennial celebration in 1987.

4th of July Open House

We had a great turnout at our annual 4th of July Open House, which coincides with the City of Wallowa’s 4th of July Parade down Main Street. We launched our Mountains Beyond the Sky exhibit about the Findley family in our new interpretive center and event space, gave tours, showed off our architectural drawings for our planned site renovations, introduced an early version of our new digital archive, and sold books.

EARLY SOCIAL MEDIA IN WALLOWA COUNTY

From May 4th to May 30th, 2020, the Josephy Center produced a virtual exhibit of historical postcards from the Edsel White collection, curated by David Weaver. Seth Kinzie has done a masterful job of putting up the front and back images of the postcards along with a reading by voice specialist Amanda Berry of an accompanying essay for each card that examines the image and message on the card as it all relates to the history of Wallowa County 1907-15 and the national “craze” for postcards, the “social media” of the day.