Guest post by Kevin Burrows, Board President Snoqualmie Valley Historical Society
The next time you start your car, take a moment to consider your rear-view mirror. While you focus on the road ahead, it focuses on your past. Working quietly, tirelessly, and reliably, it’s hard to overestimate its importance.
British author Jan Struther describes it perfectly: “You cannot navigate the future unless you keep always framed beside it a small, clear image of the past.”
Like your rear-view mirror, the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum works tirelessly, quietly, and reliably to keep the past clearly in focus, always ready when you glance back before forging into the future. Since 1979, it has operated in a small house on the edge of North Bend, collecting, preserving, interpreting, and sharing the facts and artifacts of the Snoqualmie Valley.
And, like your rear-view mirror, the Museum periodically needs adjustment. After 44 years in the same location, it is time to adjust the Museum. And to do that, we need your help.
The Museum has reached the limits of the small house that hosts it, restricting its exhibit and programming opportunities. We are considering upgrading and expanding. To do that, we are surveying the community to understand your needs, values, and relationship with local history in general and history museums in particular. We want to hear your thoughts on the space, exhibits, and programming you would like to see in the future. Your responses will help us develop a robust new strategic plan for the Museum.
We will also utilize the survey results to help better understand who our audience is, who is missing and under-represented, and how we can create a welcoming community space focused on our region’s history, including coordination and cooperation with other historical societies and museums in the Snoqualmie Valley.
The survey is available via this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S7TF8B9 and takes less than fifteen minutes to complete. Your responses are very important to us and to the Snoqualmie Valley. This is your chance to directly influence the course of history.
