MOHAI

So, you’ve taken the Underground Tour and had a post-exploration brew at Doc’s. You’ve contemplated the towering totems of Pioneer Square and read the informative plaques that line the waterfront. You’ve perused the SAM’s impressive Native American collection and you’ve wowed friends with the trivia learned while standing 520 feet above the city. Yet somehow, after visiting all the trusty guide book’s historically enlightening must-see spots, you will want more. Go ahead, be greedy. Seattle is full of cultural activities and there’s more than enough to go around. So much so that many sites – arguably some of the best – are often overlooked. Such is the case with Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry.

Opened on February 15, 1952, MOHAI has grown to become the largest private heritage organization in Washington. Its meticulous preservation of Pacific Northwest culture has become an enjoyable destination for more than 60,000 guests each year.

Hidden beyond the museum’s austere doors is an explosion of images, artifacts, information and hands-on activities. The exhibits depict the history of Seattle from the 1800’s to present-day and the many inventions, mannequins and full-scale displays practically come alive to share their stories. It is no wonder, then, that this aesthetically stimulating and very informative collection serves as an educational hotspot for local schools or that groups of students cycle through on an almost daily basis.

Set alongside Lake Washington in McCurdy Park, the grounds of MOHAI offer a beautiful view of the city: a foliage-bordered panorama of the Husky stadium and a colorful array of distant hilltop houses with several boats paddling about the foreground. At the edge of the museum’s parking lot there is a bridge that extends about twenty feet from the embankment, connecting the historical institution to an island-like trail masked by green brush and wild flowers. The walk across is delightful but it is perhaps the mid-bridge pause that is most remarkable. It is there, taking in the surrounding scenery with an intoxicating breath of fresh air that you realize just why inhabitants of the Pacific Northwest are so proud of their culture and so eager to preserve and share its richness with others.

Current Exhibit
An exhibit entitled “Picturing What Matters” may sound like a four-walled display of subjectivity. After all, who’s to say that what matters to me also matters to the girl standing to my left or the man to my right? And just who deems the material important anyway? On Saturday, May 10, 2008, these questions become irrelevant when Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry hosts said show – a collection of over one hundred images that are diverse in subject and presentation but common in one theme: their ability to evoke feelings that matter to everyone. The photographs date back to the early 1840s and deal with family, national milestones, leisure and working, patriotism, crises and glimpses into everyday life. They make the viewer question his own values as well as those of the society to which he belongs. The traveling exhibit features work from acclaimed artists Ansel Adams, W. Eugene Smith, Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, among many others; it is on loan from the renowned George Eastman House, an independent nonprofit institution devoted to the preservation of photography and film. The captivating collection will adorn MOHAI walls until August 17, 2008. For more information about museum location, hours and ticket prices go to http://www.seattlehistory.org.