Celebrating the History and Culture of the High Desert

The iconic tule reed tipi welcomes visitors to the *By Hand Through Memory* exhibition exploring the living cultures of Plateau Native Americans. The High Desert Museum recently acquired tribal artist Marie Watt’s Blanket Stories, to emphasize the dynamic contemporary art scene that builds on the native traditions. Image courtesy of the High Desert Museum.

Combining the humanities and the natural sciences, the High Desert Museum interprets the land, animals, and people of the United States’s Great Basin—the unique high-altitude desert that spans the distance between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. It offers visitors the opportunity to explore exhibitions portraying the region’s human history, speak with historical characters, and encounter more than 150 live animals that are native to the area. Since before it opened in 1982, the National Endowment for the Humanities has provided the High Desert Museum with the foundational support necessary to create its memorable permanent and traveling exhibitions. This funding included two challenge grants that helped the museum raise an additional $2.4 million. In 2020, the NEH awarded the museum a CARES grant to help it manage the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Celilo Falls on the Columbia River, depicted in the High Desert museum’s *By Hand Through Memory* permanent exhibition. The museum is known for embedding their living collection within their exhibitions—in this example, there are native trout, sturgeon, and salmon. Image courtesy of the High Desert Museum.

The High Desert Museum’s *Spirit of the West* exhibition begins with a Northern Paiute scene from Nevada—carefully embedded in the scene is the use of tule (a native reed) in the scene’s wickiup, cultural objects, and tule reed watercraft. Image courtesy of the High Desert Museum.

A Hudson’s Bay Company scene shows the influence of native people on the HBC officers and their team. The destruction of beaver populations throughout the west is a theme throughout the museum’s exhibitions. Image courtesy of the High Desert Museum.

Consistently rated Central Oregon’s top attraction by Trip Advisor, the High Desert Museum welcomes 180,000 visitors per year, 41% of whom come from the local area. It is especially well known for the quality of its exhibitions and public programming. Spirit of the West and By Hand Through Memory, two of its popular NEH-funded exhibitions, provide visitors with the chance to engage with the region’s cultural history. In Spirit of the West, visitors can examine an Oregon Trail wagon; view a settler’s cabin; and explore the nineteenth-century town of Silver City, Idaho, complete with a Chinese grocery. By Hand Through Memory investigates the history of the Plateau Indian Tribes from the period of reservation confinement to the present day. And a traveling exhibit explored the history of the Buckaroos, the nineteenth-century Mexican cowboys who shaped the region’s culture and established Latino communities that exist to this day. In all cases, says Executive Director Dana Whitelaw, the museum “celebrates these lesser-known communities while acknowledging the incredible discrimination they faced.”

The High Desert Museum’s *By Hand Through Memory* exhibition explores the transition of the Plateau American Indians from traditional life to life on the reservations. Here, a traditional tipi is pitched and used outside of a reservation house. The visual pairing of more contemporary times with traditional objects is a striking experience for visitors. Image courtesy of the High Desert Museum.

In the High Desert Museum’s early 1900s depiction of Silver City, Idaho, the presence of Chinese communities is front and center with the highly-immersive inclusion of Hi Loy mercantile. This store is modeled after the famous Kam Wah Chung store in eastern Oregon. Image courtesy of the High Desert Museum.

Within its community, the High Desert Museum is valued for its ability to bring multiple viewpoints together in conversation, and this is as true for its exhibitions as it is for its public programming. The museum strives to be a dynamic place to explore contemporary issues. During a national debate over whether to add the sage grouse to the endangered species list, the museum was able to bring environmentalists and ranchers together in conversation with one another through a public forum. Together, these groups ended up developing a conservation plan to protect the species. And in addition to providing dynamic programming for adults, the museum has a strong outreach program for schools; as well as welcoming classes to the space, museum educators visit classrooms across the state while the museum offers special training programs for K–12 teachers.