Fall 2009
WSM Fall 2009
Fall 2009
Gallery—Sketches by Gustavus Sohon of the Walla Walla Treaty Council
Gustavus Sohon was born in Tilsit, Germany on December 10, 1825. After emigrating to America, he enlisted as a private in the United States Army at the age of 26. He was ordered West for service on the Pacific Coast. A gifted linguist (he spoke English, French, and German), Sohon quickly learned the Salishan languages of the Flathead and Pend d’Oreille Indians. He also made drawings of the country and important landmarks while working on expeditions. At the request of Washington Governor Stevens, Sohon was transferred to his command. Stevens had been very impressed with Sohon’s work. On later expeditions Sohon worked as map maker … » More …
Fall 2009
Gallery: The Nespelem Art Colony and Chief Kamiakin’s descendants
In June 1937 art students and instructors from Washington State College descended on Nespelem on the Colville Reservation.’ They painted portraits of Chief Kamiakin’s children and grandchildren, along with scenes of life among the Confederated Tribes. Images and captions from Indian Summers: Washington State College and the Nespelem Art Colony, 1937–41 by J.J. Creighton and published by Washington State University Press, 2000.
Fall 2009
Gallery—Master Gardeners historical photos
Photos of early Master Gardener plant clinics in 1973
Fall 2009
Gallery—photos of Master Gardeners
Photography by Zach Mazur
Fall 2009
Video: Poised for playing
Can trumpet players improve by changing the position of their feet and body? At Washington State University, honors student Leah Jordan and music professor David Turnbull measured trumpet students’ breathing and playing to analyze the difference a change of posture can make.
“Anyone who has taken music lessons has probably absorbed enough instructions about posture to feel like a raw recruit at basic training: Stand straight! Head up! Toes forward!
Leah Jordan, who is starting her senior year at Washington State University, says not to worry about forcing yourself into the “proper” position for playing an instrument. In fact, she says you’ll probably play better … » More …
Fall 2009
Video: Garfield-Palouse students building PAL
A time-lapse video of Garfield-Palouse High School students, with support from Washington State University, building an award-winning lift to heft farmers with disabilities into combines.
“Sean Neal is good at math, but one bit of geometry he can’t master involves moving ten feet up and two feet over. The wheelchair-bound teen isn’t able to climb into a combine to help harvest his family’s wheat fields.
While Neal’s dad was carrying him up a ladder and helping him into the operator’s seat, his math teacher at Garfield-Palouse High School was pondering ways to nudge students toward careers in which they could use their number-crunching skills. Jim … » More …
Fall 2009
“They are all Red Out Here”: Socialist Politics in the Pacific Northwest, 1895-1925
Jeffrey A. Johnson
University of Oklahoma Press, 2008
Few if any aspects of the Northwest’s political and labor history have been so thoroughly documented as the region’s most radical era, from the 1890s to the First World War. Books and articles have highlighted such topics as the rise of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg’s … » More …
Fall 2009
America’s Nuclear Wastelands: Politics, Accountability, and Cleanup
Max S. Power
WSU Press, 2008
When engineers, physicists, and other scientists began making materials for nuclear bombs, the Manhattan Project sites around the country including Hanford, Los Alamos, and Oak Ridge were wrapped in World War II and Cold War secrecy. The processes, products, and, most importantly, the waste they produced were hidden from the American public.
Even people who lived near the test facilities were unaware … » More …
Fall 2009
Greenscapes: Olmsted’s Pacific Northwest
Joan Hockaday
WSU Press, 2009
John Charles Olmsted, nephew and stepson of world-famous park designer Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. and half brother of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., spent much of his life in the shadows of his more famous relatives. Even so, on the West Coast he has had the greatest and most lasting influence of any single landscape architect.
Because of an invitation made to the Olmsted … » More …