If you go
o What: Clark County Historical Museum.
o Where: 1511 Main St.
o When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 5 to 9 p.m. first Thursday of each month.
o Admission: Adults $4, seniors/students $3, children $2, families $10, members free.
o On the Web: www.cchmuseum.org.
Let us eat cake.
That’s the philosophy of Roman Wright, 3, whose family was visiting the Clark County Historical Museum to celebrate its 50th birthday Saturday.
Roman was accompanied by his father, Jacob Wright, a teacher at Peter S. Ogden Elementary; his mother, Sally Wright and his sister Josephine Wright, 1, who watched from her stroller.
If you go
o What: Clark County Historical Museum.
o Where: 1511 Main St.
o When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 5 to 9 p.m. first Thursday of each month.
o Admission: Adults $4, seniors/students $3, children $2, families $10, members free.
o On the Web:www.cchmuseum.org.
“We heard it was a special birthday,” Jacob Wright said. “It seemed this would be a fun time to come.”
“And there’s cake!” Roman said, with enthusiasm.
Indeed, there was cake. Created by instructors and students in the Clark College baking program, the enormous cake was a replica of the museum building, a red brick Carnegie Library built in 1909.
On May 24, 1964 — exactly 50 years from Saturday — the old Carnegie Library building was dedicated as the Clark County Historical Museum. According to The Columbian, about 1,500 people toured the museum on its opening day. The first museum director was Joe Pagel. Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Beauchamp dedicated the building. Robert Hidden represented the Hidden family, which had donated the land for the Carnegie Library.
Saturday also was Susan Tissot’s last day as the museum’s executive director. After more than 10 years at the helm, she’s accepted a position as executive director of the Humboldt Botanical Gardens Foundation in Eureka, Calif. She starts the job next month.
Before she cut the cake, she talked about the biggest accomplishments at the museum under her leadership.
The first was making the century-old building more accessible. The main entrance is up a long flight of steps. Shortly after she’d begun working at the museum, Tissot said, she stood watching a mother pushing a double baby stroller up the steep steps so her family could visit the museum. Then the mom had to push her kids in the stroller down the steps, very, very carefully. Tissot remembers watching that scene play out and hoping the stroller didn’t slip. It didn’t.
After a three-year renovation, a side door with an elevator makes the building more easily accessible.
“Now there’s accessibility for everybody,” Tissot said. “For families with strollers. People with aging knees. People in wheelchairs.”
Tissot said a second accomplishment is “broadening the scope in terms of public programs and outreach.”
She said the museum’s collections are rotated often so that new exhibits can bring fresh perspective.
“If the collection just sits in storage and no one ever sees it, who cares?” Tissot asked. “It’s not our job to tell people how to think, but if we can get people to think, we’ve done our job.”
Tissot joined folks gathered around the birthday cake in singing happy birthday to the museum. Then it was time to cut the cake.
Roman, held in his dad’s arms, watched the procedure with interest.
Standing nearby and watching the scene unfold was Bruce Paris, board treasurer.
“We wish we could duplicate her,” Paris said about Tissot. “Her historical background and experience in development, public relations in the community and involvement in Rotary made her a versatile executive director. We’re sad to see her go.”
Another board member, Sue Peabody, who is a history professor at Washington State University Vancouver, said, “Susan has done an extraordinary job of bringing the museum into the 21st century. She’ll be a tough act to follow.”
