Polson Museum to open WWI exhibit during Memorial Weekend

The exhibit marks the centennial of World War I’s final year.

May 21, 2018 7:00 pm
Courtesy Polson Museum The Grays Harbor District of the Spruce Production Division was home to nearly a dozen camps devoted to harvesting Sitka spruce for use in airplane production. Supply trucks like this one were regularly seen in town.
Courtesy Polson Museum The Grays Harbor District of the Spruce Production Division was home to nearly a dozen camps devoted to harvesting Sitka spruce for use in airplane production. Supply trucks like this one were regularly seen in town.

The Polson Museum is opening an exhibit marking the centennial of World War I’s final year.

“Spruce, Foxglove & Motorships: Grays Harbor and the Great War” will open Saturday at 11 a.m. and run into 2019 at the museum in Hoquiam. An exact end date has not yet been set.

Topics will include the Red Cross effort to prepare and send socks, pajamas and bandages to our soldiers in France, and the local harvesting of foxglove for use in wound and burn medicine. The exhibit also showcases the famed Spruce Production Division, whose Grays Harbor camps were abuzz with soldier-loggers charged with harvesting aircraft-grade Sitka spruce.

More constitutionally controversial topics like the laws prohibiting “seditious” and unpatriotic speech, “intentional idleness,” and all things German are explored.

The exhibit draws heavily on the Polson’s wealth of photographs from the war years as well as artifacts from those who served at home and abroad. Also included is a statewide WWI perspective through a slideshow component provided by the Washington State Historical Society.

The museum is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 4. For more information, call 360-533-5862 or visit www.polsonmuseum.org.