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There are many reasons to vote YES on 26-118 to save the Oregon Historical Society.  I’d like to offer 8,000 of them ... that’s the number of kids who visited the Museum & Library this last year.  In spite of the fact that kids these days are wowed by video, iPods, Google, and all things electronic, they still are curious about and excited by seeing “real” things. 

Kids love to know that they are looking at and touching objects that real people actually created, lived with, and used.  Like the 9,000 year old sandals, the embroidered shoes that are 2 inches long and were worn by an adult Chinese woman whose feet had been bound, a 100 year old canoe that native people used on the Columbia, a basket woven tightly enough to carry water, and the first pulpit from the great African American Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church. 

Were it not for the Oregon Historical Society Library school kids would lose a rich opportunity to conduct research using actual documents, maps, and photos.  These resources exist no where else in the state.  At the OHS Library kids do their homework, look up information about their families and neighborhoods, compete in the National History Day, and prepare historical displays for their schools.

When this measure passes all school groups will get free admission.  This will go a long way to helping schools fund field trips and to enabling even more kids to experience this great place.

posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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