Washington State History Museum to temporarily close for new exhibit

The Washington State History Museum in Tacoma will temporarily close for more than a month starting in January as it installs a new permanent exhibit focused on Indigenous tribes. 

To prepare for the new exhibit, the museum will offer discounted admission from Jan. 2-12, with access to special exhibitions only.

The entire museum will close from Jan. 13 to Feb. 17. It will reopen Feb. 18, with construction continuing for the new exhibit in the museum’s Great Wall of Washington History. Museum memberships will automatically be extended by one month. 

The new nearly 3,000-square-foot exhibit — called “This is Native Land” — is scheduled to open this summer and will explore Washington state history “through an Indigenous lens,” according to a news release on the museum’s website. The exhibit will look at tribal sovereignty, culture and challenges, including boarding schools, removal from land and cultural genocide, the museum said. 

The exhibit was curated by Danica Sterud Miller, a member of the Puyallup Tribe, and Todd Clark, a member of the Wailaki Tribe, with input from Native advisory committee members and in consultation with Washington tribes. It is meant to highlight the strength and resiliency of Native people through stories of hope and even humor, Clark said in the museum’s news release. 

“The intention of this exhibition is not to cast blame or make anyone feel bad about the actions of the past, but it is to recognize these acts as facts and work together to build a path to healing,” Clark said. “Unless we recognize these truths, we will never be able to heal these wrongs.” 

“This is Native Land” is the latest in the museum’s ongoing efforts to update its permanent exhibitions installed in 1996, some of which heavily feature “non-historical props,” the museum said.