POULSBO — A large collection of Little Norway history will be unpacked from closets, retrieved from basements and shuffled down to city hall, where Poulsbo Historical Society members are opening the town’s first museum.
“It’s incredible the amount of information they’ve collected over the years,” said society board member Jim Shields.
After funding shortfalls and more than a decade of effort, the society has found a 1,000-square-foot home in the new downtown municipal campus, 200 NE Moe Street. Members hope to have a museum open by early 2011. They’ll paint the room next week and carpet will be installed soon after. Some exhibits have already been moved in. Life-size cutouts of the town’s first five mayors line the room. There are maps, photos and a timeline on display.
“There are items that are in people’s basements, we have a storage unit, so we’ll be able to consolidate everything here,” said member Jeanne Stottlemyer.
The society plans to sell ornaments, postcards, books and “Perspectives on Poulsbo,” a 2008 DVD containing oral histories of the town, out of a candy counter from a vintage Front Street five-and-dime.
A portion of the space will be made into a research room where society members and the public can access records with a computer.
Stottlemyer said the museum will allow the public to learn about Poulsbo, but may also stir interest in the society. It currently has about 400 members.
“We’re trying to get membership going and I think this will make a big difference,” she said. “This is a place to come, to actually volunteer, to be a presence and to make it progress.”
One of the first exhibits will be a display on the history of the codfish industry in Poulsbo. Shields’ grandfather, J.E. ‘Skipper’ Shields, bought into the industry a century ago. Shields and the society plan to install photos, articles and artifacts from the industry that was, at one point, Poulsbo’s largest employer. A sailing fleet would deliver salted fish from the Bering Sea to Poulsbo for processing at its plant, situated where Liberty Bay Marina now sits.
“It was pretty big business at the time,” Shields said.
The society has been able to display items dating from the 1890s to the 1930s at its Martinson Cabin on Lindvig Way. The new space will allow them to install and rotate new exhibits, said member Hildur Gleason.
The society hasn’t established fixed hours, but their location, having an independent entrance, will allow the museum to open on weekends when city offices are closed.
The City of Poulsbo purchased land on Jensen Way for a museum in 1999, but the society couldn’t come up with enough funding to construct and maintain a building.
The society gave up their lease on that land in order to take over their space in city hall, which amounts to about 3 percent of the building. Their agreement with the city is complex, partially a $200,000 purchase they will pay over 25 years and partially a no payment lease. The Poulsbo City Council authorized the agreement earlier this month, and Poulsbo Historical Society President Donna Jean Bruce signed it last week.
The society is starting a capital funds campaign and membership drive to help pay for the museum, Driscoll said. It also accepts donations. Learn more at www.poulsbohistory.org.
