All Are Welcome Here?

Authored by Karen Trombley, former Commissioner on Oregon’s Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorder, Certified Interpretative Trainer, and consultant in natural and cultural spaces.

We often see this sign on the doors of many public spaces:  All Are Welcome Here.  However, my son and I are almost certainly not welcome in most of these spaces.  The importance of understanding and connecting to our natural and cultural spaces in Oregon cannot be understated.  What we do not understand, we cannot love.  What we do not love, we will not protect.  Connecting to our culture, history and the natural world removes us from the hectic, over stimulating chaos of the everyday and delivers us to a slower, rhythmic hum as our mind focuses and our body relaxes.

  I have only been taught the importance of this lesson since my son was diagnosed with autism in 2012.  My son Sam experiences autism in a way that significantly impacts his life.  He has limited verbal communication, mainly using behavior (often loud) to communicate.  His constant, repetitive behaviors (often chaotic and bizarre to neurotypical individuals) and sensory processing disorder make it challenging to get his body and his mind to work together.  This is called apraxia, which he is also diagnosed with along with anxiety and pica.  Nature is one of the only places Sam feels at ease in his own body, walking through the forest or along the ocean beach, he finds peace.  I would love to be able to take him into more museums, visitor centers and other spaces which I know his curious mind would enjoy, but due to his severe anxiety since the pandemic and the fact that these spaces are often rich in rules, such as quiet voice and body; his access is limited to non-existent.     

I always research a place before we visit.  Having an accessible and easy to navigate website is critical.  I highly recommend having a section of your website dedicated to visitors with disabilities.   

When people think of disability access, they often only think of infrastructure.  Do we have the required amount of parking spaces?  Is the building and the bathroom wheelchair accessible?  It’s not enough.  It’s the bare minimum.  One in four adults in the US experiences a disability and that is just adults!  Read the CDC:  Disability Impacts All of Us article here.   

Have you considered? 

• All gender or family restrooms 
• Adult size changing tables 
• Sensory kits available for check out at your information or front desk 
• Clearly advertised and specific sensory times and/or programs to visit your site (where the stimulus is turned down, but a visitor can move about freely and freely use their voice and body?) 
• Disability awareness training for your staff and volunteers 
• Discounted or free passes for visitors with disabilities  
• Free pass/access for the caregiver providing direct care to the person with a disability 

Explore the resources attached to this article if you’d like to learn more.  When in doubt, ask!  Always go to the people with first hand, lived experience whenever possible.  Let’s work towards making nature accessible for all.   

• Autism Society of Oregon
• Fact Sheet: New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments 
• Kulture City
• Universal Changing Places

Additionally, considering aspects of Universal Design in your museum spaces is ideal for engaging with this audience. Oregon Heritage has worked to create a three-part series of blogs on Universal Design that can be found at the following links.

• Designing for Everybody | Part 1
• Designing for Everybody | Part 2
• Designing for Everybody | Part 3

Audio Book Narration: The Volunteer Gift That Keeps on Giving

by Joel Henderson, Volunteer Coordinator for the State Library of Oregon

It’s Volunteer Appreciation Month! What a great time to talk about the value of volunteers in libraries.

Libraries are places where things are meant to endure. They’re a haven for our collective heritage, experience, knowledge, and entertainment. How fitting then, when the efforts of volunteers are of similar vein. When they offer contributions that can be valued by generations of library users.

It’s as if libraries and volunteers were made for each other!

One of the more unique volunteer programs here at the State Library of Oregon is our audio book recording studio. Oregon-interest audio books are produced for library users who, because of visual, physical, or cognitive impairments, are unable to read for themselves. Local volunteers serve as both narrators reading selected titles and audio technicians editing and mixing these recordings. It’s Oregonians producing books by Oregonians for Oregonians!

Once completed, the audio books are added to the National Library Service’s collection, where they are made accessible to not only registered library users in Oregon but all over the country. Their availability does not expire or end, but is, for all intents and purposes, permanent. Therefore, the volunteers who worked on a book, even well after they have moved on, continue to offer a connection to the world to the people who enjoy listening to the books they’ve recorded.

Recording books is an isolated task; but that’s OK, because it needs to be. Sound-proof booths in a private room ensure a high-quality product. Editing and mixing require focus and uninterrupted time. The positive impact of these unseen efforts, however, is experienced far and wide. While narrators, audio technicians, and library users may never meet each other, they are connected by a common understanding: reading is for everyone!

“It makes me feel humble but also proud,” says Theresa, one of our narrators. “Everyone can enjoy the same books. The same books of enjoyment. The same books of education. The same books of any genre. The whole world is open!”

Helping to produce audio books for people with print impairments is just one way volunteers in libraries can make a lasting difference in their community. So thank you, library volunteers, and may you enjoy the reward of a legacy well preserved!

Canby is “Going Big” for Historic Preservation Month

During the pandemic, Canby’s recognition of Historic Preservation Month waned. With the pandemic restrictions in the rearview mirror, this felt like the right time to bring it back to life in a big way. As fate would have it, the city had received a Certified Local Government Grant and was planning to hire a consultant to update the 2009 reconnaissance level survey (RLS) of the original townsite, our downtown. The scheduled completion was end of April, a perfect start for a “Go Big” effort. 

Photo provided by City of Canby.

“Going Big” meant this could not be one-dimensional, we needed multiple, diverse outreach efforts, which requires collaboration. First to jump on board was Canby Economic Development Department’s Tyler Nizer who was the lead for the RLS project.  Next, Belinda Goody, our Chamber of Commerce Director, joined in, suggesting that we use the May Chamber Luncheon for a presentation on historic preservation. Given that the findings and recommendations from the RLS would be available to share, this was a perfect match.

While the Chamber Lunch would reach many of our business owners, we needed something that would engage residents who might not normally attend a chamber event. I contacted Michael Schmeer of the Oak Lodge History Detectives about doing one of his workshops on Discovering the History of Your Home. He said yes. Marisa Ely, Canby Library Director and Nora Clark, President of the Canby Historical Society, decided to co-sponsor the workshop as part of Canby Library’s Adult Programming.  

Photo provided by Canby Historical Society.

Leveraging an existing event, Canby’s First Thursday Night Market, seemed like the perfect way to reach people who would enjoy an evening of food, fun and shopping rather than a workshop or a luncheon. Tyler Nizer, the event coordinator, liked the idea.  As part of the event, there will be historic site walking tours. Canby’s three non-profit heritage organizations, Mark Prairie Historical Society, Friends of Carus School, and Canby Historical Society have been invited to set up booths on the walking tour route to recruit members and solicit donations. Additionally, they will be included in the First Thursday Night Market scavenger hunt, making their booths must-stop-sites for participants. Finally, the evening will include placement of a time capsule in the City Arch and another on the grounds of the city’s most important historic site and a 2023 DeMuro Award Winner, Holly Street City Hall. Canby Area Beautification is coordinating the latter placement, which will include a tree planting and plaque. 

Photo provided by Canby Historical Society.

The City Council proclamation, the kick-off event, will be on May 1. In addition to the proclamation, the council will recognize the Canby Historical Society volunteer of the year, Board Treasurer Dawn Eleen, and the winner of the biannual Oregon Heritage Excellence Award for an individual, Peggy Sigler, Volunteer Project Manager for the Mark Prairie School Restoration, and a veteran of three decades of city, county, regional and state heritage work.

The collaboration of seven Canby organizations means our community will “Go Big” for the 2024 Historic Preservation Month.   

Oregon’s High Flying Women

content courtesy of the Oregon Aviation Historical Society, Cottage Grove.

Did you know that Oregon is home to many pioneering, record-setting women aviators?  To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re sharing these stories to shed light these successes that uplifted women… quite literally.

Edith Foltz Stearns | air racer; wartime ferry officer; the country’s first female airline pilot
Born Edith Magalis in 1900 and raised in Texas, she became involved in aviation after marrying Joseph Foltz Jr, a World War I aviator, who had a small barnstorming operation at Swan Island (the same site where several other women earned their pilot’s license at the Rankin School of Flying).  She soloed in 1928 and soon determined to set endurance records.

In 1929, Edith and her Alexander Bullet entered the Women’s Air Derby, the “Powder Puff” race between Santa Monica and Cleveland.  She also earned a commercial pilot license, the first woman in the Northwest and only the fifth in the nation to do so.

At the onset of World War II, Edith was teaching CPT cadets at Swan Island.  At opportunity arose to join Britain’s Air Transport Auxiliary, a group of civilian pilots who took up ferry roles to free up others for combat duties.  She was one of just 25 American women to be accepted by the ATA.  After the war she remained active in aviation as an instructor of Navy cadets and a member of the 99s.

Sadly, in 1956 Edith succumbed to cancer.  That year the Portland Oregonian remembered her as “probably Oregon’s most famous woman flier.”  Her many years in Oregon did much to advance aviation in the state and as well as women’s prospects in the field.

Mary Riddle | accomplished Native American pilot and parachutist
Did you know that Oregon was where one of the first Native Americans earned a pilot’s license? Mary Riddle overcame daunting barriers and achieved success. Her feats speak to her remarkable inner strength, tenacity, and drive.

Born in Bridgeport, Washington as a member of both the Clatsop and Quinault tribes, Riddle lost her mother when she was just four years old.  She was raised in a convent in Beaverton, Oregon- a hub of aviation innovation.  Nearby was the Tex Rankin School of Flying, the largest flying school in the country for a time.  Rankin encouraged training women pilots, and Riddle was no exception.  Riddle earned her pilot’s license at Tex’s school, and subsequently earned her limited commercial license in Oklahoma.  She joined a Seattle-based “air circus” and worked as a barnstormer and air show performer all over the country.  As she told the Oregonian in 1975: “I made 40 exhibition parachute jumps.  Those were the years when the airfield were being developed all over, and towns had us put on shows to open airports.”  Riddle continued applying herself as a pilot.  Though she struggled with a bout of depression, Riddle persisted as usual, and finally earned her transport license.  In the same Oregonian interview, she related how she “worked as an aircraft inspector for the War Department” and “went to an Army engineering school.”  

Mary Riddle kept flying for decades, a true trailblazer for her time.  

Hazel Ying Lee | first Chinese-American women to fly for the US Military
Portland, Oregon is home to this trailblazing female aviator who took her first flight when she was just 19 years old. In 1932, she received her pilot’s license at a time when less than 1% of American pilots were women. She was a pioneer in women’s aviation during the 1930’s, and after the attack at Pearl Harbor, she was one of the 1000 women who put their civilian lives on hold and joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program.

In 1944, Hazel joined the elite group of women who flew fighter planes. She and other women transported thousands of fighters (also called “pursuit” aircraft) as they poured out of American factories. The women pilots flew over 70 different kinds of aircraft. Hazel Ying Lee died as a result of a mid-air collision while landing her P-63 at Great Falls, Montana (one of 38 members of the WASP to die in service). Three days later, her family learned that her brother Vic, serving in the US Tank Corps, was killed in combat in Europe.

Thinking About Storefronts on Historic & Old Buildings

Joy Sears, Restoration Specialist with Oregon State Historic Preservation Office

The array of buildings that our office deals with daily, covers the gambit from almost intact but deteriorated originals to recently remuddled storefronts.  It is very rare to have an original storefront on a building because invariably owners had money and modernized storefronts many times over the years.  So first we must consider what still exists and whether is it repairable.  One of the common occurrences that I come across is a mid-century modern storefront in a much older building.  The existing mid-century storefront may be significant, either as an important design from an architect or building, a high-style construction, or for a particular business.  If none of the before-mentioned reasons are significant, do you consider removing the entire storefront and starting over?  That is a much larger investment than most owners are considering.  You can do some research and come up with a design based on historic photographs which would be modified as needed to meet current building codes.  Or are there no good photographs of the building?  Then do you go back with some traditional but generic configuration or something more modern and compatible?

The usual situation that I run into is a remuddled storefront with some original details that are covered up and more modern storefront windows which is much easier to deal with in terms of investment and thought process going forward.  Typically historic wood transoms (with or without historic glass) over a storefront were covered over with some material to be more modern and rely on electrical means of illumination instead of natural light.  These are relatively simple DIY projects that an owner or someone handy can undertake to remove the material from the transoms and return the historic appearance.  One of the issues with this, has the interior ceiling has been dropped from the historic, original height.  If the ceiling has been dropped and the historic transoms are exposed and repaired, you might consider adding an obscure removable film to the original glass or opaque/textured glass if the original glass is missing, to disguise the dropped ceiling in the interim. 

There are so many variables out there to consider depending on the situation with the building and the owners.  One of my goals is to work out a variety of options to consider and hopefully get the proposed plan accomplished with the help of one of our matching grants from our office.

Designing For Everybody | Part 3

Need help? How to work with consultants to support your heritage organization.
Kyrie Kellet, CIP, Principal at MasonBee Interpretive Planning

Every organization needs help sometimes, and consultants can often provide the expertise and support you need. But, how do you find the right person? How do you find the money to pay them? How do you set up the contract and working relationship to make sure you really get what you need?  It can feel overwhelming to get started, but here are a few tips for finding and working with the right consultant for your organization and circumstances.

The first thing I usually tell people when they are thinking about consultants is that we are kind of like ice cream. Let me explain…

First, ice cream is something you could figure out how to make on your own, but most people do not want to. They don’t know how, it takes more time or effort than they have available, or they don’t have the equipment. Same with consulting projects. These are projects your organization needs help with to get done well or on time.

Second, you have to pick the right flavor for the context. You might love mint chocolate chip, but it would be weird to serve it with apple pie. Similarly, you need to think carefully about what “flavor” of consultant you need to get your project done. You might like someone personally, but do they have the expertise, time, and temprament for the job? If not, that’s OK. Maybe they’ll be perfect for the next project. Here are a few common skill sets that heritage-related consultants can bring to the table: strategic planning, exhibit/program design and development, fundraising, collections care, financial management, facilities (re)development, marketing, DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility), and so much more.

Third, ice cream is good because it is creamy and sweet. But, this high caloric price tag also means you probably need to be judicious in how much you eat. Consultants are also going to be more expensive when you compare their hourly rates to most employees. That’s because you are paying for their expertise in a specific field. Their fee also includes all of the costs that they need to recoup to stay in business. As with ice cream, the expense is usually worth it, but you need to think through the most efficient way to work with the consultant to get the job done without blowing your budget. You can also work with consultants to break up the work into smaller portions and complete each phase as you raise funds.

To help you decide what flavor of consultant you might need, here are a few questions to ask your team as you get started: 

1. What skills or experience do we really need? This can include technical skills or licenses as well as experience working with similar organizations, situations, or communities.
2. What’s our price range? Do you need a bargain or do you want a high-end experience?
3. Do you want someone local or can they be anywhere?
4. What approach works best for your organization? Are you an interactive, collaborative group or more top-down, expertise driven organization?

Next you should outline exactly what you need from the consultant and how you are going to measure who would be the best fit. A few common ways of doing this include: 

• Formal RFP–This process is often required by public institutions or for large projects. An RFP asks the consultant to outline who they are and how they would approach the project. Creating a good RFP takes a lot of time and thought, so make sure to allow for this in the process.
• Less formal RFI (Request for Information) or RFQ (Request for Qualifications)–These are good options to collect a broad range of applicants with slightly less work for both the organization and the consultants responding. These requests usually just ask the consultant to provide information about themselves and why they would be a good fit for the project.
• Specific RFQ (Request for Quote)–This process just asks consultants to provide a price for a specific task. If you know exactly what you need and how you want to do it, this can be a good option.
• Informal meetings–Meeting with potential consultants without a proposal is often the least amount of work for all involved, but may not allow you to get the broadest applicants and/or get a full sense of the work the consultants could provide. It is best for smaller organizations and projects.

Once you know what you want and how you are going to assess applicants, start looking for potential candidates. A few good places to start include: 

• Word of mouth–Ask around through your professional networks or ask Oregon Heritage staff.
• Professional websites–Oregon Museums Association, National Association for Interpretation, American Alliance of Museums, Western Museums Association, American Association for State and Local History, Nonprofit Association of Oregon, Restore Oregon, and other organizations keep lists of members and consultants that you can search. Many of them also have forums or listservs you can post to for recommendations. 
• Internet search–A good old Google search can often help find new folks to reach out to or research.
• RFP websites–If you have a large project, you can post an RFP or RFI/Q on websites that aggregate opportunities. Consultants can search the available projects and respond to the ones that fit their expertise. 

After finding a few good candidates, make sure to ask the following questions either in your RFP or your interviews: 

• What experience do you have with this type of project?
• What experience do you have with our type of organization?
• What do you charge?
• Who would work on the project? (Do they have employees or subcontractors that would do the work or is it the person you are meeting with?)
• What is their approach to the work? What are their values and priorities?
• Do they have references?

Make sure that you set yourself up for success by outlining a few key things as you get started: 

• Make sure that there is a point person at your organization whose job it is to coordinate and interface with the consultant.
• Create a scope of work including deliverables, fee structure, project processes, travel expectations, etc.
• Use the scope of work to create and sign a contract or Letter of Agreement. (This is really important! You might want help from an attorney to set this up.)
• Host a kickoff meeting with all of the key players on the project to clarify the timeline and process for the project.
• Make sure everyone is on the same page with invoicing, payment terms, and processes. (For example, who should the consultant send the invoice to, when/how it will be paid, etc.)
• Check in regularly according to the scope of work.

I hope all of your consultant experiences are sweet and the process goes smoothly! But, if you still have questions, feel free to contact me or Oregon Heritage for support. Want to read more about what to consider when working with consultants, check out the Oregon Heritage Bulletin #8: Choosing Consultants and Contractors.

Designing for Everybody | Part 2

A three part conversation on Universal Design for museums.

Our second conversation about universal design and museums is with Nickole Cheron. Nickole is the Disability Equity and ADA Title II Manager at the City of Portland.  

Kyrie Kellett

Thank you so much for taking time to meet with me to talk about Universal Design for museums and historic sites. Can you start by telling me how you define the term Universal Design?

Nickole Cheron

 I love the term universal design because what it means is just that–you are designing with everybody in mind because you understand that when you build something that accommodates people with disabilities, it potentially also helps other people in a way they didn’t even think that they might have needed the help. 

The traditional example to understand the benefit of universal design principles is a curb cut–the little ramps on street corners. When the ADA came around, cities had to spend all this money on building curb cuts. But the beautiful thing about curb cuts is they aren’t just to benefit people in wheelchairs or people using walkers. Lots of people with strollers benefit from a curb cut. People riding bikes or scooters benefit from curb cuts. Delivery people with handtrucks benefit from curb cuts.  You benefit from the curb cut. So a curb cut can be a universal design because it benefits more than just people in wheelchairs or people using walkers, even though it was principally created because folks in wheelchairs and walkers couldn’t necessarily navigate the built environment without them. 

Kyrie Kellett

Are there things we need to keep in mind when we are designing for people with disabilities?

Nickole Cheron

In the US, we tend to stigmatize disability. We have to understand the limits of universal design and how we use language to acknowledge people. I live with a disability, I’m in a wheelchair myself. A lot of folks with disabilities have fought very hard for what we call “person first language.” So, I’m a person with a disability. I’m not my disability. I’m a person who uses a wheelchair. I’m not a wheelchair person. Therefore, we need to focus on the people we are designing for, not just their disabilities.

Kyrie Kellett

Are there limitations to universal design? 

Nickole Cheron

When we make things fully inclusive or accessible, we’re creating a design that could be universally used by everyone, right? That’s great, but it doesn’t necessarily erase disability or mean you never have to accommodate a person with a disability because you used universal design principles in an exhibit. There will always be an  accommodation for a specific disability that you didn’t think about in the universal design. And that’s OK. Depending on the request, you make a decision whether it’s reasonable or not because the law doesn’t say you have to do everything. It says, is it reasonable? 

Kyrie Kellett

What are examples of accommodations you can imagine using in a museum or historic site?

Nickole Cheron

So imagine you have an exhibit where people aren’t allowed to have backpacks, but you have a kid or an adult with autism that the backpack is actually weighted and makes them feel more secure. Is it reasonable for you to allow this person to go through the exhibit with their backpack? Yes, it is. It’s not going to hurt the exhibit. 

Kyrie Kellett

How do you envision universal design principles being implemented in a small museum with limited time or budgets?

Nickole Cheron

So let’s talk about that a little bit because I think some of the things that I see in museums that I don’t necessarily think are a big lift, but museums don’t usually do. 

First, is there an audio-described tour? People who are blind also want to participate in museum tours and you know what they need is an audio described tour.  I just feel like in the digital age. It shouldn’t be that hard to have someone from the museum walk through the exhibit and do a description tour. Research how to do it on-line then do your best. Not doing it means a blind person doesn’t get to experience the tour at all. You doing it poorly means they get to do it and then tell you, “hey, next time you might want to do this, that, or the other thing.” Then, you learn and can make it better.  

Second, is to think about where we position the things you want people to look at. In many museums, things are positioned as if you’re going to approach them standing, but we know that people in wheelchairs have height limitations. I have found in a lot of exhibits where I have to have people read things to me because they are too high. Similarly, at historical museums, we love to put historical documents in cases that standing people can lean down over and read. But if you’re sitting in a chair or you’re not more than four-and-a-half feet tall, you can’t read it because you can’t get that high. So, in this case either rethink how you display the items or have photocopies of the materials for people in wheelchairs to access more easily.

Kyrie Kellett

Do you have advice for how to develop new experiences for people with disabilities?

Nickole Cheron

Yes, this brings up a really, really important point. When the ADA finally got enacted, the activists at the time had a saying “nothing about us without us.” The idea is that able-bodied people don’t understand disability. Disabled people don’t understand the disability of other disabled people, so you really need to include people with disabilities whenever you’re doing something that is supposed to be universally designed to include them. That requires you to reach out to organizations that serve people with different types of disabilities and create a system for including them in the design process.. 

Asking people to participate can take many forms. It can be paying consultants with different disabilities  for their time and expertise. It can also be creating an advisory group of 20 to 30 folks with different disabilities where you offer a free membership or other benefits with the understanding that you’re going to ask them for their input.

Kyrie Kellett

Do you have any resources you suggest for people to learn more?

Nickole Cheron

There are a lot of disability social justice advocates in the world who have great resource pages. I encourage people to research the groups in their area and connect with them directly. 
—-

Kyrie Kellet is a Certified Interpretive Planner & exhibition developer at Mason Bee Interpretive Planning in Portland, Oregon. http://www.masonbeellc.com

Nickole Cheron is the ADA Title II and Disability Equity Manager for the City of Portland in Portland, Oregon and has served in this and similar roles for more than 15 years.

Designing for Everybody | Part 1

A three part conversation on universal design in museums.

When Oregon Heritage asked me to be a guest writer about universal design in museums, the first thing I thought was, “Yes! I’d love to. This is such an important topic. But, what would be even better would be to introduce Oregon museums to two of my amazing colleagues who have so much more knowledge in this area than I do.” So, this week’s blog is the first conversation in a three part series about universal design in museums between me and my first colleague, Heather Pressman. Heather is the Director of Learning & Engagement at the Molly Brown House Museum, a lecturer at the Johns Hopkins University, and a museum accessibility consultant who wrote the book The Art of Access: A Practical Guide for Museum Accessibility and is editor An Accessible Past: Making Historic Sites Accessible (forthcoming November 2023).

Kyrie:
Thank you for sitting down to talk to me about universal design and museums. How would you define universal design?

Heather:
I would say it is designing for the majority of people. There’s a great quote from Valerie Fletcher at the Institute for Human Centered Design, which is something along the lines of, “by designing for people on the periphery, everybody in the middle benefits as well.” One of my favorite examples of universal design is the OXO brand of kitchen utensils. They have these big squishy black handles that are really easy to hold, and they were originally designed for people with arthritis. But everybody loves them because they’re so comfortable and easy to use.

Kyrie:
I like the idea that, when you accommodate  people that have specific needs, then everyone benefits from the improved designs. How do you see universal design being implemented in museums in particular?

Heather:

I think it depends on the kind of museum. Obviously, historic houses and sites are a little bit different than your typical museum, but it’s always thinking about how to reach the broadest audience. For example, making sure that you have multimodal interactives allows people to access the information in different ways. People should just be able to dive in in whatever capacity they have and engage with the materials. This might include providing large-print and multilingual scripts, audio tours, or tactile interactives.

Kyrie:
Right. The examples you give highlight lots of different types of accessibility. It’s language accessibility if you don’t speak English or options if you have  visual or auditory impairments. Also, I would imagine many of these design ideas help people who don’t read at all–such as young children and people with learning disabilities.

You work at a historic home and are writing a  book about accessibility for historic site museums. What advice do you have for people working in historic sites and buildings that may be inaccessible to people with mobility or sensory issues?

Heather:
You know, it’s a fun challenge. And if people approach it as a fun challenge, it’s an easier mindset to get stuff done. The biggest thing is to get people to think creatively and outside the box. That can be really hard — I know speaking as a historic preservationist and a person who works in historic sites. We’re so used to doing things the way that things have always been done. 

There’s a lot of free and low cost stuff out there that you can do, though, to welcome people into your site.  It’s just figuring out what you can do with the resources that you have. During the pandemic, a lot of people went to virtual programming allowing a greater number of people to experience the museum. If those programs are still doing well, keep doing them. If they’re not, maybe shift to something else.

Inside the museum, if there are places that people with mobility issues can’t access,  think about what tactile or sensory elements you can have outside of that space to help it come alive. Or can you find somebody in the area who has a 3D camera to create a 3D virtual tour? One of the things that we’ve done is partner with Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. One of their classes created all these fantastic tactile elements for us to use in our tours. We also have touch boxes throughout the House that have materials and photographs for people who can’t do the stairs. We also worked with volunteers to create some video tours of the upstairs and put them on an iPad that was paid for by a small grant from the City.

And there’s lots of other fun things you could do like scent jars or create a 3D tactile model of the space. It doesn’t have to be fancy. You can make raised line drawings by tracing an image using white glue. Or, if you want to be more official, you can buy a SwellForm machine and print out all sorts of tactile illustrations. 

Kyrie:
Of course, many museums, especially small ones, don’t always feel like they have the time or resources to make changes. How can people make an argument to organizational leaders that they should prioritize universal design and accessibility?

Heather:
Betty Siegel from the Kennedy Center gives a great talk and boils it down to a couple of points. One, it’s the right thing to do. Two, It’s the law. So obviously, if you’re meeting the law, great first step. But, it also can impact your revenue. Twenty-six percent of the people in the United States have a disability, whether it’s visible or not. So those people as well as their friends and family are making choices about where to go, how to spend their time, and how to spend their money based on what’s accessible to the person with the disability. You’re potentially losing out on a ton of revenue from those people because they don’t feel welcome at your site.  So if you need to, you can always tie it back to money.

Kyrie:
How would you suggest people get started?

Heather:
Sometimes people are afraid to start or do something wrong. But, doing something is always better than doing nothing. The best thing that you can do is to have people with disabilities come in for focus groups or create an advisory panel to get their input on what would be most useful. You can find advisors through state or local chapters of organizations like the Alzheimer’s Association or autism societies. These organizations will also frequently provide free training for staff and volunteers. 

If you do invite people to share their experience and expertise, make sure to compensate them in a meaningful way. But compensation can look a lot of different ways. It could be as simple as a meal, a free membership to your museum, or tickets to an event. Obviously, if you have the capacity to do cash or gift cards, fantastic, do that as well.

Kyrie:
Finally, do you have any resources you would recommend?

Heather:
My books are a great place to start. My co-author Danielle Schulz and I worked hard to collect a lot of key information in our book The Art of Access: A Practical Guide for Museum Accessibility. My second book, An Accessible Past: Making Historic Sites Accessible will be coming out in November.  You can purchase them at rowman.com using RLFANDF30 for 30% off.

In terms of universal design, the Museum of Science Boston has a universal design guide that is very helpful. There’s also Everyone’s Welcome by John Salman. It’s old, but most of it still is true. The Smithsonian also has several universal design resources for museums on their website: access.si.edu/museum-professionals.
Museums folks are also welcome to reach out to me directly at museumaccessconsulting.com.

Facilitated by Kyrie Kellet, MasonBee Interpretive Planning; Part 1 featuring Heather Pressman, Director of Learning & Engagement at Molly Brown House Museum.

Marking a Change

by Katy Vaughn, Cottage Grove Historical Society

Eva Davenport was a significant character in early Cottage Grove, Oregon. She was born Lena Flaiskey, in Wisconsin, in 1875. She had a relatively stable mid-western upbringing, but in 1887 tragedy struck and Lena’s mother was killed when a tornado passed through their town. Lena’s life would never be the same.   

In 1898 Lena married a dissolute printer named Edwin Becker and in 1902 the two of them moved to Cottage Grove. Edwin was hired by the Nugget, the local newspaper, but was fired after a few days because of his drug addiction. Their lives fell apart and Lena began to work as a sex worker under the name of Eva Davenport to support them. Lena divorced Edwin while he was in the State Penitentiary on a theft charge. At the time Cottage Grove was a wide-open mining town with many saloons and bordellos. Eva was very successful at her new trade and earned enough to buy herself a house. It was remarked by contemporaries that she appeared to be a woman of culture and education. In 1905 Eva died tragically, either from suicide or murder and was buried in an unmarked grave.      

Her death was a scandal and led to a lot of soul-searching on the part of the town. The mines were starting to play out and the timber industry was taking hold. Many citizens wanted Cottage Grove to become a place to settle down and raise a family. The death of Eva caused a great reckoning, the temperance movement took off and the town began to change.

Over the years there had been much talk on the part of the Cottage Grove Historical Society about putting a marker on Eva’s grave. In 2020 with a grant from the Oregon Historic Cemeteries Commission the wish became a reality. In addition to the grave marker project, the Society published a book about Eva called Unconventional, the Woman Who Changed Cottage Grove, researched by Debra Monsive and written by Holli Turpin (available at cghistory.org) A mural of Eva was painted on the side of a bookstore in town that once housed one of the saloons where Eva plied her trade. The mural gives information on how to find help for those caught in sex-trafficking and drug addiction. Lena’s was a story of both caution and resilience.

Oregon Women’s History Project

by Robert Olguin, National Register Program Coordinator (State Historic Preservation Office)

As we have worked to increase the number of diverse listings in the National Register we have also focused on increasing access to and supporting the goals of Oregon’s heritage through Oregon’s statewide preservation plan and heritage plan. One of the ways we have approached this is to seek grant funding and use the funding to hire consultants to develop historic contexts and National Register nominations of underrepresented themes. Our newest project is aimed at documenting and listing resources significant for Oregon’s women’s history.

An incredibly large and diverse topic, we are in the beginning stages of this project. We selected Northwest Vernacular as the consultant for this project and through a collaborative process they will be helping outline and organize this complex and diverse history into a focused product. The project is split into several phases and Northwest Vernacular is contracted for the first two phases (concept and approach) and (Context development). The later phases will result in the final product of a Multiple Property Document (MPD) and individual property nomination to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places of the National Park Service (NPS) that recognize the significance history of women in Oregon.

Though the project started in September 2023, conversations with Northwest Vernacular have already been exciting to discuss what they have learned in their scholarship review and their emerging ideas for how to organize a MPD around this history. As they continue to work on this project there will be several opportunities for public engagement, the first of which will happen on October 19, 2023, when they will present the concept and approach to all of Oregon Heritage’s Commissions. The following month, another presentation to Oregon’s Certified Local Governments at their fall workshop will allow them to highlight the importance of this topic and discuss how it might be used at the local level. Lastly, the final presentation will be in April 2024 at out Oregon Heritage Conference in Forest Grove, where Northwest Vernacular will continue to promote the project, explain the purpose of an MPD, and encourage others to use the MPD to document this part of Oregon’s history.

Our hope is that this project will be a model of future efforts. There are a lot of underrepresented stories waiting to be told and it can take a lot of time and money to successively and comprehensively document significant places and people that are part of Oregon’s diverse history. While this is just one step in this much larger process, especially as related to Oregon’s statewide preservation plan and heritage plan, we are excited for this project and look forward to sharing its final results.