University of Washington grad student shares secrets of ancient Antarctica
March 20, 2012
Issaquah High School student Max McDermott (left) examines the fossil left in the Antarctic by an ammonite, a distant relative of the modern octopus or squid, and brought to the school by University of Washington graduate student Adam Huttenlocker. By Tom Corrigan
During more routine fossil digs, the field tools of his profession often include brushes and other delicate equipment, University of Washington graduate student Adam Huttenlocker said.
Burke Archaelology Collections shares a look at C. M. Sheafe’s flat-top maul
February 2, 2010
In planning the exhibit In This Valley, Issaquah History Museums’ staff members aimed to interpret the history of American Indians in the Issaquah area. Unfortunately, they had very few authentic American Indian artifacts in their collection. Museum Director Erica Maniez contacted the Burke Museum in Seattle to inquire about borrowing artifacts for the exhibit.
In a review of archaeological artifacts found in the Issaquah area, Burke Archaeology Collections Manager Laura Phillips located a hand maul. Hand mauls look like large pestles. They were carved from stone, and used like hammers.
As an archaeological artifact, the maul was not impressive. It had a large chunk chipped from the bottom, and remnants of very old glue on the surface. In one area, there were remnants of inked paper, suggesting that a collector had created a homemade label for the maul. Read more
Photographer finds spaces that became places
August 4, 2009
Local photographer John Kane shares some of the images he’s captured. By David Hayes
Little did John Kane know that an innocuous event during a family cross-country drive from the East Coast to Los Angeles when he was 10 would be the inspiration for the theme to his photography today.
“We were passed by a huge tail-finned convertible with a cowboy at the wheel and a longhorn rack on the hood,” Kane recalled of a stretch of empty road through Colorado. “I asked my dad to catch up so I could get a better look at him.”
Unfortunately, his father’s heroic effort to get a second glimpse of the unique slice of Americana was rewarded with naught but a speeding ticket.
But the image remained for Kane, now 61. Thus, the seeds were planted for a lifelong pursuit of something unique found within the mundane.
The Issaquah resident’s latest images were a part of The Center for Fine Art Photography’s recent exhibit, “Works of Man,” in ironically, Fort Collins, Colo. Read more
Digging through the archives
April 28, 2009
Inventory team sorts through hundreds of museum artifacts
Leslie Fried (left) and Kim Owens, graduate students of the UW Museology Master's Degree Program, label and catalog artifacts from Issaquah's early history. By Greg Farrar
The Issaquah History Museums last month organized a blitz inventory of the Auto Freight Building, where part of the museum collection is stored.
The goal of the inventory project, aside from general housekeeping, was to identify and pack up pertinent artifacts in preparation for a move. The Issaquah History Museums hope to find alternate storage for these items at some point in the next five years. The Auto Freight Building is not climate controlled, and not conducive to preserving artifacts.
