PRESENTATIONS & PROGRAMING

THE LAST DIVE WITH CODY SHEEHY

October 16, 2025, at 6:30

A screening of Wallowa High School Graduate Cody Sheehy’s most recent documentary, The Last Dive in the Wallowa History Center Interpretive Warehouse. The visually stunning film follows an ex-Hell’s Angel-turned manta ray conservationist on a personal journey to Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.

4H YOUTH WALLOWA CO. HISTORY PRESENTATIONS

August 1, 2025 at noon

Five outstanding youth speakers shared Local History Presentations in the Warehouse. Presentations included: Women’s Suffrage, Grazing, The Lost Diamond Prairie Cemetery, Chief Joseph Days, and 4H.

4th of JULY OPEN HOUSE

As part of the City of Wallowa’s Small Town 4th of July Celebration and parade, we kicked off our warehouse interpretive space with an open house.

Eugene Hayes Artwork Exhibit

Summer 2025

The work of Eugene Hayes (1922-2020) Wallowa County local and regional legend, is the perfect exhibit to begin the adaptive reuse of the WHC warehouse. Eugene Hayes’ vibrant artwork and distinct style is easily recognized. While Gene is no longer with us, he left a piece of himself in his work, which offers us his visual interpretation of days past.

REMEMBERING THE EVANS TOWNSHIP

Saturday, June 28 at 2:00

Learn about the former town of Evans, family histories of the area, and tour the historic Haun House restored by Steve & Joelle Arment.

LITTLE READ: GRACE BARTLETT’S BOOK, THE WALLOWA COUNTRY: 1867-1877

Sundays, February 2- March 9th

Book discussion group led by David Weaver and Rich Wandschneider.

THE STORY OF EUGENE BARNETT

January 21 & February 10

Presented by Jennifer Gibbs, Eugene Barnett’s unique life and connection to Wallowa County tie in closely with the Fishtrap Big Read of 2025. Jennifer shared the fascinating story she stumbled upon in the WHC Archives.

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE & WALLOWA CO. HISTORY: HOW WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW LECTURE

December 7

Shop local history books, renew your membership or purchase memberships as holiday gifts. Tour our recent renovations and improvements to our buildings.

WALLOWA COUNTY HISTORY: HOW WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW

November 26 & December 7

Presented by David Weaver. Research tools for genealogists, educators, students, writers, natural resource specialists, researchers, and the curious.

STANLYNN DAUGHERTY’S AFRICAN WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

Thursday, November 7

Stanlynn Daugherty’s presentation on enriching biodiversity on former farmlands, conserving black and white rhinoceroses, and supporting rural communities through conservation.

HELLS CANYON SONGS PROJECT- JAM SESSION & SONG SWAP

Wednesday, November 6

Continuing the Hells Canyon Songs Project with a jam session welcoming all kinds of acoustic music about people and events of early northeast Oregon.

HELLS CANYON SONGS PROJECT

Tuesday, July 16

Gary “Ol Slim” Eller’s presentation and performance followed by a jam session with local musicians in the Warehouse.

4th of JULY OPEN HOUSE

In conjunction with the City of Wallowa’s Small Town 4th of July Celebration unveiling of our newly renovated Warehouse featuring the visiting Josephy Center Exhibit, “Nez Perce: Renewal & Return.”

PROMISE DRIVING TOURS

Back by popular demand, Promise area Historians lead small groups through Promise while sharing the rich history of the area.

RENDEZVOUS

Tuesday, June 4 & Wednesday, June 5

A hands on history day of rotating stations for K-8 Students throughout Wallowa including City Hall, The Wallowa Public Library, and the Wallowa Nez Perce Homelands. Our theme is technological innovations featuring: early social media, food preservation, rag dolls, and mystery house hold items.

DEDICATION OF THE MARY ANN MCCRAE BURROWS RESEARCH LIBRARY

Saturday, May 25

To honor our founder Mary Ann McCrae Burrows who started the Wallowa History Center in 2001, a dedication ceremony was held to officially rename the Ranger Station Office Building in her honor.

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE

Saturday, December 2

In conjunction with the City of Wallowa’s Holiday Bazaar the Wallowa History Center held an open house to celebrate gifting of local history works.

THE LIFE OF FANNIE APPLEGATE JOHNSON

Saturday, October 21

A presentation about Fannie Applegate Johnson, an early Lower Valley pioneer, discussing her role as a healer and interactions with the Nez Perce.

THE SETTLEMENT OF WALLOWA’S LOWER VALLEY Hosted by Dale & Lu Johnson

Saturday, September 16

A presentation and opportunity to socialize and share stories of the Nez Perce, homesteaders, and Lower Valley’s early residence.

4th of JULY OPEN HOUSE

In conjunction with the City of Wallowa’s Small Town 4th of July Celebration unveiling of our newly renovated Research Library featuring new exhibits showcasing the Edsel White Postcard Collection and Early Photographer Frank Reavis.

PIONEER CEMETERY DRIVING TOUR #2

Sunday, May 21

We were grateful the sun came out for this tour! Marilyn Hulse guided us through the McCubbin/Findley and Lostine Cemeteries, and David Weaver led us to Old Chief Joseph’s original burial place.

PIONEER CEMETERY DRIVING TOUR #1

Sunday, May 7

More than thirty people braved the pouring rain to hear local historian Marilyn Hulse tell stories of the Lost Diamond and Bramlet Cemeteries near Wallowa.

The 1879 robbery of old chief joseph’s grave

Sunday, April 23

At the first of our spring cemetery series, Sarah Silbernagel introduced the Oregon Commission on Historical Cemeteries, and David Weaver discussed the robbery of the grave of Tiwi-teqis (Old Chief Joseph) in 1879 or 1880.

HOW ANIMALS DEAL WITH WINTERS IN WALLOWA COUNTY

Sunday, January 29

Janet Hohmann presented a slide program using her own photographs taken over forty years as a seasonal wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service. This was a joint program put on by the Wallowa History Center and the Friends of the Wallowa Public Library, presented at the Wallowa City Hall.

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE & BOOK SIGNING

Sunday, December 3

The Wallowa History Center held an open house to celebrate our new Operations & Development Coordinator, Sadie Kennedy, and to launch local historian Linda McCrae Bauck’s new book, Homesteading the North End, vol 2.

NEZ PERCE RESISTANCE AND THE LAND SURVEY OF 1866

Sunday, October 30

David Weaver presented on the circumstances and effects of the 1866 and 1867 land surveyors entering the Wallowa Country to conduct surveys intended to prepare the area for settlement. Tuekakas (Old Chief Joseph) led the Wal'wa-ma band Nez Perce in a campaign of resistance.

LOST APPLE PROJECT TALK & POTLUCK

Wednesday, October 12

EJ Brandt presented the Lost Apple Project and its mission to locate and identify lost apple varieties.

Do you know of an old apple tree that might be a lost variety? Please contact the Lost Apple Project to coordinate collecting and sending in samples of ripe apples for identification.

Land Survey of 1866 Leads to Eventual Expulsion of Nez Perce from the Area

Thursday, September 1

David Weaver presented on the Land Survey of 1866, leading to the expulsion of the Nez Perce at the Wallowa Lake Lodge.

UNSCHEDULED HISTORIC HAIL STORM

Thursday, August 11

A huge hail storm brought baseball-sized hail to Wallowa. The Wallowa History Center, and town of Wallowa sustained major damage, losing every west facing window and most siding. Many wood shakes on the roof went missing, and part of a tree went down. We found glass embedded in the walls opposite windows inside our buildings, but we were incredibly fortunate not to lose any historical documents or photos.

MEET-N-GREET EVENT

Tuesday, July 26

We threw open the doors to our interpretive warehouse and event space for a volunteer and community meet-n-greet to celebrate our first employee, Sadie Kennedy, and the opening of our The Sky Beyond the Mountains exhibit.

The Sky Beyond the Mountains EXHIBIT

Summer 2022

We opened this exhibit, about the life and times of the Findley pioneer family of Wallowa County on July 4th, 2022, in our new interpretive warehouse. The wall panels include both historic and modern photos along with excerpts from the H.R. Findley Manuscript.

The Wallowa Story

We showed the digitally-restored slide presentation of The Wallowa Story as part of our annual 4th of July Open House. Narrated by KWVR’s Dave Nelson, this 45-minute presentation was originally created for the Wallowa County Centennial celebration in 1987.

4th of July Open House

We had a great turnout at our annual 4th of July Open House, which coincides with the City of Wallowa’s 4th of July Parade down Main Street. We launched our Mountains Beyond the Sky exhibit about the Findley family in our new interpretive center and event space, gave tours, showed off our architectural drawings for our planned site renovations, introduced an early version of our new digital archive, and sold books.

EARLY SOCIAL MEDIA IN WALLOWA COUNTY

May 2020

The Josephy Center produced a virtual exhibit of historical postcards from the Edsel White collection, curated by David Weaver. Seth Kinzie has done a masterful job of putting up the front and back images of the postcards along with a reading by voice specialist Amanda Berry of an accompanying essay for each card that examines the image and message on the card as it all relates to the history of Wallowa County 1907-15 and the national “craze” for postcards, the “social media” of the day.