Being apart of the Fort Walla Walla Museum, Heritage Research Services is committed to engaging the public in local history through lectures, presentations, and other events.
Archaeology Awareness Month Lecture Series
October is Washington State Archaeology, during which the state and the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation promote “a variety of archaeological related events across the state, which focus on the general importance of protecting Washington's rich archaeological heritage.” As a part of this celebration, we hosted a weekly lecture series, which featured talks discussing archaeology of the fort and surrounding areas.
Walla Walla High School presentation, Archaeology as a Career
In June 2014 our program manager, Ashley Morton, gave a presentation to a group of incoming Walla Walla High School freshman discussing archaeology. She emphasized what archaeology is and what archaeologists do; specialties within the field; her path through high school, college and employment that led to her career; what it means to be a cultural resource manager, historical archaeologist, and museum archaeologist; and how the students can get involved in local archaeology.
Civil War Kids Camp activity, Archaeology: Rethinking Civil War through Technology
Abstract: Sometimes historical records don’t match up, like different accounts of the same events like battles, camp life, or interactions with different groups of people. Archaeology can be used to clear up conflicting stories of the same event and archaeologists use technology as tools to explore this history. Campers will use archaeology tools of the trade like GPS units, compasses, and metal detectors to learn how new technology can solve old mysteries.
Northwest Anthropological Conference
Since its beginning, Heritage Research Services has participated in the Northwest Anthropological Conference twice. James Payne and Gregory Civay presented a paper at the 2012 conference held in Pendleton, Oregon titled: Recent Archaeological Research at Fort Walla Walla. Ashley Morton presented a poster at the 2014 Northwest Anthropological Conference held in Bellingham, Washington titled: Towards a Historical Archaeology of Health and Illness.
Museum After Hours
Fort Walla Walla Museum hosts a monthly lecture series that sometimes features Heritage Research Services and their extensive network of archaeologists. In April of 2014 Kali Oliver, a University of Idaho student working on her Masters in Anthropology gave a lecture titled, “Orphaned Archaeological Collections: Issues and their research and public outreach value.” A copy of Kali’s paper on this issue is available upon request.