Traveling Museum
I have a non-profit "traveling museum" of Oregon native history. The museum is an educational exhibit of replica artifacts mounted on plastic boards. Most are 1x2 feet and a few are 2x2 feet in size. The boards include photos, text and drawings explaining the technologies represented on each board. The boards have themes and are grouped into larger areas such as hunting, fishing or domestic activities. The core exhibit covers roughly 100 square feet and requires tables of at least that surface area. It also includes loose items such as a bow, atlatls (dart throwers), darts, baskets, carvings, and other items too numerous to itemize.
Every time you see the word "Primitive", substitute any of the following words: appropriate, clever, wise, smart, cunning, astute, sensible, shrewd, etc.
Primitive technology is the museum theme. It was appropriate for it's time and place. It made use of available resources. People of the past were just as smart (i.e. - "primitive") as people of today. In a thousand years in the future, people can look back on us and say "how primitive"! The museum explores human technological solutions through material culture (i.e. - artifacts) with several sub-themes: gathering; hunting/fishing; and domestic.
People had to know their environments to survive and prosper. They had to know the plants (flora) and their uses as well as the animals (fauna) and uses. This was technical knowledge. For example, vine maple (Acer circinatum) is dense and hard but flexible when fresh. It was used for snowshoe frames, drum hoops, small implement handles, spoons, and dishes. Douglas maple (Acer glabrum) bark was used by the Saanich of southern Vancouver Island as an antidote for poisoning.
Thanks to this website, I am now able to offer a virtual museum! It's not the same as the physical experience, but the masterful photography of my grandson makes it almost as good! Click here to enter the museum.
The new, improved Virtual Museum is under construction.
If you are an educator or event organizer and would like to inquire about having me bring the display, feel free to contact me.