“We’ve been getting very nice press coverage for our free monthly history talks,” says Public History Manager of the Olympia Tumwater Foundation, Don Trosper, “but we were blown away by the record attendance here at the Schmidt House today. As usual the speaker and topic were top of the line, but it was a very rainy, dark weekday that caused us to lower our expectations for the turnout. We smashed our previous record of visitors for a single talk, breaking 100 for the first time. It was standing room only once the talk began.” The topic was the creation of the Naches Pass between 1852 and 1854 and the speaker was author and local historian Dennis Larsen. His illustrated presentation was both educational and entertaining as he shared his in-depth research that included first-hand journals from Edward Allen and others of that era. He was able to put the audience right in the scene with his photos, maps and first-hand accounts, confirming some accepted historical research but also separating legend from historic fact.
The talks are video recorded by TCTV for broadcast over the City of Tumwater channel 26 on Comcast cable and will be available through the City’s website after post production, which usually takes just under a month from the date of the presentation.
Our next scheduled free talk will be on Thursday, Feb. 18 with author and columnist Dorothy Wilhelm from Pierce County, sharing “Lost Stories from Washington State History.” The talks begin at noon and the doors open at 11:30 a.m. on a first-come, first-seated basis. Due to the record attendance this month we encourage groups of three or more to call ahead for reservations.
(OTF Blog article from Don Trosper, 1-21-2016)
