SNOHOMISH — The room at the Blackman House Museum is small, but it is filled with history.
During this month, the museum features an exhibit of Snohomish men and women’s roles in past wars.
There is a photo of Joe Clayton, who served as a radar operator in the U.S. Navy during World War II and came back to become a teacher at Snohomish High School. The jacket which Lt. Col. John S. Arnett wore when he met Gen. Eisenhower, and the ledger of The National Woman’s Relief Corps which shows it paid $29 for a convention in June 8, 1912.
Some of the photographs have the person’s name written on the back. Others do not, and the subject’s identity is now lost to history.
“It’s nice to have the pictures but sad when you don’t know who they are,” said Middy Ruthruff, who works at the Historical Society.
The museum, at 118 Ave. B, Snohomish, features items donated to the museum and kept in its archive for some time.
More than a dozen uniforms from different branches of the military, and from different wars, are being shown for the very first time.
“They have never been seen before,” said Ruthruff.
Four books of The National Woman’s Relief Corps contain minutes of their meetings and registry of expenses. Who they were, and what they did, is not clear, Ruthruff said.
Inside one book there was a membership application signed by a Mrs. Smith and a Lillian Johnson. There is also a 1913 receipt from Snohomish Floral for $1.95.
“They were a very secretive society,” Ruthruff said.
There are more items that could be part of the exhibit, but the museum ran out of room for it all.
Ruthruff is still looking for more donations to the collection. She will accept copies of photos of people who have roots in Snohomish and surrounding areas that served their country.
She also would appreciate any information about the people whose photos have not been identified.
The exhibit ends Sept. 26. Then everything will be carefully put away again.
“It will be sad to see them back in storage,” she said.
Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@heraldnet.com.
To donate
Blackman House Museum is open noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
If you have pictures or items you wish to donate, you can contact The Snohomish Historical Society at 360-568-5235 or 360-568-6273.
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