The Dalles Archives Museum teaches about the past

Every student is taught the subject of history in school, but not every student learns about the history of their own school. According to archives at The Dalles School District Archives Museum, education has been taking place in The Dalles since 1854, with 2022 marking 168 years of not only education, but sports teams, clubs, school plays, concerts, yearbooks, trophies, class pictures, uniforms, class rings, and so much more that have formed the history of The Dalles district schools, both past and present. A history that is currently being kept alive through the work of four volunteers: Rymmel Lovell, Joy Krein, Lynn Smith Gannon and Jerry Commander.

Lovell, a former teacher at Joseph G. Wilson elementary school, is the curator of the district archives museum and has been involved since its inception in 2004. According to a document outlining the museum’s history, that was when then-superintendent Cheryl Crowely asked Lovell to coordinate a “celebration of education,” event, marking 150 years of education in The Dalles, as well as the closure of Districts 9 and 12 (which merged to become district 21). Historical items from each school were showcased for the celebration, which became the museum’s beginning displays.

“I was going past the high school, I noticed that they were cleaning out a lot of old trophies, yearbooks, just a lot of things that really didn’t have meaning ... (from) both of the school districts together, and I, I really didn’t want that to happen. I wanted to save that history for people that want to do research and memories,” Lovell said.

According to the document, Lovell had initially been given space at Joseph G. Wilson for the museum, but had been forced to move when the building was demolished in 2006. After spending three summers in a basement room of The Dalles High School (TDHS), the archives museum once again moved, this time to the old band room at The Dalles Wahtonka campus in 2009, where it has resided ever since.

The number of artifacts for the museum have only grown, with former students, faculty and community members donating or loaning out their school memorabilia for display. According to the document, archives include items such as class photos from elementary schools, annuals/yearbooks from the junior high and middle schools, as well as annuals/year books from the high school that range from 1911 to the present. Sports and music uniforms, class rings, trophies, and Booster Girls memorabilia from 1924 through 1974 are also included, with drama club and athletic photos and programs, memorabilia from clubs such as Future Farmers of America (FFA) and Ushers Club, school newspapers The Husky Highlights and The Tillicum, as well as clippings from local newspapers, to name a few more.

“People donate to the museum rather than having their archives in basements and attics and stored away where no one else gets to see it,” Lovell said.

Apart from being a location where visitors can learn about the history of The Dalles school districts, for former students, it’s a place to find a piece of their own history. While memorabilia are on display every Saturday from May through September, the museum will loan out archives for class reunions, as well as give tours of the Wahtonka campus. “These are their archives,” said Lovell of former students. “They can borrow their archives for their class reunions … I have a big, 40-foot banner that says ‘This is Indian territory’ that a lot of them want to borrow. It was mounted on the very back wall upstairs in the gym above the bleachers.”

The museum is also a resource for those researching family history. According to Lovell and museum volunteers, there have been multiple people arrive at the museum looking for history on family members who have passed and or whom they have been estranged from. Lynn Smith Gannon, a volunteer at the museum as well as a The Dalles graduate (Class of 1973), recalled a woman from Maryland visiting the museum whose father had been from The Dalles but had died when she was young. During her visit, they had been able to find her father’s yearbook from the 1920s. “She didn’t have that history of her dad, and she was thrilled to get that history,” said Gannon.

In a similar experience, museum volunteer Joy Krein, who grew up in The Dalles, continually finds traces of her family in the museum’s archives. “I have a lot of relatives that have graduated from The Dalles High School,” said Krein, who graduated herself in 1967, “and so I can open up a (year)book, it’s kind of comical anymore, (and) ‘Oh, there’s another one of your relatives!’”

One relative Krein was particularly excited to learn more about is her grandfather Irving Nathaniel Wiley. According to Krein, museum archives, which include annuals, also known as “Steelheads,” from the 1920s and ‘30s, showed Wiley was hired by the district as a math and woodworking instructor in 1923, before being elected to the position of manual training instructor in 1924. Wiley was also an assistant coach for TDHS boys athletics. According to a 1948 article from former TDHS newspaper, The Tillicum, quoted by Krein, Wiley served as principal to both TDHS and Whitter Junior High School (dates not specified), as well as “held teaching positions in Mosier, Klamath county and in Whitman and Spokane counties, Washington.” Wiley passed away suddenly from a heart attack in 1948, the article commemorating his career and time in District 12, stating he was “respected and liked by faculty members and students alike.”

Passing away the year before she was born, Krein was aware of her grandfather’s career but did not know all the details, and has enjoyed the opportunity to learn about him through the museum. “Truly what is important (is) I was seeking information and I found it! It was a way for me to personally connect with him and I treasure that connection. The District Archive Museum has provided that resource for me,” Krein said in an email to Columbia Gorge News.

The museum is currently accepting memorabilia up until the 2014 mascot change from Eagle-Indians to Riverhawks. Anyone with personal district memorabilia that is interested in donating or loaning their items can contact Lovell at 541-296-6546. Items on loan remain the property of the loanee, are kept track of through a cataloging process, and are returned upon written request.

Particularly, if there were any items Lovell would like to see donated to the museum, it would be the two totem poles that were formerly featured outside The Dalles High School. According to Lovell, the poles were stolen from the front of the school after the merging of Districts 9 and 12 into District 21, and have not been seen since. “I would love to get at least one of those returned to the museum archive,” said Lovell, humorously adding that the museum won’t ask questions “if it just showed up.”

Lovell expressed gratitude to the district for their continued support for the museum, including the ability to give tours of the Wahtonka campus. “I couldn’t do it without … the support of the school district, they are wonderful,” said Lovell, “I feel privileged to have the trust of the district … to care for and manage their archives.”

The Dalles School Archives Museum is open every Saturday from May through Sept., 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with no cost for admission. Operating as a 501c3 under the umbrella of the D21 Education Foundation, those interested in supporting the museum monetarily can donate to the foundation marked specifically for the museum. Contributions go toward supplies, such as acid-free paper sleeves to assist in the preservation of documents.

For more information, you can reach out to Lovell by phone, at tlovell@netcnct.net, or at visit the archives museum Facebook page.