Foothills Historical Heritage Center and Museum

Mission

The Foothills Historical Society and Museum is dedicated to the identification, collection, conservation and sharing of the history of Buckley and the surrounding area, including the Carbon River Corridor. This includes how people lived and worked on the Plateau and in Wilkeson, Burnett, Carbonado, and South Prairie. 

Description

The Foothills Historical Society and Museum owns and operates a museum in Buckley depicting early pioneer life of the area and its commercial enterprises of the railroad, logging, coal mining and farming. The museum maintains on site historical buildings and machinery related to those enterprises. The Heritage Center is a new office in Buckley Hall, with library archives that contain photographs, genealogical materials and other media related to history of the area. 

Recognition

The Foothills Historical Society has maintains ongoing contact with public through its newsletter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.
The collections, exhibits, historic outbuildings and other Society management equipment are owned, supplied, and maintained by the Society. A major priority is the protection of the collections, artifacts and exhibits. There are no expenses related to staffing or running the facility or society other than county, state and federal yearly filings. Expenditures are allocated per budget for maintenance, essential supplies, and improvement of exhibits, events, and programs.
Volunteers, under the direction of the Society, have usually raised money through fund raisers, donations and memberships. The Society has been able to expand with a few focused grants.

City of Buckley City Administrator was quoted saying in the Seattle Times
"For me, what the museum provides is that experience to have storytelling from more than just Google. It's that visual and written storytelling. You can see it, read it, experience it and imagine through those visual experiences that the museum provides," Weed says.

Community-run museums like these - places steeped in local knowledge through generations and accessible to everyone from school groups to individuals inquiring about their family history - serve important roles as guardians of community history. But their existence has always been contingent on the passion of their volunteers and financial support from the public and their communities - that's not unlike many of the bigger, more prestigious museums such as the Seattle Art Museum or the Burke Museum. The difference is community-run museums have a much smaller safety net and a shorter list of available resources. To compound that, the pandemic lockdown and subsequent economic downturn have further endangered their long-term sustainability.

The Museum also maintains a visitor center with brochures and information on the history and local areas of interest. There is no museum admission fee; large tour groups of 30 or more are charged $20. 

The museum facilities are on a long-term lease (2042) from the city of Buckley, which also provides the utilities, building repairs, landscaping, and insurance, funded whole or in part, by the "Hotel Motel Tax" (WAC 458-20-166).

The museum is also centrally located one block off State Route 410 and on the Foothills Rails-to-Trail, where the trail was first envisioned by Dr. Douglas Tait. ( Memorial along the trail coming soon!!)