Maple Valley Historical Society Programs
The Society provides a History Treasure Box curriculum for the Tahoma School District third graders. The curriculum provides for guided class tours of all of our museums for students, teachers and chaperones. Since the program’s inception, we have had more than 1500 students participate in this program. In addition, the Society conducts a lecture on the History of Maple Valley for 6th Grade students at Cedar River Middle School.
The Society’s volunteers also provide free public programs five (5) times each year. The programs are held at various facilities around the Greater Maple Valley area to allow for handicap accessibility and to generate the most interest by the groups that the programs are geared too. In particular, the programs are geared to the History of Maple Valley, History of Hobart, annual Tahoma Alumni Picnic and participate in and open the museums during Maple Valley Days each June. Every 3 months, the Society publishes the Bugle which provides the membership with information about the goings on within the society and historical facts about the Greater Maple Valley area.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
The Society recently acquired a number of photo negatives that relate to the Railroads in the area. These negatives were scanned into digital images and actual prints were made for putting into our archives. In 2011, the Society’s volunteers accessioned 750 artifacts and over 400 photographs into our archives.
The Maple Valley Historical Society’s greatest need is in General Operational Funding. The organization is an all volunteer organization that is in the process of digitizing much of its collection and records. This takes time, equipment and resources to get done.