Lorraine McConaghy

Dr. Lorraine McConaghy is a public historian who has devoted her professional life to researching and teaching Pacific Northwest history in a museum setting. At Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry, she has curated a series of successful projects, including the museum’s core exhibits Metropolis 150 and Essential Seattle, as well as Blue vs. Gray: Civil War in the Pacific Northwest. McConaghy teaches in the Museum Studies program at the University of Washington, and her work has been honored by the Washington Museums Association, the Oral History Association, the National Council on Public History, and the American Association for State and Local History. In 2010, she received the Robert Gray Medal, the highest honor awarded by the Washington State Historical Society. Her particular research interest is Washington Territory during the antebellum and Civil War periods. University of Washington Press published her Warship Under Sail: Sloop-of-War Decatur in the Pacific West in 2009, and she is currently working on two projects concerning Washington Territory during the Civil War.

The Civil War in Washington Territory

If “war” just means “battles,” there wasn’t really a Civil War here.  But if the war was about issues, too, then Washington Territory participated fully in the Civil War.  And during the 150^th anniversary of the war, Washington people can participate in the national conversation about the Civil War and its meaning.  From Walla Walla to Bellingham, territorial settlers brought their convictions with them, like they brought garden seeds and rifles – in fact, they brought the war here with them, in their minds.  This presentation will consider territorial attitudes toward race and slavery, agitation for northwest secession, and federal suppression of freedom of the press, as well as resignations to “go south,” from Washington Territory’s governor to many of the military officers stationed here, following their states out of the union.

 At a territorial picnic, July 4, 1863, a crowd gathered around the dessert table, staring at a beautiful frosted cake decorated with the Confederate flag.  At the heart of the Civil War, an anonymous territorial woman had strong pro-Southern convictions.  The Civil War was a conflict over such principles, and Washington Territory was part of it.  Let’s talk about that!

New Land, North of the Columbia

This program offers an illustrated historical travelogue of the history of Washington Territory and State, using Lorraine McConaghy’s new book New Land, North of the Columbia as its basis.  The research project for New Land involved more than a year of travel throughout Washington State, from Walla Walla to Bellingham, Kelso to Newport, visiting public and university libraries, historical society archives, and federal, state, county and municipal archives.  The result is this documentary history of the place we call “Washington,” from 1853 to the present day.  Drawing from archival material ranging from maps, correspondence and public records to patent drawings, menus and paper dolls, this presentation is highly visual and deeply engaging.  The book New Land, North of the Columbia features nearly 400 documents, including a telegram to Washington Territory’s governor signed by Abraham Lincoln, the rough draft of Theodore Roethke’s “The Rose,” and a NASA map of Washington, shot by Landsat satellites.  Richly illustrated by a colorful powerpoint presentation, this program explores the rich shared heritage of public archives, in Washington State, that document who we were, who we are, and who we might become.  This program concludes with some suggestions on caring for personal archives, including a list of printed and web-based resources.

Contact Lorraine at (425) 922-5587 or (425) 827-2927 or by email.  She currently lives in Kirkland, WA.