Anacortes Museum extends ‘virtual’ invitation

Museum Director Bret Lunsford opens "virtual" door

Fountain outside museum on 8th Street

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

Anacortes Museum Director Bret Lunsford notes that while the museum is closed indefinitely to help contain the spread of the coronavirus, many resources are available online at: museum.cityofanacortes.org.

For example, check out a new article on the Anacortes influenza outbreak of 1918, Spanish Influenza in Anacortes by Curator of Collections Elaine Walker, who researched and wrote about these stories from Anacortes history.

Walker has also assembled the original stories, found in online Anacortes American archives, which can be read in the original historic pages or in this chronological compilation, Spanish Influenza articles AA 1918-1920.

“A great new feature at our online site is online Anacortes American newspapers, and more recent years (1989 to 1996) have just been added in March,” said Lunsford. “Search and browse old Anacortes newspapers, including the Northwest Enterprise (1882 – 1887) and the Anacortes American (1890 – 1923 and more coming soon).”

Here is a list of Anacortes Museum activities you can do from home or anywhere:

Our photo database has more than 55,000 keyword searchable photographs, representing the artifacts in the Online Anacortes Museum Collection. You can browse random images or search for “salmon cannery” or “Anacortes veneer” and fine tune your results. Also, you can help us identify, add to and correct our photo descriptions by clicking the “send feedback” tab on photographs.

The new Anacortes Museum Channel on YouTube has local historic films and new museum features.

Anacortes High School Rhododendron yearbooks are available to browse online.

Visit the Research Page on the website. If you don’t find the answer you are looking for, send an email to coa.museum@cityofanacortes.org for help.

Check out online exhibits, boasting a “greatest hits” of past exhibits.

Museum staff is available by phone and email during normal business hours, but the facilities will be accessible to city staff only. No on-site volunteers until further notice, but remote volunteering is possible. The museum will not be accepting artifacts for the collection or other materials until further notice.

If you need more assistance, send an email or phone: coa.museum@cityofanacortes.org (360) 293-1915