
ProgramMING
Through partnerships with museums, cultural centers, and local school districts and universities, our programming includes public lectures and school visits, a traveling exhibit, the Annual Maxville Gathering, Maxville Townsite tours, the Maxville Theater Program, and a Heritage Easement Project to preserve the remaining buildings from the original townsite.
Timber Culture Exhibit
Timber Culture is a traveling exhibit and exploration into cultural heritage in the Pacific Northwest. The exhibit depicts the lives of loggers and their families drawn together from different cultures during the great migration, presenting an inclusive look at Oregon's multicultural logging communities.
The Annual Maxville Gathering
The Maxville Gathering – now in its 10th year – celebrates the rich and diverse cultural history of logging in Wallowa County and similar isolated communities across the Pacific Northwest.
Maxville Townsite Tours
At the Maxville Townsite, the remnants of metal pipes, foundations, and ceramic plumbing are still visible. Just one structure remains—a large log building that once housed the Bowman-Hicks Lumber Company.
The Maxville Townsite Heritage Easement Project
The Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center is working with Hancock Timber, Eastern Oregon University and Clatsop Community College on a plan to preserve the remaining original structures on the Maxville townsite.
Youth-to-Elder Program
The Maxville Heritage Youth-to-Elder Program trains local students to conduct video-recorded oral-history interviews to be preserved at the Maxville Visitor Center in Joseph.
Educational Partnerships
Educational partnerships include participation in tours at the Maxville site, learning about MHIC archives care from visiting curator at the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, K-12 after-school programs, and presentations in local schools.
On to Higher Ground
On to Higher Ground is a fictional musical play about Maxville, based on firsthand historical accounts, transcripts, and research. The play explores the historical logging culture of the 1920's and 1930's in Wallowa County where African American and Caucasian cultures were impacted by the development of the segregated lumber camp.