by Reneé Mizar

MAC Communications Coordinator

The history of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in its own words is now just a click away at the MAC Exhibit Center, thanks to a recent collaboration between the tribe and the Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.

A touch-screen kiosk, custom-built by Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe systems administrator Brad Chitwood, recently was installed as part of the Jamestown S’Klallam longhouse exhibit in the Exhibit Center, 175 W. Cedar St. in Sequim.

The kiosk, which Chitwood likened to “a giant iPad,” provides direct access to the tribe’s House of Seven Generations website, a virtual museum launched earlier this year that chronicles tribal and area history.

“With the addition of the tribe’s online collections, the longhouse exhibit at the MAC is now a ‘museum within a museum’ and we are once again reminded that we have a very valuable and mutually beneficial partnership with the MAC,” said Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Planning Director Leanne Jenkins, who coordinated the digital conversion and online museum project.

The House of Seven Generations website, which contains a searchable database of digitized photographs, documents, artifacts, and audio and video recordings, provides a new means by which to further preserve tribal history and cultural connection while sharing it with the general public.

The online museum, which is comprised of both tribally and privately owned materials that have been donated for the project, continues to be updated and also includes virtual exhibits.

As a component of the tribe’s overall digitization project, the longhouse exhibit kiosk, which includes an Intel Core i3 processor and 23-inch Acer touch-screen monitor with speakers, was funded in part by an Institute of Museum & Library Services Native American Library Enhancement grant. Installing the kiosk also necessitated the addition of a new electrical circuit to power the touch-screen computer, which was completed by Jeff Nelson Electric in Sequim.

“It was an unexpected benefit to be able to utilize our IMLS grant funds to create another community access point from which to learn about the tribe’s history and culture,” Jenkins said. “This project was all about providing access, so the more points of access, the better.”

The Jamestown S’Klallam longhouse exhibit opened in May 2010 and features rotating displays of tribal artifacts on loan from members of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.

Currently on display are artifacts from the private collection of Liz Mueller, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Council vice chairman.

“The kiosk significantly increases the depth of experience when visiting the longhouse exhibit,” said MAC Executive Director DJ Bassett. “We at the MAC look forward to continuing to collaborate with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe on multiple levels.”

The MAC Exhibit Center is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

For more information about the MAC, visit its website at www.macsequim.org.

The House of Seven Generations digital collection can be accessed from any computer via www.tribal

museum.jamestowntribe.org.