Story Angles
The Man Behind Sin in the Sagebrush
The Museum’s curator of Western history, Bob Boyd, has been curating Sin in the Sagebrush for the last three years. Boyd knows the power of things – things that tell the stories of the past in ways that no book, talk or movie ever could.
He has spent much of his life scouring the High Desert for artifacts that bring alive the history of this part of the West. Searching abandoned mining camps, military posts ranches, barns, dusty second-hand stores, his discoveries have ranged from buckaroo saddles to fur trader tools and Indian reservation furnishings shared by people of the Cayuse, Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce tribes, which help the Museum tell their stories.
“Three dimensionality –and good storytelling – are key to teaching history effectively, to young people or adults,” said Boyd, who for more than 25 years, has been the force behind the Museum’s nationally recognized Western history exhibits.
“History is made up of ordinary people’s lives ‑ people who make their own choices about where to take themselves and their country,” Boyd said. “It’s more about that guy who’s sitting in the dirt with holes in his socks, mining for gold, and who’s cold, hungry and lonely. That’s what adds up to a movement or an era –all those individual experiences.”
The (Hurdy-Gurdy) Girl-Next-Door
Who are the Living History staff and volunteers at the Museum – the people who portray the professional gambler, saloonkeeper and “working women” of the night in Sin in the Sagebrush? How did they prepare for their roles, which are aimed at giving visitors insight into the human stories behind these popular stereotypes?
And, they can answer questions such as, “What is it like to be wearing a corset all day?
The “Other Old West”
The Museum connects the High Desert to what many people associate with Hollywood Westerns. Every aspect of Western history popularized in movies and literature had its unique place in High Desert history – from lost wagon trains to stagecoach holdups – although other areas such as the Great Plains have been far more popularized.
Museum Thrives, Serving Increasing Demand Despite Economy
As businesses in Bend, the region, the state, and across America have been struggling, and it has been even more difficult for museums and arts organizations, some of which had to reduce their programs, sell portions their collections, or even shut their doors.
The turnaround of the High Desert Museum in Bend is a great example of how a small business, crucial to the region’s tourism sector, implemented strategic decisions and increased attendance by 14 percent this past fiscal year.
The Museum has ties to many supporters in the Portland area and around the state. And, as you know, museums and other arts organizations in Portland, Bend, and across America have been struggling, with some cutting back, and others shutting their doors.
The High Desert Museum faces the same challenges, yet it had nearly 150,000 visitors during the past fiscal year ending June 30, with the trend still continuing.
Museum President Janeanne A. Upp is a dynamic, outspoken business leader who would be a great source for reporting on this important business sector.
This “Un-Museum”
The High Desert Museum in Bend is the only place in the West that tells the story of a unique region, through close-up wildlife encounters, live history reenactors and acclaimed art and cultural exhibits. The experience, is the very definition of an Oregon adventure.:
- get within inches of High Desert wildlife — from eagles and owls to wild cats, porcupines, otter and other animals in its collection of more than 100 rescued animals.
- be immersed in the High Desert past by meeting live history reenactors. Chat with stagecoach drivers, explorers, fur traders, pioneers and others.
Pump the well. Stoke the stove. Fetch food from the root cellar. Join the homesteaders in tending the garden, chickens, goat and mustangs in their authentic willow corral on their ranch.
- experience the Spirit of the West with stagecoaches, an authentic, recreated 1880s mine, buckaroo bunkhouse, Oregon trail and settlement town with assayer’s office, Wells Fargo & Co. Express, Chinese mercantile, tack shop and the other frontier town businesses.
- discover outdoor educational trails on 135 forested acres. Take a minute to reflect inside a High Desert tipi.
- explore one of America’s finest collections of Native American and Western art
- glimpse the region’s century-old timber industry at the 1910 Lazinka Sawmill, as sawyers in period dress run the huge, whirring antique blade. The sawdust flies and pine scent infuses the air as you learn how logs were worked by hand. Even try your hand at some century-old tools.