Springfield History Museum

Starting on Monday, June 8th, all ages are welcome to register for our online Summer Reading Challenge to Plant a Seed, Read!

Join us for fun challenges throughout the summer and our amazing Plaza Programs which will kick off on June 17th!

wheremindsgrow.beanstack.org and wheremindsgrow.org/events

A partir del lunes 8 de junio, todas las edades están invitadas a registrarse en nuestro desafío de lectura de verano en línea para ¡Planta una semilla, lee!

¡Únete a nosotros para divertidos desafíos durante todo el verano y nuestros increíbles Programas de Plaza!

wheremindsgrow.beanstack.org y wheremindsgrow.org/events

Springfield History Museum ILLUMINATION Advisory Committee (IAC) spent Saturday afternoon in Blue River at the ILLUMINATION Freedom & Belonging in Oregon Community Forum —a conversation about belonging, identity, resilience, and what it means to find your place in a world that doesn’t always make it easy.

We extend our deepest respect and gratitude to the vulnerability and grace of our panelists Michael Kay Klindt and Sheena Puls, for sharing their experiences and perspectives as members of the African American and Native American communities.

IAC member Melissa"Mimi" Nolledo reflected, "What stayed with me was not the weight of what they have carried, but the quiet strength with which they continue to move forward—not as victims of their circumstances, but as people who refuse to be defined by them."

Gatherings like this don't happen without great intention. We are grateful to IAC members Antonio Huerta for his leadership in organizing this rural program series, and to facilitators Aimee Yogi and Irene Rasheed, for creating and holding this space with such care. Other IAC members were in the room to support including Dr. David Lewis, Melissa "Mimi" Nolledo and Ofelia Guzmán.

Special thanks to the O’Brien Memorial Library for co-hosting this community conversation with us! Thanks is also due to Oregon Humanities for supporting this important work and making this series possible.

IAC member Ofelia Guzman sums it up well, "I'm grateful to be part of a project that creates space for these hard conversations. The work isn't always easy, but seeing people show up with open minds gives me hope for the direction our communities are moving."

Join us for our next Community Forum on Tuesday, June 2nd in Junction City, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. in the High School Cafeteria.

Happy Memorial Day! We were so excited to see our friends at Laurel Grove Cemetery highlighted in Lookout Eugene-Springfield this morning. Museum Curator Maddi and Museum volunteer Steve are part of the volunteer board, and we’re so lucky to get to welcome people to the Cemetery to learn about our community at this special place during our Solstice tour. Thank you Lookout, and thank you to our friends at The Crypt for pitching in!

Goths, grass clippings, gravestones: How Laurel Grove Cemetery gets ready for Memorial Day Volunteer historians and local Goths put in the work to get Glenwood’s historic Laurel Grove Cemetery ready for Memorial Day, one of the busiest days of the year for an American graveyard.

Do you enjoy yardwork, lovely views, and local history? We're hosting a spring cleanup at Laurel Grove Cemetery this Saturday from 9am to 12pm! We'll have tools available, but bring your own if you have them! Help us maintain this local treasure while learning more about your community! 🧹🌷🧼

May marks AANHPI Heritage Month, inviting us to reflect on the vital role Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders have played in shaping our community.

Explore oral histories and stories from Springfield’s AANHPI community:
👉wheremindsgrow.org/illumination

Explore even more stories in our Online Catalog:
👉hub.catalogit.app/springfield-history-museum/folder/oral-history-illumination-aanhpi-experience