Deschutes Historical Society and Worthy Brewing partner each month to bring important stories from the past to a local audience.
“Back in 2009, we started Bend History Pub,” said Kelly Cannon-Miller, executive director of the Museum. “Oregon Encyclopedia had been doing history pubs in the Portland area with great success. When I joined the Oregon Encyclopedia Editorial Board, they asked if we would be interested in trying it in Bend.”
The program, previously hosted with the McMenamins History Department, was popular locally as well, but ended due to COVID-19.
“Coming back, we started talking to Worthy about doing programs,” Cannon-Miller said. “They’re involved with so many scholarly pursuits, there’s a real emphasis on lifelong learning attached to the brewery.” The partnership seemed like a natural fit.
“It was never a question that we wanted it to come back, because it’s always been hugely popular,” said Rebecca Averette, museum collections manager. “When people find out I work at the museum, that’s one of the first things they ask about. We pick topics that are timely, or that are very pertinent to now because people can take what they learned and go out and use it within the community.”
“Our audience is smart,” Cannon-Miller adds. “I hear routinely from our speakers, ‘Those were amazing questions your audience had for us.’ We live in a community where people want to learn and want these experiences. It’s great to be able to provide that outlet.”
She adds that it is great for speakers, too, who often only get to present their research to other historians.
The program seeks to balance Oregon history more broadly with historic research specific to Central Oregon and Bend, as well as to provide context for national and global news events.
Some popular topics have included 100 years of photographs of the shrinking glaciers on the Three Sisters, and a history of fire and fire management, highlighting indigenous fire use and the Forest Service in the 20th Century.
January’s topic, presented by David Johnson, professor emeritus of history at Portland State University, is lynching in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.
“We haven’t ever shied away from heavy topics,” Cannon-Miller says. “But I think that our audience is more open to them now. In the Black Lives Matter, post-COVID world, there’s a hunger for authentic historical programming.
“This is our job. To present not just the fun stories, but the stories you need to hear,” she said. “Our intention has always been to present all of our history, warts and all, as it is. One of our best-attended talks was on the Ku Klux Klan in Oregon and locally in Deschutes County. So yeah, our intentions have stayed the same.”
February’s speaker, Chelsea Rose, a History Pub favorite, is an archaeologist with Southern Oregon University. She will talk about the Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project, which is excavating Chinese settlements across Oregon and the West.
“I have a lot of friends who love history,” Averette shares. “I love that I can tell people I care about that we have this program, and you can come for free. It makes it more accessible. Because I think a lot of times people think history is very stuffy. And this is a nice, relaxed community event with interesting topics.”
The relaunch of the program was supported by a grant from the Deschutes Cultural Coalition, which helps cover travel costs for speakers. Additional speaker support comes from The Old Mill District and Campfire Hotel. The Deschutes Historical Museum is always eager to partner with organizations and individuals who share a passion for preserving and sharing historical research with the community, whether through support of the Worthy History Pub program or other museum exhibits and programming.
“Everyone should be a member,” Cannon-Miller says.
Looking ahead, Deschutes Historical Museum will open a new exhibit on the history of mountain biking in Deschutes County and Central Oregon in March.
Worthy History Pub takes place on the last Tuesday of every month at Worthy Brewing in the Hop Mahal room. Local historians interested in presenting can reach out to info@deschuteshistory.org.
This article appears in Source Weekly January 26, 2023.
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