‘An Island Revered’ showcases a treasured local collection

On Friday, June 6, the Vashon Heritage Museum will open a new special exhibit, “An Island Revered: Honor and Friendship, the sx̌wəbabš and Sherman Family Collection.”

The museum will be open for extended hours during the island’s First Friday gallery cruise that day, from 1-7 p.m.

“An Island Revered” showcases stone tools, paddles, bows and baskets — some of which were gifted to the Sherman family by sx̌wəbabš or Swift Water People, and some that were found by family members.

The Swift Water People inhabited Vashon-Maury Island for millennia; in 1750, they were believed to number over 12,000. They lived in numerous settlements around Quartermaster Harbor and throughout the south end of Vashon and Maury Islands.

While all sx̌wəbabš were dispossessed of their land in the 1850s during the Treaty of Medicine Creek and Puget Sound Treaty Wars, by the time the first members of the Sherman family settled on Vashon in 1877, some Native People had returned to the island to harvest, hunt and fish, finding a fairly empty island.

The first members of the Sherman family to settle on Vashon Island were Salmon and Eliza Sherman. Soon other members of their family joined them as they homesteaded around Quartermaster Harbor. Through trade and friendship, positive relationships were built between the Shermans and their Native neighbors.

The Sherman Collection is now stewarded by Jim Sherman — a member of the 6th generation of Shermans on Vashon.

“There is a reason that all these material items still exist,” said Jim, about the exhibit. “These were collected and gifted to my family to tell this story, a story that is absolutely deeper than ‘here’s this cool stuff.’”

Jim said he wanted to make sure that telling the story would bring people together, instead of divide.

“We — my family —are but one small chapter in a giant book here, the main characters of which are Native Peoples,” he said. “Did our ancestors know these things would bring this about? Who knows? I cannot imagine that a simple island family held all of this together for so long —and on the land it came from — without a purpose.”

According to museum officials, the interpretive work of this exhibit would not have been possible without the deep relationships the Vashon Heritage Museum has with employees of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, particularly Brandon Reynon and Amber Hayward.

Reynon is the director and tribal historic preservation officer for the Tribe; Hayward is the Tribe’s language director. At the museum, Laurie Tucker is the primary liaison with Puyallup Tribe staff and leads the museum’s collections and research department.

Reynon provided a lengthy statement about the exhibit.

“Even in the darkest rooms, light will shine,” Renyon said. “For the sx̌wəbabš, the arrival of pastəd (non-Natives) brought the darkest times in their history. As historians, it is our duty to tell the stories that occurred on our lands, both good and bad, for all future generations to learn from. While there are plenty of stories that tell of deception, crime, and persecution of the sx̌wəbabš, the story here with the Sherman family is that of ‘the light’ for the sx̌wəbabš.”

Renyon went on to say that gifts from the sx̌wəbabš to the Sherman family on display in this exhibit showcase the very essence of the Native community.

”Trade with those you trusted and befriended was the paramount foundation of our communities,” he said. “The Sherman family collection, along with artifacts unearthed throughout the years, tells the story of the ingenuity, sophistication, and honor that is the sx̌wəbabš, the People of the Swift Water.”

Key volunteers, agencies and community members who contributed to the exhibit, other than the Sherman family, Renyon and Hayward, include 4Culture; Sandra Noel, of Noel Design, LLC; Daniel Baptista, artist, and Puyallup Tribal member; and VHM’s Special Exhibit’s Committee including Laurie Tucker, Brian Brenno, Ike Harmon, Bruce Haulman, Sue Hardy, and Sue Winn.

Regular summer hours for the museum are 1-4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Find out more at vashonheritagemuseum.org.