Maxey Museum
Bringing History to Life
Since 1899, the Maxey Museum has provided an opportunity for Whitman students to make history come alive. The Maxey Museum oversees a diverse set of exhibits spread out over the Whitman College campus. Located in Maxey Hall, these exhibits are drawn from the museum's 3,500-artifact collection and are designed and created by students under the direction of Libby Miller.
“Picturing Family: Métis Life in the Walla Walla Valley”
While there is currently no exhibition in the Maxey Museum gallery, “Picturing Family: Metis Life in the Walla Walla Valley,” a co-production between the Sheehan Gallery and the Maxey Museum, is on view at the Sheehan Gallery.
This exhibition combines family photos of the Métis (mixed Indigenous and French Canadian) population of the Umatilla Indian Reservation at the turn of the 20th century with contemporary art made and collected by descendants of these same families at the turn of the 21st century.
Learn MorePrevious Exhibitions
Since 1899, the Maxey Museum has provided an opportunity for Whitman students to make history come alive, drawing from a collection of more than 3,500 artifacts. Below are a few examples of recent exhibitions.
Timber Culture
A traveling exhibit from the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center depicting the lives of workers and their families in Oregon’s multicultural logging communities.
Mapping India: Colonialism, Nationalism, and the Partition of South Asia
Exploring South Asian imperialism through historical maps and objects from the collection of Mark and Meredith Giordano.
Along the Nci-Wana (Columbia River)
Archival materials related to The Confluence Project, a series of six earthworks along the Columbia River.
A Proper Monument?
Curated by the staff of Maxey Museum in response to an act of vandalism on campus.
Righteous Dopefiend: Homelessness, Addiction and Poverty in Urban America
A multimedia exhibition documenting the daily lives of homeless drug users on the streets of San Francisco.
Explore the online collection of Maxey Museum artifacts
Images of many individual artifacts from the Maxey Musuem collection are available to view online at any time.