Building Relationships, 19 May 2025
By Matt Helget
One of the key things of being in an organization like Adair Living History, is building relationships. That has been one of the focal areas as the vision and mission to what our core values are and who we are becoming as an organization. With the primary goal being getting the Interpretative Center open soon, there are long-term aspects that are being developed that involve fundraising and community support to continue to tell the stories that the area provides and need further research.
Figure 1: ”A Dapper Couple” Reenactors at The Adair Village Independence Day celebration, which has now become Founder’s Day Photo: Matt Helget circa 2013
These relationships are critical in the times we are in, on multiple fronts. ALH has worked with local, regional, state, and federal entities over the years to build target goals to preserve the legacy of the 65,000 acres formerly known as Camp Adair. I want to highlight efforts and relationships that are helping ALH become the entity that it is and is evolving to become. Though this is not a comprehensive list, these partnerships (developing and continuing) allow us to stay the course in the work and advance the goals of our board and grow our volunteer base to continue to stay passionate in this project, to which I want to say thank you to them and all that they do. We have endured a lot but still have a lot of (what seems like an unsurmountable) work to accomplish
Our biggest cheerleaders and closest supporters have been the City of Adair Village. From the late Charline King to City Administrator Pat Hare, we would not be where we are today without their guidance and advice. As the Interpretive Center is a city building, it was and is the city’s vision to see this become what we are working towards. We continue to foster this relationship and work to protect and highlight many of the historic features that makes the city what it is today, partner with events like Founder’s Day, and continue to steward the resources granted to us for the benefit of all.
Also, a big shout out and thank you to Santiam Christian Schools and Village Church. Santiam Christian has allowed us to use their community conference room for History Day over the years. This year Village Church hosted us and our History Day presentation. Both places have been extremely gracious to us by allowing these events. We look forward in continuing to work with both places and foster these relationships to provide additional partnership opportunities in the future.
Figure 2: Part of Display in Santiam Christian Schools Lobby from 2013. Photo: Matt Helget
Museum, Willamette Heritage Center, and the Polk County Historical Society. They have provided us opportunities to learn from their museum professionals to try to get ahead of the curve when it comes to the historic preservation of items. Their excitement and willingness to help us has been insightful as we look to adopt policies from collections to exhibits and answer questions that may seem trivial due to our lack of training in this amazing world. This is in addition to allowing us to outreach and present at events at their facilities. Relationships like these are shaping how we look at the stories we will tell and how we can benefit them as partners, not competitor
Next is our public, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the US Forest Service, and private property managers and archaeological experts. The relationships developed from the maintenance people at Monument Park; at the heart of the cantonment; to archaeologists Daniel Pettit (ODF&W), Rick Minor (Heritage Research Associates), and Kevin Bruce (US Forest Service) add to the long-term mission of ALH and interpretation of the former camp. Their knowledge and access to additional information resources and long-term strategic plans for the management goals for the area will be important as the Center in the city opens to the public soon. ALH will be developing our next goals and visions to work with ODF&W and the Forest Service to build plans that benefit our organizations and contribute to the public knowledge of the history of the area.
Figure 3: Poison oak covered former vault in the US Forest Service managed area of the former cantonment area. Photo: Matt Helget
Lastly are the organizations that we are cultivating partnerships with. With a current Oregon State University Instructor on our board, we are discovering different research interests of faculty that we hope will work to the betterment for the Interpretive Center. Dr. Linda Richards has been helpful in facilitating opportunities to deepen our relationships with those faculty members and with the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz. She is continuing outreach to the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde and OSU’s Indigenous Studies program. These relationships are important as the histories that we are preserving and telling due to the Interpretive Center being on the land that was stewarded by the Luckiamute band of the Kalapuya tribe. We are also starting to build a relationship with Western Oregon University, as they are looking for ways to get students involved in this work. One of the latest organizations we are working at building a relationship with is The Latitia Carson Legacy Project, being able to present her unique history, as a black woman homesteader in the 1850s, as her first homestead falls within one of the former training ranges. We are looking to add to our interpretation of the Applegate Trail and the community of Tampico as those fall within the training grounds. Then we wish to continue to build relationships with the other colleges and universities for research and internship possibilities along with wider partnerships with museums and historical societies to build on the stories that we know of and continue to uncover.
As always, we encourage you to check out these places and websites of our partners and friends. ALH is looking for additional board members and volunteers to help with events, fundraising, research, developing displays, and cultivating relations with people and places. We have come a long way, but there is a long future ahead of us that is bright with opportunities to help in many different arenas.
Well done, Matt