Birthday Party and Open House at Appelo Archives Center
June 6th 1-4 pm
PRESS RELEASE
May 24, 2010
FROM: Appelo Archives Center, Karen Bertroch, Executive Director.
Contact (360) 465-2414
On Sunday, June 6th, the Appelo Archives Center will host an Open House with not
only a fresh new paint color on the Plaza building (Finnish red), but also a new
shop annex downstairs at 1056 SR 4 in Naselle. From 1 to 4 pm, a birthday reception
will be held upstairs at the Archives Center celebrating Carlton Appelo's 88th
birthday. The public is invited to drop in any time for a piece of birthday cake
with Carlton. The Appelo Family's history, as well as Wahkiakum West Telephone
Company's history, will be on display in the Center to honor the well known family's
activities. Not only did they establish three stores in Naselle, Deep River and
Grays River; C.A. Appelo also founded the Wahkiakum West Telephone Company, a
current provider of telephone, DSL, television and computer support services
throughout the local area.
Downstairs, the new Creative Flair Flower Shop owned by Bobbi Caton, will also have
a grand opening. The new Flower Shop will , include a small portion of the Shop's
area to be set aside for the Archives Center's books and other items to be sold as
revenue for the Center. This partnership is set up to help develop a broad choice of
gifts, flowers and books for both local residents and visitors. Revenue from the
items sold for the Archives will help support the Center's ongoing efforts to
preserve and record items that reflect the unique history of the Naselle through
Grays River areas.
Building on Carlton Appelo's extensive collection of historic
photos and documents, the Center invites others to either loan or gift their
historic memorabilia to be preserved and occasionally displayed to the public. While
the Center cannot accept every item offered, it's important to make sure key items
are preserved. Those interested in discussing loans or gifts are invited to contact
the Center at (360) 484-7103. "The new partnership with Bobbi and her shop
downstairs is so exciting for us," Karen Bertroch, Center Director, commented.
"Naselle needs a nice shop where folks can pick up flowers or a book and spend time
with a cup of coffee looking through old photos and visiting with each other. This
venture is important not only to us, but to the area. We've needed something like
this for a long time. We're excited to be partnering with Bobbi and Dave Caton to
make the new Shop a reality and to expand the Center's mission to the community."
In February, the Archives Center was registered as an independent non-profit and a
new Board was set up to lead the new non-profit. The Center's new mission statement
reads, "The Appelo Archives Center is dedicated to encouraging the study of
region-wide history by preserving collections, sponsoring community and educational
activities, facilitating genealogical research, and fostering Scandinavian studies,
with an emphasis on Finnish-American heritage."
Current projects at the Center include a new cookbook by Donna Klint to be published
in the fall and a history of local logging being written by Bryan Penttila to be
published in 2011.
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Visit our Library!
The Appelo Archive Center, officially opened the new C.A. and Agnes Appelo Memorial Library on Sunday, February 1st, 2009.
Located in the Appelo Plaza in Naselle at 1056 SR 4, the new Library showcases the books collected by members of the Appelo family for over 60 years along with many others.
The Library has a collection of over 400 books to be used for research and browsing. The book collection is located in the newly renovated library area behind the current Archive Center's main room which is being used as a display area as well as a reading room and local museum for the communities from Grays River through Naselle.
The library is named for C.A. and Agnes Appelo who operated stores in several locations for decades. C.A. and his son, Carlton, were instrumental in bringing telephone service to the area and Carlton remains active with Wahkiakum West, the telephone company established by the Appelo family. Agnes worked in the stores and regularly traveled the logging trains to sell goods to the women in the camps.
Her son, Carlton, has also collected books on history for a good part of his 87 years. The library books will be available for research on local and national history and other topics as well.
A desk is set up for accessing Ancestry.com for folks to research their family history. A full section with Finnish language books is also available in a conference room that can be reserved for meetings for community groups.
The center also provides an opportunity for visitors to buy copies of Donna Klint's book on Naselle and the Grays River Valley.
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Meet our Staff:
Karen Bertroch, Director
Donna Klint, Published Author & Genealogist
Bryan Penttila, Published Author & Researcher
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