Historical Society elects new president

John Hayes is the new president of the Sisters Country Historical Society (SCHS).

The historical society board of directors elected Hayes last week. Hayes, a local historian and writer, is a long time Sisters area resident.

Author Jean Nave was elected Executive Director for the group.

Collecting data, photographs and text, primarily from three local communities (Black Butte Ranch, Camp Sherman, and Sisters), the organization has set up a virtual museum at sisterscountryhistoricalsociety.org. This is an evolving site but already offers timeline information covering the past 45 million years in the Sisters area.

A map of the area briefly describes principal community and geologic highlights.

“Rather than having a physical building that visitors have to travel to, we present an electronic virtual museum that may be accessed from home, office, or school,” said Nave.

SCHS also sponsors speakers and will host archeologist Dr. Dennis Jenkinson Thursday, August 17, 3 p.m., at the Pine Meadow Village meeting room. This is part of the Chautauqua program supported by the Oregon Council for the Humanities.

Starting this fall, SCHS will partner in an ambitious project with the advanced U.S. History Class at Sisters High School. The project, “From Clear-cut to Art Walks,” will study a transformation of the Sisters area from a logging community to tourism.

The group is collecting information by oral interviews and information from existing texts plus historical photos of people and places. Anyone having historical photos of the area is urged to contact SCHS at 549-8755.

Board members include, Georgia Gallagher; geologist Janet Brown; teacher and writer Marean Jordon; and Conrad Weiler. SCHS is an affiliate with the Oregon Historical Society.