SANDAL SOCIETY

The Votes are In 

By Kristin Strommer
Director of Communications and Marketing
Museum of Natural and Cultural History 

Emily Hartlerode of OFN interviewing

OFN Associate Director Emily Hartlerode interviewing Mexican curandera and National Heritage Fellow, Eva Castellanoz

The Sandal Society—made up of museum supporters who contribute $1,000 or more annually—meets each winter to vote on how their combined contributions will be spent. The pandemic prevented an in-person meeting in 2020, so we used digital channels to celebrate the Sandal Society’s past support and gather members’ votes for projects to come. We’re delighted to announce that Oregon Folklife Network received 52 percent of the 2020 vote and will be awarded $10,476 to continue its efforts to preserve and celebrate our state’s living cultural traditions. With 48 percent of the vote, the Condon Fossil Collection will receive a $9,524 award to support the collection and preparation of Oregon fossils— ranging from the tiniest rodents to large carnivores—for eventual display at the museum.

Paleontologist Jess De Smet will prepare specimens for study and public display.

Through their annual votes and their ongoing support of the museum, the Sandal Society’s esteemed members continue to make clear how much they value Oregon’s natural and cultural history and the sharing of new research findings. From all of us at the museum, thank you for your continued support of our mission. It means the world to us.

Visit the museum’s website to learn more about the Sandal Society and other levels of museum membership.

Header image: 10,000 year-old sandals from Oregon’s Fort Rock Cave. Photo by Brian Lanker. 

MORE SPOTLIGHTS

Portland-based hip hop MC and spoken word artist Mic Crenshaw

Oregon Folklife Network

Amplifying heritage arts through our annual Culture Fest partnerships. 

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Kellum Tate-Jones studying a fossil pinniped collection

Graduate Research Updates

With the Condon Collection at their fingertips, three PhD candidates are probing the deep past to illuminate relationships between climate and ecosystems. 

Read more.

Visitors in the Racing to Change exhibit, October 2019

Connecting Across our Diverse Oregon Stories

Gift from The Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation will fund new, inclusive history programming. 

Read more.

NEWS FROM THE MUSEUM’S DIVISIONS

ANTHROPOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS

Volunteers and staff in collections

Connecting through Collections

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH

A museum archaeologist sifting through sediment at a field site in south-central Oregon

Protecting and Preserving Oregon Heritage

CONDON FOSSIL COLLECTION

MNCH volunteer Barry Hughes pulls open a drawer of fossils in the Condon Collection

Adapting to Change

EXHIBITS + PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Museum staff member Collin packing up kids' science kits to go

Lessons We Learned
from the Pandemic