The Lane County Historical Society and Museum have celebrated the first settlers to the area and famous people from the area, but they have never commemorated the counterculture’s history in Eugene.
This comes as a surprise to most because much of the county’s reputation lies within the 1960s counterculture era. But Executive Director Bob Hart and Exhibits Curator Mary Dole, along with the help and support of many others, have finally decided to memorialize the
time period.
“Nobody has done this before,” Hart said. “That is the amazing thing. You’ve got a national reputation, and no one has dealt with this, so we just decided to take it on.”
Hart speculated that the hesitancy of others to take on a project like “Tie Dye and Tofu” might be because of the proximity of the time period to our own. However, considering that the time has since been solidified as a cornerstone in America’s cultural history, it’s about time someone grab hold of the reins.
“It’s recent history, and for that reason, it can be controversial,” Hart said. “On the other hand, we’re not telling anyone what to think; we’re merely reporting what was, and you can draw your own conclusions.”
The installment, which opened May 8, will be nearly a year-long project, and since its opening day, has been attracting visitors from Lane County and abroad. With its psychedelic themes and emphasis on the common person’s experience, the exhibit draws out different dynamics of the time and wonderfully encapsulates them all into a walkabout around the museum.
“Quite frankly, in the last few days we’ve had a pretty constant stream of folks, and that’s unusual,” Hart said. “This museum has been a quiet little island for the most part and hasn’t gotten as much attention. This exhibit has obviously touched a chord.”
On opening day, the museum welcomed more than 100 visitors, featured local musical favorites such as Wheatfield and offered a variety of healthy food selections from tofu to yogurt and dairy products from Springfield Creamery. A large part of the exhibit focuses on local businesses: some that have stuck around Eugene, many that have fizzled out and others that have been transformed either in name or in the services they provide.
The proliferation of coffeehouses in the Northwest owes something to this time period,” Hart said strolling by the museum’s coffee house installment, which includes spool tables donated by EWEB, and mellow music from the era playing in the background. “Basically, we wanted a little bit of the coffee house atmosphere, so we’ve recreated that,”
Hart said.
Special to the coffeehouse installment is a board featuring Cynthia and Bill Wooten, former owners of the coffeehouse Odyssey and activists within the community’s political sphere. The place was a frequent stop for beatniks, hippies and other sorts of the time period. To this day, it lives on as New Odyssey, opened by Terri Gann and Walter Hunt on 10th Avenue and Willamette Street.
Although key individuals of the era are recognized, Hart made sure to note that the intent of the exhibit was to focus more on the common experience for Eugene and Lane County residents. The Wootens, Keseys, and others were “big names” and had a tremendous impact on the community, Hart said. But still, his emphasis looks more to lifestyles and the issues that permeated everyone’s lives.
“There are big names involved with this time period,” Hart said. “However, we did not focus on them. This is supposed to be the story of how normal folks lived.”
The exhibit features a real 1965 Volkswagen bus that The No Name Garage loaned to the museum and painted by University students.
“This is what the students think a VW bus from the period should look like,” Hart said. “But the process they used is kind of how history in general is written. They researched it.”
Students found pictures, read accounts and decorated the bus.
“Interestingly enough, there was an offer to have Zane Kesey to help them, which the instructors rejected,” Hart said. “They wanted the students to use their creativity, and if Zane had been involved, it probably would have looked more like the Kesey bus than the students’ bus.”
The bus’s decoration is something one would normally imagine coming out of the sixties or seventies, not to say that it doesn’t look spectacular. There’s an emphasis on Egyptian mythology and hieroglyphics with a scarab beetle painted above the VW nose cap, along with Hebrew lettering and the occasional flower or two painted on the sides.
Hart and Dole plan on keeping the exhibit bumping all way to its finale at the end of next March. Hart hopes to get the State Chamber of Commerce involved, as it has already recognized the exhibit as an important community landmark. There’s sure to be more events like the opening day’s in the future.
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