Quinault Tribal Ambassador, Harvest Moon, presents a first-person historical play, Mary Sam (c1830-1923): Basket Weaver, Visionary, Provider & Survivor, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, January 30 at the Shelton Timberland Library (William G. Reed Public Library), 710 W Alder Street. This presentation is free of charge and intended for a high school to adult audience.

Sam was born into the Klickitat Tribe of Eastern Washington, and brought up in the Suquamish traditions on Bainbridge Island where she found ways to move comfortably between the cultures of the Suquamish and the white settlers. She wove and sold baskets to families in the bustling Port Madison area. She also supported herself and her family by working for the town’s women, assisting with everything from childbirth to household chores. Mary Sam’s life presents a unique view of the cultures of the Suquamish people and white settlers and offers an understanding of growth, change, and acculturation.

Mary Sam was also a storyteller, skilled in weaving tales as well as baskets. Like Sam, Harvest Moon (pictured above, costumed as Mary Sam) is an expert storyteller, basket maker, and a keeper of her tribe’s heritage. She bases her portrayal of Mary Sam on pioneer journals, documented recollections of tribal elders of the time, and other historical materials from Bainbridge Island.

For more information, call the library at 426-1362. This Inquiring Mind presentation is sponsored by the Washington Commission for the Humanities and the Friends of the William G. Reed Library.

Timberland Regional Library serves Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston counties at 27 community libraries and 6 school-based cooperative library centers. For information on any subject, the public can telephone reference librarians at Timberland’s Central Reference Service at 704-INFO (704-4636) from Thurston County, Shelton and Oakville or 1-800-562-6022, toll-free, from all other areas in the district. Or they can "Ask a Librarian" online at http://www.timberland.lib.wa.us/asklib.htm.