Traveling folksinger Hank Cramer will present his music and history program, Bound for the Northwest: Songs of Settlers and Sailors, at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 28 at the Hoquiam Timberland Library. The program is intended for all ages and is free of charge.

Cramer will describe historical events with brief summaries and then amplify each story with a song. Among the subjects: the sea explorers who charted the coasts and hunted furs; the overland explorers such as David Thompson and Lewis & Clark; the emigrants from the eastern states (often immigrants to America) who sought a new life in a strange land; non-natives such as Aleuts and Hawaiians who were brought in by the Hudson’s Bay Company to work; and the relations of all these people with the indigenous Native Americans.

By illustrating historical summaries with traditional songs, Cramer lets the settlers tell the story in their own words, often capturing their emotions and experiences more directly than histories written later.

Bound for the Northwest is part of Humanities Washington’s Inquiring Mind speakers bureau and is the first of three Northwest history presentations being offered by the Hoquiam Timberland Library. For more information, please call the library at (360) 532-1710.

Saturday, August 25, at 1 p.m. The library will host John Rhodes from the local group, 7 Rivers Mountain Men, for his talk, The Fur Trade: Mountain Men and the Rendezvous.

Saturday, October 6, at 1 p.m. Linda Carlson will present "Speeders, Galloping Geese and Doodlebugs: Little Trains that Served the Northwest." Location: The Polson Museum 1611 Riverside Ave, Hoquiam.

The Friends of the Hoquiam Timberland Library are cosponsoring the series along with the Timberland library system and the Polson Museum.

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Timberland Regional Library serves the information, reading and lifelong learning needs of the Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston county public at 27 community libraries and 7 library service partner locations. The library is funded by local property taxes. For information on any subject, people can call 1-800-562-6022. Anyone needing special accommodations to join in a library program can contact the library one week in advance.