By Gary Alexander

LIHS Trustee

Lopez Island’s Lovejoy family has donated their incomparable collection of Native artifacts to the Lopez Island Historical Society.

The collection contains more than 200 stone, bone and antler items, including hunting and fishing tools, personal adornments, tools for scraping and sewing hides, and much more. Virtually every aspect of Native life is represented in this collection.

The items were originally found by Norman P. Hodgson beginning in the late-1800s, and have been lovingly cared for by four generations of Hodgsons and Lovejoys.

N.P. settled on Lopez after hunting fur seals and fishing along the Canadian coast and north to Alaska from 1887 to 1891. He farmed the family estate, bought the Richardson store and was partner in the Hodgson-Graham Cannery. Hodgson acquired his collection by diligently following the plow run by his hired hands, looking for unearthed artifacts in the furrows.

When N.P. lay sick with cancer in 1933-34, his daughter Gertrude would hold up an artifact and N.P. would describe it and where he found it. Gertrude took notes and then created a catalog and map of the farm where each artifact was discovered.

LIHS Director, Mark Thompson-Klein said, “We are honored that Steve and Holly Lovejoy have donated this important part of Lopez Island heritage to the Historical Society. We’ll work with our friends from the Burke Museum and Samish Indian Nation in the coming year to identify and create permanent exhibits and storage for all the items.”

When he presented LIHS with the collection, Steve Lovejoy said, “Our family has been involved with the Historical Society since it’s inception, and it has always been the intention of my grandmother, Gertrude, and my parents, Clark and Phyllis Lovejoy to donate their artifact collection to the museum. We are grateful to have the opportunity to follow their wishes.”

LIHS intends to display some items from the collection this summer, while designing and building a permanent exhibit that will open next year.

LIHS is currently seeking donations to fund the massive job of identifying, cataloging, storing and displaying these marvelous artifacts. You can contact the museum at 468-2049 or by email lopezmuseum@rockisland.com for more information.