Appelo Archive Center evolving

The heart of the Appelo Archive Center in Naselle is hundreds of feet of video tape recording the lives of people in western Wahkiakum County and eastern Pacific County, but the Center is multi-faceted and still growing.

On the first floor, the former Appelo grocery store houses Bobbi Caton’s Creative Flair Flower Shop as well as the archive’s gift shop and visitor center, with a Grays River covered bridge exhibit on display.

Upstairs, where Santa once visited children when the grocery operated, there is an elevator-sized display of local women’s wedding gowns. Berenice Appelo wore one of them when she married Carlton Appelo.

Also upstairs are a Finnish Library containing books in both English and Finnish, covering political history, music, arts, local history and children's books; Carlton Appelo’s archive and research center; center director Karen Bertroch’s office; and a logging exhibit. Local logging artifacts provide a look into the area’s culture and history.

Bill Wuorinen, whose chain saw looks formidable, visits the café downstairs almost daily. During a recent visit he offered director Karen Bertroch his cork boots for display.

“Yes, definitely,” she said.

Bertroch, who’s been with the center since 2004, said, “We’re not trying to cover the whole county. We’re focusing on Grays River through Knappton. We’re logging and Finnish.”

The center houses a large sheet music collection and 78 rpm records that belonged to Berenice Appelo, a classically trained musician who played organ and piano and sang. Carlton Appelo remembered the first time she took him to an opera in San Francisco in a recent interview.

Appelo Archive Center Foundation Board President Nick Nikkala from Deep River has donated a collection of big band music.

The center collection reflects changes in communication through the century including a Victrola, 78 rpm records, reel to reel tape, and videotaped interviews.

Life magazines fill the space around a large library and family research center near Bertroch’s office.

Appelo said one of his most enduring contributions will be the ability of people in the future to see their relatives via his videotape collection.

The center has used donations, including one from the Templen Foundation in Ilawco, to build adequate storage facilities.

The archive includes resources for genealogists, including cemetery records from Salmon Creek, Nemah, Pillar Rock, Knappton, Naselle, Grays River, Peaceful Hill, Altoona, Jones, Cook, King, Boldt, Elliott, Smith Island, Walker, Brix and Rosburg.

Appelo's internationally recognized photo collection includes some 35,000 prints and negatives. He specialized in family histories, collecting photos and oral history recordings, newspaper clippings and inscriptions copied from gravestones. With that information he filled out genealogy records, thousands of which fill 12 file cabinets at the center.

The center uses Past Perfect software to process images. Appelo, who is 88, said he spends much of his time identifying people in the photos.

The center holds records from the Grays River Grange and the Grays River American Legion. Books and photographs are available for purchase in the visitor center. The community sketches that Appelo wrote and inserted into the Western Wahkiakum Telephone books are for sale.

“The first one about Frankfort ran about eight pages,” Appelo said. Later, a history of 80 pages was published, “longer than the phone book itself.”

Donna Klint’s books, The Magic of the Backwoods Kitchen and Naselle-Grays River Valley, published by Arcadia, are available.

In January, the center held its first Logger Reunion, drawing 150 people.

“Many Crown (Zellerbach) loggers traveled some distance. There were guys I hadn’t seen for years,” said Naselle resident Bill Wuorinen, who’s a daily visitor. “They’re asking if we’re going to have it again,” he told Bertroch.

Wuorinen brings Bertroch flowers in season and answers visitors’ questions.

Recently, Warrenton resident Richard Johnson stopped by the center. Johnson, who owns property in Naselle, said, “I’m not a logger, but I’ve cut a lot of trees.”

Bertroch, who Appelo hired in 2004, has interviewed and recorded loggers like Bryan Penttila and is currently preparing a book on logging.

A recent exhibit focuses on the Grays River Covered Bridge. The center has paneled the walls with planks from the bridge.

“Those (planks) are 100 years old,” Bertroch said. The center is seeking any local photographs of people at the bridge; people may contact Bertroch at 360-484-7103.

The Center is open Tuesday - Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. or by appointment.