ruthkodisheskind.com
Ruth Kodish-Eskind
Museum Professional
About Me
I have come to museum work after so many adventures. I toured Europe as a guitarist, organized a community arts center in Olympia and worked as a carpenter in Seattle. When federal lock-downs preceded my job closure in 2020, I decided to complete my college education.
I studied History and Native Studies at the Evergreen State College. The landscape of the past opened up to me: Bodies of water now indicated trade routes, place names shined with significance, and I couldn't stop asking questions.
In the years following my graduation I have honed my skills in historical research, gained experience in oral history collection, and lectured in public programs. I worked as an independent contractor supporting various museums with small projects from new exhibitions to public tours. I'm always excited to learn about the past and love sharing what I discover in ways that spark curiosity and excitement in others.
Current Work
Oral Historian, Washington State Jewish Historical Society
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Past
Work
Ashes to Archives
A 1900 fire destroyed an entire block in downtown Port Townsend. Who lived there? How did the fire effect their lives? My research answered these questions, uncovering a robust historic neighborhood of Chinese and Chinese-American businesses and residents, amongst others.
I presented this research to an audience of over one-hundred community members at Port Townsend's Maritime Center. Check out the event promotion here.
Mapping Chinatown
Excavating data from historic city directories, I created a dense CSV and ArcGIS map to tell a visual story about where Port Townsend's Chinese and Chinese-American community lived and worked in the late 1800s to early1900s. This is the first time that this data has been gathered and presented in this way, and is now a resource to future researchers and exhibitions.
Biographic Sketches
With an aim to uplift diversity in local history, I researched over thirty historic residents and families of Jefferson County. I conducted high-level archival and collections-based research on historic individuals, writing up to thirty-page meticulously-cited research files.
I uncovered stories of historic Black, Native, Japanese and Japanese-American, Chinese and Chinese-American people and historic sex workers which are now available to the public for future research and exhibitions.
Oral History Interviews
I have recorded interviews with dozens of individuals from various backgrounds. From shorter, topic-focused interviews to longer life-stories, I have guided narrators with strong questions and a soft demeanor. I have learned to hold space for narrators who have difficult stories to share, and to engage many different personalities and styles to produce high-quality recordings of historic relevance to future listeners.
bell hooks Memorial Installation
I was awarded a grant to design and install a memorial for late scholar bell hooks. I created an interactive display and public event in which viewers were invited to collaboratively annotate hooks’ essays "Critical Thinking" and "Engaged Pedagogy". I designed and installed this work in the Daniel J. Evans Library lobby at the Evergreen State College, where it hung for six months. I presented the project to an audience of several hundred students, and walked them through a live, collaborative annotation experience.
Flood the Valley
My senior thesis was a book-length text and accompanying StoryMap entitled "Flood the Valley: Memory Places on Chimacum Creek". I used historical research, journalistic interviews and GIS-mapping to tell the story of a watershed on the Quimper Peninsula. This watershed is dense with meaning, featuring the ruins of an iron works, a historic Native village, a historic Native and settler homestead, and a salmon run which was saved by artist/activists in the 1970s.
Thank you for visiting my page! I look forward to meeting you.
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360-522-7041