Christmas with the Campbells: MAC continues annual living history event for 14th year
A time capsule from 1910 decked in Christmas decorations, the Campbell House continues its annual living history event this weekend.
Friday marks the start of the 14th year of the family-friendly attraction, showcasing the rich history of the ornate Spokane house and its occupants. Attendees will be able make calling cards to present to members of the Campbell family, engage in scavenger hunts throughout the house and bake sugar cookies from one of Grace Campbell’s Presbyterian women’s cookbooks.
“It’s a great way to learn things, but just do it by having fun,” said Linda Strong, the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture’s interpretation manager. “We always call it sneaky learning.”
Designed by prominent Spokane architect Kirtland Cutter and built in 1898, the house was donated to the Eastern Washington State Historical Society by Helen Campbell after only 26 years of residency.
“A lot of homes, by the ’20s, were being turned into apartments after World War I. And that Helen had the thought to donate it is kind of amazing,” said Ellen Postlewait, a curator for the museum. “We call this our largest artifact. It’s kind of unique in its attention to detail, honestly.”
Actors portraying Amasa, Grace and Helen Campbell, along with a handful of family servants, will be stationed throughout the house to share historically accurate snippets of their lives with visitors this weekend.
Campbell family cook Hulda Olson, played by Rebecca Cook, will lead the cookie-making activity. A Swedish immigrant working at the Campbell house from 1904 to 1908, Olson was among the most well-documented of the family servants.
Cook has acted as Olson since the holiday tradition began. She read local newspapers from the period and researched Olson and her life to inform her portrayal, and helped to train other actors.
“Over the years, as an actor, I’ve gotten to discover a lot more about her. She’s grown in character exponentially, too,” Cook said. “It’s been kind of amazing. I feel really lucky to have been a part of it for so long.”
Visiting the Campbell House and interacting with “the Campbell family” has become a staple for many locals’ holiday seasons.
“There’s one little boy who started out this tall, and now he’s taller than me and in college and he tells me about his chicken named Hulda,” Cook said. An elderly man also “would come every year and sit in the servant’s dining room, and he would just update me on his life and talk to me like we’re best friends.”
Even for those who have never stopped by the house, though, Strong said that visiting with family in the holidays can be a powerful storytelling opportunity.
“There’s a lot of nostalgia that you’ll be hearing going on with the parents or the grandparents, you know, being in the kitchen and going, ‘This looks like my grandma’s kitchen,’ or whatever,” Strong said. “And then they’re passing those stories on to their grandchildren, and I think that makes this place very special in that way.”
Strong said that with families coming to town for the holidays, visiting the Campbell house offers a fun, family-friendly activity to do.
“This is a great way to show them a little bit about the history of their home – the town that they live in – and just have fun,” Strong said. “I think that’s the main thing; this is a really fun event.”