Harstine Island Community Club and the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau are proud to continue our 16 year partnership of bringing engaging speakers and performances to Harstine Island. Speakers Bureau is one of Humanities Washington’s oldest and most popular programs. Founded in 1972, Humanities Washington and its partners create spaces for people to come together to explore and consider what it means to be human, and to reflect on our shared past, present, and future.
Events and programs are led by cultural experts, scholars, and storytellers, who discuss everything from Washington State history to philosophy to current social issues. The 2026 program sponsored by Harstine Island Community Club will be the fourth Sunday in January, February, March and April.
Donations are accepted to support Inquiring Minds and our other charitable purposes.
Presenter
Feliks Banel
When
January 25, 2026 2:00 PM
All Over the Map: Stories Behind the Names of Washington Places and Things.
Ever wonder how your town got its name… or your neighborhood, school, or even that iconic locally made candy bar? In this Humanities Washington talk with Felix Banel, you’ll zoom out and see the big picture of how place names and beloved local brands across Washington State came to be—and how those names can carry deeper (and sometimes challenging) meaning. 🗺️✨
All Over the Map: Stories Behind the Names of Washington Places and Things invites you to explore how names evolve over time, and how that evolution can help us connect more meaningfully to place and to each other. Come curious, leave with new stories in your pocket. 🌲📍
When: Sunday, January twenty-fifth at two p.m. ⏰
Where: Harstine Island Community Hall 📍
What: A Humanities Washington speaker presentation with Felix Banel on the stories behind Washington names 🗺️
Why: To discover the history, meaning, and evolving connections behind the names we live with every day 💡
Admission: Free 🎉
Supported by: A Humanities Washington grant 🤝📚.
Presenter
David George Gordon
When
February 23, 2025 2:00 PM
Heaven on the Half Shell: Washington State’s Oyster Odyssey
Get to know the Pacific Northwest’s most beloved bivalve: the oyster. In this talk, author David George Gordon discusses three species— the Olympia, Eastern, and Pacific oysters—along with the people who have cultivated these delicacies for many generations.
Learn about the Native American sea gardens and clam beds that existed 11,500 years ago, as well as the contemporary efforts in our state to cultivate oysters, both native and introduced. Along the way, learn about the many surprising innovations that have made oysters such an enduringly popular and environmentally sustainable food. As the old saying goes: when the tide is out, the table is set.
David George Gordon (he/him) is the principal author of Heaven on the Half Shell: The Story of the Oyster in the Pacific Northwest, recently revised and updated by University of Washington Press. A former science writer for Washington Sea Grant, Gordon has written 22 books on topics ranging from slugs and snails to sharks, gray whales, and Sasquatch.
Gordon lives in Tacoma.
Presenter
Amanda L. Van Lanen
When
March 30, 2025 2:00 PM
Big Apples, Big Business: How Washington Became the Apple State
Why do so many apples in the grocery store look the same? And why do so many come from Washington?
In this talk, explore how Washington became the top apple producing state in the country, and how, in the process, it transformed apples into an industrialized commodity. Many regions in the West attempted to grow apples, but in Washington, big apples became big business thanks to the work of scientists, investors, irrigators, railroad corporations, marketers, and apple growers. How does the history of Washington apples reflect larger changes happening in the American food system—changes that continue to affect our environment and the way we eat today?
Amanda L. Van Lanen (she/her) is a Professor of History at Lewis-Clark State College and the author of The Washington Apple: Orchards and the Development of Industrial Agriculture. She earned a Ph.D. in history at Washington State University, and blogs about food history at historyreheated.com.
Van Lanen lives in Asotin.
Presenter
Robert Horton
When
April 27, 2025 2:00 PM
Un-American Activities: The Blacklist Era and Hollywood
“Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”
The answer to this question—or the refusal to answer it—cast hundreds of lives into turmoil at the dawn of the Cold War. The Red Scare that erupted in the 1940s allowed the House Committee on Un-American Activities to grab headlines by parading prominent Hollywood figures before the cameras. Witnesses could either defy the hearings at the risk of their own careers, or “name names”—inform on their colleagues and friends. The resulting blacklist threw many moviemaking professionals out of work.
This presentation, illustrated with film clips, tells the stories from this heartbreaking and scandalous era, and how notables such as Humphrey Bogart, Elia Kazan, and Charlie Chaplin were swept up in the frenzy. We’ll also ask a question: With today’s politics at a boiling point, are we living in such a period again?
Robert Horton (he/him), a member of the National Society of Film Critics, was the longtime film reviewer for the Seattle Weekly, Everett Herald, and KUOW. His books include a critical study of Frankenstein. He has been a Fulbright specialist, a Smithsonian Journeys speaker, and an instructor at Seattle University and the Architectural Association in London. He now hosts the radio program, The Music and the Movies.
Horton lives in Seattle.