Adelaide Lowry Pollock was an educator, birder, author and believer in the power of civic participation at the turn of the 20th century.

In the early 1900s, pioneering educator Adelaide Lowry Pollock was the first woman to be named principal of a Seattle grade school. A lifelong love of birds dominated her curriculum. Her students went on birding field trips, mapped birds’ nests, researched bird behaviors, learned bird songs and even built elaborate birdhouses.

Ultimately, though, Pollock was interested in more than just the birds themselves. For her, studying birds was a way to encourage both environmental preservation and civic participation.

Cascade PBS’s resident historian Knute Berger profiled Pollock and her legacy in a recent episode of the Mossback’s Northwest video series, but there’s more left to explore.

In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss how the seed for this story was planted by a single photograph; what those bird-centered classroom activities entailed; what the study of birds truly meant to Pollock; and the chapter of her life following her time in Seattle’s schools, which included teaching citizenship classes for soldiers overseas and attempting to improve the lives of both retired teachers and juvenile offenders. Plus, Berger and Hegg take a field trip to Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Queen Anne, one of the places Pollock’s students studied birds, to imagine what the place would have been like in Pollock’s day and do a little birdwatching themselves.

For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you’d like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today.

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Credits

Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger

Producer: Sara Bernard

Story editor: Sarah Menzies

Sitka trees were key military materiel in both World Wars. Knute Berger shares how the need for wood and the women who harvested it changed logging.

In the early 20th century, Sitka spruce, a giant conifer native to the Pacific Northwest, became known as an excellent material for building airplanes. As a result, when the U.S. entered World War I, the demand for that wood exploded.

The American military set up what was called the “Spruce Division” and brought in soldiers to Washington forests to help manage a growing industry. Over time, as the demand for spruce continued into World War II, women began to fill tens of thousands of timber jobs traditionally held by men.

Cascade PBS’s resident historian Knute Berger dug into these overlapping histories in a recent episode of the Mossback’s Northwest video series, but there is far more left to explore.

In this episode of Mossback, Berger joins co-host Stephen Hegg to discuss the unique characteristics of Sitka spruce and why the U.S. military was so interested in it; labor strife and the role of unions in the Northwest logging industry in the early 20th century; the entrance of female workers into the lumber camps and the rampant sexism they sometimes faced; and the larger impact that all of these forces had on the Pacific Northwest and its timber business.

For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you’d like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today.

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Credits

Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger

Producer: Sara Bernard

Story editor: Sarah Menzies

Minoru Yamasaki was among the most influential architects of the 20th century. Knute Berger tells the story.

Minoru Yamasaki was born in Seattle in 1912, studied architecture at the University of Washington and went on to design some of the most celebrated buildings of the 20th century. Among them: the World Trade Center in New York and the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

Yamasaki aimed to do something that few were doing at the time. He subverted the bare, minimalist and sometimes brutalist trends of mid-century modern buildings with fine details that evoked elegance and beauty.

Cascade PBS’s resident historian Knute Berger explored Yamasaki’s career and legacy in a recent episode of the Mossback’s Northwest video series, but there’s much more left to discuss.

In this episode of Mossback, co-host Stephen Hegg joins Berger to hear more about Yamasaki’s early life experiences and how they influenced his work; his approach to architecture and how it differed from the prevailing cultural winds of the time; and the process of creating his most acclaimed buildings and the blistering critiques they sometimes received. Plus, Berger and Hegg take a field trip to Rainier Tower, a striking Seattle skyscraper and one of Yamasaki’s most controversial designs.

For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you’d like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today.

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Credits

Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger

Producer: Sara Bernard

Story editor: Sarah Menzies