Mission Statement
The Mission of the Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Association is to honor Vashon stories of love, oppression, action, and resilience. The Association tells Vashon stories, encouraging Islanders to take responsibility for what we do, knowing our actions influence history. As the Association collects, preserves, exhibits, and interprets the history of Vashon and Maury Islands, we seek to engage, educate, and inspire our Island Community.
The Vashon Heritage Museum stands on the ancestral lands of the sx̌ʷəbabš, or Swift Water People, who inhabited Vashon-Maury Island for millennia. The Donation Land Claim Act encouraged large numbers of settlers to claim land, even before the Medicine Creek Treaty of 1854 extinguished Native claims to it. The sx̌ʷəbabš were imprisoned on Fox Island during the Puget Sound Treaty Wars by the Territorial government, and later relocated onto the Puyallup Reservation.
We acknowledge the people of the Puyallup Tribe, whose stewardship of and relationship with Vashon-Maury Island continues today. We commit to amplifying the voices of Indigenous People, making space for them to tell their own story, both past and present, in our exhibits and programs.
Land Acknowledgment
Inclusion Pledge
At this museum, we reject racism, discrimination, and hate. Our purpose is to honor stories that give voice to all, examine hard questions about social, economic, and environmental justice, and reveal racism and oppression within our heritage. We pledge that everything we do will honor the island's diversity of cultures and histories.