Since 1891, Bellingham Public Library has provided the community free access to books and other information. In addition to over 1.6 million books and other items, they offer professional training, storytelling for children, community events, and more to nearly 60,000 card holders.
As the library has endeavored to meet the needs of a growing community, art has been a constant companion to its learning environment. Outdoor sculptures, monuments, and garden decorations showcase local artistry and educate on culture, history, and other knowledge the Bellingham Public Library strives to illuminate for all.
Arch of Healing and Reconciliation
In 2018, a community committee unveiled the Arch of Healing and Reconciliation outside Bellingham Public Library to honor the history of immigrants and remember the local history of anti-immigrant exclusion. The monument features four plaques: three describing specific instances of exclusion and one describing the monument’s purpose to promote unity and healing from this past by learning from it.
The earliest event on the plaques is the 1885 expulsion of Chinese residents from Whatcom County. Through “threats, boycotts, and insistence that the immigrants were taking jobs away from white residents,” the mayor and newspaper editors led expulsions of thousands of Chinese residents. The perpetrators faced indictments, but charges were dismissed, and similar campaigns culminated in anti-Chinese violence and looting in Seattle, Tacoma, and Issaquah.
A fictionalized account of this history features in Annie Dillard’s novel “The Living.” One Fairhaven historical marker also notes the segregation of Chinese migrant workers at the Pacific American Fisheries cannery from the rest of town from the 1890s through the 1930s, updated in 2011 with a mayor’s apology.
The community’s rediscovery of the race riot on September 4, 1907, motivated the monument’s creation. As it describes, hundreds of Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus worked in Bellingham’s lumber industry until a mob of nearly 500 white men drove them out of town with violence overnight. “Racial fear and prejudice combined with economic competition” drove the attacks. The police held immigrants in “protective custody” at Bellingham City Hall but left them no options but to flee. “Most fled to settle in California and British Columbia,” the plaque says, and South Asian immigration to Bellingham did not largely resume until the 1980s.
Another plaque describes Whatcom County’s role in the anti-Japanese internment camps of World War II. The 120,000 Japanese immigrants and American-born citizens interned under Order 9066 under racist suspicions of treason and espionage included all 33 Whatcom County residents by June 3, 1942. Washington’s former Camp Harmony in Puyallup, which confined 7,390 people, received a memorial sculpture in 1983, and the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 issued an apology nationally. “None of the former Japanese American residents returned to Whatcom County,” the Arch’s plaque says.
At the monument’s unveiling, Western Washington University President Dr. Sabah Randhawa spoke on the history and Bellingham’s commitment to acknowledging and healing from it. The Arch’s final plaque includes a joint proclamation to celebrate diversity by Bellingham Mayor Tim Douglas and Whatcom County Executive Pete Kremen.
Japanese Stone Lantern
By far, the oldest sculpture at Bellingham Public Library is the “Japanese Stone Lantern,” tucked away in a tranquil garden outside the main lawn. It was a 1965 gift from Tateyama, Japan, under the Bellingham Sister Cities Association.
As a previous article on sister cities notes, the Tateyama Friendship Garden started in 1958 and receives continued stewardship by the association’s Friends of the Tateyama Garden. It features Japanese plants such as cherry and maple trees, serving as a quiet space and cultural education venue.
The garden and sculpture feature plaques on the dedication by Mayor John Westford of Bellingham and Mayor Yuzuru Hon-ma of Tateyama.
According to a contemporary “Bellingham Herald” article, “It is a copy of one in a shrine in Nara, the ancient capital of Japan. The hole in front represents the sun while in back is a crescent.”
Local Whatcom County Artists
The library lawn is also called Lee Memorial Park for Peter P. Lee, the Bellingham wholesale grocer whose heirs owned Woodstock Farm in the early 1900s. It features regional artists’ sculptures throughout the outdoor reading space.
“Delilah,” the giraffe sculpture, remains popular among children and adults. Cheryl Box, Mary Kuebelbeck, Bob Larson, and Stan Richardson created her from recycled steel for the 2002 Welding Rodeo at Bellingham Technical College.
“Meeting of the Minds” by Ed Haddaway inspires young minds to read from outside the ground floor window. This 2003 painted steel piece resembles many of the artist’s other works depicting stylized people.
The 1992 “Amending Table for Talking” by Kay Kammerzell and 1994 “Upright Observation Table” by Andrew Wachs combine form and function in the built environment with steel and wood construction.
The library’s Poetry Walk in front features placards with winning entries of the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest. With indoor sculptures donated locally and new City of Bellingham installments anticipated, the library’s learning landscape constantly changes with the minds it inspires.
