_{Left to right: Diana Watson, Christopher Melton, and Nick Simpson, holding one of the largest pieces in the collection.}

North Lincoln County Historical Museum is proud to have one of the largest glass fishing float collections on the Oregon coast. You can read more about our collection and the history of fishing floats HERE.

We are very excited to announce a most generous donation from the James L. Watson Fishing Float Foundation. This summer we received the last remaining floats and memorabilia from Jim’s personal collection, which have not been seen for over 20 years. The Foundation had been storing these privately, and to continue James Watson’s legacy, decided to gift the remaining collection and funds to NLCHM. These resources will be used to care for and preserve glass fishing floats, keep the museum operating its permanent float exhibits, and create new educational resources to ensure that his collections will be available for generations to appreciate and study.

We are working hard to inventory all of these unique, rare, and important artifacts. We anticipate a spring exhibit and event to celebrate this amazing collection, and to honor James Watson and all that he has done for educating and preserving the history of glass fishing floats.

We are eternally grateful to all of our donors. Be assured we would never sell, discard, or remove items from the our collections without the donor’s signed agreement. We are planning a fishing float sale in the spring of items specifically donated for the purpose of raising funds for the museum. We have not finalized details, watch our page for an announcement in 2024.

We want to give special thanks to Diana Watson for making this generous contribution. Additional thanks to our previous Executive Director, Jeff Syrop, for helping make this possible; and to our volunteers: Nick Simpson for all the work he has done with the foundation and inventorying the floats; and Richard Townsend for helping with the transportation of the artifacts to the museum.

Join us at North Lincoln County Historical Museum (NLCHM) for Home Movie Day 2023 on Saturday, October 21^st, 2023 from 11AM – 3:30PM. This event is free and open to the public!

Home Movie Day is celebrated worldwide. It is a fun interactive event, where you can learn about different small gauge movie formats, get your own movies inspected and repaired by a film archivist, learn how to preserve and protect your films, and get recommendations for digitization. The best part is watching your own family’s precious memories on the big screen! NLCHM will also be projecting films from their own collection, including footage of Lincoln City and other Oregon Coast locations in the 1950s and 1960s.

8mm, super-8mm, and 16mm films are accepted day of on a first come, first served basis. If you want to guarantee a spot, you can drop off your films at NLCHM, 4907 SW HWY 101, Lincoln City, Wednesday – Saturday 11AM-4PM. If you are interested in getting VHS, hi8, MiniDV or other media inspected and screened, please contact NLCHM as soon as possible!

If you would like more information or are interested in volunteering at the event, please email: director@nlchm.org.

On Friday May 12th, the NLCHM board and volunteers bid farewell to Jeff Syrop, and welcomed the new Executive Director, Christopher Melton. To read more about the changes happening at NLCHM click HERE for our newsletter!

Jeffrey Syrop (executive director 2018-2023), Cynthia Farlow (board president), & Christopher Melton (executive director 2023-onward), pictured in the Feathered Friends exhibit, NLCHM, May 12, 2023

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