Front, left to right: Clay Hughet, Lacey Elliott and Christopher Gibson. Back, left to right: Ashley Perkins, Garrett Carniglia, Rueben Harvey and Elle Rawlins look at the Seneca Oral History Project book. All seven of these students have been a part of the Seneca History Project since it began in 2002. Clay Hughet, Lacey Elliott and Christopher Gibson will be on the Coffee Time radio program Oct. 25, talking about the authors’ reception being held Nov. 1 in the school gym.

The recent completion of the school’s book, “Oral History Project,” will culminate with an authors’ reception at 6:30 p.m Nov. 1 in the school gym. The book consists of student interviews with 18 people who lived in Seneca during the Hines Lumber Company era.

The idea for the project originated with former kindergarten through first-grade teacher Judith Beaudet Reed.

“Judith was the spearhead. It was her idea to get this history project started back in 2001 and we all said, ‘Great. That’s a wonderful idea,’ and we all joined in on it. It’s been a schoolwide project ever since and it’s just kind of grown,” said Adele Cerny, head teacher.

The project has taken on several facets that have taught the students about the town’s history. Students and staff have visited museums and local historic sites to learn as much about the history of Seneca and the Bear Valley area as they could. The first projects were the new mural and the historical map. Since then, they have also created a floor model of the town and a timeline.

“Our history project started as one great idea. With the commitment and enthusiasm of the whole school, it has snowballed to epic proportion,” Reed said.

The newest product is a museum case filled with an accumulation of donated items and things the students found during field-trip walks. The museum will be unveiled during the authors’ reception.

Mrs. Gilmore’s fifth- and sixth-grade class are the curators of the museum. Forest Service Archaeologist Don Hann is teaching the students the proper way to create and maintain a museum. They are learning how to rotate the stock, catalog, inventory, label and get background information for each artifact.

“It’s an incredibly big job,” Cerny said.

Seneca School put in for a grant to have a case built to hold artifacts. The forest service paid their employee, Don Pace, to build the case.

“He did a wonderful job. It’s beautiful,” Cerny said.

Most of Mrs. Gilmore’s students have been involved in the project from the beginning and had several favorite parts.

“Going out on the field trips and finding new things. It was really interesting,” Ashley Perkins said.

“Interviewing the people because you learned stuff that you didn’t know before,” Garrett Carniglia said.

“Learning new things about the people in old Seneca,” Christopher Gibson said.

“Learning about the trains and the old buildings that used to be here,” seventh-grader Clay Hughet said.

“Going out and finding stuff and learning what it was,” Rueben Harvey said.

“The interviews and going out on all the field trips,” Elle Rawlins said.

“I liked the painting because it was fun,” Lacey Elliott said.

Students will be available to sign copies of the book being sold for $18 during the reception. After a short presentation and the unveiling of the museum, the school will be open for people to see the many other parts of the project.