The Radio Days Museum, located in downtown Sutherlin, is home to a collection of artifacts and memorabillia from different types of media from the early 20th century.
The Radio Days Museum, located in downtown Sutherlin, is home to a collection of artifacts and memorabillia from different types of media from the early 20th century.
Eli Nicholson, a volunteer at the Radio Days Museum in Sutherlin, enjoys the history of the museum, as well as seeing the joy it brings people in the communitiy.
Dennis Wright, owner of the museum, shows parts of his collection in the Radio Days Museum in downtown Sutherlin.
Will Geschke/News-Review photos
The Radio Days Museum, located in downtown Sutherlin, is home to a collection of artifacts and memorabillia from different types of media from the early 20th century.
Will Geschke/The News-Review
The Radio Days Museum, located in downtown Sutherlin, is home to a collection of artifacts and memorabillia from different types of media from the early 20th century.
Will Geschke/The News-Review
Dennis Wright displays his collection of Western memorabillia in the Radio Days Museum in downtown Sutherlin.
Will Geschke/The News-Review
An advertisement for the Lone Ranger from the early 20th century hangs in Dennis Wright’s collection at the Radio Days museum in downtown Sutherlin.
Will Geschke/The News-Review
A sign made for Dennis Wright by his grandchildren rests on his desk at the Radio Days museum in Sutherlin.
Will Geschke/The News-Review
Eli Nicholson, a volunteer at the Radio Days Museum in Sutherlin, enjoys the history of the museum, as well as seeing the joy it brings people in the communitiy.
SUTHERLIN — Stepping inside the Radio Days Museum transports you back 80 plus years into the past — from the vintage collection of radios to the music playing from the 1940s and the old radio program memorabilia.
Dennis Wright is a self-proclaimed “super collector” with a love for all things 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s radio. Radio Days Museum in Sutherlin has been home to his collection sine 2016 — free to the public with a mission of “preserving and presenting historical material and artifacts related to the history of Old-Time Radio,” according to Wright.
The museum is meant for people of all generations to enjoy, Wright explained, gesturing to his young grandchildren running about and pretending to be radio hosts themselves. But Radio Days likely is a special place for people who grew up in this era of radio.
Several years ago, Wright remembers an old gentleman with a walker coming into the museum and stopping in front of the case displaying a flight control from Little Orphan Annie — an airplane toy from the radio program.
“He was actually crying when he saw this,” Wright said. “It just brought back so many memories for him because it was obviously his prized toy.”
While the museum’s home is in Sutherlin, Wright created the Traveling Time Machine as a way to take the exhibit to what he calls the “forgotten generation.” To him, this means seniors who grew up in this era and have memories listening to the types of radio programs he displays.
“This is the stuff they grew up with,” Wright said. “With dementia, this is a way to get them talking about their childhood and their past. That triggers other memories.”
Wright advertises the Traveling Time Machine as a form of reminiscence therapy. Reminiscence therapy uses a combination of the five sense to help people with dementia remember things from their past. Some of the biggest benefits include helping those with dementia develop positive feelings and reduce stress or agitation, according to a study done by the Elder Care Alliance.
The Traveling Time Machine will restart tours of retirement facilities in Douglas County in August, for the first time since the pre-COVID-19 pandemic.
The tours bring a number of displays from Radio Days to retirement facilities: Lone Ranger collectibles such as the 1947 Lone Ranger Atomic Bomb Ring, Radio Orphan Annie collectibles, sound effects like coconuts for horse hoofs, among other memorabilia.
Radio Days Museum is open Wednesday through Saturday and is free to the public, supported through donations. Fridays and Saturdays are movie nights at the museum, with a $5 admission fee. Wright also runs the Superhero Academy Radio, providing 24/7 streaming of over 30,000 radio programs available for download.
Nika Bartoo-Smith is a Snowden Intern for The News-Review. She can be reached at nsmith@nrtoday.com.
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Where is this located?
It's located at 103 East Central Avenue, one door down from Backside Brewery Outpost.
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