Lacey Historical Commission accepts two collections: Fraser records and Dixieland Jazz materials

The Lacey Historical Commission voted to accept two incoming archives: Senator Karen Fraser’s records concerning a proposed 1992 racetrack in Hawks Prairie and the first installment of photographic and organizational material from the Greater Olympia Dixieland Jazz Society.

Staff presented background on both items and asked the commission to approve acquisition into the city’s collection. The commission approved the acquisitions by motion with no opposition.

Staff said the Fraser papers document local discussions in the early 1990s when Longacres racetrack relocated and the state Horse Racing Commission issued a single license; the plan placed Lacey among proposed sites before Emerald Downs in Auburn was selected. The Dixieland Jazz package contains photos and memorabilia from the society’s jazz festivals at Saint Martin’s that ran from 1991 to 2019 and later in Lacey; staff said additional installments containing recordings and organization records will arrive on a later agenda.

John Jagex, secretary of the Lacey Historical Society, told commissioners he has worked with City Gates Ministry representatives on the memorial garden at the Lacey Women’s Club property and said the society looks forward to cooperating on preservation projects in the future.

The acquisitions will be cataloged as part of the Lacey Museum collection and made available to researchers under the museum’s access policies.