11/6/2018 Coos History Museum Lecture Program: Bill Lansing

by | Oct 23, 2018 | Event

Guest Speaker: Bill Lansing, Retired President and CEO, Menasha Forest
Products Corporation and Author
Lecture Program: Pilgrims, Forests, Railroads and Politics
Tuesday – November 6, 2018
6:30 pm – 7:30pm
Admission is Free for Coos History Museum Members, or $ 7.00 for Non-Members.

Bill Lansing will trace the migration of the timber barons from Maine to Michigan to Washington and finally to Coos Bay, Oregon where master ship builders, sawmills and loggers combined to make the harbor (at one time) the largest forest products exporting port in the world. This was not accomplished without consequences, fraudulent and otherwise. Railroads not only opened the west, but held a grip on huge swaths of land and forests from Minneapolis to Seattle. They played fast and loose with their ownership. Lansing will talk about the Public Domain, the formation of the U. S. Forest Service Lands and that of the Bureau of Land Management and how those century old debates have spiraled into the political morass today.

Bill Lansing grew up in northern California on a small ranch, but considers himself an Oregonian. He and his wife Ann have lived in Coos Bay since 1969 and have two grown boys. He received his formal education from Humboldt State University, Yale and Stanford University and can’t seem to get into the rivalry between the Ducks and the Beavers; although he never misses a recorded version of a Duck’s football game. After graduation from Yale and the marriage to his wife, he went to work for Menasha in Coos Bay, OR. He retired from Menasha as President and Chief Executive Officer. Over the years, he has served on many corporate and non-profit boards including: Umpqua Bank, the Lone Rock Timber Company, the Southwest Oregon Community College Foundation Board, the World Forestry Center Board in Portland, OR and the Boy Scouts America Council in Eugene, OR. He played a significant role in the Coos History Museum’s capital campaign raising the funds for the construction of the building; the upstairs library is named in his honor. Bill and his wife, Ann, also played a fundraising leadership role in raising money for the Lansing Library, the Research Library at the Coos History Museum, which is named in his honor and opens to the public in November 2018. Bill has written six books on historical subjects of Coos County. He generously donated several of his books to help generate operating income in the museum store. He also wrote two personal books about the genealogy and history of the Lansing family dating back to Holland in 1656. Bill tells us that: “History is made by those who lived it, commemorated by those who were told about it and interpreted by those who read about it. Much gets lost in the translation.”

Copies of Bill Lansing’s books are available for sale in the museum store. A book signing will follow the lecture. The lecture will begin at 6:30 pm, lasting about 45 minutes followed by questions from the audience. The Coos History Museum exhibits and the museum store will be open after hours from 6:00 pm until 8:30 pm.

The First Tuesday Talk Lecture Series is sponsored by the Al Peirce Co., LLC. with additional support from The Mill Casino.

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