The Absent-Minded Bridegroom Washougal High School 1926 Theatre Program

The Absent-Minded Bridegroom Washougal High School 1926 Theatre Program

Year: 1926

A printed program from a 1926 production at Washougal High School in Washougal, Washington. The program was found among a small group of personal papers kept in a leather wallet belonging to Tim Dear, preserved inside a steel box of family materials. Although Tim himself is not listed in the cast, the program documents the appearance of his younger sister, Mary Dear, in the play The Absent-Minded Bridegroom. At the time, she was living in Washougal with her mother and grandmother, providing a direct geographic and social link between the family and the Washougal community in the mid-1920s. The document also anchors a longer family timeline. The Dear and Young families’ presence in the region traces back to westward migration in the mid-19th century, including time spent in Washougal following the 1853 journey west via the Elliott Cut-Off. By 1926, this program reflects a later generation’s everyday life—school, performance, and community—captured in a fragile but telling piece of ephemera. As a primary source, the program offers value beyond a single family story. It preserves names, institutions, and cultural activity from Washougal High School during the interwar period and may b