The Special Exhibition Galleries feature changing exhibits based on objects from our own collection, private collections, or other museums. This area is used for just one exhibition or subdivided into as many as three distinct areas, each dealing with a separate topic. At least one special exhibition is available in addition to the core exhibition in the rest of the museum.

Head over Heels over Heels: One Collector's Love Affair with Shoes
Over 600 pairs of fabulous high heels from the collection of David Childs, spanning the years from the late 19th century to the present. On exhibit through summer 2012

Land of Joy and Sorrow: Japanese Pioneers of the Yakima Valley
This exhibition traces the story of the Japanese families who settled in the Yakima Valley and made a new life in a new land. It also chronicles the forced relocation of these families to Heart Mountain, Wyoming in 1942, and their re-emergence as a community in the Yakima Valley after World War II.

Previous Exhibitions:

• Bikes, Trikes & Bedding
  October 31 - December 30, 2010
• Bicycle Eclectic: Adventure Cycling Association's National Bicycle Touring Portrait Collection
  July 9 - October 24, 2010
• Women's Votes, Women's Voices
  February 19 - June 20, 2010
• Into the Infinite: The Art of Richard C. Elliott
  September 20, 2009- January 3, 2010
• The Human Touch: Selections from the RBC Wealth Management Art Collection
  May 1, 2009 - August 30, 2009
• Key Ingredients: America by Food
  July 18 - August 30, 2009
• Yakima Honors Peoples of the Plateau
  January 11, 2009 - March 29, 2009
• Text and Textile: Quilts and the Construction of the Social Fabric
  August 16, 2008 - December 23, 2008
• Politics on a Pin
  August 30, 2008 - January 20, 2009
  
• Cowboys on the Silver Screen
  February 8, 2008 - July 30, 2008
• Textile Treasures: Quilts from the Khay Norris Collection
  September 8 - December 30, 2007
• Treasures from the Vaults of the Yakima Valley Museum
  February 9, 2007 Ongoing
• In Memory Of: Expressions of Mourning in Victorian America
  February 9, 2007 - December 30, 2007
• Washington Stories
  July 3 - August 26, 2007
• Mexican Artists in the Yakima Valley
  February 9 - July 1, 2007
• The Ultimate Apple Box Label Exhibition
  February 10, 2006 - December 26, 2006
• Treasures from Around the World
  February 14, 2003 - December 31, 2006
• The Yakima Valley as Muse: Yakima Valley Society Artists
  November 5, 2005 - January 1, 2006
• La Dolce Vitra! A Celebration of Northwest Glass Arts
  July 30, 2005 - October 28, 2005
• Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future
  June 4, 2005 - July 16, 2005
• Cedar Spirits: Masks of the Northwest Coast
  February 11 - May 30, 2005
• Brewer's Gold - A History of the Hop Growing Industry in British Columbia
  May 20 - October 31, 2004.
• The Traditional Arts of Morelia, Yakima’s Sister City
  February 3 - December 23, 2004
• Portraits from Eisenhower High School
  June 17-September 12, 2004
• Treasures from Around the World
  February 14, 2003
• Captured Time: Photographic Moments of Discovery in the Northwest
  October 3, 2003 - December 31, 2003
• An American Art Form: Quilts from the Yakima Valley Museum
  June 17, 2003 - September, 2003
• Treasures from the Collections at the Washington State Historical Society
  October 11, 2002 - May 1, 2003
• VALENTINES: The Ron Gibeau Collection
  February 8, 2002 - June 10, 2002
• The Heart Mountain Story
  July 13, 2001 - November 24, 2001
• Rodin: Maryhill Comes to Yakima
  December, 2000
• Bustles to Bikinis: The Care & Preservation of a Diverse Collection
  February 12, 2000 - November 24, 2000
• Yakima's Love Affair with the Apple 
  February 1998 - January 1999
• Few and Far Between:Moments in the North American Desert    
  November 9, 1997 - January 10, 1998
• The Roaring '20s: Yakima's First Decade 
  February 15 - June 1997
• The Prairie Schoolhouse  
  September 24 - December 1, 1996
• Quilts That Never Made it West  
  May 19 - September 15, 1996
• Collecting:The Instinct for Order  
  February 9 - April 28, 1996
• Mechanical Banks from the Seafirst Collections
  November 19 - December 31, 1995
• Fiesta: Faces of Mexico 
  March 27-October 31, 1995
• Tabletop Taste 
  February 11 - March 19, 1995