117-535: The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the Oregon Country , within the broader context of U.S. history . Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, preserves, and makes available materials of historical character and interest, and collaborates with other groups and individuals with similar aims. The society operates
234-486: A tectonic plate that poses a continued threat of volcanic activity and earthquakes in the region. The most recent major activity was the 1700 Cascadia earthquake . Washington 's Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980 , an event visible from northern Oregon and affecting some areas there. The Columbia River, which forms much of Oregon's northern border, also played a major role in the region's geological evolution, as well as its economic and cultural development. The Columbia
351-581: A "g". Another possible source is the Spanish word oregano , which refers to a plant that grows in the southern part of the region. It is also possible that the area around the Columbia River was named after a stream in Spain called "Arroyo del Oregón", located in the province of Ciudad Real . Another early use of the name, spelled Ouragon , was by Major Robert Rogers in a 1765 petition to
468-605: A collection of historical artifacts. In 1900, the first issue of the Oregon Historical Quarterly was printed as the official publication of the organization. In 1913, the Society moved from city hall to the Tourny Building , at 2nd and Taylor streets, but remained there for only 4½ years, moving again in September 1917 into Portland's then-new Public Auditorium (now Keller Auditorium ). In 1966,
585-484: A discipline has fairly low barriers to entry, so it is an act in which laypeople can readily participate. In his book Doing Oral History , Donald Ritchie wrote that "oral history has room for both the academic and the layperson. With reasonable training... anyone can conduct a useable oral history." This is especially meaningful in cases like the Holocaust, where survivors may be less comfortable telling their story to
702-584: A flurry of methodological discussions as Palestinian oral history research reached its zenith in the latter quarter of the 20th century. Some of these researchers published their recommendations in manuals specifically designed to standardize and inform oral history research within the Palestinian context. Notable Palestinian oral history projects include the American University of Beirut 's Palestinian Oral History Archive ( POHA ), and
819-491: A focus on national leaders in the United States, but has expanded to include groups representing the entire population. In Britain, the influence of 'history from below' and interviewing people who had been 'hidden from history' was more influential. In both countries, elite oral history has emerged as an important strand. Scientists, for example, have been covered in numerous oral history projects. Doel (2003) discusses
936-522: A full virtual museum with intense use of oral history. Czech oral history began to develop beginning in the 1980s with a focus on social movements and political activism. The practice of oral history and any attempts to document stories prior to this is fairly unknown. The practice of oral history began to take shape in the 1990s. In 2000, The Oral History Center (COH) at the Institute of Contemporary History, Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic (AV ČR)
1053-424: A group of politician-writers who advised: Don't hurt the party. Don't divide up America into classes by denouncing the rich and exciting "the envy and hatred of the poor." Spare the city's reputation. ... Carey and Scott would never admit they had made mistakes or that the old system was rotten. Oregon#History Oregon ( / ˈ ɒr ɪ ɡ ən , - ɡ ɒ n / ORR -ih-ghən , -gon )
1170-550: A journalist than they would be to a historian or family member. In the United States, there are several organizations dedicated to doing oral history which are not affiliated with universities or specific locations. StoryCorps is one of the most well-known of these: following the model of the Federal Writers’ Project created as part of the Works Progress Administration , StoryCorps’ mission
1287-504: A lesson plan that encourages the study of local community history through interviews. By studying grassroots activism and the lived experiences of its participants, her high school students came to appreciate how African Americans worked to end Jim Crow laws in the 1950s. Mark D. Naison (2005) describes the Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP), an oral community history project developed by
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#17327723106981404-510: A probate government was proposed. Doctor Ira Babcock of Jason Lee 's Methodist Mission was elected supreme judge. Babcock chaired two meetings in 1842 at Champoeg , (halfway between Lee's mission and Oregon City ), to discuss wolves and other animals of contemporary concern. These meetings were precursors to an all-citizen meeting in 1843, which instituted a provisional government headed by an executive committee made up of David Hill , Alanson Beers , and Joseph Gale . This government
1521-630: A professor of psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, traveled to Europe to record long interviews with "displaced persons"—most of them Holocaust survivors. Using the first device capable of capturing hours of audio—the wire recorder —Boder came back with the first recorded Holocaust testimonials and in all likelihood the first recorded oral histories of significant length. Over some forty years, Fran Leeper Buss interviewed marginalized women such as Jesusita Aragon ,
1638-571: A public voice to neglected groups, such as women, illiterates, political leftists, and ethnic minorities. In 1987, at Universidade De Santiago de Compostela, Marc Wouters and Isaura Varela started an oral history project focused on the Spanish Civil War, exile, and migration. The project explored victims of the war and the Francoist Dictatorship and includes 2100 interviews and 800 hours of audio. Oral history began with
1755-622: A railroad in 1851 from St. Helens, through the Cornelius pass and across Washington County to the city of Lafayette, which was at the time the big town of the Willamette Valley. In December 1844, Oregon passed its first black exclusion law , which prohibited African Americans from entering the territory while simultaneously prohibiting slavery . Slave owners who brought their slaves with them were given three years before they were forced to free them. Any African Americans in
1872-586: A refuge from disputes over slavery, Oregon had a "whites only" clause in its original state Constitution. At the outbreak of the American Civil War , regular U.S. troops were withdrawn and sent east to aid the Union . Volunteer cavalry recruited in California were sent north to Oregon to keep peace and protect the populace. The First Oregon Cavalry served until June 1865. Beginning in the 1880s,
1989-585: A traditionally trained midwife, and Maria Elena Lucas a migrant farm worker activist, using transcripts of the interviews to write their life stories. Many state and local historical societies have oral history programs. Sinclair Kopp (2002) reported on the Oregon Historical Society 's program. It began in 1976 with the hiring of Charles Digregorio, who had studied at Columbia with Nevins. Thousands of sound recordings, reel-to-reel tapes, transcriptions, and radio broadcasts have made it one of
2106-687: A vehicle for "history from above" from Malaysia and Singapore. In terms of "history from below", various oral history initiatives are being undertaken in Cambodia in an effort to record lived experiences from the rule of the Khmer Rouge regime while survivors are still living. These initiative take advantage of crowdsourced history to uncover the silences imposed on the oppressed. Two prominent and ongoing oral history projects out of South Asia stem from time periods of ethnic violence that were decades apart: 1947 and 1984. The 1947 Partition Archive
2223-490: A written work (published or unpublished) based on such data, often preserved in archives and large libraries . Knowledge presented by Oral History (OH) is unique in that it shares the tacit perspective, thoughts, opinions and understanding of the interviewee in its primary form. The term is sometimes used in a more general sense to refer to the study of information about past events that witnesses told anybody else, but professional historians usually consider this to be
2340-550: A água , Oregon. Yet another account, endorsed as the "most plausible explanation" in the book Oregon Geographic Names , was advanced by George R. Stewart in a 1944 article in American Speech . According to Stewart, the name came from an engraver's error in a French map published in the early 18th century, on which the Ouisiconsink (Wisconsin) River was spelled " Ouaricon-sint ", broken on two lines with
2457-873: Is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S. , with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington , while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho . The 42° north parallel delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada . The western boundary is formed by the Pacific Ocean . Oregon has been home to many indigenous nations for thousands of years. The first European traders, explorers, and settlers began exploring what
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#17327723106982574-501: Is a relatively recent development. Since the 1960s, oral history has been accorded increasing attention on institutional and individual levels, representing "history from above" and "history from below". In Oral History and Public Memories, Blackburn writes about oral history as a tool that was used "by political elites and state-run institutions to contribute to the goal of national building" in postcolonial Southeast Asian countries. Blackburn draws most of his examples of oral history as
2691-539: Is evidence supporting inhabitants in the region at least 15,000 years ago. By 8000 BC, there were settlements throughout the state, with populations concentrated along the lower Columbia River, in the western valleys, and around coastal estuaries. During the prehistoric period , the Willamette Valley region was flooded after the collapse of glacial dams from then Lake Missoula , located in what would later become Montana . These massive floods occurred during
2808-590: Is handling all distribution of OHS Press books still in print. Publication of the Oregon Historical Quarterly will continue. The OHS Museum Store is located in the lobby of the National Register of Historic Places -designated Sovereign Hotel . The building was added to the register in 1981. From 1986 to 2001, the Society used the former Meier & Frank Delivery Depot , in the Pearl District , to house its collection (except items on display at
2925-461: Is in this region of the state. Typical of a western state, Oregon is home to a unique and diverse array of wildlife. Roughly 60 percent of the state is covered in forest, while the areas west of the Cascades are more densely populated by forest, making up around 80 percent of the landscape. Some 60 percent of Oregon's forests are within federal land. Oregon is the top timber producer of
3042-839: Is now Oregon's Pacific coast in the early to mid-16th century. As early as 1564, the Spanish began sending vessels northeast from the Philippines , riding the Kuroshio Current in a sweeping circular route across the northern part of the Pacific. In 1592, Juan de Fuca undertook detailed mapping and studies of ocean currents in the Pacific Northwest, including the Oregon coast as well as the strait now bearing his name. The Lewis and Clark Expedition traversed Oregon in
3159-473: Is now allowed in Oregon, gas stations are not required to offer it and many currently do not. New Jersey is the only state remaining where self serve gas stations are not allowed. Oregon is 295 miles (475 km) north to south at longest distance, and 395 miles (636 km) east to west. With an area of 98,381 square miles (254,810 km ), Oregon is slightly larger than the United Kingdom . It
3276-730: Is one of North America's largest rivers, and one of two rivers to cut through the Cascades (the Klamath River in southern Oregon is the other). About 15,000 years ago, the Columbia repeatedly flooded much of Oregon during the Missoula Floods ; the modern fertility of the Willamette Valley is largely the result. Plentiful salmon made parts of the river, such as Celilo Falls , hubs of economic activity for thousands of years. Today, Oregon's landscape varies from rain forest in
3393-508: Is one of the important aspects to the technology-based oral historiography. These made it easier to collect and disseminate oral history since access to millions of documents on national and international levels can be instantaneous. Since the early 1970s, oral history in Britain has grown from being a method in folklore studies (see for example the work of the School of Scottish Studies in
3510-492: Is partly attributed to the development of information technology, which allowed a method rooted in orality to contribute to research, particularly the use of personal testimonies made in a wide variety of public settings. For instance, oral historians have discovered the endless possibilities of posting data and information on the Internet , making them readily available to scholars, teachers, and ordinary people. This reinforced
3627-487: Is probable some still move into eastern Oregon from Idaho. Oregon is home to what is considered the largest single organism in the world, an Armillaria solidipes fungus beneath the Malheur National Forest of eastern Oregon. Oregon has several National Park System sites , including Crater Lake National Park in the southern part of the Cascades, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument east of
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3744-460: Is rounded down phonetically, from Ouve água —Oragua, Or-a-gon, Oregon—given probably by the same Portuguese navigator that named the Farallones after his first officer, and it literally, in a large way, means cascades: "Hear the waters." You should steam up the Columbia and hear and feel the waters falling out of the clouds of Mount Hood to understand entirely the full meaning of the name Ouve
3861-612: Is the Lewis Walpole Library in Farmington, Connecticut , a department of the University Library of Yale . Historians , folklorists , anthropologists , human geographers , sociologists , journalists , linguists , and many others employ some form of interviewing in their research. Although multi-disciplinary, oral historians have promoted common ethics and standards of practice, most importantly
3978-532: Is the ninth largest state in the U.S. Oregon's highest point is the summit of Mount Hood, at 11,249 feet (3,429 m), and its lowest point is the sea level of the Pacific Ocean along the Oregon Coast. Oregon's mean elevation is 3,300 feet (1,006 m). Crater Lake National Park , the state's only national park, is the site of the deepest lake in the U.S. at 1,943 feet (592 m). Oregon claims
4095-484: Is the state's highest point. Oregon's only national park, Crater Lake National Park , comprises the caldera surrounding Crater Lake , the deepest lake in the U.S. The state is also home to the single largest organism in the world, Armillaria ostoyae , a fungus that runs beneath 2,200 acres (8.9 km ) of the Malheur National Forest . Oregon's economy has historically been powered by various forms of agriculture, fishing, logging, and hydroelectric power. Oregon
4212-606: Is the third-most populous city in Oregon, with 175,535 residents. Portland , with 652,503, ranks as the 26th among U.S. cities. The Portland metropolitan area , which includes neighboring counties in Washington, is the 25th largest metro area in the nation, with a population of 2,512,859. Oregon is also one of the most geographically diverse states in the U.S., marked by volcanoes, abundant bodies of water, dense evergreen and mixed forests, as well as high deserts and semi-arid shrublands . At 11,249 feet (3,429 m), Mount Hood
4329-605: Is the top lumber producer of the contiguous U.S. , with the lumber industry dominating the state's economy during the 20th century. Technology is another one of Oregon's major economic forces, beginning in the 1970s with the establishment of the Silicon Forest and the expansion of Tektronix and Intel . Sportswear company Nike, Inc. , headquartered in Beaverton , is the state's largest public corporation with an annual revenue of $ 46.7 billion. The origin of
4446-588: Is thought to signal that the field of oral history studies in China has finally moved into a new phase of organized development. From 2003 to 2004, Professors Marianne Kamp and Russell Zanca researched agricultural collectivization in Uzbekistan in part by using oral history methodology to fill in gaps in information missing from the Central State Archive of Uzbekistan. The goal of the project
4563-458: Is to record the stories of Americans from all walks of life. On contrast to the scholarly tradition of oral history, StoryCorps subjects are interviewed by people they know. There are a number of StoryCorps initiatives that have targeted specific populations or problems, following in the tradition of using oral history as a method to amplify voices that might otherwise be marginalized. The development of digital databases with their text-search tools
4680-562: The -sint below, so there appeared to be a river flowing to the west named " Ouaricon ". According to the Oregon Tourism Commission , present-day Oregonians / ˌ ɒr ɪ ˈ ɡ oʊ n i ə n z / pronounce the state's name as "or-uh-gun, never or-ee-gone". After being drafted by the Detroit Lions in 2002, former Oregon Ducks quarterback Joey Harrington distributed "Orygun" stickers to members of
4797-675: The American Association for State and Local History was appointed as the eighth Executive Director of OHS in November 2006. In July 2007, the Oregon Historical Society was awarded a $ 2.8 million biennial appropriation from the State of Oregon, though the organization is not a state entity. The $ 2.8 million given by the state over the two years equals 30% of the annual operating budget. In 2011, Vogt retired and
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4914-753: The British Library Sound Archive in the oral history collection. In one of the largest memory project anywhere, The BBC in 2003-6 invited its audiences to send in recollections of the homefront in the Second World War. It put 47,000 of the recollections online, along with 15,000 photographs. Alessandro Portelli is an Italian oral historian. He is known for his work which compared workers' experiences in Harlan County, Kentucky and Terni, Italy. Other oral historians have drawn on Portelli's analysis of memory, identity, and
5031-789: The Columbia Plateau , the High Desert , and the Blue Mountains . Oregon lies in two time zones . Most of Malheur County is in the Mountain Time Zone , while the rest of the state lies in the Pacific Time Zone . Western Oregon's mountainous regions, home to three of the most prominent mountain peaks of the U.S. including Mount Hood, were formed by the volcanic activity of the Juan de Fuca Plate ,
5148-648: The D River as the shortest river in the world, though the state of Montana makes the same claim of its Roe River . Oregon is also home to Mill Ends Park (in Portland), the smallest park in the world at 452 square inches (0.29 m ). Oregon is split into eight geographical regions. In Western Oregon : Oregon Coast (west of the Coast Range ), the Willamette Valley, Rogue Valley , Cascade Range and Klamath Mountains ; and in Central and Eastern Oregon :
5265-934: The Kingdom of Great Britain . The term referred to the then-mythical River of the West (the Columbia River). By 1778, the spelling had shifted to Oregon . Rogers wrote: ... from the Great Lakes towards the Head of the Mississippi, and from thence to the River called by the Indians Ouragon ... One suggestion is that this name comes from the French word ouragan ("windstorm" or "hurricane"), which
5382-597: The Lewis and Clark and Astor Expeditions. Few stayed permanently such as Étienne Lussier, often referred to as the first "European" farmer in the state of Oregon. Evidence of the French Canadian presence can be found in numerous names of French origin such as Malheur Lake , the Malheur , Grande Ronde , and Deschutes Rivers , and the city of La Grande . Furthermore, many of the early pioneers first came out West with
5499-763: The North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company before heading South of the Columbia for better farmland as the fur trade declined. French Prairie by the Willamette River and French Settlement by the Umpqua River are known as early mixed ancestry settlements. The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled through northern Oregon also in search of the Northwest Passage . They built their winter fort in 1805–1806 at Fort Clatsop , near
5616-451: The Oral History Society has played a key role in facilitating and developing the use of oral history. A more complete account of the history of oral history in Britain and Northern Ireland can be found at "Making Oral History" on the Institute of Historical Research 's website. The Bureau of Military History conducted over 1700 interviews with veterans of the First World War and Irish revolutionary period in Ireland. The documentation
5733-424: The Palestinian Oral History Map , Columbia University 's Oral History Project in New York , Duke University 's Palestinian Oral History Project, the Palestinian Rural History Project (PRHP), Palestine Remembered , and Zochrot . The rise of oral history is a new trend in historical studies in China that began in the late twentieth century. Some oral historians, stress the collection of eyewitness accounts of
5850-444: The Works Progress Administration (WPA)—sent out interviewers to collect accounts from various groups, including surviving witnesses of the Civil War, slavery, and other major historical events. The Library of Congress also began recording traditional American music and folklore onto acetate discs . With the development of audio tape recordings after World War II, the task of oral historians became easier. In 1946, David P. Boder ,
5967-432: The forced relocation of the native population to Indian reservations in Oregon . The first Oregon proposition for a railroad in Oregon was made in 1850 by H. M. Knighton, the original owner of the townsite of St. Helens . Knighton asserted that this would fulfill his township's belief that it should be the supreme metropolitan seaport in that area upon the Columbia River, as opposed to Portland. He suggested building
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#17327723106986084-465: The last glacial period and filled the valley with 300 to 400 feet (91 to 122 m) of water. By the 16th century, Oregon was home to many Native American groups, including the Chinook , Coquille (Ko-Kwell), Bannock , Kalapuya , Klamath , Klickitat , Molala , Nez Perce , Shasta , Takelma , Umatilla , and Umpqua . The first Europeans to visit Oregon were Spanish explorers led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo , who sighted southern Oregon off
6201-432: The 1950s) to becoming a key component in community histories. Oral history continues to be an important means by which non-academics can actively participate in the compilation and study of history. Practitioners in a wide range of academic disciplines have also developed the method into a way of recording, understanding, and archiving narrated memories. Influences have included women's history and labour history. In Britain,
6318-553: The 1960s and '70s, influenced by the rise of new social history, interviewing began to be employed more often when historians investigated history from below . Whatever the field or focus of a project, oral historians attempt to record the memories of many different people when researching a given event. Interviewing a single person provides a single perspective. People misremember events or distort their accounts for various reasons. By interviewing widely, oral historians seek points of agreement among many different sources, and also record
6435-657: The Bronx County Historical Society. Its goal was to document the histories of black working- and middle-class residents of the South Bronx neighborhood of Morrisania in New York City since the 1940s. Katharina Lange studied the tribal histories of Syria . The oral histories in this area could not be transposed into tangible, written form due to their positionalities, which Lange describes as "taking sides". The positionality of oral history could lead to conflict and tension. The tribal histories are typically narrated by men. While histories are also told by women, they are not accepted locally as "real history". Oral histories often detail
6552-918: The Cascades, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park on the north coast, and Oregon Caves National Monument near the south coast. Other areas that were considered for potential national park status in the 20th century include the southern Oregon Coast, Mount Hood, and Hells Canyon to the east. Oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews . These interviews are conducted with people who participated in or observed past events and whose memories and perceptions of these are to be preserved as an aural record for future generations. Oral history strives to obtain information from different perspectives and most of these cannot be found in written sources. Oral history also refers to information gathered in this manner and to
6669-429: The Coast Range to barren desert in the southeast, which still meets the technical definition of a frontier . Oregon's geographical center is further west than any of the other 48 contiguous states (although the westernmost point of the lower 48 states is in Washington). Central Oregon 's geographical features range from high desert and volcanic rock formations resulting from lava beds . The Oregon Badlands Wilderness
6786-703: The Creating Emerging Markets project, which "explores the evolution of business leadership in Africa, Asia, and Latin America throughout recent decades" through oral history. "At its core are interviews, many on video, by the School's faculty with leaders or former leaders of firms and NGOs who have had a major impact on their societies and enterprises across three continents." There are now numerous national organizations and an International Oral History Association , which hold workshops and conferences and publish newsletters and journals devoted to oral history theory and practices. Specialized collections of oral history sometimes have archives of widespread global interest; an example
6903-421: The Hudson's Bay Company, reversed the Hudson's Bay Company's long-standing policy of discouraging settlement because it interfered with the lucrative fur trade. He directed that some 200 Red River Colony settlers be relocated to HBC farms near Fort Vancouver, (the James Sinclair expedition), in an attempt to hold Columbia District. Starting in 1842–1843, the Oregon Trail brought many new American settlers to
7020-418: The Oregon Country. Oregon's boundaries were disputed for a time, contributing to tensions between the U.K. and the U.S., but the border was defined peacefully in the 1846 Oregon Treaty . The border between the U.S. and British North America was set at the 49th parallel . The Oregon Territory was officially organized on August 13, 1848. Settlement increased with the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 and
7137-408: The Oregon History Center that includes the Oregon Historical Society Museum in downtown Portland . The Society was organized on December 17, 1898, in Portland at the Portland Library Building. Its mission, as expressed in the first volume of its Oregon Historical Quarterly , was to "bring together in the most complete measure possible the data for the history of the commonwealth, and to stimulate
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#17327723106987254-534: The Pacific Northwest was particularly affected by the 1973 oil crisis , with Oregon suffering a substantial shortage. In 1972, the Oregon Beverage Container Act of 1971, popularly called the Bottle Bill, became the first law of its kind in the United States. The Bottle Bill system in Oregon was created to control litter. In practice, the system promotes recycling, not reusing, and the collected containers are generally destroyed and made into new containers. Ten states currently have similar laws. In 1994, Oregon became
7371-562: The Pacific coast in 1543. Sailing from Central America on the Golden Hind in 1579 in search of the Strait of Anian during his circumnavigation of the Earth , the English explorer and privateer Sir Francis Drake briefly anchored at South Cove, Cape Arago , just south of Coos Bay , before sailing for what is now California. Martín de Aguilar , continuing separately from Sebastián Vizcaíno 's scouting of California, reached as far north as Cape Blanco and possibly to Coos Bay in 1603. Exploration continued routinely in 1774, starting with
7488-734: The Society in paying off the mortgage on its 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m) temperature-controlled warehouse that preserves and protects the Society's artifacts, maps, books, films, and other assets. At the end of 2011, the Society received a $ 2 million bequest from the late Fred Fields, a noted businessman and philanthropist in Oregon. The Society's museum , archives and research library contains approximately 8.5 million feet of film and videotape , over 2.5 million photographs, 85,000 artifacts, 30,000 books, 25,000 maps, 16,000 rolls of microfilm , 12,000 feet (3,700 m) of documents, and oral history preserved in more than 8,400 hours of recordings covering over 2,100 interviews. The society has one of
7605-404: The Society moved to its current location. Thomas Vaughan stepped down from his 35-year directorship in 1989. Chet Orloff , who had left OHS in 1987 for the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society in Pasadena, California , was considered by The Oregonian to be heir-apparent , but Bill Tramposch was brought in from Williamsburg, Virginia . Tramposch inherited a million-dollar deficit from
7722-475: The Study of Totalitarian Regimes . Their oral history project Memory of Nation was created in 2008 and interviews are archived online for user access. As of January 2015, the project has more than 2100 published witness accounts in several languages, with more than 24,000 pictures. Other projects, including articles and books have been funded by the Czech Science Foundation (AV ČR) including: These publications aim to demonstrate that oral history contributes to
7839-480: The Victorian Community History Awards held annually to recognise the contributions made by Victorians in the preservation of the state's history, published during the previous year. In 1948, Allan Nevins , a Columbia University historian, established the Columbia Oral History Research Office, now known as the Columbia Center for Oral History Research , with a mission of recording, transcribing, and preserving oral history interviews. The Regional Oral History Office
7956-407: The West, although the periodic fluctuations in the U.S. building industry have hurt the state's economy on multiple occasions. Portland, in particular, experienced a population boom between 1900 and 1930, tripling in size; the arrival of World War II also provided the northwest region of the state with an industrial boom, where Liberty ships and aircraft carriers were constructed. During the 1970s,
8073-448: The abundance of fur-bearing animals in the area. Also in 1811, New Yorker John Jacob Astor financed the establishment of Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River as a western outpost to his Pacific Fur Company ; this was the first permanent European settlement in Oregon. In the War of 1812 , the British gained control of all Pacific Fur Company posts. The Treaty of 1818 established joint British and American occupancy of
8190-427: The accessibility of tape recorders in the 1960s and 1970s led to oral documentation of the era's movements and protests. Following this, oral history has increasingly become a respected record type. Some oral historians now also account for the subjective memories of interviewees due to the research of Italian historian Alessandro Portelli and his associates. Oral histories are also used in many communities to document
8307-407: The agency as the Astrobiology Program, and to collect the oral histories of women in NASA . Contemporary oral history involves recording or transcribing eyewitness accounts of historical events. Some anthropologists started collecting recordings (at first especially of Native American folklore ) on phonograph cylinders in the late 19th century. In the 1930s, the Federal Writers' Project —part of
8424-459: The attaining of the " informed consent " of those being interviewed. Usually this is achieved through a deed of gift , which also establishes copyright ownership that is critical for publication and archival preservation. Oral historians generally prefer to ask open-ended questions and avoid leading questions that encourage people to say what they think the interviewer wants them to say. Some interviews are "life reviews", conducted with people at
8541-668: The construction of history. As of 2015 , since the government-run historiography in modern Belarus almost fully excludes repression during the epoch when Belarus was part of the Soviet Union , only private initiatives cover the oral memories of the Belarusians. Citizens' groups in Belarus use the methods of oral history and record narrative interviews on video; the Virtual Museum of Soviet Repression in Belarus presents
8658-531: The early 1800s, and the first permanent European settlements in Oregon were established by fur trappers and traders. In 1843, an autonomous government was formed in the Oregon Country , and the Oregon Territory was created in 1848. Oregon became the 33rd state of the U.S. on February 14, 1859. Today, with 4.2 million people over 98,000 square miles (250,000 km ), Oregon is the ninth largest and 27th most populous U.S. state. The capital, Salem ,
8775-404: The end of their careers. Other interviews focus on a specific period or a specific event in people's lives, such as in the case of war veterans or survivors of a hurricane. Feldstein (2004) considers oral history to be akin to journalism, Both are committed to uncovering truths and compiling narratives about people, places, and events. Felstein says each could benefit from adopting techniques from
8892-407: The evolution of a major federal agency. The collection consists primarily of oral histories conducted by scholars working on books about the agency. Since 1996, it has included oral histories of senior NASA administrators and officials, astronauts, and project managers, part of a broader project to document the lives of key agents. Launius emphasizes efforts to include such less-well-known groups within
9009-473: The expedition of the frigate Santiago by Juan José Pérez Hernández , and the coast of Oregon became a valuable trade route to Asia. In 1778, British captain James Cook also explored the coast. French Canadians , Scots , Métis , and other continental natives (e.g. Iroquois ) trappers arrived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, soon to be followed by Catholic clergy. Some traveled as members of
9126-459: The experiences of survivors of tragedies. Following the Holocaust , there has emerged a rich tradition of oral history, particularly of Jewish survivors. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has an extensive archive of over 70,000 oral history interviews. There are also several organizations dedicated specifically to collecting and preserving oral histories of survivors. Oral history as
9243-499: The first U.S. state to legalize physician-assisted suicide through the Oregon Death with Dignity Act . A measure to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Oregon was approved on November 4, 2014, making Oregon only the second state at the time to have legalized gay marriage , physician-assisted suicide, and recreational marijuana. Self service gasoline was banned in Oregon from 1951 until August 2023. Although self-serve
9360-487: The growth of railroads expanded the state's lumber , wheat , and other agricultural markets, and the rapid growth of its cities. Due to the abundance of timber and waterway access via the Willamette River, Portland became a major force in the lumber industry of the Pacific Northwest , and quickly became the state's largest city. It would earn the nickname "Stumptown", and would later become recognized as one of
9477-487: The largest collections of historic photographs in the United States. OHS has published the Oregon Historical Quarterly continuously since 1900. Since 1929, the Oregon Historical Society Press has published over 150 books on Oregon history, politics, culture, and biographies, including Oregon Geographic Names . As of 2009, the press has suspended operations. University of Washington Press
9594-478: The largest collections of oral history on the Pacific Coast. In addition to political figures and prominent businessmen, the Oregon Historical Society has done interviews with minorities, women, farmers, and other ordinary citizens, who have contributed extraordinary stories reflecting the state's cultural and social heritage. Hill (2004) encourages oral history projects in high school courses. She demonstrates
9711-432: The lives and feats of ancestors. Genealogy is a prominent subject in the area. According to Lange, the oral historians often tell their own personalized genealogies to demonstrate their credibility, both in their social standing and their expertise in the field. Oral sources have established themselves as a vital, diverse, and adaptable source of information for the study of Palestinian history. Researchers benefited from
9828-496: The lower 48 states. Moose have not always inhabited the state but came to Oregon in the 1960s; the Wallowa Valley herd numbered about 60 as of 2013 . Gray wolves were extirpated from Oregon around 1930 but have since found their way back; most reside in northeast Oregon, with two packs living in the south-central part. Although their existence in Oregon is unconfirmed, reports of grizzly bears still turn up, and it
9945-519: The material contributions of oral studies to studies examining a wide range of topics, including folktales, food and clothing , linguistics and toponymy , genealogy , agricultural activities, and religious cult . Furthermore, due to the dearth of extant indigenous documentation , oral histories continue to play a crucial role in Palestinian academics' continuous efforts to narrate significant moments in Palestine's history. Researchers engaged in
10062-608: The media as a reminder of how to pronounce the name of his home state. The stickers are sold by the University of Oregon Bookstore . While there is considerable evidence that Paleo-Indians inhabited the region, the oldest evidence of habitation in Oregon was found at Fort Rock Cave and the Paisley Caves in Lake County . Archaeologist Luther Cressman dated material from Fort Rock to 13,200 years ago, and there
10179-899: The method. Because of repression in Francoist Spain (1939–75), the development of oral history in Spain was quite limited until the 1970s. It became well-developed in the early 1980s, and often had a focus on the Civil War years (1936–39), especially regarding the ones who lost the war and whose stories had been suppressed. At the University of Barcelona, Professor Mercedes Vilanova was a leading scholar, who combined oral history with her interest in quantification and social history. Barcelona scholars sought to integrate oral sources with traditional written sources to create mainstream, not ghettoized, historical interpretations. They sought to give
10296-477: The most dangerous port cities in the United States due to racketeering and illegal activities at the turn of the 20th century. In 1902, Oregon introduced direct legislation by the state's citizens through initiatives and referendums , known as the Oregon System . On May 5, 1945, six civilians were killed by a Japanese balloon bomb that exploded on Gearhart Mountain near Bly . They remained
10413-595: The mouth of the Columbia River, staying at the encampment from December until March. British explorer David Thompson also conducted overland exploration. In 1811, while working for the North West Company, Thompson became the first European to navigate the entire Columbia River. Stopping on the way, at the junction of the Snake River, he posted a claim to the region for Great Britain and the North West Company. Upon returning to Montreal , he publicized
10530-579: The museum at any given time) and for processing of new acquisitions. In 2000, after property values began rising due to redevelopment in the Pearl that started in the late 1990s, the Society sold that building, for $ 12.7 million. It moved its storage and processing to a warehouse in suburban Gresham over a four-month period in the first half of 2001. The Gresham warehouse was less conveniently located but had cost only $ 3.2 million to purchase, although modifications to that building were expected to raise
10647-539: The only people on American soil whose deaths were attributed to an enemy balloon bomb explosion during World War II . The bombing site is now located in the Mitchell Recreation Area . Industrial expansion began in earnest following the 1933–1937 construction of the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. Hydroelectric power , food, and lumber provided by Oregon helped fuel the development of
10764-504: The other. Journalism could benefit by emulating the exhaustive and nuanced research methodologies used by oral historians. The practice of oral historians could be enhanced by utilizing the more sophisticated interviewing techniques employed by journalists, in particular, the use of adversarial encounters as a tactic for obtaining information from a respondent. The first oral history archives focused on interviews with prominent politicians, diplomats, military officers, and business leaders. By
10881-510: The overall cost of the move to about $ 6 million. Noting that the four successive presidents after Harvey Scott were attorneys, historian E. Kimbark MacColl stated: young Portland lawyers at the turn of the [20th] century ... rose to civic prominence, ... became actively involved in the Oregon Historical Society, and ... were instrumental in fabricating an "Oregon Story" that was heavily laden with mythology, hero worship and pioneer idolization. [Charles H.] Carey, Scott, and others, constituted
10998-400: The previous administration, and his three-year plan to eliminate the deficit, though supported by the board, was unpopular with many long-time staff members, who also criticized Tramposch's management style. Tramposch resigned in 1991, and Orloff returned as executive director in 1992. He remained in the position for nine years, retiring at the end of 2000. George L. Vogt, a former president of
11115-410: The region after the law was passed were forced to leave, and those who did not comply were arrested and beaten. They received no less than twenty and no more than thirty-nine stripes across the back if they still did not leave. This process could be repeated every six months. Slavery played a major part in Oregon's history and even influenced its path to statehood. The territory's request for statehood
11232-637: The region west of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. By the 1820s and 1830s, the Hudson's Bay Company dominated the Pacific Northwest from its Columbia District headquarters at Fort Vancouver (built in 1825 by the district's chief factor, John McLoughlin , across the Columbia from present-day Portland ). In 1841, the expert trapper and entrepreneur Ewing Young died leaving considerable wealth and no apparent heir, and no system to probate his estate. A meeting followed Young's funeral, at which
11349-580: The role scientists played in shaping US policy after World War II. Interviews furthermore can provide road maps for researching archives, and can even serve as a fail-safe resource when written documents have been lost or destroyed. Roger D. Launius (2003) shows the huge size and complexity of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) oral history program since 1959. NASA systematically documented its operations through oral histories. They can help to explore broader issues regarding
11466-421: The state's name is uncertain. The earliest geographical designation "orejón" (meaning "big ear") comes from the Spanish historical chronicle Relación de la Alta y Baja California (1598), written by Rodrigo Montezuma of New Spain ; here it refers to the region of the Columbia River as it was encountered by the first Spanish scouts. The " j " in the Spanish phrase " El Orejón " was eventually corrupted into
11583-525: The stories of Indigenous Australians and others involved in or affected by the child removals resulting in the Stolen Generations . Other contributors included missionaries , police and government administrators. There are now many organisations and projects all over Australia involved in recording oral histories from Australians of all ethnicities and in all walks of life. Oral History Victoria support an annual Oral history award as part of
11700-503: The study of oral tradition or traditional oral history due to the source receiving the information aurally. It is believed that the term oral history originates with Joe Gould , a homeless man living in New York City who solicited donations by claiming that he was working on a massive manuscript called "An Oral History of Our Time", which he said consisted of thousands of recorded conversations on various topics. Although he
11817-558: The understanding of human lives and history itself, such as the motives behind the dissidents' activities, the formation of opposition groups, communication between dissidents and state representatives and the emergence of ex-communist elites and their decision-making processes. Oral history centers in the Czech Republic emphasize educational activities (seminars, lectures, conferences), archiving and maintaining interview collections, and providing consultations to those interested in
11934-525: The use of oral interviews by scholars as primary sources, He lists major oral history projects in the history of science begun after 1950. Oral histories, he concludes, can augment the biographies of scientists and help spotlight how their social origins influenced their research. Doel acknowledges the common concerns historians have regarding the validity of oral history accounts. He identifies studies that used oral histories successfully to provide critical and unique insight into otherwise obscure subjects, such as
12051-499: The viability of oral history since the new modes of transmission allowed history to get off archival shelves and reach the larger community. Oral historians in different countries have approached the collection, analysis, and dissemination of oral history in different modes. There are many ways of creating and studying oral histories even within individual national contexts. According to the Columbia Encyclopedia :,
12168-487: The widest and highest use of them." The first president was Harvey W. Scott , with memberships totaling 370 in the first year. George H. Himes was appointed the Society's first curator in 1899, a post he retained for four decades, until February 1939. Shortly after its formation, the Society opened its first office and museum in Portland City Hall and began the development of a regional research library and
12285-519: The words and deeds of important historical figures and what really happened during those important historical events, which is similar to common practice in the west, while the others focus more on important people and event, asking important figures to describe the decision making and details of important historical events. In December 2004, the Chinese Association of Oral History Studies was established. The establishment of this institution
12402-649: Was a lecturer at Stanford University in California. The project focuses on interviews with members of the Sikh diaspora in the U.S. and Canada, including the many who migrated after the 1984 massacre of Sikhs in India. Hazel de Berg began recording Australian writers, artists, musicians and others in the Arts community in 1957. She conducted nearly 1300 interviews. Together with the National Library of Australia , she
12519-824: Was a pioneer in the field in Australia, working together for twenty-seven years. In December 1997, in response to the first recommendation of the Bringing Them Home : Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families report, the Australian Government announced funding for the National Library to develop and manage an oral history project. The Bringing Them Home Oral History Project (1998–2002) collected and preserved
12636-724: Was applied to the River of the West based on Native American tales of powerful Chinook winds on the lower Columbia River, or perhaps from first-hand French experience with the Chinook winds of the Great Plains . At the time, the River of the West was thought to rise in western Minnesota and flow west through the Great Plains. Another suggestion comes from Joaquin Miller , who wrote in Sunset magazine in 1904: The name, Oregon,
12753-574: Was delayed several times, as members of Congress argued among themselves whether the territory should be admitted as a "free" or "slave" state. Eventually politicians from the South agreed to allow Oregon to enter as a "free" state, in exchange for opening slavery to the Southwestern U.S. Oregon was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1859, though no one in Oregon knew it until March 15. Founded as
12870-448: Was established with the aim of "systematically support the development of oral history methodology and its application in historical research". In 2001, Post Bellum , a nonprofit organization, was established to "documents the memories of witnesses of the important historical phenomenons of the 20th century" within the Czech Republic and surrounding European countries. Post Bellum works in partnership with Czech Radio and Institute for
12987-608: Was founded in 1954 as a division of the University of California, Berkeley's Bancroft Library . In 1967, American oral historians founded the Oral History Association , and British oral historians founded the Oral History Society in 1969. In 1981, Mansel G. Blackford , a business historian at Ohio State University , argued that oral history was a useful tool to write the history of corporate mergers. More recently, Harvard Business School launched
13104-584: Was founded in 2010 by Guneeta Singe Bhalla, a physicist in Berkeley, California, who began conducting and recording interviews "to collect and preserve the stories of those who lived through this tumultuous time, to make sure this great human tragedy isn't forgotten". [1] The Sikh Diaspora Project was founded in 2014 by Brajesh Samarth, senior lecturer in Hindi-Urdu at Emory University in Atlanta, when he
13221-531: Was known to have a history of mental illness and violence, Gould was beloved by some writers in Greenwich Village , including Ezra Pound and E. E. Cummings . His writing, supposedly excerpts from this "Oral History", was published in elite literary magazines, and he was eventually profiled in The New Yorker . Oral history has become an international movement in historical research. This
13338-567: Was released for research in 2003. During 1998 and 1999, 40 BBC local radio stations recorded personal oral histories from a broad cross-section of the population for The Century Speaks series. The result was 640 half-hour radio documentaries, broadcast in the final weeks of the millennium, and one of the largest single oral history collections in Europe, the Millennium Memory Bank (MMB). The interview based recordings are held by
13455-622: Was replaced by Kerry Tymchuk, who was named permanent director in October 2011. The Society sold the Sovereign Hotel in 2014. In November 2010, Multnomah County voters approved a ballot initiative that included a five-year property tax levy to fund the institution and grant county residents free admission to the museum and research library. In 2011, the Oregon Legislative Assembly approved $ 2.5 million to assist
13572-438: Was the first acting public government of the Oregon Country before annexation by the government of the United States. It was succeeded by a Second Executive Committee, made up of Peter G. Stewart , Osborne Russell , and William J. Bailey , and this committee was itself succeeded by George Abernethy , who was the first and only Governor of Oregon under the provisional government. Also in 1841, Sir George Simpson , governor of
13689-557: Was to learn more about life in the 1920s and 1930s to study the impact of the Soviet Union's conquest. 20 interviews each were conducted in the Fergana valley , Tashkent , Bukhara , Khorezm , and Kashkadarya regions. Their interviews uncovered stories of famine and death that had not been widely known outside of local memory in the region. While oral tradition is an integral part of ancient Southeast Asian history, oral history
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