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"Admission of Collored [sic] Children to the Public School"

"Admission of Collored [sic] Children to the Public School"

Thomas Alexander Wood (1837-1904) was a white Oregon pioneer, a veteran of the Indian wars, and a Methodist clergyman. In these reminiscences he recalled the …

Oregon History Project
"Attackted at Juan de Fuca Straits."

"Attackted at Juan de Fuca Straits."

One of the oldest non-Native collection items in the Oregon Historical Society is an ink-wash sketch by artist George Davidson depicting the trade ship Columbia …

Oregon History Project
"Grandma Crew" at Oregon Shipbuilding Co.

"Grandma Crew" at Oregon Shipbuilding Co.

This photo was published in the Portland Journal in 1944 with the caption: "'Grandma Crew' at Oregon Shipbuilding has 6 grannies out of crew of …

Oregon History Project
"Innocent Fun or Social Shame?"

"Innocent Fun or Social Shame?"

This document was created for school administrators by the Urban League of Portland sometime in the 1950s in an effort to stop minstrel, or blackface, …

Oregon History Project
"Map of Astoria in 1846, as I remember it."

"Map of Astoria in 1846, as I remember it."

The maker of this map, John Burr Osborn, survived the 1846 wreck of the U.S.S. Shark, a U.S. Navy schooner, in the dangerous waters of …

Oregon History Project
"No work, no woo" pledge, 1943

"No work, no woo" pledge, 1943

This Oregon Journal photo is captioned: "Albina Engine & Machine Works Employees Line up to Sign Pledge Not to Date Anyone w/out a Full Time …

Oregon History Project
10th Anniversary of Women in the Armed Forces

10th Anniversary of Women in the Armed Forces

This photograph, likely taken in May 1952 during the third annual Armed Forces Day parade in Portland, depicts a Buick convertible decorated to commemorate the …

Oregon History Project
1811 Trailmarker

1811 Trailmarker

Sometime around the summer of 1944, ten-year-old Douglas Owen found the 120-pound basalt rock shown above near the town of Bates, located about thirty miles …

Oregon History Project
1860 Census, Coos County

1860 Census, Coos County

This document is a typewritten transcript of the 1860 Schedule of Free Inhabitants in Coos County’s Coquille Precinct. It was transcribed from a microfilm copy …

Oregon History Project
A Look Back At Portland Jazz: When the Joint Was Jumpin'

A Look Back At Portland Jazz: When the Joint Was Jumpin'

Written by Michael N. McGregor At 240 N. Broadway in Portland, a stone's throw from The Rose Garden where the Trail Blazers play their home …

Oregon History Project

Interpretive Essays

Interpretive essays use primary documents from the Oregon Historical Society archives to help readers imagine the events, people, and issues that shaped Oregon history.