From the Oregon Coast to the Idaho border, over 100 historical sites are marked with wooden signs that share a piece of Oregon’s history. A small group of Salem retirees has been maintaining each one for the past 30 years.
Tag: OREGON HISTORY
COLUMN: Oregon’s early Christmas celebrations
From the Corps of Discovery to gold rush settlers in Salem, Sue Bird of the Willamette Valley Genealogical Society pulls from historic documents and newspaper accounts to chronicle the first century of recorded Christmases in Oregon.
Swedish cabins highlighted in virtual Capitol exhibit
A virtual exhibit from Nordic Northwest is online at the Capitol thanks to a grant from the Salem nonprofit Oregon State Capitol Foundation.
Dive into Oregon’s past with the “Instagram of the 1930s”
A special exhibit from the state archives, on display at the Oregon State Fair, showcases promotional photos featuring iconic Oregon scenery from the state Highway Department’s tourism promotion efforts almost a century ago.
Tucked into Oregon rural infrastructure package, $4 million to save a staircase
The Grand Staircase at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande in 1949. (Photo courtesy of Eastern Oregon University) In the early 1930s, when Eastern Oregon University was exclusively a teacher training college, students walked up the five-tiered Grand Staircase to campus. The steps, built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style,[Read More…]
Capitol visitors can explore Oregon virtually with new interactive screen
Juliene Popinga, Visitor Services Manager at the Oregon State Capitol, demonstrates newly installed giant touch screens that allows visitors to do a virtual tour of Oregon tourist attractions and points of interest, and an interactive map of the Capitol building for self guided tours. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter) Visitors to the[Read More…]
Grant will help tell story of Black Oregon homesteader who sued to keep her land, livestock
Letitia Carson’s Homestead certificate (Oregon Secretary of State) A new grant awarded to a Salem-based historical society will help preserve the memory of one of the first Black pioneers to live in Oregon, a little-known figure in regional history who set a major legal precedent. Oregon Black Pioneers is embarking[Read More…]
As U.S. celebrates 100 years of women voting, Willamette professor chronicles how Oregon suffragists won the ballot
Cindy Richards, professor of civic communication and media at Willamette University, holds a copy of the 1909 Washington Women’s Cook Book, a publication from the state’s suffrage association (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Feb. 20, 2020. We’re republishing it today, the 100th anniversary of[Read More…]
Oregon Black Pioneers win grant to create online museum of state’s Black history
Willie Richardson, president of the Oregon Black Pioneers, speaks about the group’s research at their Salem office in October 2019. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Oregonians will soon be able to access a new museum about the state’s Black history from the comfort of their own homes. Last week, the state’s Cultural[Read More…]
As U.S. celebrates 100 years of women voting, Willamette professor chronicles how Oregon suffragists won the ballot
Cindy Richards, professor of civic communication and media at Willamette University, holds a copy of the 1909 Washington Women’s Cook Book, a publication from the state’s suffrage association (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) In 1872, at least four Oregon women attempted to vote in the U.S. presidential election as part of a[Read More…]