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1890 Portland flood and street scene photographs

  • Org. Lot 1423
  • Collection
  • 1890

Collection consists of 18 photographs of Portland, Oregon, taken circa 1890. The photographs are primarily scenes of flooded streets in downtown and inner East Portland during the 1890 flood. Other subjects depicted in the photographs include cable cars, the bark Coloma, Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, the Riverside Hotel, the Morrison Bridge, and other unflooded street scenes from Portland. The photographs are mounted on 9 loose album pages and include handwritten image captions. The photographer or photographers for these items is unknown.

Aaron M. Frank address to Meier and Frank employees

  • SR 294
  • Collection
  • 1949-03-24

This speech was delivered by Aaron M. Frank on March 24, 1949, at the Meier & Frank Department Store in Portland, Oregon. In this speech, Frank urges the assembled store employees to resist union organizing efforts. He enumerates the benefits provided to employees by Meier & Frank, gives examples of management and employee loyalty, lists his responsibilities as director, and makes a plea for an employee vote of confidence. The employees ultimately voted against unionization.

Frank, Aaron M. (Aaron Meier), 1891-1968

Abigail Scott Duniway papers

  • Mss 432
  • Collection
  • 1852-1915

Writer, pioneer, editor, and champion of women's suffrage, Abigail Scott Duniway was born in Groveland, Illinois, in 1834. One of her brothers, Harvey Scott, would become the editor of the Oregonian. The Scott family traveled overland to Oregon in 1852, a trip on which Abigail's mother and youngest brother died. The family came first to Oregon City, then settled in Lafayette. Abigail taught school at Eola, and in 1853 she married Benjamin C. Duniway, with whom she had four children. After her husband was incapacitated in an 1862 accident, Duniway supported her family through teaching and a millinery business in Albany, Oregon. After moving to Portland in 1871 she published and edited The new northwest and became Oregon's leading advocate of women's suffrage. She moved to Idaho in 1887 and helped to achieve women's voting rights there in 1896. After returning to Oregon she was instrumental in the passage of Oregon's own women's suffrage bill in 1912. Her writings include the autobiography Path Breaking (1914) and the novel Captain Gray's Company.

The collection, which represents only a small portion of Duniway's papers, includes: the records of the Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association, including minute book, membership and account books, constitutions, a small amount of correspondence, and a copy of a letter from Susan B. Anthony regarding the woman's suffrage movement; and records of the Duniway Publishing Company, consisting of cash, mailing and advertising ledgers (1880-1886) of the publication The new northwest. Also included in the collection is a copy of a typed transcript of Duniway's journal kept during her family's overland trek from Illinois (1852 April 2) to Oregon City, Oregon (1852 September 28), on which her mother and younger brother died. The transcript contains an introduction by Leslie M. Scott. A subscription list from the Oregon State Secular Union from 1891 can also be found in the collection.

Duniway, Abigail Scott, 1834-1915

Abraham Lincoln letters

  • Mss 324
  • Collection
  • 1858-1861

One autograph letter, A.L.S., from Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Ill. to Simeon Francis in Oregon, 1860 Aug. 4, discussing the upcoming presidential election and prospects for the winning of various states. Collection also includes photostatic copies of three additional letters: Lincoln to James Thornton, 1858 Dec. 2; Simeon Francis to Lincoln, 1859 Dec. 26; and David Logan to Lincoln, 1861 Sept. 5.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Adalbert G. Bettman photographs

  • Org. Lot 4
  • Collection
  • 1880-1920

The collection contains 64 glass negatives, 44 sheet film negatives, and 39 photographic prints taken by or attributed to the Bettman family between approximately 1880 and 1920. Thirty-five of the prints have corresponding negatives in the collection. Negative numbers are noted on the back of prints when known. The collection includes individual and family portraits, views of the interior and displays of the Bettman drugstore, photographs depicting medical equipment and practice, including a neck brace and Adalbert G. Bettman’s sanitary measuring sugar bowl, and scenes throughout Oregon, including Portland, Eugene, and Corvallis. This collection may be of interest to individuals researching the history of medicine, pharmacy, and plastic surgery in Oregon.

Bettman, Adalbert G., 1883-1964

Al Monner news negatives

  • Org. Lot 1284
  • Collection
  • 1936-1974

The vast majority of this collection is made up of negatives created by Al Monner for the Oregon Journal. A small number of negatives were likely created by fellow Journal photographer Ralph Vincent, also for the Oregon Journal. While it's likely that almost all the negatives in this collection were created as part of Monner's work for the Journal, some images may also be his personal work. Most of the negatives are black and white, with a handful of color images taken in the 1950s and 1960s. A small selection of images from 1936 to 1938 were likely taken during Monner's time at the Oregonian newspaper. Large-format negatives from 1936 to 1959 have been processed and inventoried, while 35mm film from 1959 to 1974 remains unprocessed.

The photographs highlight over 30 years of current events in and around the Portland area, with a smaller number taken elsewhere in the state. Yearly events, such as the Portland Rose Festival and the Pendleton Round-Up, are featured prominently. A substantial number of images from the 1940s show Portland war efforts during World War II, featuring photographs of shipyards, soldiers, and rationing efforts at home. A small number of photographs also show early incarceration of Japanese Americans. Monner also frequently photographed dam-building efforts on the Columbia River at Celilo Village, The Dalles, and Bonneville.

Also included are photographs of accident scenes, fires, explosions, new building projects, sporting events, contest winners, and important national figures visiting the Portland area. Taken together, the collection displays the breadth of Monner's work as a photojournalist, covering the everyday to the exciting.

Monner, Al (Alfred Anthony), 1909-1998

Alice E. Wilson sketchbook

  • Mss 5286
  • Collection
  • 1898 - 1899

Sketchbook, 1 vol., August 1898-August 1899, filled with charcoal sketches of houses and scenery on the Oregon Coast including: Garibaldi, Tillamook and Seaside.

Wilson, Alice E.

Battleship Oregon plans

  • Mss 4062
  • Collection
  • 1893

Collection consists of 13 blueprint plans on 6 sheets of the battleship Oregon, built by the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California, 1893, scale: 1/16" : 1' to 1" : 1'.

Broadside of Western Defense Command instructions to all persons of Japanese ancestry

  • Coll 619
  • Collection
  • 1942-05

The collection consists of a broadside detailing the provisions of Civilian Exclusion Order No. 46 issued by General J. L. Dewitt on May 6, 1942. The order directs all Japanese and Japanese Americans living in Clackamas and eastern Multnomah counties to be evacuated to Civil Control Stations for forced incarceration during World War II.

United States. Army. Western Defense Command

Brown, Clawson, and Parvin Family Papers

  • Mss 2506
  • Collection
  • 1739-1978

The collection includes correspondence, clippings, documents, and ephemera, most of which relate to Zimiri Parvin, James Nassau Brown, Mamie Parvin Brown, Vivian Z. Brown, and Verne Clawson Brown. There are also some materials on the Sutton, Taylor, and Price families, all related by marriage to the Parvins and Browns. Included are: musical compositions by Zimiri Parvin, letters from James Nassau Brown to his wife Mamie, a biographical article by Doris Huffman (1976), diplomas and certificates, high school yearbooks, a pocket diary of Josephine Taylor Sutton containing recipes, a program for a banquet honoring Susan B. Anthony in Salem in 1900, a Taylor family history document from the late 18th century, a group of baggage tags from hotels, and a collection of bank notes from the early 19th century. Among James Nassau Brown's letters is one of 1903 from Salem describing a typhoid epidemic.

Burnham family photographs

  • Org. Lot 6
  • Collection
  • 1908-1909

Collection consists of approximately 109 black and white glass negatives, 11 black and white film negatives, and 34 black and white photographic prints that belonged to Howard J. Burnham. The prints are made from negatives in the collection. The photographs were taken circa 1908. The photographer is unknown but may have been related to the Burnham family. Primary subjects depicted in the collection include the Allison and Ella Burnham and their children, Howard and Myrtle, an expedition to climb Mount Hood, and mining and homesteading in the unincorporated community of Mountain in Josephine County, Oregon. The collection includes interior and exterior views of homestead cabins. This collection may be of interest to individuals researching photography, mining, and homesteading in Oregon.

Camp Watson, Oregon sketch, 1865

  • Mss 5279
  • Collection
  • 1865

A single pencil sketch of Camp Watson, Oregon dated to 1865. The First Regiment Oregon volunteer Cavalry maintained Camp Watson from 1864 to 1869 during the conflict with members of the Bannock, Shoshoni, and Paiute peoples known as the Snake War.

Carleton E. Watkins photographs, 1861-1885

  • Org. Lot 93
  • Collection
  • 1861 - 1885

This collection contains stereographs, cartes de visite, cabinet and boudoir cards, photograph albums, mammoth plates, and other loose prints taken by landscape photographer Carleton E. Watkins, 1861-1885. Watkins photographs that were taken before he lost his Yosemite Art Gallery studio in 1876 to Isaiah W. Taber are known as his "Old Series." Watkins photographs taken after 1876 are referred to as his "New Series." The collection contains both Old Series and New Series images and includes some of Watkins' photographs printed under Taber's imprint..

The bulk of the stereographs and mammoth plate photographs in this collection were taken during Watkins' trips to Oregon to photograph Portland, the Willamette River, and the Columbia River in 1867 (Old Series), as well as in 1882, 1883, and the winter of 1884-1885 (New Series). There are also some stereographs that were taken by Watkins on his 1882 voyage to photograph Puget Sound in the Washington Territory and Victoria in British Columbia. Other mammoth plates, cartes de visite, and stereographs depict views of places in California, including Yosemite and Mariposa County, the Farallon Islands and other scenes of the California coast, San Francisco, Round Top, Mount Lola, and Mount Shasta, as well as views of Utah taken for the Union Pacific Railroad. There are also cabinet card portraits taken by Watkins of various people, including Oregon railroad financier Simeon Gannett Reed and members of the family of Cornelius C. Beekman (1828-1915), banker from Jacksonville, Or.

The collection also contains two photograph albums assembled by Watkins and originally owned by Charles H. Prescott (b. 1839), manager of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Co. from 1881-1887. One album, "Sun Sketches of Columbia River Scenery," contains images taken by Watkins during his trips to the Columbia River Gorge circa 1882-1883, and the second album, ""Great Storm of the Winter of 1884-5. Columbia River, Or.," contains images that he took during a winter blizzard in December and January of 1884-1885 that snowed in an Oregon Railway and Navigation Co. train on its tracks along the Columbia River. The collection also contains one group of stereographs entitled "Watkins' Pacific Railroad" that were originally taken by Alfred A. Hart, official photographer for the Central Pacific Railroad, between 1862-1869 and reprinted by Watkins under his own imprint after 1870.

Watkins, Carleton E., 1829-1916

Cartes-de-Visite photographs

  • Org. Lot 500
  • Collection
  • 1855 - 1905

Cartes- de- visite are a form of card photograph popular from around 1860 to the early 1900s, typically used for portraiture. The common construction of these cards consists of a thin albumen print mounted on a thicker card backing measuring 2.5 x 4 inches. André Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri patented the process of creating these photo cards in Paris in 1854, streamlining the process of commercial portraiture. Cartes- de- visite were traded among friends and visitors and they were popularly displayed in albums. In the United States, cartes- de- visite were a staple of commercial photographers during the Civil War as a means of selling inexpensive portraits of soldiers and their loved ones. Photographs of celebrities, military, and political figures were also popular for collecting and trading. Cartes- de- visite were superseded by Cabinet cards, a similar, larger format of roughly 4.5 x 6.5 inches, in the 1870s, but they remained popular into the 20th century.

This artificial collection was accumulated from accessions containing cartes- de- visite photographs acquired prior to 2010 by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library. The cartes- de- visite were originally part of a topical photograph collection and were separated into their own collection to address preservation concerns. The numbering scheme for the collection reflects their original placement within the topical photograph collection. As a result, numbering in this collection is not sequential. The collection includes portraits taken from about 1855 through the early 1900s. Many of the portraits have attached biographical information. Portraits by many well-known Oregon photography studios are represented in this collection, including Joseph Buchtel, Andrew B. Paxton, Isaac G. Davidson, Peter Britt, and F. A. Smith. The collection also contains images of locomotives, ships, buildings, and landscapes in the Pacific Northwest.

Also included is the Photographer Study Collection, which contains sample work from several studios in Oregon, California, and Washington. The portraits in this series are unidentified with the exception of a small selection of portraits that were identified after the collection was assembled.

In addition to Oregon-related materials, the collection includes cartes- de- visite of notable military, political, and celebrity figures from the late 19th century. The most common subjects are American Civil War portraits, a series of illustrations of George and Martha Washington, European notables cards, and advertisements.

Cased photographs collection

  • Org. Lot 1414
  • Collection
  • 1840-2005

Collection consists of approximately 630 cased photographs, consisting primarily of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and cased and uncased tintypes (also called ferrotypes) dating from approximately 1840-1900. Also represented in this collection are less common cased image formats, including photographs on milk glass (opalotypes), collodion positives on fabric (pannotypes), Orotypes (goldtypes), cased card photographs, and photo buttons.

The photographs are primarily studio portraits of people, both individuals and groups. The majority of the people depicted had some connection to Oregon or the American West, though the photographs themselves may have been taken elsewhere. The photographs also include depictions of early Oregon street and residential scenes. The identities of the depicted individuals, photographers, and studios are documented in the condition reports for materials in this collection when known.

The collection also includes records and condition reports about many, but not all, of the photographs. These documents provide details about people or places depicted in the images; material types; condition of the images; any conservation care performed; and any known provenance. Condition reports are also included for images in a separate collection, Org. Lot 2, the William Lair Hill family photographs collection, also held at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Catholic Ladders collection

  • Coll 51
  • Collection
  • 1840-1896

Collection consists of hand-drawn and commercially printed Catholic ladders designed by Francis Norbert Blanchet between 1840 and 1859. The hand-drawn 1840 ladder is believed to have been drawn by Blanchet. The ladder matches extant examples of Blanchet’s handwriting and is addressed to his brother A. M. A. Blanchet at Cedars parish in Canada. Also included in the collection are three printed lithograph ladders with instructions written in French (1846-47 ladder), Spanish (1856 ladder), and English (1859 ladder). There are also photostatic copies of two additional early examples of Blanchet ladders. The collection also includes one Pictorial Catechism printed in 1896 that was designed by Albert Lacombe based off Blanchet’s ladders.

Blanchet, Francis Norbert, 1795-1883

Charles McNary speech accepting vice presidential nomination

  • SR 1182
  • Collection
  • 1940-08-27

This speech was given by Charles McNary in Salem, Oregon, on August 27, 1940. In the speech, McNary accepts the nomination of the Republican Party for the office of vice president. He praises the policies and personality of the Republican presidential candidate, Wendell Willkie. He also discusses the New Deal and expounds upon Willkie’s plans to change the direction of the country. He shares the history of Oregon, describing its people, landscape, and resources, particularly the emigrants who came across the Oregon Trail. McNary discusses the factors that have affected the American economy in the early 20th century and touches upon the Republican plan to improve the economy, particularly for farmers, and how the plan differs from the programs of the New Deal. He speaks at length about the Republican Party platform of 1940, and the looming specter of World War II.

McNary, Charles Linza, 1874-1944

Charles Oluf Olsen photographs

  • Org. Lot 919
  • Collection
  • 1924-1931

Collection consists of 34 photographs of scenes in Portland, Oregon, and of Vancouver and Longview, Washington, taken or collected by Charles Oluf Olsen between 1924 and 1931. Olsen used many of the photographs in this collection to illustrate features he wrote for the Oregonian, Oregon Journal, and other publications. Subjects depicted in the collection include: photographs of an encampment of unhoused people under the north end of the Interstate Bridge in Vancouver, Washington, circa 1930; Lone Fir cemetery in Portland, Oregon, circa 1927; the William Sargent Ladd residence; the 1930 Longview, Washington, Rolleo log rolling competition; and Burnside street, circa 1924, showing the Volunteers of America Mission, Oregon Labor Industry offices, Ericson’s Saloon, and the House of All Nations Saloon.

Civilian Conservation Corps, Eugene District (Or.) photograph album

  • Album 380
  • Collection
  • 1933-1934

Photograph album documenting the history and activities of the Eugene (Oregon) District of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from May 1933 to May 1934. The album was assembled by Leo R. T. Burton of the Skinner Butte Camp for the Headquarters Detachment and contains photographs of district camps and surrounding scenery, construction activities, and CCC officers and personnel. Also includes maps of each camp, monthly service reports, and work progress reports. Includes camps at Belknap, Bradford, Brice Creek, Cape Creek, Coquille, Crane Prairie, Devils Flat, Drew, Fall Creek, Gunter, Loon Lake, Mapleton, Maury, McKinley, Melrose, Oakridge, Powers, Reedsport, Remote, Rigdon, Seven-Mile Hill, Sisters, Sitkum, Steamboat, Tyee, Walker, and Wolf Creek.

Burton, Leo R. T. (Leo Rigel Taylor)

Cleveland Rockwell papers

  • Mss 2163
  • Collection
  • 1862-1907

This collection consists primarily of pencil and watercolor sketches and drawings made by artist and cartographer Cleveland Rockwell from 1862 to circa 1905. The materials include eight bound sketchbooks, as well as loose sketches, many of which have handwritten page numbers that suggest they were once part of bound volumes. Rockwell's sketches predominantly depict landscapes, particularly coastal and mountain scenes, in Oregon, Washington, California, and Alaska, as well as British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. Of particular note is a panorama of Lassen's Butte from Big Meadows at Prattville (folder 3), and sketches of British Columbia and California in volume 7. In addition to landscape scenes, the collection features a significant number of sketches depicting Pacific Northwest and California wildflowers, some of which were drawn by Cornelia F. Rockwell, Cleveland Rockwell's wife. The sketches also include ships and boats, as well as portraits of unidentified people. Many sketches throughout the collection have handwritten notes about light and color in the scenes depicted.

In addition to artwork, the collection includes a small quantity of family and biographical materials. The family materials are a photograph of Cleveland Rockwell and Cornelia F. Rockwell's two daughters, circa 1898, and an original 1949 letter from their younger daughter, Cornelia Rockwell Kearney, to "Eleanor," probably Eleanor Graves, who donated many of the materials in this collection to the Oregon Historical Society Research Library. The letter discusses Cleveland Rockwell's life and career, his artistic process, and outings that he and Cornelia F. Rockwell took to sketch wildflowers. Other materials include handwritten notes, made circa 1965, with biographical information about Cleveland Rockwell and his family, including information from 1863 and 1864 U.S. Coast Survey reports, and from obituaries for Rockwell in the Oregonian newspaper on March 22 and March 23, 1907.

Rockwell, Cleveland, 1837-1907

Columbia Rediviva collection

  • Mss 957
  • Collection
  • 1785-1852

The collection consists of correspondence, journals, ship logs, administrative records, and ink sketches relating to the ship Columbia Rediviva. A mix of original materials and reproductions are present. Among the originals are: the journal of John Hoskins, written during the Columbia's journey around the world in 1791-1792; the journal of George Barrell, 1806, written on board the brig Venus from Boston to Malaga, and on the schooner Louisiana from Malaga to New York; Barrell's account of stores on board the Columbia, 1792-1793; letters of Joseph Barrell to Samuel Webb, 1785-1801, and to John Hoskins, 1790; letters from Colburn Barrell and Robert Haswell, 1801; owner's accounts, 1787-1793; accounts of the Columbia and Lady Washington, 1787-1790; receipts; and four ink sketches by George Davidson depicting incidents in the voyages of the Columbia.

The reproductions held in this collection include the journals of Robert Haswell and Owen Smith, 1787-1789; and a file of receipts and other papers concerning outfitting of the Columbia, 1790 (on microfilm). Also included are publications of Robert Gray's wife Martha's petition to congress for a pension and memorial, 1848-1852.

Columbia River Gorge Lecture Series

  • SR Columbia River Gorge Lecture Series
  • Collection
  • 1981?

A series of lectures given by Gertrude Glutsch Jensen on the importance of preserving the Columbia River Gorge.

Jensen, Gertrude Glutsch, 1903-1986

Conversations with Waverley Country Club golf caddies

  • SR 89
  • Collection
  • 1985-08-07

These conversations with golf caddies at the Waverley Country Club in Portland, Oregon, were conducted by C. Edwin Francis on August 7, 1985, for his book "Waverley Country Club, 1896-1987." The caddies who were interviewed included Tony Roberts, Neil Peer, Charles Reimer, Bob McKendrick, Warren Munro, Greg Millett, and Iver Unis. In these conversations, they share stories about their experiences as golf caddies at Waverley Country Club.

Francis, C. Edwin

Coronation of Womanhood posters

  • Coll 839
  • Collection
  • 1884-1885

The collection consists of two copies of a poster entitled “Coronation of Womanhood” and a single copy of an identification key to the people depicted in the poster. The posters are printed from a photo crayon lithograph engraving. At the front center of the image, the goddess of Liberty is crowning a kneeling female figure representing womanhood. Below them is a banner reading, “Coronation of Womanhood.” Arranged in a half-circle above Liberty and Womanhood at the top of the poster are the portraits of Edward Dickinson Baker, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and James A. Garfield. Flanking either side of the image is a dais draped in bunting featuring the state crests of New York, California, Oregon, Nebraska, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia. Seated at the dais are 17 women of the suffrage movement: Martha C. Wright, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Frances Wright, Lucretia Coffin Mott, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Susan B. Anthony, Abigail Scott Duniway, Dr. Clemence S. Lozier, Helen M. Gouger, Sarah L. Knox Goodrich, Mary Ashton Rice Livermore, Mary J. Collins, Julia Ward Howe, Lillie Devereux Black, Matilda Jocelyn Gage, and Ernestine L. Rose. Below the dais, there is an audience of 275 additional men recognized as supporters of women’s enfranchisement. The men depicted in the scene include Matthew Deady, Stephen F. Chadwick, Rockey Preston Earhart, Joseph N. Dolph, Melvin Clark George, Samuel Royal Thurston, and William S. Ladd. A full listing of the depicted individuals is accessible via the identification key. The inscription at the bottom of the poster reads, “Respectfully dedicated to the loyal subjects of liberty who paved the way to woman’s enfranchisement in the Pacific Northwest, United States of America, anno domini one thousand eight hundred eighty three.”

Source: The Idaho Semi-Weekly World. February 20, 1885.

Duniway, Abigail Scott, 1834-1915

Correspondence Collection

  • Mss 1500
  • Collection
  • 1800 - ?

Collection of materials assembled by the Oregon Historical Society comprised of various letters written from or to individuals in Oregon, ca. 1820-1973.

Cracker Eagle Gold Mining Company records

  • Mss 55
  • Collection
  • 1903-1905

Collection consists of corporate records for the Cracker Eagle Gold Mining Company, operating in Baker County, Oregon. Records date from 1903 to 1905 and include expense accounts, business transactions, and stockholders' correspondence.

Cracker Eagle Gold Mining Company

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