The collection consists of 17 black-and-white photographs of attendees and performers at the Vortex I music festival. The photographs depict crowds arriving at the festival, performers on stage, audience members dancing, and attendees sunbathing in the park.

The Vortex I music festival, also known as Vortex I: A Biodegradable Festival of Life, was a rock festival held at Milo McIver State Park near Estacada, Oregon. Members of Governor Tom McCall’s staff in collaboration with members of the Portland counterculture community planned the state-sponsored festival. Vortex I officially ran from August 28 to September 3, 1970 to coincide with the American Legion annual convention held in Portland the same week.

This speech by Tom McCall was given at Portland Television Studios in 1970 and broadcast on KGW-TV. This audio recording of the speech was made by an unknown individual from the television broadcast. The broadcast begins with a weather report and two commercials.

In the speech, McCall discusses the actions taken by the Portland and Multnomah County governments in response to protests expected to be held by the People's Army Jamboree against an upcoming American Legion convention. He describes plans for the music festival known as Vortex I as a way to mitigate the possibility of violence.

After the speech, the recording includes additional commercials and remarks by news analyst Floyd McKay. The recording ends with audio from the evening news broadcast about McCall's speech, including excerpts of the speech and McKay's remarks.