Stephen Dow Beckham

Oregon My Oregon

The heritage of a culture is the cement that glues a society together. The past can inform the present. Knowing where we have been can help us chart where we want to go.

—Stephen Dow Beckham, Oregon My Oregon (2004)

Oregon came onto the world stage filled with potential. It gained poetic confirmation in 1817 in the phrase "Where rolls the Oregon," crafted in William Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis." Its sound quickened the land hunger of settlers who set out across the plains in the 1840s, some of them with canvas covers on their wagons bearing the words "Oregon or Bust" and "Oregon or the Grave." The quest for sovereignty in the Oregon Country became a major objective of President James Knox Polk and inspired him to terminate the joint occupancy agreement in 1845 and to resolve matters with Great Britain in the Oregon Treaty of 1846. The word Oregon possessed a magic that described a region, then a territory, and finally, in 1859, a state.

In July 2004, the Oregon Historical Society opens Oregon My Oregon. Conceived through the input of dozens of volunteers and staff over the past decade, the exhibit occupies the entire second floor of the Society's main building. The content has emerged from the suggestions of focus groups and exhibit consultants and — most importantly — from a century of collecting the material culture, oral traditions, and historical narratives of the Oregon Country. The Society has tapped its premier library and museum for the artifacts and stories that document the human experience in the Pacific Northwest.

"The Seed Collector's Camp" is a replica of a site briefly occupied by botanist David Douglas during one of his trips through present-day Oregon between 1825 and 1832.

Dean Shapiro, photographer

Oregon My Oregon is founded on several objectives. First, the exhibit places the history of the state in a regional, national, and — at times — international context. Some events in the Oregon Country were initiated far from the shores of the North Pacific. Second, the exhibit affirms the pluralism of cultures and society in Oregon. The coverage speaks to the situation of the poor as well as the rich, laborers and captains of industry, and immigrants as well as Native Americans. Third is the geographical: images, objects, and stories drawn from many parts of the Pacific Northwest. The exhibit has sought inclusion, not exclusion, diversity, not commonality. Fourth, Oregon My Oregon stresses the importance of cause-and-effect relationships. Thus, while topical, the exhibit also has a strong chronology and seeks to develop a sense of history.

In some parts of the world it never rains — in Oregon it pours.

–C. Aubrey Angelo, Sketches of Travel in Oregon and Idaho (1866)

This exhibit lifts up encounters, which have been multiple over the past two centuries. There are encounters with Native Americans whose ancestors for more than twelve thousand years were the first Oregonians. There are encounters with a powerful landscape of mountains, deserts, valleys, and seashore. For some, the Oregon Country has inspired essays, poetry, novels, paintings, sculpture, and music. For many, the encounter has been in the hard labor of tapping natural resources: fishing and packing salmon, mining and processing ores, plowing and sowing crops, pruning and harvesting fruit, felling and turning trees into lumber, or riding the range and marketing cattle, horses, and sheep. The exhibit is thus concerned with personal encounters with the land and the economic consequences of developing natural resources.

I have no apologies for our rain. It is liquid silver and it silvers the whole landscape. Through it the hills fade to delicate shadows, earth and sky are one, and all silver. Come up in the Wintertime and see us, you crepe-skinned mummies from the lower regions, and get an Oregon complexion.

–Charles Erskine Scott Wood, Pacific Monthly, ca. 1908

The exhibit also seeks to convey the growing understanding in Oregon of the importance of stewardship. As the Oregon Historical Society is a steward of the state's and region's past — preserving its material culture and stories — citizens of Oregon have taken pioneering steps in the region and nation to try to preserve a quality of life and an environment much valued. The exhibit thus seeks to have visitors confront issues — many of them unresolved today — and consider the consequences of action and inaction. The exhibit attempts to stimulate the interest of those who view it to deepen understanding, but it does so without espousing a political, environmental, or economic agenda. None of this is easy.

Much of the magic of Oregon history lies in stories well told. Oregon My Oregon opens with an orientation theme, "Imagined Oregon." Voices from the past two hundred years talk about prospects: scenery, potential for railroads, rain, the desert, and the impact of the frontier. The Oregon legislature has selected a variety of symbols for Oregon, and visitors encounter everything from the state dance and rock to the state tree and butterfly. Oregon even has an official beverage and a state nut.

Wagons, such as the one pictured here from Oregon My Oregon, brought over fifty thousand people to Oregon between 1840 and 1860.

Dean Shapiro, photographer

Oregonians reside in a diverse landscape. Many from outside the region do not understand that two-thirds of Oregon is arid or that three of its counties are each the size of Connecticut. The exhibit turns to the state's geography and its contrasts. It also draws on the colorful place-names that suggest past events, personalities, and ethnic groups. Oregon affirmed its Native heritage in its coastal rivers — Nehalem, Tillamook, Kilchis, Nestucca, Alsea, Yaquina, Umpqua, Coos, Sixes, and Chetco. Oregonians acknowledged a generation of political leaders in county names — Jackson, Lane, Linn, Benton, Jefferson, Baker, and Curry. Oregonians playfully have retained names of places such as Jumpoff Joe Creek, Whiskey Run, and Namrof and Rolyat (names of the first postmasters spelled backward).

The First Oregonians play an important part in the region's history and current events. The state's federally recognized tribes, several of them "restored" by Congress in the 1970s and 1980s, retain elements of self-government and live and carry on economic activities on trust land. Their stories — the voices of the elders — speak in the exhibit and tell how the world was made, what to do when the new moon appears, the meaning of the cry of the owl, and reverence for the earth. The exhibit identifies the three major cultural traditions of Oregon: Great Basin, Plateau, and Coast. It illustrates the technology, artistry, and human response to these environments over time.

The third section of Oregon My Oregon is "Lure of the West." From the discovery of the abundant furs of the North Pacific shoreline in the 1770s came imperial rivalries that pitted several nation-states in competition over trade. These events coincided with the Enlightenment quest for knowledge. Thus, between 1775 and 1806 major expeditions from Great Britain, Spain, France, and the United States began exploring, charting, collecting, and describing the region, its peoples, and its resources. Dr. Archibald Menzies, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, John C. Frémont, and John Kirk Townsend helped accomplish these tasks. The exhibit features "The Seed Collector's Camp," a replica of a site briefly occupied by botanist David Douglas during his many months in the Oregon Country between 1825 and 1832. A man who traveled more than seven thousand miles in the region, Douglas was on a scientific mission and sought to find plants useful for introduction into the gardens of western Europe.

The truth is, we never owned all the land and water. We don't even own very much of them, privately. And we don't own anything absolutely or forever.

–William Kittredge, Owning It All (1987)

On a practical side, furs were the "soft gold" of Oregon's early historic period. The exhibit thus turns to the founding of Astoria (1811) and the role of the Hudson's Bay Company, the region's greatest early corporate enterprise, and its diverse workforce of Indians, French Canadians, Europeans, and men from the islands of the Pacific. In its tapping of furs, fish, timber, and farming potentials, the Hudson's Bay Company tested and validated the prospects of the region. Oregon's lure also drew missionaries with the conviction that their calling was to preach and convert Native Americans to Christianity. The exhibit addresses both Protestant and Catholic missions and their impacts.

A reproduction of the Yasui Brothers Store, which Masuo Yasui and his brothers opened in Hood River in 1908. The Oregon Historical Society has a large collection of artifacts and manuscript materials that document the Yasui family's history.

Dean Shapiro, photographer

In the mid–nineteenth century, land became the most powerful lure. The Oregon Trail emerged in 1843 as the route to the "promised land." Congress aided and abetted the enthusiasm by considering a number of bills offering free farms to settlers. Finally, in 1850 the Oregon Donation Land Act awarded 320 acres to each eligible claimant. The exhibit uses many overland emigrant artifacts — including a wagon driven on the trail in 1845 — to illustrate the kit of the land-hungry emigrant.

The influx of newcomers — most of them subsistence farmers and miners — had tremendous consequences for Native Americans and the ecology of Oregon. The attractions of the West led to disruption of salmon runs, suppression of Indian field-burning, killing off of wild game, plowing under of edible bulbs, and warfare. The exhibit explores treaties with tribes, broken promises, war, and confinement on reservations.

The fourth exhibit topic is large and important. It grapples with the question "What Shaped Modern Oregon?" The exhibit moves from the pioneer era to how Oregonians have used the state. Topics include cattle-raising, sheep and wool production, the Homestead Act and its generous revisions to increase amounts of free land, wheat-raising on the Columbia Plateau, development of specialized crops, and mining. Fishing, canning, logging, and sawmill operations confirm the enduring importance of natural resources in the state's economy.

Development of raw materials required labor. Some of the laborers came from Asia as well as from Europe. The exhibit considers the specific roles of ethnic groups such as the Chinese in mining and the Japanese in fruit and vegetable production. Relations between capital and labor were not always harmonious. Company towns built near sawmills, salmon canneries, and coal mines took a toll from laborers who had to rent from the owner, shop at the company store, and send children to the company school. The exhibit briefly addresses laboring conditions, company towns, and the rise of unions.

World Wars I and II stimulated new industries, fostered the migration of African Americans, and led to the construction of troop-training facilities. The exhibit covers attacks by submarine, airplane, and balloon in Oregon that led to the only civilian deaths by enemy action in the United States during World War II. It also explores the other side of the story — the internment of thousands of Japanese American citizens in "relocation camps."

Modern Oregon is the result of more than a century of innovation. The national embrace of the "Oregon System" (initiative, referendum, and recall) launched the state into experimental and often innovative programs. The development of a large system of state parks, adoption of statewide land-use planning (with considerable opposition), affirmation of public access to beaches, recycling of beverage containers, and endorsement of a Death with Dignity law are part of what have shaped modern Oregon. Visitors are invited to examine the tally of innovative laws. They are also given the opportunity to sit down at a variety-store counter and — on the jukebox — consider options yet before Oregonians. Questions persist: Does the future work in Oregon? Does Oregon need to chart a new future?

Oregon My Oregon permits the Oregon Historical Society to share a small part of its vast collections. Special features include a Discovery Theater that draws on the library's map collection, which spans nearly five hundred years of exploration and travel. The exhibit also replicates the Yasui Brothers Store, a wonderfully preserved time machine into the 1930s, when a Japanese American family operated a general store catering to the immigrant community in Hood River County.

Oregon My Oregon was conceived as a large classroom for learners of all ages. The exhibit scratches the surface of the history of the Oregon Country. It suggests themes, stories, personalities, issues, and challenges to explore more fully. It is a window into the resources of the Oregon Historical Society. Visitors are invited to explore the tens of thousands of words published in more than a century of the Oregon Historical Quarterly, read the books produced through the Oregon Historical Society Press, attend the annual Hatfield Lecture program, participate in special teacher institutes, and consult the OHS website (www.ohs.org) that increasingly makes available the Society's resources. The museum and library beckon to the curious. Oregon My Oregon is the latest magnet to draw those who want to learn and know more.

Will the last one out please turn off the lights?

–Sign at an Oregon mill town, ca. 1980

Oregon My Oregon

Board Committee Chair: Dave Coughlin

Curator and Writer: Stephen Dow Beckham

Exhibit Design and Fabrication
André & Knowlton, Exhibit Design; Maltbie Inc, Exhibit Fabrication Specialists; Sockeye Creative, Inc., Audio Visual Design

OHS Department of Artifact Collections and Exhibits
Marsha Matthews, Director
Kim Buergel, Data Entry Assistant; Lisa Caron, Cataloguer; Franc Gigante, Exhibit Production Manager; Jenny Harada, Collections Assistant; Trista Kobluskie, Digital Imaging Technician; Scott Rook, Photographer; Amanda Tillstrom, Cataloguer; Anna Wendolowski, Associate Registrar; Anne Wheeler, Curator of Collections

Exhibit Sponsors

Major Patrons:	James F. Miller and Marion L. Miller Foundation
	Mr. and Mrs. Martin and Judy Kelley
Patrons:	Institute of Museum and Library Services
	Collins Foundation
Friends:	Mr. and Mrs. David and Anne Myers
	Mr. and Mrs. Roger and Laura Meier
	Dr. and Dr. John and Ardith Pierce

Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.