Oregon Historical Society

Oregon Historical Society The Oregon Historical Society preserves our state's history and makes it accessible to everyone in wa

The Oregon Historical Society is dedicated to making Oregon’s long, rich history visible and accessible to all. For more than a century, we have served as the state’s collective memory, gathering and preserving a vast collection of artifacts, photographs, films, manuscripts, books, and oral histories. Researchers from around the world travel to our library, unearthing information that challenges c

onventional thinking. Curious individuals come to us to explore their family trees or discover the history of their homes or neighborhoods. Archaeologists, environmentalists, filmmakers, architects, novelists, artists, and others all find their way to us, asking questions, making discoveries, creating knowledge. We share our vast collection through thought-provoking museum exhibits and robust digital platforms. We bring history directly to Oregon’s students in ways that bridge gaps of time and perspective, and we support lifelong learning through our many public lectures and events. We advance critical inquiry through the Oregon Historical Quarterly, a journal that has sparked conversations throughout our community for over a century.

Our virtual Oregon Connections series concludes Thursday (June 4 at 12pm) with panelists Diane Hess, Kimberly Jensen, an...
06/01/2026

Our virtual Oregon Connections series concludes Thursday (June 4 at 12pm) with panelists Diane Hess, Kimberly Jensen, and Carmen Thompson sharing stories of grassroots activism and organizing in Oregon and reflecting on what those histories can teach us today.

In a recent interview in Oregon ArtsWatch, Jensen shares how the conversation will highlight ways ordinary people have shaped their communities and advanced generational change. “People are looking for hope. With rights under attack, it is important to look back and learn the lessons and strategies of community organizing.”

https://www.orartswatch.org/focus-on-america-250-the-people-who-make-a-difference-in-community-organizing-yesterday-and-today/

This free online series has invited audiences to listen, learn, and consider how Oregonians have defined and defended freedom over time. If you missed earlier conversations on incarceration, immigration and deportation, tribal sovereignty and civil rights, or race, citizenship, and labor, recordings are available anytime on our Past Programs page at ohs.org/pastprograms

Image: Black United Front march against racist violence in 1992, with Margaret Carter leading chant of U-N-I-T-Y. Photo by Julie Keefe. OHS Research Library, The Skanner Photographs Collection, Org Lot 1286, box 33, folder 22

Since its founding in 1907 — inspired in part by Mayor Harry Lane’s call for an annual “festival of roses” — the Rose Fe...
05/30/2026

Since its founding in 1907 — inspired in part by Mayor Harry Lane’s call for an annual “festival of roses” — the Rose Festival has brought Portlanders together through parades, pageantry, and shared civic traditions that have helped shape the city’s identity for more than a century.

With this year’s festivities underway, it’s a fitting time to reflect on how Portland earned its nickname as the Rose City and on the many stories that have made Portland the vibrant, ever-evolving place we know today. At the Oregon Historical Society, our permanent exhibition Rivers, Roses, and Rip City: The Remarkable History of Portland explores the people, places, and events that have shaped the city and the communities and traditions that continue to define Portland.

Kids 17 and under and Multnomah County residents get free admission to our museum every day! Plan your visit: https://www.ohs.org/museum/exhibits/rivers-roses-and-rip-city.cfm

Image: Beatrice Morrow Cannady’s son, George, sits on a bicycle decorated with roses that he rode in the 1921 Rose Festival Parade. OHS Research Library, Beatrice Morrow Cannady family papers, Coll 702, folder 31, item 15.

Since its dedication 100 years ago on May 28, 1926, the Burnside Bridge has helped shape daily life in Portland, carryin...
05/29/2026

Since its dedication 100 years ago on May 28, 1926, the Burnside Bridge has helped shape daily life in Portland, carrying pedestrians, streetcars, bicycles, buses, and cars. The Strauss-type double-leaf bascule bridge is particularly notable as the first Willamette River bridge in Portland designed with input from an architect. Today, the Burnside Bridge is one of the city’s business east-west routes and is the only non-freeway river crossing designated for use in an emergency.

To honor its centennial, a free celebration will take place on the bridge Saturday, May 30 from 12pm to 5pm, featuring family-friendly festivities including a picnic, Lego bridge-building, and interactive exhibits that tell the bridge’s story.

Learn more: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/71c52db69e2e42369beeffe56ed3cfe7

Image: Photograph, taken from the west side of the Willamette River, showing the Burnside Bridge decorated with flags for a dedication ceremony celebrating the bridge’s opening. OHS Research Library, Oregon Journal Negative Collection, Org. Lot 1368, box 371, 0371N5520.

OHS recently loaned 14 objects from the Yasui Brothers Co. museum collection to the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, ...
05/28/2026

OHS recently loaned 14 objects from the Yasui Brothers Co. museum collection to the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, for its America 250 exhibition "What We Bring to the Table: Tales of History and Home." These loaned objects are all family-centered, some donated in 1991 by Homer Yasui and others by another family member, Amy Cheshire. Reproductions of photographs from the Yasui collections preserved in our research library were also shared for this exhibition.

The Yasui museum collection features more than 1,300 objects, many which can be seen in "The Yasui Family: An American Story," on view at OHS through September 6. Learn more about some of the objects featured in the exhibition in this video published on our blog.

https://www.ohs.org/blog/highlights-from-the-yasui-museum-collection.cfm

1) Right: This byobu (folding screen) belonged to Renichi Fujimoto and Matsuyo Fujimoto. OHS Museum 91-97.889. 2) This plate, used for special occasions, belonged to Yuka (Yasui) Fujikura, the youngest child of Masuo Yasui and Shidzuyo Yasui. OHS Museum 2024-40.4.

Thank you to the voters of Multnomah County for saying “Yes for Oregon History” and renewing the OHS levy for five years...
05/26/2026

Thank you to the voters of Multnomah County for saying “Yes for Oregon History” and renewing the OHS levy for five years. Thanks to this crucial funding, OHS can sustain our work to preserve Oregon’s history and make our educational programs, collections, and resources accessible to all.

The levy also provides essential funding for four community-based historical organizations located in east Multnomah County: Crown Point Country Historical Society, East County Historical Organization, Gresham Historical Society, and Troutdale Historical Society. All Multnomah County residents can visit the Oregon Historical Society and these four east county museums for free.

Thanks, as well, to the Multnomah County Commissioners for their decision to place the renewal on the ballot, and to the many local leaders, cultural organizations, educators, and history-loving individuals who publicly endorsed the measure.

For more than 125 years, the Oregon Historical Society has safeguarded our state’s history — preserving the past, providing context for the present, and recording today’s stories for future generations. We are honored by your support and the trust you have placed in us — and we promise to stay true to our mission of making sure Oregon’s story belongs to all of us.

https://www.ohs.org/join/yes-for-oregon-history.cfm

It’s Election Day! Multnomah County voters: you have the opportunity to renew Measure 26-261, providing 5 years of cruci...
05/19/2026

It’s Election Day! Multnomah County voters: you have the opportunity to renew Measure 26-261, providing 5 years of crucial funding to the Oregon Historical Society and four historical societies representing east county; that’s five years of funding education programs, exhibitions, scholarship, and collections preservation WITHOUT RAISING TAXES.

Ballots are due at 8pm tonight! Find a ballot drop site near you!

For more than 130 years, Portland’s Heritage Tree #1 stood as a quiet witness to Portland’s growth. When it became clea...
05/14/2026

For more than 130 years, Portland’s Heritage Tree #1 stood as a quiet witness to Portland’s growth. When it became clear the tree needed to be removed for safety reasons, Portland Parks & Recreation’s (PP&R) Urban Forestry division wanted to make sure its legacy extended well into the future.

In August 2024, PP&R Urban Forestry staff removed the tree with the care and respect that such a landmark deserved, and its legacy will endure for generations through hand-crafted benches at Portland community centers. A piece of its trunk will also be preserved and cared for in OHS’s museum collection.

In this recent blog post, guest contributor Samantha Wolf reflects on the tree’s history and the ongoing work of PP&R Urban Forestry staff to share Heritage Tree #1’s story.

https://www.ohs.org/blog/the-life-and-legacy-of-heritage-tree-1.cfm

Image: OHS Registrar Kim Buergel and Portland Parks & Recreation Botanic Specialist Samantha Wolf pose with a half-round piece of the Heritage Tree #1. Photo by Samantha Wolf.

We’re one week from Election Day! Don’t forget that ballots must be postmarked or dropped at an election drop site by 8p...
05/12/2026

We’re one week from Election Day! Don’t forget that ballots must be postmarked or dropped at an election drop site by 8pm on Tuesday, May 19.

Voters in Multnomah County will have the opportunity to renew the Oregon Historical Society levy, which provides crucial funding for OHS and four east county historical societies, supporting educational programming, preservation work, and access to Oregon’s history — without raising taxes. Learn more about the impact of this funding in a recent op-ed published in the Oregonian.

https://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2026/05/opinion-the-oregon-historical-society-levy-is-an-investment-that-works-lets-keep-it-going.html

Oregon has a fascinating election history, and in this blog post, OHS Boyle Family Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk discusses the first presidential election in which Oregonians cast ballots, the many individuals who have served as secretary of state, and several unusual and notable figures in Oregon election history.

https://www.ohs.org/blog/to-the-polls-a-history-of-oregon-elections.cfm

Image: Abigail Scott Duniway voting for the first time in the May 3, 1913, Oregon election. OHS Research Library, Oregonian glass negatives, Org. Lot 139, negative 4601.

Before he became the “Dean of American cookery,” James Beard was a Portlander with a lifelong love of good food. OHS’s r...
05/11/2026

Before he became the “Dean of American cookery,” James Beard was a Portlander with a lifelong love of good food.

OHS’s research library staff recently published a new collection guide to the James Beard papers, featuring recipes, menus, photographs, correspondence, appointment books, and more, including this heartfelt 1980 letter from an Oregon fan mourning the end of Beard’s Oregonian column.

Dig in to the collection guide here: https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv730254

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1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205

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