Oregon Free Press. (Oregon City, OR.) August 19, 1848, image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022661/1848-08-19/ed-1/seq-1/
The Oregon Free Press, published for only a year in 1848 by George L. Curry, is the second oldest newspaper in the state. Originally an employee of Oregon’s first published newspaper, theOregon Spectator, Curry began the Free Press after a falling out with the editor. However, the periodicals curious amount of inconsistencies with the letter “w” is perhaps one of the more interesting nuances of this early Oregonian newspaper.
Starting up a newspaper during the early pioneering days of the Oregon territory was no easy feat, and Curry struggled with acquiring the supplies he needed. As a consequence of the difficulty of acquiring goods and services, the letter “w” in the Oregon Free Press has a variety of forms.
Pictured in the clippings below, the letter ‘w’ has either been formed by a normal piece of type, two ‘v’s’, or whittled out of wood by Curry himself.
Oregon Free Press. (Oregon City, OR.) June 3, 1848, Image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022661/1848-06-03/ed-1/seq-1/Oregon Free Press. (Oregon City, OR.) June 17, 1848, Image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022661/1848-06-17/ed-1/seq-1/Oregon Free Press. (Oregon City, OR.) June 17, 1848, Image 2. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022661/1848-06-17/ed-1/seq-2/Oregon Free Press. (Oregon City, OR.) June 17, 1848, Image 2. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022661/1848-06-17/ed-1/seq-2/
The press in which Curry printed with was at one point owned by Catholic Missionaries operating in the Oregon Territory. The variations in the letter “w” can be attributed to its seldom use in French, the common language the missionaries printed in. Thus Curry, forced to accommodate for the lack of “w’s” used a combination of the above methods in his newspaper editions.
The Oregon Free Press offers fascinating insight into the struggles pioneers faced in the early years of Oregon. To read more about this newspaper title, check out ODNP’s essay on the paper here You can also read full issues of the title on our site here.
Written in reference to:
Turnbull, George S. History of Oregon Newspapers. Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, 1939.
It’s been an exciting and eventful year for ODNP! We have added more historical newspaper content to the site. For current newspaper submissions, we have refined the process and workflow, and we are looking forward to adding more titles this upcoming year. We also won the Oregon Heritage Excellence Award!
We have had staffing changes. Sheila Rabun left the University of Oregon in August 2016 to become the Community and Communications Officer for IIIF, the International Image Interoperability Framework. Her years of service and the advancement of ODNP have been invaluable- thank you for everything, Sheila!
To fill her shoes, Carolina Hernandez, Journalism and Communication Librarian, and Sarah Seymore, Digital Collections Metadata Librarian, are now the primary contacts for ODNP. Carolina’s roles will be in research, outreach, collection development, and instruction for the ODNP content. Sarah is the primary contact for technical questions for submissions, digitization, ingest, and other back-end management and concerns. Please email us with any questions at cahernan@uoregon.edu and sseymore@uoregon.edu.
Our goals for 2017 are those of increasing our impact with greater access, promotion, and use of our collections. We call on your help to do this by spreading the word about the program and the importance of digitizing and preserving this content. Do you have stories about the impact of ODNP at your institution and for your patrons? Please let us know as we will be featuring user stories on our blog throughout the year! Moreover, we want to know: what do you want to see from ODNP this year? Let us know and share your stories!
Promotion of the services of ODNP is vital, and offering free, open access to content of historical record is important and necessary. ODNP would not be possible without the support of our subscribers and submitters. Thank you for helping us preserve Oregon history and stay tuned to the blog for more in the year ahead!
Spring is in the air, and so is the desire for fresh attire to match the gaiety of the season. In 1921, spring fashion was a focus for historic Oregon newspapers, which, through pictorials, articles, and advertisements, relayed that year’s haute new looks to dedicated readers.
The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) January 16, 1921, Image 64. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1921-01-16/ed-1/seq-64/
In 1921, historic Oregon newspapers‘ reportage of spring fashion was largely geared toward female readers, with photos featuring women’s clothing, footwear, and accessories such as hats, wraps, and gloves. Fashion reporters of the era looked to Paris, France, for the latest trends. After all, Paris was (and still is) the fashion capital of the world. Typical of the newspaper copy for these spring fashion spreads was what accompanied the above pictorial, published in the January 16, 1921, issue of the Sunday Oregonian: “Nothing is so fashionable as grey just now – the Paris craze for all shades of grey has reached America.” Aside from highlighting the color of the season, the above pictorial focused on “little fur wraps” (“easier to take care of than a bulky coat in a theater seat”), with the furs of choice being “Russian mink” and “smoke grey fox.” Rounding out the look were silk hats, chiffon frocks, silk stockings, and strap slippers.
The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) February 20, 1921, Image 66. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1921-02-20/ed-1/seq-66/
The Sunday Oregonian continued its reportage on fur wraps in a pictorial that ran in the February 20, 1921, issue. In this same fashion feature, an image from which can be seen above, the newspaper went beyond talk of “Paris wraps for spring” and elaborated upon the latest in women’s hats, specifically noting that “nobody needs hatpins in low-setting millinery now in vogue.” (“Hatpins Again Are Being Taken Up as Ornaments, Not Being Essential.”) Among the “low-setting millinery now in vogue” were the “new turban from Lewis – one of the flat, saucer affairs that are so very smart this spring” and the one seen in the image above: “a low-crowned model on fine black milan, with flange brim of black satin and under the brim at the back is tucked a tuft of Erin green ostrich from which stray spiky tendrils of black ostrich. The hat has stunning lines and with the tall-collared spring wrap makes its wearer very smart indeed.”
The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) February 27, 1921, Image 68. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1921-02-27/ed-1/seq-68/
In a February 27, 1921, pictorial, the Sunday Oregonian shifted its attention to women’s “Spring Street Suits Just from Paris.” The newspaper observed “these saucy little suits,” by French designers Drecoll, Bernard, Lanvin, and Jenny, have jackets that are “short and jaunty and coat fronts show vests of embroidered linen.” About the street suits shown in the image above, the Sunday Oregonian stated the Lanvin model on the left “is of black serge with a lining of white cashmere in the jacket and cape… The cape is detachable and may be left off on a warm day.” On the right is a street suit by Jenny, its “short, loose jacket part of a navy blue serge suit, is slashed below the waistline and in the slashes are godets of old rose poplin embroidered with navy blue silk. The silk embroidered rose poplin is also introduced in bands on collar and sleeve and in a yoke at the top of the skirt.” “Flashy hats” further accentuated these spring looks.
Within the pages of historic Oregon newspapers from 1921, modern looks in men’s spring fashion were likelier to appear in advertisements, rather than in pictorials or feature-length articles. Common were advertisements such as this one (seen below) by Pendleton, Oregon-based retailer Alexanders, which ran in the April 14, 1921, issue of the East Oregonian.
East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, Umatilla Co., Or.) April 14, 1921, Image 3. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn88086023/1921-04-14/ed-1/seq-3/
Instead of photographs of models wearing trendy attire, crisp line drawings illustrated the new spring fashions for men. The emphasis was on “reputation” and “quality.” “Hand-tailored workmanship” and “superior values” were touted. However, for men as well as women, the appeal of thinness and youth was deftly used to market the new styles. In smaller print, in the lower right-hand corner of the Alexanders print ad, the newspaper’s male readership was assured of the “slenderizing treatment of the close fitting coat which gives it youthfulness of line.” As early as 1921, thin was “in,” as was the desirability of youthfulness. This is decades before the rise of Twiggy and the “Youthquake” movement in the mid-century fashion world!
Although men’s fashions were likelier to be seen in advertisements than in pictorials or feature-length articles in historic Oregon newspapers published in 1921, there’s still the occasional news article that informed fashion-forward readers of fresh developments in men’s style. Two examples of such news articles spotlighting men’s fashion were published in the March 19, 1921, issue of the East Oregonian. Shown below, the articles “New Color Jones Offered in Spring Haberdashery” and “Simplicity Marks Spring Hats for Men” were penned by Otto A. Engel and Milton Conhaim, respectively. Both articles largely focused on hat trends for men, but in his article Engel went even further, reporting in great depth on the latest in shirts and neckwear. Declaring “smaller stripes this year,” “fiber silk shirts improve,” and “Scotch madras popular,” Engel gave East Oregonian readers the real scoop on what was current in men’s spring fashion. In his frank manner, he even noted, “There’s nothing really new in the pajama line,” and “No radical changes mark underwear, belts, jewelry, handkerchiefs and walking sticks.”
If you’ve ever wondered what the women and men of Oregon wore as winter turned into spring in the year 1921, look no further than historic Oregon newspapers. Through pictorials, articles, and advertisements, the spring fashions of 1921 were on full display. See for yourself today!
East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, Umatilla Co., Or.) March 19, 1921, Image 14. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn88086023/1921-03-19/ed-1/seq-14/
Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) February 2, 1913, Image 21. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1913-02-02/ed-1/seq-21/
After a cursory mention of how Valentine’s Day is celebrated (“The handsome souvenir, telling of love, will rest in the mailsacks alongside of the gaudily-colored caricature, telling of envy, malice, or spice”), The Dalles Daily Chronicle article lengthily delves into the history of the holiday:
“How the day came to be kept in the way it is, is more than anyone knows. St. Valentine himself is rather an uncertain personage, as it is hard to tell which Valentine the day is kept for. It is sometimes ascribed to Pope Valentine, who occupied the papal chair for thirty or forty days about the year 827, and of whom some one with A. P. A. proclivities, many years ago, remarked that ‘He was too good a man to make a good pope, and so he died within forty days of his assuming the office.’ St. Valentine’s day was not kept on his account however.”
The Dalles Daily Chronicle article goes on to further explore the seemingly hazy origins of Valentine’s Day, hypothesizing about its beginnings. Historic Oregon newspapers that were published around the turn of the century typically took the tack of reporting on the origins of Valentine’s Day when covering the holiday. For the Sunday Oregonian, the tone of this reportage is somber and somewhat chiding, noting the secularization of a holiday that had its roots in the church and was named after a religious figure. This sentiment is clearly evident in a February 11, 1906, article succinctly titled “Saint’s Day That Cupid Stole.”
The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) February 11, 1906, Image 40. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1906-02-11/ed-1/seq-40/
The Sunday Oregonian article notes that “St. Valentine’s Day began somewhere about the opening of the third century. It is a quaint combination of religion and sentiment. It represents the dual worship of a great man of the church, and Cupid, the mischievous patron saint of love.”
Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) February 2, 1913, Image 21. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1913-02-02/ed-1/seq-21/
“It was a queer beginning for a great holiday that people should have united on the same day to honor St. Valentine and Cupid. No more dissimilar deities could be found… St. Valentine was an early day martyr. He died for the church, and in commemoration of his goodness and piety the Holy See set aside February 14 as the day on which the faithful should do honor to his memory… Eventually the young folk passed from the purely religious feature of the holiday, and began to give it a somewhat secular tone… Thus in a gradual way Cupid had come to usurp the place that St. Valentine had once held all alone, and what was originally a time of prayer gradually transformed itself into the season when love sent out its messengers and pleas.”
Three years later, the Sunday Oregonian, in its coverage of Valentine’s Day, took a different, lighter approach. The paper declared: “Should Have Been Cupid’s Day, Not St. Valentine’s.”
Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) February 14, 1909, Image 52. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1909-02-14/ed-1/seq-52
In this February 14, 1909, article, the Sunday Oregonian focuses less on the Christian origins of Valentine’s Day and more on Cupid and the tales of Greek mythology from which “the jolly little god of love” arose. The newspaper concedes that “Not many of the young folks who on this occasion will try by divers means to lift the veil of the future and try to determine who their future husbands and wives will be know much of St. Valentine, but all of them are well supplied with information on the subject of that tormenting sprite, Cupid, whose venomed darts lead the way to the altar.” The paper’s defeatist view on the subject is aptly reflected in the article’s subhead: “Wrong and Inappropriate Name Became Attached to February 14 and Can Not Be Changed.”
The Boardman Mirror, like The Dalles Daily Chronicle and the Sunday Oregonian, also ran in-depth articles that looked at the story behind Valentine’s Day. The newspaper was in print for just four years, from 1921 to 1925, and its readership were the citizens of Boardman, Oregon. Reflecting the Sunday Oregonian‘s later coverage of Valentine’s Day, the Boardman Mirror also chose to highlight the pagan history of the holiday. It did so in the February 6, 1925, article “Valentine’s Day of Pagan Origin.” However, unlike the Sunday Oregonian, the Boardman Mirror downplayed, if not outright dismissed, the role of St. Valentine and of Christianity in the formation of the holiday. The newspaper took its opposite stance even further, boldly stating it wasn’t Cupid who “had come to usurp the place that St. Valentine had once held all alone,” but it was Christianity that “‘took over’ the pagan festivals and adapted them to its own uses.”
“In ancient Rome a sort of love lottery was annually held at the time of the festival called the Supercalia, because it was believed that at that season of the year birds chose their mates. It was a festival celebrated in February, in honor of Pan and Juno, and tablets bearing young women’s names were drawn out of a box by the young men. Each youth availing himself of this privilege was expected to be until the next Supercalia the faithful attendant of her whose name he had drawn.
“It was a pretty custom, and worth preserving. So Christianity, when it ‘took over’ the pagan festivals and adapted them to its own uses, kept the anniversary of the Supercalia as St. Valentine’s day, renaming it in honor of a holy martyr, who had been done to death at Rome in the Third century, A. D.
“There was no special reason why St. Valentine should be chosen in preference to any other saint. It does not appear that he took any particular interest in lovers and love-making. But, having first been clubbed to death and then beheaded, he deserved to be immortalized in some fashion, and in this way the object was obtained.”
It is enlightening, and even entertaining (depending on your disposition), to witness the different ways in which historic Oregon newspapers describe the origins of Valentine’s Day. Although their viewpoints were not always in alignment, these historic newspapers did faithfully print articles on the history of the holiday, year after year – at least around the turn of the century. Regardless of what readers of this blog believe about the holiday, it is hoped that Valentine’s Day will be a pleasant holiday for you all. As The Dalles Daily Chronicle says in its February 13, 1895, article, “We hope The Chronicle readers – especially the young perusers of our invaluable sheet – will all receive a quantum suf. of billing doves, pierced hearts, and the divers and sundry emblems that show how much and how anguishingly they are beloved.”
Since 2009, the University of Oregon (UO) Libraries’ Oregon Digital Newspaper Program (ODNP) has participated in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a grant-funded initiative led by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress to digitize historic newspapers from across the United States to be made available online at Chronicling America. As of November 2015, after completing three rounds of funding, Oregon’s participation in the NDNP has drawn to a close.
Over the course of six years, the ODNP has digitized over 300,000 pages of historic newspaper content for Chronicling America, also available online at Historic Oregon Newspapers. The ODNP Advisory Board, with input from public libraries and historical societies across Oregon, selected a total of 60 newspaper titles for inclusion in the project, ranging from prominent dailies such as the Portland Morning Oregonian, Pendleton East Oregonian, and the Morning Astorian, to small town papers such as the Echo Register and Spray Courier, and so much more!
Grant funding from the NDNP has also supported the production of new and improved K-12 lesson plans for using historic newspapers to meet Oregon common core standards in the classroom, as well as initial funding for the Open-ONI (Online Newspaper Initiative) collaborative open-source project to enhance the Library of Congress’ chronam software, with the goal of making it easier for state institutions to host newspapers online.
Many thanks to the NDNP, partner institutions across the state, and all of the current and former staff and student workers at the UO Libraries for making this project a success over the years! But don’t worry, the ODNP is continuing beyond NDNP funding, working with other institutions and donors across the state to secure funding to continue adding valuable historic newspaper content to the online collection. Additionally, a selection of current newspapers published in 2015 and beyond are also being added to the Historic Oregon Newspapers online collection as we continue to preserve and provide access to Oregon’s history in the making. Visit our blog at http://odnp.uoregon.edu to stay up to date with the latest ODNP news and collection additions.
Giving back on Thanksgiving is a time-honored tradition, one that has been reported on throughout the decades by historic Oregon newspapers. One such historic Oregon newspaper, the Morning Oregonian, faithfully chronicled how the people of Portland, Oregon, have been charitable to those with less during a holiday that is celebrated by sharing abundance.
Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) November 30, 1906, Image 11. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1906-11-30/ed-1/seq-11/
Looking through the pages of the Morning Oregonian, from 1906 through 1913, it becomes apparent that a favorite focus was how Portland’s littlest residents benefited from the generosity of others on Thanksgiving. In a November 30, 1906, article titled “Big Dinners for Little People,” the Morning Oregonian assured that “Babies Not Overlooked” in the marking of the holiday. These babies who got to partake in the bounty of Thanksgiving were sheltered by the Baby Home, established in 1888 to house homeless and neglected infants. On November 30, 1906, the Morning Oregonian reported:
The tiny tots at the Baby Home were too young to understand the reasons for the observance of Thanksgiving Day, but they were old enough to realize that a Thanksgiving feast was not something that could be enjoyed every day. There are 16 babies at the Home and 10 of them were old enough and strong enough to sit at the tables. For more than an hour they literally stuffed themselves with the good, old New England bird, roasted to a turn, and the many other good things that go to make up a regulation Thanksgiving dinner.
Like the Baby Home, the Boys’ and Girls’ Aid Society was established as a haven for Portland’s homeless youth. The Boys’ and Girls’ Aid Society was founded just three years prior to the Baby Home, in 1885, but it had the similar mission “to improve the condition of the homeless, neglected, and the abused.” The same November 30, 1906, Morning Oregonian article stated:
Sixty-four little boys and girls sat down to dinner in the home of the Boys’ and Girls’ Aid Society and sixty-four full-grown men and women could not possibly have eaten more than they. They had everything that was really worth eating. Turkey, of course, cranberries, oysters, sweet potatoes, rich brown gravy, mince, pumpkin pies, etc.
In its November 29, 1912, edition, the Morning Oregonian ran a photograph of children in the care of the Boys’ and Girls’ Aid Society sitting at rows of tables set for Thanksgiving dinner, with each table having its own a robust roasted turkey. The photograph was published alongside the article “Happy Day Passed: Orphans and Invalids Receive Additional Attention.” Its caption read: “There were no keener appetites in Portland yesterday than these.”
Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) November 29, 1912, Image 20. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1912-11-29/ed-1/seq-20/
The following Thanksgiving, in 1913, the Morning Oregonian recounted how the boys and girls who resided at the Children’s Home in South Portland were “made happy” on the holiday. The Children’s Home was “a dormitory for impoverished and orphaned children” that had opened its doors in 1884. In the November 28, 1913, article “‘Turk’ Holds Sway on Charity Day” that had the subtitle “Children’s Homes Remembered by Benefactors,” the Morning Oregonian noted:
At the Children’s Home, in South Portland, six lavishly laden tables were arranged for the 84 little boys and girls of the institution. Each table was presided over by an attendant and it was wonderful to see the bright, happy faces of the kiddies when the big, brown turkey appeared. Such radiant happiness could only be characteristic of childhood. The soup plates soon were empty and then came the principal part of the dinner – the turkey. With it there were celery, vegetables and cranberry sauce. When each child had eaten all he wanted, there was ice cream, cake and fruit for everyone.
“There was enough turkey for everyone,” read the caption of the photograph that accompanied the article. In the photograph, there is row upon row of boys and girls at the Children’s Home, each child wearing his or her holiday best and enjoying the Thanksgiving meal. Some of the children seemed to have cheeks filled with food as they turned to look at the camera.
Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) November 28, 1913, Image 18. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1913-11-28/ed-1/seq-18/
The children in the home all were healthy and happy and gave evidence of great care on the part of Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Matlock and the assistants. The donations received at the Children’s Home came largely from the public school children and consisted of dozens of jars of jam, glasses of jelly, canned goods of all varieties, package goods, potatoes and apples. Miss Miriam Jacobs sent cakes and turkeys were donated by Mrs. H. W. Corbett, Mrs. C. H. Lewis, Miss Sally Lewis, Kessler and Fry, Mrs. P. J. Mann and others.
On this Thanksgiving, may we all be as charitable as Miss Miriam Jacobs, Mrs. H. W. Corbett, Mrs. C. H. Lewis, Miss Sally Lewis, Kessler and Fry, and Mrs. P. J. Mann were toward the less-fortunate little ones of 1913 Portland. Whether the holiday season is spent with the family we were born into or the one that we chose, perhaps we can take time to give back to the community in one way or another, whether it is initiating a food drive, donating food to a charitable institution or organization, or lending a helping hand at a local soup kitchen. As the Morning Oregonian shows in its early 20th-century reportage, giving back on Thanksgiving can “make happy” those who could benefit from our kindness the most.
With the familiar chill of early fall comes jack-o’-lanterns on front porches and paper cutouts of bats, black cats, and witches on broomsticks in the windows of homes and school buildings. Halloween is here once more, and the fun and oftentimes spooky traditions of the holiday as celebrated in the state of Oregon have been well documented in Historic Oregon Newspapers.
Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) October 29, 1916, Image 71. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1916-10-29/ed-1/seq-71/
A yearly tradition that many look forward to is the Halloween party. The “Society ” page of the November 5, 1922, edition of the Sunday Oregonian detailed the numerous Halloween parties and dances held in posh Portland hotels and private homes. One such party was given in honor of “Miss Dora Gordon, a popular young Portland girl who is attending the University of Oregon.” The party took place at the “Torrey residence in Laurelhurst” and “was most attractively and appropriately decorated in the striking Halloween colors. Dancing and many original features were enjoyed. Refreshments were served around an artistic orange and black table.”
In Grand Ronde, Oregon, the “gymnasium was a place of confusion and merriment on last Monday evening, it being the occasion of an All Halloween social,” reported the November 4, 1910, edition of the Weekly Chemawa American. “Various amazing features were provided for the entertainment of young and old on this occasion. A couple of ‘spectres’ made their earthly appearance on this occasion, to the enjoyment of all. They were arrayed in the latest tailored white sheeting and cut quite a dash.”
Focusing specifically on the entertainment of the young on the festive occasion of Halloween, the Sunday Oregonian in its October 29, 1916, edition ran an article titled “Features for the Young People.” The article included the fiction story “Halloween Witches and Their Pranks” and presented helpful tips on “Fun for Halloweeners.”
Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) October 29, 1916, Image 73. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1916-10-29/ed-1/seq-73/
“Fun for Halloweeners” provided many ideas for games, “in addition to the old ‘bobbing for apples’ game,” which young people could play at a Halloween party. One of these Halloween games, “out of which much fun can be gotten,” involved a horseshoe:
A horseshoe is hung in a doorway, and each set of partners is given three lady-apples. Each, in turn, tries to throw the apples, one at a time, through the shoe. The one who succeeds wins the prize. Or, if you do not want to give prizes, she will be pleased to be told that she will marry young. Hang a ring from the gas fixture and ask your guests to try to run a pencil through the ring while walking toward it. The winner will be the next to get married. Nearly all Halloween games have to do with love and marriage.
For Halloween revelers not quite of marrying age, there was still fun to be had, typically at parties given by parents. The October 7, 1948, edition of the Heppner Gazette-Times came to the aid of Heppner, Oregon, parents faced with throwing a kids’ Halloween party. The newspaper stated the “setting for the party might be the backyard, a recreation room or the family living room. The boys and girls will have lots of fun planning the games and making the decorations. Simple-to-make decorations such as jack-o’-lanterns, black cats, balloons and orange and black crepe paper streamers make a fine background for a gathering of ghosts and goblins.”
Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) October 25, 1908, Image 45. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1908-10-25/ed-1/seq-45/
The Morning Enterprise, in the October 23, 1912, article “For the Children,” suggested parents have their children play the “lucky candle game” for Halloween: “For this game provide a large tub of water and small candles for those who wish to try their luck. The candles are mounted on bits of wood by means of a pin or thin nail driven through it. Each player then launches his little boat, and the candles are all lighted as quickly as possible. The owner of the candle that burns the longest will be the luckiest guest of the party. The good luck is supposed to remain with the fortunate winner for the ensuing year.” Hopefully, Oregon City parents who heeded the Morning Enterprise article had more than a few fortunate winners at their children’s Halloween parties.
As the sun sets October 31 and costumed revelers, young and old, fill streets and homes with Halloween cheer, take a page from Historic Oregon Newspapers and their coverage of spooky fun and frolic in decades past. Make sure party spots are “most attractively and appropriately decorated in the striking Halloween colors.” Serve refreshments “around an artistic orange and black table.” Play games “out of which much fun can be gotten.” And Happy Halloween!
September days see the re-opening of school doors in the state of Oregon and across the country. Historic Oregon newspapers have dutifully remarked upon the start of the back-to-school season and the academic pursuits of Oregon students throughout the decades.
Often, historic Oregon newspapers marked the occasion of the new school year with pictorials that typically were comprised of photographs of fresh-faced students sitting in rapt attention in classrooms, vigorously engaged in academic or athletic pursuits, standing alongside peers in carefully posed photographs of school teams or activity groups, or walking cheerfully en route to school on their first day back. The Morning Oregonian, in its September 7, 1915, issue, noted that “nearly 30,000 pupils” were on their way to school that morning in Portland. The newspaper features a photograph of two young children, nattily dressed, on their first day back.
The Morning Oregonian also caught America’s future farmers in action in classrooms and laboratories at Oregon Agricultural College, which is now Oregon State University (OSU) in Corvallis, Oregon. In photographs, the historic Oregon newspaper captured young male students at the college “making cement fence posts,” getting hands-on experience with dairy farm machinery, and “corn judging,” which can be seen in the photograph posted below. The Oregon students of yesteryear were engaged in a wide range of academic and practical learning activities that were intended to benefit them and boost the local and state economy.
In addition to showing Oregon students as active participants inside the classroom, historic Oregon newspapers reported on the avid athletic pursuits of the state’s high school and college students, both male and female. Members of school sports teams, typically in uniform and posing alongside teammates and coaches, were the photographic subjects of many historic Oregon newspapers. The Sunday Oregonian, in an article titled “Portland ‘School Days’ Not All Given to Book Study,” focused on the extracurricular activities of students at Washington High School, Girls’ Trade School, Jefferson High School, and Franklin High School. The article includes a photograph of the “Girls Basketball Team” at Franklin High School, seen below.
“Back to school” in Oregon meant heading to class in first-day finery, working individually or with peers in classrooms and laboratories to get a handle on newfangled farm equipment, coming together with one’s basketball teammates in fierce determination to win one for the school, and much, much more. Over the span of many decades, in the 19th century and beyond, historic Oregon newspapers chronicled these moments in academia and preserved them for the ages.
Oregon has long been a popular destination for those seeking warm-weather recreation. With seemingly endless options set amid a landscape abundant in natural beauty, Oregon is a big draw for visitors from out of state in search of vacation fun and for Oregonians seeking a weekend (or week-long) escape from the day-to-day. As is evident from this article from the June 28, 1914, Sunday Oregonian, there is no shortage of “Vacation Haunts in Oregon.”
The Sunday Oregonian is the Sunday edition of the long-running Oregonian newspaper, which is the oldest continuously running newspaper on the West Coast and has been a major newspaper in Portland, Oregon, since 1850. First published on December 4, 1881, the Sunday Oregonian has striven to print news of interest to those in Multnomah County, Oregon, and far beyond. Such news of interest includes what to do, and where to sojourn, in Oregon in the summertime. The aforementioned “Vacation Haunts in Oregon” article published in the Sunday Oregonian suggests a plethora of options for summer vacation in the state, from “an outing on the beach,” to “boating or canoeing,” to “trout fishing,” to “running about through mountains and forest,” to “camp[ing] or liv[ing] in rented tent houses or small seaside cottages.”
Speaking of seaside cottages…
Another article, published in the July 4, 1920, edition of the Sunday Oregonian, points the way to summertime destinations (and doings) in Seaside, Oregon, a historic summer resort area and longtime beach vacation destination. The article, titled “News of the Resorts,” extensively reports on the Oregon families who were summering in beach cottages along the shore. Reporting on the Yost family, the article says:
“Idlewild” Cottage is being occupied this year by Mr. and Mrs. B. L. Yost, their parents and three children. The family were formerly from Portland, but have recently made their home in Vancouver. They have been at the coast two weeks.”
Also according to “News of the Resorts”:
The garden at Necanicum this year is just as beautiful as ever and can be enjoyed to the fullest extent from the sun parlor built last year. The hotel, which is in its twentieth year under Mrs. Damon’s management, is opening this season with Mrs. M. W. Cruise of Oregon Agricultural college in charge of the dining room. She has with her several co-eds from the domestic science department assisting.
“News of the Resorts” goes on to chronicle the opening of summer homes in Gearhart, Oregon; who’s who among the visitors inhabiting the cottages in Cannon Beach, Oregon; seasonal travelers to the seaside resort destination of Newport Beach, Oregon; as well as Fourth of July festivities, parties, and the opening of a new public restroom in Long Beach, Washington, thanks to the efforts of the Ladies’ Aid Society of Long Beach.
In addition, the “News of the Resorts” article features a photograph of Crescent Lake, a natural lake and recreational spot that has long been popular with those who enjoy fishing, swimming and sailing:
With such natural, picturesque attractions like Crescent Lake that invite all manner of outdoor warm-weather fun, summer in Oregon has a strong, undeniable lure that can be felt near and far. As the “Vacation Haunts in Oregon” article states:
All nature in Oregon invites the vacationist. That’s why Oregon is called “The Summer playground of the Northwest” and that also is the reason this state is drawing annually bigger crowds of tourists and vacationists from the East. The outing places are all here and they’re free. They lack artificiality and formality, holding still their original natural beauty and attractiveness.
So, in the words of the “Vacation Haunts in Oregon” piece, “now for your summer vacation. Dig out your fishing tackle, your big shoes, the old duck suit, your bathing trunks and the slouch hat and hit the trail. Nature, you will find, has had your comfort and pleasure in mind since last Summer and will be on hand as usual to greet you with big broad smiles whichever way you turn.” Happy summer (and enjoy the sun)!
Here at the ODNP, we’re always thrilled to hear about or see how Oregon’s historic newspapers are being used. The weekend of March 14, 2014 marked one of these instances right here in our hometown of Eugene, where a Lane County Historical Museum exhibit titled, “Women of the Gold Rush West” debuted to hundreds of community members in the lobby of the Hult Center, in conjunction with the Eugene Opera’s performance of Puccini’s “The Girl of the Golden West.”
Advertisement in the Eugene Weekly for “The Girl of the Golden West.”
The exhibit, which included women’s clothing from the 1850s, an antique saloon sign, a gold dust bag, and other items that would typically have been found in a Gold Rush Era saloon, was created and coordinated by Dorothy Bayern, a graduate student in the University of Oregon’s Folklore program, as part of her terminal project for her Master’s degree.
“Women of the Gold Rush West” exhibit display case at the Hult Center in Eugene.
Dorothy’s research focuses on “clothing traditions, and in particular how clothing in museum settings helps people connect to other cultures and historical periods,” so fittingly, the exhibit included an interactive “dress up” station, where people could don bonnets, cowboy hats, and other period clothing items and props, and then have their picture taken in front of a country backdrop. Of course, our favorite part of the display was a replica of the November 4, 1848 issue of the Oregon Free Press, printed from our Historic Oregon Newspapers website! The Oregon Free Press was published in Oregon City from April to November of 1848, at which point the paper was forced to suspend due to the outflow of subscribers to the gold mines of California. (Read more about the history of the Free Presshere.)
Replica issue of the Oregon Free Press, created by Dorothy Bayern: “I’m so glad that I found out about the ODNP’s scans of Oregon Free Press in time to include them in this exhibit. This funky little newspaper is part of Oregon’s gold rush era history, and made a great addition to the saloon scene.”
Nestled next to a Wells Fargo driver’s cap from the 1850s, the newspaper was a great fit for the exhibit! Dorothy explains, “Oregon and California were both on the American frontier in the 1850s. Many Americans left Oregon for the famous California Gold Rush, but Oregon had gold rushes too, which is why Lane County Historical Museum has artifacts like the gold dust bag on display, and mining equipment currently on display at the museum. This newspaper was the perfect final touch to connect the opera’s depiction of gold rush life to local history in Oregon.”
Exhibit signage explains items on display, with credits to Lane County Historical Museum, Historic Oregon Newspapers online, and exhibit designer Dorothy Bayern.
This excellent exhibit is now available for viewing at the Lane County Historical Museum through the end of March, so go check it out if you can! Many thanks to Dorothy Bayern and the Lane County Historical Museum for including this unique Oregon newspaper in the exhibit! Very well done!
