Oregon City Enterprise. (Oregon City, OR.) January 8, 1897, page 6. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn00063700/1897-01-08/ed-1/seq-6/
If you think direct-to-consumer prescription medication advertising is bad today, take a look at the historic newspapers we have digitized on the Oregon Historic Newspapers website! Likely, if you have taken the time to peruse just a few issues, you will have noticed an overabundance of strange medication advertisements.
Rogue River Courier. (Grants Pass, OR.) December 13, 1900, page 2. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088281/1900-12-13/ed-1/seq-2/
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a lack of adequate medical care in combination with few government regulations resulted in a flurry of business called the patent medicine industry. These questionable concoctions promised lofty claims, and in large part helped fund Oregon’s early newspapers through their advertisements.
The Dalles Daily Chronicle. (The Dalles, OR.) January 15, 1901, page 2. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042448/1901-01-15/ed-1/
Merchants had little obligation to truthfully describe the contents and effectiveness of their products, creating tonics, pills, and syrups that often contained dangerous substances such as opium, morphine, cocaine, and alcohol. While consumers might have found temporary relief from these ingredients, patent medicines were an unfortunate cause of accidental overdose, intoxication and addiction.
The Eugene City Guard. (Eugene, OR.) January 26, 1889, page 8. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn84022653/1889-01-26/ed-1/
Next time you are on the Oregon Historic Newspapers website reading your favorite historic papers, take notice of the patent medicine advertisements on the side of the page; I’m sure you’ll find something that surprises you!
The New Age. (Portland, OR.) May 12, 1900, page 7. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025107/1900-05-12/ed-1/seq-7/
Newberg Graphic. (Newberg, OR.) December 22, 1888, page 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088233/1888-12-22/ed-1/
We have recently been able to add a new paper to the Oregon Historic Newspapers website, this time coming from Newberg, OR! Thanks to the generosity of the Newberg Public Library, ODNP has been able to digitize a large span of the Newberg Graphic, one of the historic newspapers from Newberg dating back to 1888. The large span of the Graphic we now have available, from 1888 to 1922, records the growth and development of Newberg and interestingly, small snippets from the early life of our 31st United States President Herbert Hoover.
In 1885, Herbert (Bert) Hoover moved to Newberg, OR at age 9 after both his parents passed away. Though Hoover moved to Salem to work with his uncle at age 13, he continued to visit his friends and family in Newberg and thus remained a figure in the local news section of the Graphic. These entirely commonplace mentions offer insight into the young president when he was still regarded as a regular small town Oregon boy.
Newberg Graphic. (Newberg, OR.) December 29, 1888, page 3. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088233/1888-12-29/ed-1/seq-3/Newberg Graphic. (Newberg, OR.) February 16, 1889, page 3. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088233/1889-02-16/ed-1/seq-3/
To see more of the Newberg Graphic, feel free to browse the large span of issues we have digitized on our website. This title, as with all our historic newspapers, can be browsed and searched by keyword thanks to optical character recognition (OCR). In addition, content can be downloaded as a PDF or JPEG file and saved for future reference or research purposes. All of these services are free and open to the public, so don’t wait and take a look at Oregon’s historic newspapers today!
Newberg Graphic. (Newberg, OR.) March 30, 1889, page 3. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088233/1889-03-30/ed-1/seq-3/Newberg Graphic. (Newberg, OR.) July 13, 1889, page 3. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088233/1889-07-13/ed-1/seq-3/Newberg Graphic. (Newberg, OR.) June 14, 1890, page 3. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088233/1890-06-14/ed-1/seq-3/
Cottage Grove Sentinel. (Cottage Grove, OR.) September 22, 1911, image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088073/1911-09-22/ed-1/seq-1/
Thanks to the generosity of the Cottage Grove Historical Museum, we have recently been able to expand upon our available issues of the Cottage Grove Sentinel! This new content added to the Oregon Historic Newspapers website covers the early years of the Sentinel, a wonderful addition to the current issues we already have digitized. The new issues span from 1909 to 1918, and showcase the aspirational personality of one of Oregon’s most famous editors, Elbert Bede.
Quoted by Oregon’s historic newspaper expert George S. Turnbull, Elbert Bede was “the one man who spent the most time, did the most work, [and] became the best known as the Cottage Grove Editor.” (Turnbull, 269) Bede’s entrepreneurial spirit is evident throughout the newly added historic issues of the Cottage Grove Sentinel, especially in articles like the ones below which were published shortly after Bede took ownership of the paper.
Cottage Grove Sentinel. (Cottage Grove, OR.) October 20, 1911, image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088073/1911-10-20/ed-1/seq-1/
Cottage Grove Sentinel. (Cottage Grove, OR.) November 24, 1911, image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088073/1911-11-24/ed-1/seq-1/
If you want to learn more about the Cottage Grove Sentinel, Elbert Bede, or historic newspapers in general check out our collection of digitized historic newspapers on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website! Doing research through ODNP is easy thanks to optical character recognition (OCR), which allows all of our historic newspapers to be keyword searchable. In addition, this newspaper can be downloaded as a PDF or JPEG file and saved for future reference or research purposes. All of these services are free and fully available to the public, so don’t hesitate and take a look at what historic Oregon was like through the newspapers that documented it!
References:
Turnbull, George S. History of Oregon Newspapers. Binfords & Mort, Publishers. Portland, OR. 1939.
We’ve recently added more content from Polk County, this time coming from Independence, OR! This batch was made possible by the folks at Independence Public Library. The added issues come from The Polk County Post, going back to the start of the paper in 1918 and through 1921.
The Polk County post. (Independence, Or.) April 2, 1918, Image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2012260080/1918-04-02/ed-1/seq-1/
During that time, it was the second largest newspaper coming out of Independence. Though it was a lot newer than the other town newspaper, the Independence Enterprise, it still managed to develop a circulation of 705 in a town of about 1,380 by 1920, its third year in existence, according to the American Newspaper Annual and Directory from that year.
Even though it was a relatively small paper, The Polk County Post still managed to squeeze in a lot of important news tidbits from around the world and across the state in its weekly issues. The newspaper also had a focus on the agricultural leanings of the town, particularly hops which were a major part of the town’s economy during this time.
The Polk County post. (Independence, Or.) March 7, 1919, Image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2012260080/1919-03-07/ed-1/seq-1/
The Post also started to include film listings from the local movie theater, a glimpse into the entertainment available at that time.
The Polk County post. (Independence, Or.) September 10, 1920, Image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2012260080/1920-09-10/ed-1/seq-1/
As with all of our digitized papers, you can browse through more issues on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website. Each issue of The Polk County Post can be browsed and searched by keyword, thanks to optical character recognition (OCR) technology. In addition, content can be downloaded as a PDF or JPEG file and saved for future reference or research purposes at absolutely no cost to visitors to Historic Oregon Newspapers.
This fiscal year we added 87,606 pages of historic and currently published newspapers to the ODNP site!
We made improvements to the system and workflow for handling currently published e-editions of newspapers, and we are looking forward to adding more content this next year. There are several digitization projects underway!
Also, we have a few exciting additions to the goals of ODNP for next year:
To assist the public with fundraising for historic newspaper digitization, we will be creating a fundraising how-to guide with resources, strategies, and grant writing best practices for users of ODNP around the state to fund newspaper digitization.
We are also looking forward to updating the website with better usability, features, and search functionalities. The new blog header, designed by Azle Malinao-Alvarez, provides a small preview of the upcoming updates to the look and feel.
Please be sure to check the blog frequently for new posts. This year, we will be focusing on finding connections between the ODNP collections and other UO Library collections in our Special Collections and University Archives and Oregon Digital. See our most recent blog post by our student Jane Conway, which features Colonel John “Watermelon” Redington (1851-1935), an Oregon scout turned newspaper editor.
Thanks to the ODNP team for their hard work and agility this year as we have been refining the digital and born-digital processes and workflows. A special thank you to our programmer, Jeremy, and our production manager, Randy, who have worked the hardest on this project to create better systems for quality assurance.
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please let us know!
Available at the University of OregonSpecial Collections and University Archives (SCUA) is a collection of correspondences, scrapbooks, newspapers, and miscellaneous papers pertaining to ColonelJohn “Watermelon” Redington (1851-1935). An Oregon scout turned newspaper man, this eccentric character was editor of the Heppner Weekly Gazette in Heppner, Oregon during its frontier days. The Colonel published quite an unusual periodical for such a small western town, and University of Oregon alumnus Brant Ducey used Redington’s editorial career with the Heppner Weekly Gazette as the focus of his master’s thesis (John Watermelon Redington: “Hell on Hogthieves and Hypocrites” 1963). To add to the bulk of resources available on John “Watermelon” Redington, the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program (ODNP) has also made digital issues of the Heppner Weekly Gazette available online from the period of his editorial management. Drawing upon the research already completed by Brant Ducey, and the resources made available by SCUA and ODNP, this post takes a quick look at the editorial career of Redington, which Ducey remarked as perhaps one of the most unique moments in the history of Oregon’s periodical publications.
Scrapbook in the John W. Redington Papers, 1880-1935. University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives. Jane Conway photo.
As Brant Ducey explains in his research, Colonel Redington was propositioned with an offer to run the Heppner Weekly Gazette following his service in both the Nez Perce and Bannock Indian wars. He was hesitant to accept the job, as an editorial position didn’t quite match the excitement of his nomadic life as an Oregon scout. After hearing that the previous publisher of the paper had been run out of Heppner by the town “baddies,” Redington felt that the proposition might provide enough of a challenge to stay entertained.
“The Original Boy Scout.” John. W. Redington Papers, 1880-1935. University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives. Jane Conway photo.
In the 1880’s, the city of Heppner, Oregon was much like the majority of early frontier towns scattered throughout the west: chaotic. Redington embraced the challenges accompanying his role as editor and sought to establish a paper that prioritized the best interests of the fledgling town, despite the often raucous environment he was surrounded by. Tensions between law-abiding citizens, gamblers, saloon-keepers, and horse thieves ran high, with each constituency having their own ideas as to what the political position of the paper should be. The small, but vibrant town of Heppner was anxious to see what their new editor was made of, and Redington did not disappoint. In his introductory address, the Colonel made clear the position of the Heppner Weekly Gazette:
Undated clipping from the Heppner Weekly Gazette in one of the John W. Redington scrapbooks. John W. Redington Papers, 1880-1935. University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives. Jane Conway photo.
The hardy and strong-willed homesteaders, which composed the Gazette’s readership, resonated with their new editor’s straightforward approach to journalism, and the publication quickly garnered support. But the paper’s eventual infamy and nationwide readership cannot be solely credited to Redington’s blunt tone of authorship. A dry sense of humor, which he let infiltrate all aspects of his paper, proved to be the defining source of the periodicals success.
Image of John W. Redington in the John W. Redington Papers, 1880-1935. University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives. Jane Conway Photo.
The Colonel knew that homesteading was a grueling task that left little time for reading newspapers. The comedic tone he chose to adopt for the Heppner Gazette gave the news a readable quality to worn out pioneers and a popularity unusual for periodicals of its time. The Colonel was a natural comedian and found a special talent in giving the routine or mundane a comedic spin:
More often than not left without much news to tell, Redington also wrote comedic shorts to fill his columns:
Heppner Weekly Gazette (Heppner, OR.) John W. Redington Papers, 1880-1935. University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives. Jane Conway Photo.
The Heppner Weekly Gazette and its “comedic journalism” achieved a moderate amount of fame, and Redington’s office was often flooded with letters from all across the country. This would have been normal for a newspaper published in Chicago or New York, as during the last quarter of the 19th century papers included a high level of correspondence, but for a town the size of Heppner it was strange indeed! Readers were delighted that as the Colonel published some of the correspondences he received, it only increased the Gazette’s comedic quality:
Heppner Weekly Gazette (Heppner, OR.) January 24, 1884, image 3. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn97071041/1884-01-24/ed-1/seq-3/Heppner Weekly Gazette (Heppner, OR.) John W. Redington Papers, 1880-1935. University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives. Jane Conway Photo.Heppner Weekly Gazette (Heppner, OR.) John W. Redington Papers, 1880-1935. University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives. Jane Conway Photo.
Throughout the rest of Redington’s life, he continued to publish newspapers, but none of them ever achieved the same comedic quality as the Heppner Weekly Gazette. Something about the small town of Heppner inspired the Colonel; perhaps it was the rural isolation or the vivacious assortment of town folk. Only a small sampling of Redington’s humor has been able to be featured in this blog post; to read more of his entertaining anecdotes, check out the digitized issues of the Heppner Weekly Gazette at ODNP.
Written in reference to:
Ducey, Brant. “John W. Redington- Hell on Hogthieves and Hypocrites,” MA Thesis. University of Oregon, 1963.
Stewart Redington, Elizabeth. “Col. John Watermelon Redington, my Papa.” The Pacific Northwest Forum, vol. 5, no.1, 1979, pp. 12-22.
With support from the Dallas Public Library and the Polk County Cultural Coalition, we were recently able to digitize and add more newspapers from Dallas, Oregon! Issues from The Polk County Signal, Polk County Times, and Polk County Itemizer are now available online. Of these newspapers, the issues available from the The Polk County Signal cover the earliest period from 1868 and 1869, while the Polk County Itemizer covers a later period from 1903 to 1914.
The Polk County signal. (Dallas, Or.) June 8, 1868, Image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn93051616/1868-06-08/ed-1/seq-1/
In 1868, J.H. Upton started the The Polk County Signal in Dallas, OR. As a small weekly paper, it covered issues of both local and national import. The paper had strong political leanings, supporting the Democratic party of that time and often arguing in favor of states’ rights. However, this meant that articles in this paper ranged widely, from simply offering support for Democratic politicians to using extreme and racist rhetoric.
The Polk County signal. (Dallas, Or.) June 22, 1868, Image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn93051616/1868-06-22/ed-1/seq-1/
In 1879, the Signal would merge with the Dallas Itemizer to form the Polk County Itemizer, which for a time billed itself as “the best and largest paper in Polk County.” However, that was relative for the time as its circulation in 1884 would have only been about 950. In this transition, the newspaper became more politically independent, not affiliating itself with either party while moving away from the Signal’s sometimes harsher language.
Polk County itemizer. (Dallas, Or.) October, 1, 1903, Image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn94049693/1903-10-01/ed-1/seq-1/
Meanwhile, the Polk County Times had a brief run during this time between 1869 and 1870, published by F.R. Stuart. It often printed news briefs from across the county, but focused mainly on state and local news. Though the paper was short-lived, it is still an interesting glimpse at life in Dallas and Polk County during that time. Take for example the below clipping from the County News and Town Gossip section:
Polk County times. (Dallas, Or.) February 12, 1870, Image 3. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn93051615/1870-02-12/ed-1/seq-3/
In this article about a singing class taught by a Professor McNutt, we get a sense of the type of pleasurable activities “Dallasanians” would have taken part of back then. To find out about other aspects of life in Dallas in the mid to late 1800s, browse through more issues of each of these newspapers on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website. Each issue of The Polk County Signal, Polk County Times, and Polk County Itemizer can be browsed and searched by keyword, thanks to optical character recognition (OCR) technology. In addition, these historic Dallas, Oregon newspapers can be downloaded as a PDF or JPEG file and saved for future reference or research purposes at absolutely no cost to visitors to Historic Oregon Newspapers.
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.
Thanks in large part to the generosity of a group of donors from Coquille, we were recently able to add the Coquille City Herald to the Historic Oregon Newspapers website, covering a time period between 1883 and 1894. The earliest issue currently available from this weekly paper is from September 11, 1883, while the last one is from December 11, 1894. More issues will be added later from that time period, as well as from the rest of the paper’s run through 1917.
Coquille City herald. (Coquille, Or.) July 1, 1884, Image 1. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn93051617/1884-07-01/ed-1/seq-1/
Incorporated in 1885, Coquille remains a relatively small town to this day. These issues of the Coquille City Herald offer insight into the town’s early days and neighboring areas, featuring not only recent news related to the area, but also plenty of ads for some of the local businesses and trades. In fact, the paper often promoted the city itself in an attempt to help its growth, emphasizing the natural charms and availability of reasonably affordable properties.
Coquille City herald. (Coquille City, Or.) January 4, 1887, Image 2. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn93051617/1887-01-04/ed-1/seq-2/
Interestingly enough, the property agent listed in the ad for the city is J.A. Dean, who was also the publisher and editor of the newspaper during this time. In fact, Dean was also one of the incorporators of the Occidental Water company, which was created in 1885 to transport water into the town for its citizens and business to use. His dual roles as newspaper man and property agent likely worked well for him, as the paper afforded him a mouthpiece with which to encourage others to move to this “blossoming” city.
As with all historic newspapers available on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website, each of the Coquille City Herald can be browsed and searched by keyword, thanks to optical character recognition (OCR) technology. In addition, this historic Coquille, Oregon, newspaper can be downloaded as a PDF or JPEG file and saved for future reference or research purposes at absolutely no cost to visitors to Historic Oregon Newspapers. So, check out these newly added issues and learn a little more about late-nineteenth century Coquille!
Coquille City herald. (Coquille, Or.) September 29, 1885, Image 4. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn93051617/1885-09-29/ed-1/seq-4/
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!
