Category Archives: Exhibit

“Plans and Profiles of Oregon Rivers” Exhibit, 2024-2025

The “Plans and Profiles of Oregon River Maps” exhibition highlights the earliest maps and figures in SCARC’s Plans and Profiles of Oregon Rivers archival collection. Surveyed and hand-drawn in the 1920s as part of the Department of Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey, the twelve (reproductions of) images on display showcase the two types of schematics in the collection: plans (aerial, topographic maps of rivers and surrounding landscape) and profiles (visualizations of stream surface level over a given area).

When: The 2024-2025 academic year (Fall 2024 – Summer 2025); Special Open House Wednesday, October 16, 2024, 10:30am-1:30pm in the SCARC Reading Room

Where: The Valley Library 5th Floor SCARC Exhibit Alcove (across from the Reading Room and open during The Valley Library’s open hours)

Historical Context: Congress established the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879 and charged it with the “classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain.” In the aftermath of World War I, the Survey shifted focus towards identifying new energy resources, including hydropower. The maps on display, therefore, show current and potential dam sites in plan and profile. The display of these maps today honors the end of the dam century in the western US.

Cartography: Functional and Beautiful

In the early 20th century, cartography was an extreme endeavor. Surveyors traveled across rugged terrain in wooden boats, on foot, and on horseback – lugging plane tables and telescopic alidades up mountainsides and down canyons. Transferring field data to paper was a similarly physical process, one which captured the personalities and particular interests of the mapmakers, even within the highly standardized genre of the topographic map. Bishop Moorhead included ranger stations, canneries, and ferry crossings in his map of the Rogue River and animated rapids with blue strokes. E. S. Rickard rendered the confluence of the Sandy and the Columbia with a sinuous, less demonstrative hand, and marked the water itself as negative space.

Consider the pieces on display as art, as objects made with aesthetic intention. While these maps are created primarily for functionality and to serve the bureaucratic purposes and politics of the Department of the Interior, they become creative forms meant to communicate and shift the perspective of the viewer.

Photos of the Exhibit

Additional Information and Collection Notes

Bonus Exhibit!

Vanport Traveling Exhibit, October – December 2024

The Vanport traveling exhibit tells the story of the City of Vanport through four pull-up banners. Vanport was the largest wartime housing development in the nation and the second largest city in Oregon before it was destroyed by floodwater. Although Vanport had a short history from 1942 to 1948, thousands of people called the city home.

SCARC Anti-Racist Description Activities Exhibit, 2024-2025

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SCARC’s 2024-2025 exhibit “Anti-Racist Description Activities in OSU’s Special Collections and Archives Research Center” is now on view! The exhibit showcases the context, behind-the-scenes processes, and various projects reflecting SCARC’s anti-racist description activities over the past several years.

When: The 2024-2025 academic year (Fall 2024 – Summer 2025)

Where: The Valley Library 5th Floor SCARC Exhibit Cases (open during SCARC’s open hours, Monday – Friday 10am-4pm)

The PDFs of the exhibit are available online via Oregon Digital

Community Response to the Exhibit!

OSU Today Story: “OSU library exhibit documents archivists’ anti-racist description work” by Molly Rosbach on Oct. 15, 2024

OSU’s Office of Institutional Diversity (OID) Featured Post on Instagram, November 15, 2024

Exhibit Tour for Members of OLA’s EDIA Committee, November 18, 2024

The mission of the committee is to “encourage an inclusive environment that promotes freedom of speech in conjunction with strong policies that protect patrons and library staff of all gender, national origin, ethnicity, religion, race, sexual orientation, disability, income level, age and all other personal, social, cultural and economic perspectives.” The host the podcast Overdue: Weeding Out Oppression in Libraries featuring EDIA work in libraries from across Oregon.

Colegio César Chávez Exhibit ~ Latinx Heritage Month 2024

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PODER’s Hispanic Heritage Month Breakfast & Summit: Higher Education Summit

The Colegio César Chávez exhibit and a panel presentation about the university’s history and legacy were featured at the September 13th, 2024 Higher Education Summit at the Salem Convention Center.

Colegio Documentary (forthcoming!)

In the morning, Oregon Public Broadcasting Documentary Producer Alicia Avila spoke about her forthcoming short documentary about the legacy of the Colegio César Chávez. The documentary is planned to be available online in mid-October.

Alicia Avila speaking about her OPB Colegio documentary

Panel Presentation

As part of the summit, the afternoon panel provided the historical significance of the Colegio César Chávez from 1970 to 1983, focusing on issues and personal successes during Colegio’s most difficult period. Discussion around Colegio’s historical impact and catalyst for equal educational opportunities for Chicano and other minority students also took place. In addition, the panelists shared some personal stories about César E. Chávez and the lessons they learned from their involvement with the Colegio.

The Colegio panel was a part of the Higher Education Track for the Summit:

Moderator: Natalia Fernández, Curator of the OSU’s Oregon Multicultural Archives & OSU Queer Archives.

Panelists: José Romero, Co-founder of the Colegio César Chávez and Colegio’s Director of Academic Affairs & Sonny Montes, Co-founder of the Colegio César Chávez and Colegio’s Director of Administrative Affairs. José is a retired educator, administrator, and community activist for social justice and equality, and he is a life-long advocate for the well-being of the Chicano/Latino community. José taught Chicano Studies at Lane Community College and at Colegio Cesar Chavez. Along with José, Sonny co-founded the Cesar E. Chavez Student Leadership Conference in 1990. Sonny was also a member of the Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard Committee in Portland, Oregon that was successful in renaming 39th Avenue in honor of Cesar Chavez. In 2010, he received the Distinguished Latino Educator Award from the Oregon Association of Latino Administrators.

The Exhibit

Colegio on Tour

The exhibit is on view to the public from mid-September to mid-October at the Newberg Public Library (503 E Hancock St, Newberg, OR 97132). If you are in the area, be sure to visit!

Bonus

A muralist spoke about his art and included a photo of a mural he worked on for OSU!

Celebrating Queer History Month 2024: Queer Books Written By and For Oregonians

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This exhibit is the second in a series of exhibits created in honor of a new page on the OSU Queer Archives website created to showcase the LGBTQIA+ rare books within the rare books collection, and can be found in the display case outside of the reading room on the 5th floor of the library!

While the first exhibit “Celebrating Pride 2024 Exhibit: The spectrum of representation in SCARC’s rare books collections” — which was on display throughout summer of 2024 — was looking at different types of queer representation in rare books, this exhibit features books that were written by Oregonians, published in Oregon, or contain events or themes from Oregon.

Included below is a picture of the display as well as a copy of the statement about the display:

Queer Books Written By and For Oregonians

These materials from the rare books collections include a songbook, comic, magazine, and books that contain queer themes and topics surrounding the central theme of Oregon. Some of these are associated with Oregon just through the author being born here, such as with Gale Wilhelm’s books The Strange Path and We Too Are Drifting. Some are written about events in Oregon such as It Could Happen to You and Queer Corners. And some have parts of the story that take place in Oregon, such as Come Out Comix or Turned On Woman’s Songbook.

These materials come from SCARC’s rare book collections, and are available for all to use. Access to materials is provided by appointment only; email scarc@oregonstate.edu to set up an appointment.

~Jozie Billings, Student Archivist, 2023-2024

Celebrating Pride 2024 Exhibit: The spectrum of representation in SCARC’s rare books collections

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In honor of the new guide created to showcase the LGBTQIA+ rare books within the SCARC rare books collection, some of these rare books are being exhibited in the display case outside of the SCARC Reading Room on the 5th floor of the library!

While looking at the collection as a whole and trying to separate the books into two themes, there was one clear theme, that being books written by and for Oregonians, which will be the second exhibit going up at the end of August 2024. With those books removed, we surveyed the remaining books, and another theme emerged: the good, the bad, and the misrepresentation. This set of materials deals with the ways that queer people have been referred to and used within media historically. While there are more good representations than bad representations, the bad cannot be overlooked and ignoring them would not accurately represent the historical record that exists.

Below a picture of the exhibit can be found, as well as copies of the statements that are placed within the bookcase:

The Good……

These books and magazines represent some of the more positive depictions of queerness within the rare books collection. While all have not been confirmed to have been written by someone in the queer community, all of them show positive representations of queer relationships and allow space for queer stories to be shared.

The Strange Path (Reprint 1953) was written by Gale Wilhelm, a pioneering lesbian writer who wrote two lesbian books in the 1930s, the other being We Too Are Drifting (1935), which is also available in the collection.

Davy (1964) by Edgar Pangborn is one of those that may not have been written by a queer person, as he was not openly out, but he is often read as a queer author due to the relationships and themes he crafts within his stories.

Kaliflower (1977) is a collection of art, poetry, and prose written by members of the Kaliflower commune. One tenet of their commune was sexual exploration, and relationships were encouraged between all members of the commune referred to as “mutual marriage.”

On our backs (1974) is a magazine that, though being mainly focused on straight feminist issues, had a large lesbian readership and it featured lesbian focused content from time to time. Ultimately the lesbian members of the collective left to found their own periodical, the Furies, published in 1972-1973, but on our backs still holds a place within lesbian feminist history.

…the Bad, and the Misinformation

These books are some of the books within the collection that portray negative stereotypes of queerness or spread misinformation. These contain themes or plot points that are centered around historical events such as the Cambridge Five in the UK, the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. in the 80s, and the anti-gay hysteria occurring in the 90s in the U.S.

Purple 6, published in 1962, is nuclear suspense fiction set in the UK, that utilizes opinions about the Cambridge Five as plot points. The Cambridge Five were a ring of spies in the UK during the cold war from the 1930s to the 1950s of which at least two, possibly three, were gay or bisexual, and claimed to be spying under threat of blackmail from the Soviet Union. Within the book, as they come to understand that there is a spy in their midst, everyone’s sexualities are investigated because of this stigma that if you were queer then you were more liable to blackmail or treason.

The AIDS Plague (1986) is by Dr. James McKeever, who was a fundamentalist physician. He combines surprisingly accurate AIDS information and education with religious aspects from Christianity, and blames not just homosexuality, but all deviant sexual behavior outside of marriage. Not the worst representation, but certainly not the best.

7 Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child by Scott Lively was published in 1990, and is described on the book jacket as “A concise, practical guidebook for parents who wish to protect their children from pro-homosexual indoctrination and the possibility of recruitment into the homosexual lifestyle.” Lively is known for being an aggressively anti-gay pastor who helped introduced anti-gay laws into Uganda and possibly Russia. This is possibly as far from a queer-positive book as you could get.

~ Jozie Billings, SCARC Student Archivist, 2023-2024

Colegio César Chávez, 50th Anniversary

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Colegio December 12, 2023 Event Promotion

On December 12, 2023, PODER: Oregon’s Latino Leadership Network hosted an event to commemorate the official 50th Anniversary of the Colegio César Chávez. It was on this date in 1973 when Colegio community members decided on the name in honor of the activist. The event began with a presentation by Colegio co-founders Sonny Montes and José Romero followed by a community conversation, which was recorded and is available online. The evening continued with an introduction from PODER Board Chair Anthony Veliz; a welcome by Chemeketa Community College Woodburn campus Dean Elias Villegas; a reading of the Governor’s Colegio César Chávez Proclamation by Javier Cervantes, Office of the Governor – Racial Justice Advisor; and concluding remarks from Montes and Romero. And, the Colegio exhibit was featured as part of the event!

Check out all of the blog posts related to Colegio César Chávez and see below for event photos!

*Oregonian* newspaper clipping re: Colegio’s new name

Colegio 50th Event Group Photo of Event Attendees

Colegio 50th – December 12, 2023 – Community Conversation

Colegio 50th – December 12, 2023 – Evening Event Agenda

Colegio 50th – Exhibit and Evening Event Space

A presentation by Colegio co-founders Sonny Montes and José Romero

The Governor’s Colegio César Chávez Proclamation presented to Anthony Veliz by Javier Cervantes

Closing remarks by Colegio co-founders Sonny Montes and José Romero

Colegio César Chávez Exhibit ~ Chemeketa Community College Tour

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Jennifer Cox, Dean of Library and Learning Resources, Chemeketa Community College, cutting the ribbon at the November 20, 2023, Salem Campus exhibit opening

After attending the Colegio César Chávez 50th Celebration and Commemoration event in August, Chemeketa Community College requested a copy of the Colegio César Chávez exhibit to tour across its various campus locations, and we are delighted to announce the exhibit is now on tour!

Colegio César Chávez Exhibit ~ Chemeketa Community College Tour Dates and Locations:

November 20th-December 28th ~ Salem Campus
January 3rd-February 9th ~ Woodburn Center
February 12th-March 22nd ~ Yamhill Valley Campus
March 22nd-April 1st ~ Salem Campus – César Chávez Day Celebration
April 2nd-May 17th ~ Polk Center
May 17th-June 30th ~ CCRLS (Chemeketa Community Regional Library Service) Partner Library-Newberg Public Library

Additionally, there has been interest from Blue Mountain Community College in displaying the exhibit in the summer or fall of next year.

On Monday, November 20th, the Salem Campus held an informal exhibit opening; about a dozen people attended and received a tour and Q&A of the exhibit. The exhibit begins in the library (building 9) of the Chemeketa Community College ~ Salem Campus with the history exhibit panels located throughout the second floor’s skybridge. The calendar and timeline panels are grouped on the main floor by the stairs leading up to the library.

Salem Campus Exhibit Photos

The calendar and timeline panels are grouped on the main floor by the stairs leading up to the library (building 9)

About a dozen people attended the opening and received a tour and Q&A of the exhibit

The history exhibit panels are located throughout the second floor’s skybridge…

Colegio César Chávez Exhibit

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Colegio Exhibit: 50th-anniversary artwork, bookmarks, and pins

The SCARC 2023-2024 exhibit is Colegio César Chávez: The Legacy Lives On / El legado sigue vivo!

The OSU Special Collections and Archives Research Center’s Oregon Multicultural Archives (OMA) served as a project partner and event planning committee member for the Colegio César Chávez 50th Anniversary Celebration which took place on August 26, 2023.

For more information about the event, see the blog post: Colegio César Chávez 50th Anniversary Celebration

The exhibition curated for the event is now available to the public!

When: The 2023-2024 academic year (September 2023 – summer 2024)
Where: The Valley Library 5th Floor SCARC Exhibit Cases (open during SCARC’s open hours: 10am-4pm M-F) and the SCARC 5th Floor Alcove Exhibit Space, across the hallway from the reading room (open whenever the library is open)
What: The exhibit in the cases showcases the Colegio’s history and the exhibit in the alcove showcases a Chicano history timeline and artwork from a 1979 Colegio calendar

Digital Copies of the Exhibit Panels are Available via Oregon Digital

Photos of the Exhibit!

Colegio History Exhibit, Part 1 in the 5th Floor Exhibit Cases

Colegio History Exhibit, Part 2 in the 5th Floor Exhibit Cases

Colegio Calendar Timeline Exhibit, in the 5th Floor Exhibit Alcove

Colegio Calendar Timeline Exhibit, in the 5th Floor Exhibit Alcove: Intro and Calendar Dates Panels

Colegio Calendar Timeline Exhibit, in the 5th Floor Exhibit Alcove: January-June Artwork and January-March Timeline

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PODER’s Hispanic Heritage Month Breakfast & Latino Leadership Summit

On Friday, September 15, 2023, the Colegio exhibit was featured as part of the Latino Leadership Summit in Salem, OR. Members of the Colegio were recognized and honored as part of the morning program. Dozens of the attendees had the opportunity to view the exhibit and learn about this important part of Oregon’s history!

Members of the Colegio were recognized and honored as part of the morning program.

Colegio bookmarks and pins (all gone by the end of the event!)

The Colegio exhibit in the Salem Convention Center

Colegio César Chávez 50th Anniversary Celebration

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COLEGIO CESAR CHAVEZ 50TH ANNIVERSARY: CELEBRATING A COLLEGE WITHOUT WALLS

On August 26, 2023, PODER: Oregon’s Latino Leadership Network, hosted an incredible commemorative and celebratory event to honor the history and legacy of the Colegio César Chávez at the Father Bernard Youth & Retreat Center in Mt. Angel, Oregon, the original site of the Colegio. Hundreds of community members, including many who were a part of Colegio’s history, participated in the event!

In addition, the event and Colegio’s history were featured in an article by OPB: “Nation’s first four-year, independent Chicano university celebrates 50 years since founding in Oregon” by Meerah Powell and Emily Hamilton, as well as an article in The Oregonian “50 years later, a pioneering Chicano college in Oregon continues to inspire the fight for educational equity” by Sami Edge.

The OSU Special Collections and Archives Research Center’s Oregon Multicultural Archives (OMA) was honored to serve as a project partner and event planning committee member.

The OMA curated an exhibit to showcase the Colegio’s history and legacy, and also organized an archives tabling activity featuring the resources from the OMA’s Latino/a collections as well as from the Oregon Historical Society and the University of Oregon’s Special Collections and University Archives. And, the U of O’s Latino Roots exhibit was also displayed.

The Colegio exhibit will be available for viewing in the 5th floor of the OSU Valley Library mid-September 2023 – Summer 2024 and the panels are available as PDFs online; for more information about a potential loan of the panels contact natalia.fernandez[at]oregonstate.edu

Below are photos of the exhibit and tabling activity!

The full day of activities was amazing!

Below are photos from the morning program:

Celedonio (Sonny) Montes Jr. reflecting on Colegio’s legacy

More about the event!

The day began with a morning program followed by an afternoon of family-friendly activities, viewing the exhibit, and workshops led by members of Colegio’s administration, staff, and students.

Below is information and photos shared by PODER via their newsletter:

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WGSS 50th Anniversary Exhibit

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Celebrating 50 Years of the Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies / Queer Studies Program at Oregon State University

In 2022, Susan Shaw, Professor and former Director of OSU’s Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) program asked librarian, Jane Nichols, if The Valley Library would create and host a display of materials celebrating the program’s history. As the librarian for WGSS, she was well-positioned to bring together a team to work on this project. Drawing on OSU’s Special Collections and Archives Research Center holdings, they pieced together WGSS’ history through this exhibit.

For PDFs of the exhibit panels see “50 Years of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Oregon State University” by Chris Snyder and Jane Nichols via ScholarsArchive@OSU.

The WGSS 50th Anniversary exhibit celebrates and documents the growth of the Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies / Queer Studies program from its 1972 beginnings as a feminist reading group to its current success as an academic program with a thriving activist-scholar community. Detailing how the history of WS/WGSS/QS bleeds through to the present, this display highlights activism, community organizing, intersectionality, and the collaborative ethos which has guided the program, the faculty, and the students in their work both inside and outside of the classroom. Interviews, scholarship, zines, and art express the academic vigor and creativity of WGSS/QS faculty, alumni, and students across the years. Reflecting on WGSS/QS’ journey as a burgeoning discipline at OSU, the posters and accompanying book display explore the program’s ongoing commitment to tackling multifaceted societal injustices and look forward to the ways in which the program will continue to expand on and nuance the revolutionary energy of the early program leaders.

All are welcome to view the exhibit and check out books from the accompanying display, both located on the 5th Floor Alcove across from the Special Collections Special Collections and Archives Research Center.

Our work and this display take place on the Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon campus, which is located in the traditional territory of the Chepenefa (“Mary’s River”) band of the Kalapuya. Through this display we wish to create space for us the contributors and you the readers to interrogate understandings of this location’s history where after the Kalapuya Treaty (Treaty of Dayton) in 1855, Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to what are now the Grand Ronde and Siletz reservations. The Kalapuya are now members of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

We extend our appreciation to all who contributed to this project including OSU’s Special Collections and Archives Research Center staff Rachel Lilley and Anna Dvorak; OSULP librarian Jane Nichols and graphic designers Rox Beecher and Robin Weis; and interviewees Dr. Qwo-Li Driskill, Dr. Susan Shaw, Kryn Freehling-Burton, and Sujittra Avery Carr. Extra gratitude goes to Chris Snyder, School of Writing, Literature, and Film Graduate Teaching Assistant who authored much of the writing of the exhibit. This exhibit would not be possible without their collective contributions.