Category Archives: Oregon Explorer

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Lots of great news coming out of the OSU Libraries this week!

Oregon Spatial Data Library launches in conjunction with national GIS Day

“A powerful new data-access tool for Oregon researchers, students, public agency staff, private industry and the public at large was launched today in conjunction with national GIS Day… The Oregon Spatial Data Library provides easy and convenient ways to find, access and share geospatial data at no cost to the user. Currently, more than 200 datasets can be displayed and downloaded, with more to be added as they become available. Developed in partnership with Oregon State University Libraries, the Institute for Natural Resources and the Oregon Dept. of Administrative Services Geospatial Enterprise Office (DAS-GEO), the Oregon Spatial Data Library features access to all statewide “framework” data available for Oregon.  These are the datasets that serve as “base data” for a variety of GIS applications that support important research, business and public services.” Read more here!

Learn about wetlands online through ‘Oregon Wetlands Explorer’

“A far-reaching, highly interactive Web experience that provides deep, richly illustrated insight on the historic and current states of Oregon’s wetlands is the newest member of the critically acclaimed Oregon Explorer family of sites produced by Oregon State University Libraries, the Institute for Natural Resources and, in this case, The Wetlands Conservancy. Oregon Wetlands Explorer takes users virtually to areas throughout the state, from coastal salt marshes to mountain fens desert salt grass flats and many points in between, providing information on wetland ecology, history, wildlife and restoration opportunities.  Oregon has lost more than half of its wetlands since European settlers arrived in the 1800s, and producers of the site hope the information will be helpful in encouraging protection of the areas that remain.” Read more here!

OSU Library earns grants to support digitization of key pieces of Oregon history

“Oregon State University’s Valley Library is the recipient of two new grants that will support digitization of key images from the state’s past, a new Web-based portal where the images will be publicly accessible and digital archive assistance for cultural institutions around the state that otherwise might not be able to afford such services. The grants and the Oregon Digital Library Project (ODLP) that they’ll help create will enable the Valley Library to build on its critically acclaimed role in preserving material documenting the history of Oregon and its people, said Terry Reese, who holds the Gray Family Chair for Innovative Library Services at OSU.” Read more here!

Watch for it Wednesday!

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mills.jpgNew Collection in OSU Archives’ Flickr Commons: The Harold Frodsham Photographic Collection

We’ve seen the natural beauty of the Pacific NW landscape and the view from loggers in the forests, now we turn our focus inside — to the historic mill pictures in the Harold Frodsham Photographic Collection.

Harold Frodsham was the general manager of the commercial and mercantile departments of the Red River Lumber Company in Westwood, California, from the mid-1920s until 1934, when his position was eliminated. Frodsham, from England, died in Susanville, California in 1958 (he had lived in Westwood and Susanville since the early 1920s).

The Red River Lumber Company was organized in 1883 in Minnesota and began acquiring northeastern California timberland in 1894. The Company began construction of Westwood, its company town in southwestern Lassen County, California, in 1912. The lumber mill at Westwood was essentially completed by 1918 and operated until the mid-1950s.

The Harold Frodsham Photograph Collection consists of 19 images of the interiors and exteriors of lumber mills in Oregon during Frodsham’s tour of mills in Oregon and northern California. The original prints are 3.5 x 5.5 inches and are annotated with detailed descriptions. The collection includes images of the Booth-Kelly Lumber Company (Springfield), Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company (Bend), Pelican Bay Lumber Company (Klamath Falls), Shevlin-Hixon Company (Bend), and Silverton Lumber Company (Silverton). You’ll also find photographs showing hauling equipment, stackers, and conveyors, as well as one image of the Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company Camp 1 in central Oregon, where Ponderosa pine is being logged.

What else can you tell us?

To read more about the collection, check out the guide to the Harold Frodsham Photograph Collection.

All of the images are available online in the Oregon Explorer Digital Collection of historic photographs.

It’s the birthday party that never ends!

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coast.jpg dune.jpg ferry.jpg

Happy Birthday, again, Oregon– you don’t look a day over 150. Okay, really you do (2 months, 1 day over 150), but it’s been a tough few months for us…

For the April 15th launch, we’re looking in new directions, exploring new pictorial frontiers, zooming through time and place, and partnering with Oregon Explorer to pull together 150 of our most stunning historic images of Oregon’s 15 river basins.

It gets better! Not only are we showcasing natural resources, we are celebrating our state. This collection is more than a collection, it’s an event: our project was also accepted as an official Oregon 150 sesquicentennial project!

or150_web_badge_small.gifNo, that’s not all! Because the Oregon Explorer is all about places and spaces, we’ve also geo tagged these photos, when and where we could, so check it out! To learn more about geo tagging in Flickr, visit the GeoTagging Group.

Step back in time, explore the state, and tell us what you think.