May has been all about heritage here at the Cultural Trust. As April (National Poetry Month and the reappointment of Paulann Petersen as Poet Laureate – see “Where Is the Poet Laureate?” on this site) drew to a close, our team geared up to sponsor the NW Archivists’ Conference in Salem, whose workshops included everything from safely storing documents to seismic retrofitting to use of social media. We saw many of our fabulous heritage partners (libraries, historical societies, activists determined to preserve historic homes) and met businesses involved in historic preservation (contractors, storage container manufactures, to name a few) while staffing a Trust table.

From there, we prepared for our table at the May 10 state heritage fair outside the Capitol, and on May 22, the Trust is set to sponsor the Historic Preservation League of Oregon’s Endangered Places luncheon in Portland.

Not so formally, I also spent time getting acquainted with several heritage organizations, from the Mt. Hood Museum and Timberline Lodge to the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center in Wallowa County and Kerbyville Museum in Josephine. (I cheated though; had coffee with one of their directors in Portland, and chatted online with the other – but can’t wait to get out and start doing site visits).

If heritage is how you roll, you could be somewhere new every evening in May. Oregon Heritage, a department of Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, has an online calendar of historic preservation events happening this month. http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/calendar.shtml

Opportunities include a window repair workshop in Portland, an Oregon Encyclopedia workshop in Bend, a preservation fair and round table in Astoria. A shoutout to our colleagues at Oregon Heritage for their hard work pulling this calendar together. But even if cataloging photos or nailing down windows isn’t your thing, touring historic homes and downtowns could be a lovely way to spend an evening or weekend. Oregon has almost 2,000 properties on the National Register of Historic Places and 800 historic cemeteries. Due to a $10million private reinvestment in 2010, seven historic downtown areas have catapulted themselves to prominence via the thriving Main Street USA program. (Albany just had a fabulous downtown wine walk last weekend.)

So, whether you’re a professional archivist, a history buff, or just someone who likes to noodle around great downtown areas, consider taking a road trip this month to check out the heritage treasures that make up our state.

Meryl Lipman, Trust Communications Manager