Oregon Historical Society may specialize in tactile primary source material, in rooms and rooms of historic photos, letters, manuscripts, artifacts and documents, and in interactive exhibits for the whole family, but that doesn’t mean this Cultural Trust partner has not embraced the digital age.

Through a grant from the Hallie Ford Endowment and funding from another Cultural Trust partner, the Oregon Heritage Commission, OHS will up its investment in the Oregon Encyclopedia, originally created and run by Portland State University with significant help from Willamette University.

OHS has also reinvested in two of its own digital programs that, while operational, have been underutilized. The Oregon History Project and Oregon TimeWeb, created in 2003 and 2009, respectively, will soon be fully utilized thanks to the Hallie Ford grant, OHC funding, and National Endowment for the Humanities awards to fund Oregon TimeWeb and the integration of all three platforms.The Oregon Encyclopedia is an online encyclopedia of Oregon historical figures, events, places, and cultural norms, 1100 entries strong, with 500 authors having contributed, and specializing in topics underrepresented in traditional sources, including women and minorities. Oregon History Project is more primary source driven, with archives and artifacts annotated, digitized and uploaded to the web, according to new Project Manager Amy Platt, who oversees all three digital outreach tools. OHP has also introduced historical narratives and lesson plans for teachers to use in the classroom. Oregon TimeWeb contains much of the same information as the history project, but in a in an intricate timeline format.

The current integration of the three resources means that OHS now holds the largest authoritative digital collection of information on Oregon history and culture. Anticipated as an educational resource, Platt said she has noticed more activity on the sites during the school year, with hits dropping off in the summers and over winter and spring breaks.

For more information:

Oregon History Timeweb
The Oregon History Project

The Oregon Encylopedia