Janet L. Brown
Changing Perspectives on Oregon's Geology
June 23, 2009

Oregon's history and geology are intimately connected, from the spectacular eruption of Mount Mazama nearly seven thousand years ago to current questions of water availability in the Klamath Basin. Oregon's distinctive landscapes provide classic and dramatic stories of four hundred million years of geologic changes and the influences of human processes in the last few millennia. Thomas Condon, Oregon's first state geologist, wrote, "In prying apart the stone layers of the rocks, the scientist is, in reality, opening the leaves of the past history of the world." Janet Brown brings twenty-five years of experience with the U.S. Geologic Survey to this examination of the interplay between geologic and human history.

Mary Bywater Cross
Stitched Patches: Quilts of Celebration
June 30, 2009

Over thirty years ago, many Oregonians, inspired by America's Bicentennial, gathered together to stitch quilts that represented their counties and communities. How have the cultural and economic borders and boundaries of Oregon's communities changed since 1976? Can the stitched quilt serve as a manifestation and a metaphor for those demographic changes? Quilt historian and artist Mary Bywater Cross traces transformations within the quilt-making genre as she interprets locally made quilts stitched for and after the Bicentennial.

Carole Glauber
Women Photographers in Oregon: 1852-1917
July 7, 2009

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries ushered in new technologies and inventions that profoundly changed American culture. Within this period of social and economic change, photography became especially accessible to a surprisingly diverse audience. Between 1852 and 1917, there were at least 233 women photographers in Oregon whose work included professional studio portraits, commercial applications, and scenic amateur work. Photohistorian Carole Glauber traces the distinctive work of four early women photographers: Maud Baldwin of Klamath Falls, Fanny Van Duyn of Tygh Valley, and Sarah Ladd and Lily White, both of Portland.

Elliott Young
Chinese Diaspora in the Americas: The First "Illegal Aliens"
July 14, 2009

Hundreds of thousands of Chinese arrived in the Americas in the mid-nineteenth century to work on railroads and sugar plantations. That is a well-known story. Less well known is the story of their incredible journey once they arrived. Some dressed as Mexican peons, Canadian Native Americans, or black Cubans in order to smuggle into boxcar trains or onto ships to sneak across the U.S. border. Thus, the image of the "illegal alien" in the United States begins with Chinese in the late nineteenth century. Elliott Young explores the immigration bureaucracy that was created to track, find, and capture "illegal" Chinese immigrants, and the strategies these immigrants, in turn, used to stay one step ahead of government inspectors.

Robert L. Hamm
Becoming Oregon: A Printed History
July 21, 2009

Every school child knows that Americans fought with Great Britain for independence in 1776, and most of us recall that America again battled the British in the War of 1812. Fewer of us realize that the United States almost went to war with Britain a third time--over Oregon. Oregon was a hot topic during the nineteenth century because of its seemingly endless riches and potential for exploitation. In this program, Robert Hamm shares primary resources--newspapers, woodcuts, accurate and inaccurate maps, and early photographs--that illustrate Oregon's place in the national imagination.

Diane L. Goeres-Gardner
Justice in Frontier Oregon
July 28, 2009

Just over one hundred years ago, many Oregon cities held public executions, with men, women, and children congregating to watch convicted criminals hang from gallows erected in local fields. Even after it was common for stockades to hide an execution, thousands watched and waited outside their walls. In a state known for its peaceful agrarian communities, what caused such events to be accepted and even celebrated? Local historian Diane Goeres-Gardner explores changing attitudes and perceptions--from the hanging of Native Americans for the Whitman massacre in 1850, to the last execution in Oregon outside a state penitentiary, in 1905.