Category: Photographs

New Finding Aid | Oregon Trail Commemoration Photographs

Special Collections and University Archives is pleased to announce an updated finding aid published for the Oregon Trail Commemoration Photographs (PH200_050). The finding aid is available on Archives West.

This collection documents the commemoration of the Oregon Trail Monument in Emigrant Springs Oregon in July of 1923. The celebration included a parade, festival and a speech given by President Warren G. Harding. This collection is significant as it contains photographs of President Harding during his final speaking tour, taken only a month before his untimely death on August 2, 1923.

President Warren Harding at commemoration eveent
[Oregon Trail Commemoration Photographs, PH200_050_3431, Box 1, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.]

Continue reading →

New Finding Aid | Muybridge photographs of the Modoc War

Special Collections and University Archives is pleased to announce a new finding aid published for the Muybridge photographs of the Modoc War (PH200_217). The finding aid is available on Archives West.

Warm Spring Indian scouts
[Warm Spring Indian scouts, Muybridge photographs of the Modoc War, PH200_217_2599, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.]
Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) is most famous for his work of photographing a horse in motion, and settling the debate of whether or not a horse lifts all four feet off the ground while trotting.

This collection documents the Modoc War of 1872–1873, from the perspective of the U.S. Army. Muybridge was commissioned by the United States Army to photograph the Modoc conflict taking place in Oregon and Northern California. The collection contains 15 stereoscopic photographs taken by Eadweard Muybridge.  Muybridge photographed U.S. soldiers, Native American soldiers and warriors, U.S. Army encampments, and the battle field of the lava beds.

Continue reading →

New Finding Aid | Western photographer collection

Special Collections and University Archives is pleased to announce a new finding aid published for the Western photographer collection (PH368). The finding aid is available on Archives West.

Photo of men surrounding fallen tree. The large tree contains a crevasse so large a horse has been placed inside for scale.
[Photo by J. A. Meisor, circa 1890s-1904, Western photographer collection, PH368, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.]
The Western photographer collection is a compilation of historic photographic prints taken by photographers in the Western United States. The prints depict a wide variety of subjects dating 1841-1968, which predominantly center on the following themes: events, geographic areas, industries and transportation, land and cityscapes, and people in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, and Alaska. Some individual subjects include: floods, fires, parades, logging, mining, shipping, farms, natural scenery, housing, and portraits of politicians, Native Americans, pioneers, and families.

Scattered remains of wood from dynamite explosion of a structure.
[Photo by Barnard Studio, 1899, Western photographer collection, PH368, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.]
–Liliya Benz, Special Collections Intern

New Exhibit | Framing the West: Photography in the Age of Manifest Destiny

Eastward I go only by force; but westward I go free… I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe. And that way the nation is moving, and I may say that mankind progress from east to west.
­– Henry David Thoreau

University of Oregon Libraries is pleased to announce an exhibit titled Framing the West: Photography in the Age of Manifest Destiny, Past and Present, now on display during the Fall 2018 term in the Special Collection and University Archives Paulson Reading Room.

Shawn Records, Duane Ehmer and his gelding, Hellboy, pose for journalists before the daily press conference at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. January 8, 2016 [Shawn Records photographs of the Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, PH365, Box 1; Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon]
Continue reading →

Angelus Studio Photographs in Oregon Digital

Oregon Digital has recently added 740 new photographs from the University of Oregon Libraries’ Angelus Studio Photographs collection (PH037). These photographs are now available to browse in our digital collections.

The Angelus Studio was a professional photographic company located in Portland, Oregon that operated between 1880s-1940s. The collection provides documentation of Oregon including the city of Portland, events and landmarks, construction projects such as the Columbia River Highway, and commercial operations and industry.

Early automobile with large sail wings attached to it labeled 'Moon Car'
Moon Car, PH037_b142_MC00186, Angelus Studio Photographs, University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, OR.