New Accessions: Track and Field Materials

SCUA recently received two accessions documenting UO track and field history.  The items were donated by two alumni, Clayton Steinke and Kenny Moore, who competed during the 1960s under head coach Bill Bowerman.  These new materials complement existing administrative and coaching collections, but also contribute to understanding the unique perspective of the student-athlete.  Coincidentally, both accessions include uniforms that provide a visual component of the legacy of UO track and field.

In 1962, four members of the UO team broke the world record for the four by one mile relay.  Later that year, Steinke served as an alternate runner on the UO team invited to compete in the same relay distance in a meet against the New Zealand national team.  As representatives of both the United States of America, and the University of Oregon, Bowerman devised a unique uniform.  In order to satisfy the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), the resulting singlet and shirt include references to the AAU and USA, but also pays homage to the University of Oregon. In addition to his uniform, Steinke donated his letterman’s jacket, scrapbooks, a memoir, correspondence and photographs.

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New Exhibit | “Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum: We Are All Salmon People”

Roger Dick, Jr. (Yakama) harvesting blueback from scaffold off Highway 14 near Sauter’s Beach; Lyle, Washington. [Jacqueline Moreau papers, Coll 459, Box 10, Folder 4; Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.]
“Salmon are the icon of this place. They are valued as food, as resources, and as a representation of the wildness and wilderness for which the Pacific Northwest is known. Whether they realize it or not, every single person in the Northwest is Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum. We are all Salmon People. Let us all work together to protect and restore salmon—this fish that unites us.”
–The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Commission

In honor of Native American Heritage Month the University of Oregon Libraries is pleased to announce an exhibit titled, Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum: We Are All Salmon People. This exhibit honors Oregon’s tribal communities and their traditional cultures, knowledges and lifeways that have sustained them since time immemorial. We first recognize and honor the Kalapuya people, who were the original indigenous inhabitants of the Willamette Valley, including the land that the University of Oregon resides. We are honored to now have the new residence hall, Kalapuya Ilihi Hall, named in honor of those who were here first and in recognition of their traditional homelands.

All of Oregon’s tribal communities share a common connection to their traditional homelands and natural resources provided by the creator that sustains life for their people. This exhibit highlights the tribal cultures along the Columbia River Basin that have a distinct sacred connection to salmon that has shaped their culture, diet, societies and religions for thousands of years. Salmon, or “wy-kan-ush” in the traditional language of Sahaptin, are revered as sacred and one of the most important aspects of tribal culture.

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New Exhibit | Word Made Print

In recognition of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, University of Oregon’s Special Collections & University Archives and Northwest Christian College’s Edward P. Kellenberger Library have collaborated on an exhibit titled Word Made Print: Reformation and the History of the Book.

Few historical events have touched so many lives around the world, whether Christian or not, as the Reformation, 500 years ago. Historians question whether Martin Luther actually hammered the manuscript of his 95 Theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, setting in motion a series of events that split Christendom. Yet, the story itself illustrates the immense power of the printed word: Luther’s words were printed within weeks and spread like wildfire.

Word Made Print is curated by Vera Keller, David Luebke, Steve Silver, and David de Lorenzo. The Knight Library component celebrates Martin Luther and his role in the Reformation and showcases important works that demonstrate and reflect the impact of the Reformation that occurred around the same time as the invention of movable type.  In the Kellenberger Library, many early Bibles from their collection are on view.  This exhibit is free and open to the public and will be on display through December 15, 2017.

Excerpts from the Exhibit

Privilegia et documenta ad monasterium S. Zenoius Maiorii Veronae (Privileges of the Verona Monastery). [16th century]. [Latin]. Burgess Collection, Burgess MS 30.

This manuscript illustrates the scribal arts preserved in Catholic monasteries long after the Reformation.

Sleidanus, Johannes, and Edmund Bohun. The General history of the Reformation of the Church from the errors and corruptions of the Church of Rome: begun in Germany. [London: Printed by Edw. Jones for Abel Swall and Henry Bonwicke, 1689]. Rare Book Collection, xDD178.9 .S624

New Acquisition: Kentucky Manumission, 1801

Special Collections and University Archives has recently added to its collections a manumission written in 1801 by Moses Hall of Nicholas County, Kentucky. This manuscript document is a contract stating that Hall will free Dinah, a black female slave, when she reaches her 23rd birthday in five months (March 10, 1802).

Manumission was the act of freeing a slave by a slave owner, through a deed or will. This act of an individual contrasts with a governmental directive to free slaves, such as the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln in 1863. Manumission in the United States was done for a variety of reasons, ranging from a sentimental gesture to a method of incentivizing obedience at the prospect of eventual freedom. However, the practice became increasingly regulated in order to limit the population of freed black residents in the colonies starting in Virginia in 1691 when a law was passed that required freed slaves to leave the colony within six months and for the previous slave owner to pay for the trip.

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New Acquisition: De Smet’s Missions de l’Orégon, 1848

A rare uncut edition of Jesuit priest Pierre-Jean De Smet’s Missions de l’Orégon et Voyages dans les Montagnes Rocheuses aux sources de la Columbie, de l’Athabasca et du Sascatshawin, en 1845-1846 (Gand [Ghent]: Vander Schelden, 1848) has been added to the Oregon Collection in Special Collections and University Archives. This collection includes published materials that reflect the history, literature, and life in Oregon and the Oregon Territory. The acquisition of Missions de l’Orégon broadens the De Smet holdings in the Oregon Collection and complements other editions held in the collection including the English-language edition (Oregon Missions) and the Flemish-language edition (Missiën van den Orégon, seen on the right below).

Pierre-Jean De Smet (1801-1873) was born in Belgium and emigrated to the United States in 1821 as a novitiate of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He moved to a Jesuit mission in Florissant, Missouri, near St. Louis, and began to study the languages and cultures of Native Americans. He went on first his mission among the Salish after they sent a deputation to St. Louis. De Smet returned with the messengers travelling west through Montana and Wyoming, also visiting the neighboring Nez Perce nation on this journey. In 1845-1846, De Smet undertook one of his longest missions throughout the Rocky Mountains and the Oregon Territory, including the Columbia and Willamette valleys, where he established schools and missions throughout. After these travels, De Smet published an account of the evangelizing expedition in Oregon Missions and Travels over the Rocky Mountains in 1845-46 (New York, 1847). The sale of this book, published in three languages, was part of his continued effort to raise money for Jesuit missions in the Northwest. These fundraising labors included many overseas trips to Europe to meet with papal and European state leaders where his translated books might illustrate his mission and impact to European donors. De Smet saw himself as an ally and advocate of the tribes he was in contact with in the West and was aware of the infringements and persecutions of the federal government toward tribal nations writing, “If our Indians become enraged against the whites, it is because the whites have made them suffer for a long time.”

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