Blog featuring news and updates about collections, discoveries, exhibitions, and public programs of the University of Oregon Special Collections & University Archives
Special Collections and University Archives is pleased to announce an updated finding aid published for the J.H. Horner photographs (PH200_039). The finding aid is available on Archives West.
John Harland Horner (1870-1953) moved to Enterprise, Oregon in 1911 and served as an assessor. He was an amateur historian, active for more than thirty years, documenting the history of Wallowa County.
[J.H. Horner photographs, PH200_039_4287, Box 1, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.]The photographs in this collection cover a wide range of events in Wallowa County, from roughly 1900 to 1930. The primary focus is on the Nez Perce people and events relating to them during this time period. There are a number of photographs documenting the reburial of Chief Joseph the Elder, a funeral ceremony, and the dedication of a monument in his honor. In one image the funeral procession is seen transporting Chief Joseph’s remains to his final resting place, led by Francis McFarland, followed close behind by Ah-la-kat, a Nez Perce warrior. There are numerous Nez Perce portraits in this collection as well. Horner also photographed settlers of the area including people at work on their homesteads, and the first stage coach in Wallowa County, Oregon.
[J.H. Horner photographs, PH200_039_4426, Box 1, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.]
Notes from processing:
This collection presented a challenge in relating the traditional names of the Nez Perce, as they are often written out phonetically due to the language barrier between English and the Native American languages. Moreover, the traditional names are often spelled a number of different ways and this can cause confusion when trying to search for a particular individual or confirm an individual is being represented accurately in the finding aid.
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.
