Oregon Historical Quarterly Spring 2004

“Does Portland Need a Homophile Society?” Gay Culture and Activism in the Rose City between World War II and Stonewall, by Peter Boag
Winner of the 2004 Joel Palmer Award  (download the article pdf)
Gays and lesbians in Portland lagged behind their counterparts in other areas of the United States in efforts to organize politically around civil rights issues. Historian Peter Boag considers why this was the case, comparing gay activism in Portland with activities in Seattle and, to a lesser extent, Tacoma, Denver, and San Francisco. Concentrating on the period between World War II and 1969, Boag addresses the influx of young people into cities such as Portland and into the military during World War II, bar culture, political and media concerns about gays and lesbians as “sexual deviants,” and the establishment of homophile organizations such as the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis.

Master of the Seas? Herbert Hoover and the Western Fisheries, by Joseph E. Taylor III
Honorable Mention, 2004 Joel Palmer Award  (download the article pdf)
Herbert Hoover is too often portrayed simplistically as an exemplar of Republican policies during the 1920s. Examining Hoover's management of the western fisheries during his tenure as secretary of the Department of Commerce during the 1920s, Joseph Taylor argues that Hoover's actions and his legacy are more complex than they are often presented. Taylor presents four examples of Hoover's management style: his reorganization of the industry and the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, the reorientation of scientific studies undertaken by the bureau, the management of salmon fisheries in Alaska, and the negotiation of fishery treaties.

“May Live or Die a Miner”: The 1864 Clarksville Diary of James W. Virtue, edited by Gary Dielman
In October 1861 gold was discovered in eastern Oregon just south of present-day Baker City, and thousands of miners and others flocked to the area. Among them was James W. Virtue, who arrived in the summer of 1863, mined for a time, and remained in the area for two decades, becoming a county sheriff, banker, and political power broker. Virtue's diary of 1864, with editing and annotations by Gary Dielman, offers readers an intimate glimpse into the hardscrabble life of a miner during eastern Oregon's early gold-fever days.

Oregon Voices
It’s Never Too Late to Give Away a Horse, by David Michael Liberty
In this very personal account, David Liberty tells how he realized his boyhood dream to fulfill a request that Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph made to a young white boy, Erskine Wood. The son of C.E.S. Wood, Erskine spent two summers with Chief Joseph in the early 1890s. This remarkable tale, which spans generations and cultures, relates the communication between members of the Wood family and the Nez Perce Tribe in order to fulfill Chief Joseph’s request for a stallion to improve his breed. At a ceremony in the summer of 1997, descendants of Wood and Chief Joseph met and exchanged a stallion to honor the request made nearly a century before.

Oregon Places
“Without a Second’s Warning”: The Heppner Flood of 1903, by Bob DenOuden
Using historic newspaper and eyewitness accounts as well as modern scientific analysis, Bob DenOuden tells the story of the flood of June 14, 1903, that nearly destroyed the town of Heppner and killed almost 250 people. The words of those who experienced the flood and images of the destruction give readers a vivid sense of the fear and devastation that overtook Heppner when faced with a virtual wall of water and its aftermath.

Research Files
Peeling Off the Emulsion: The City of Portland Photographic Collection, 1913-1943, by Sarah R. Caylor
Drawing on images from the City of Portland Photographic Collection, Sarah R. Caylor examines the ways in which researchers can gather information from photographs. The images give a sense of talents of the city photographers and the range of subjects they photographed, and Caylor offers readers ideas about how a viewer can look at and think about archival photographs.

A Tribute to Gordon Dodds
Friends and colleagues remember some of Gordon Dodds's contributions to Pacific Northwest history and to the History Department at Portland State University.

Spotlight on Affiliates
Clatsop County Historical Society, Astoria

Robert D. Johnston, The Radical Middle Class: Populist Democracy and the Question of Capitalism in Progressive Era Portland, Oregon, reviewed by Carl Abbott

Jim Phillips and Rosemary Gartner, Murdering Holiness: The Trials of Franz Creffield and George Mitchell, reviewed by Mark A. Largent

Chris Friday, Lelooska: The Life of a Northwest Coast Artist, reviewed by Bill Mercer

Murray Morgan, Puget’s Sound: A Narrative of Early Tacoma and the Southern Sound, reviewed by Cary C. Collins

Glyn Williams, Voyages of Delusion: The Quest for the Northwest Passage, reviewed by Derek Hayes

Mary Murphy, Hope in Hard Times: New Deal Photographs of Montana, 1936–1942, reviewed by Carroll Van West

Ripley Hugo, Writing for Her Life: The Novelist Mildred Walker, reviewed by Mary Clearman Blew

Mike Mackey, editor, A Matter of Conscience: Essays on the World War II Heart Mountain Draft Resistance Movement, reviewed by Robert J. Gould

 

Louise Wagenknecht, White Poplar, Black Locust, reviewed by Robert E. Walls

Frank Van Nuys, Americanizing the West: Race, Immigrants, and Citizenship, 1890–1930, reviewed by Gray H. Whaley

William H. Leckie with Shirley A. Leckie, The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Black Cavalry in the West, reviewed by Dwayne Mack

Peter E. Palmquist and Thomas R. Kailbourn, Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840–1865, reviewed by Terry Toedtemeier

John Barker and Douglas Cole, editors, At Home with the Bella Coola Indians: T.F. McIlwraith’s Field Letters, 1922–4, reviewed by Deanna Kingston

Mark Eifler, Gold Rush Capitalists: Greed and Growth in Sacramento, reviewed by Charlene Porsild

Barbara W. Sommer and Mary Kay Quinlan, The Oral History Manual, reviewed by Donna Sinclair