Exhibits

Current Exhibit

Freeze the Day! A History of Winter Sports in Oregon

December 3, 2021 – July 17, 2022

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

This original exhibition celebrates the history of outdoor recreation in Oregon, sharing stories that illustrate the emotional draw of winter sports, highlighting champion athletes and innovators, and honoring Oregon’s natural resources and beauty.

• Family-friendly
• Free for Members
• Researchers
• Teachers

Current Exhibit

A Century of Wonder: 100 Years of Oregon State Parks

May 13 – October 16, 2022

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

In celebration of the centennial of Oregon State Parks, OHS commissioned photographer Peter Marbach to document the beauty and geographic diversity of many of Oregon’s 254 state parks. These contemporary photographs show how the park system has preserved these breathtaking natural spaces.

• Family-friendly
• Free for Members
• Teachers
• Researchers

Current Exhibit

Blanchet House of Hospitality: 70 Years

March 4 – June 5, 2022

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

This exhibit explores the 70-year history of Blanchet House of Hospitality, a nonprofit organization that works to address homelessness in the Portland area.

• Family-friendly
• Free for Members
• Researchers
• Teachers

Current Exhibit,Traveling Exhibit

Many Happy Returns: 50 Years of the Oregon Bottle Bill

April 30 – June 30, 2022

Independence Heritage Museum
281 S. 2nd Street
Independence, Oregon 97351

This traveling exhibit highlights the 50th anniversary of the Beverage Container Act or Bottle Bill and the environmental concerns of the 1960s and 1970s.

• Family-friendly
• Researchers
• Teachers
• Free for Members

Current Exhibit,Traveling Exhibit

Oregon Voices Traveling Exhibit

April 2 – May 25, 2022

Oswego Heritage Museum
398 10th Street
Lake Oswego, Oregon 97034

Our Oregon Voices traveling exhibit is a mobile version of the OHS permanent exhibit by the same name. The exhibit has five, three-sided pop-up kiosks that explore some of the important people, industries, organizations, and laws that have shaped the state from the end of World War II to 2020.

• Family-friendly
• Researchers
• Teachers

Permanent Exhibit

Experience Oregon

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

Visitors of all ages, and from all parts of the world, come to the Oregon Historical Society each year to learn about Oregon. Whether you were born here, have chosen to make this place home, or are just passing through, it is undeniable that there is something special about this state. From its varied geography to its innovative legislation, Oregon is complex and distinctive, filled with people whose stories are the foundation of the state we see today. A dynamic educational space, Experience Oregon allows visitors to learn about the countless people, places, and events that have shaped this place.

• Family-friendly
• Free for Members
• Teachers
• Researchers

Permanent Exhibit

History Hub

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

History Hub is an exhibit where Oregon’s youth, students, and families can explore the topic of diversity through fun, hands-on interactives, objects, and pictures. History Hub is developed in partnership with an advisory committee of students, teachers, cultural organizations, and museums to tell the stories of people who live in Oregon, today and in the past. The content of History Hub spans grades K-12 with a focus on 4th – 8th grade.

• Free for Members
• Family-friendly
• Teachers

Upcoming Exhibit

Gambatte! Legacy of an Enduring Spirit

May 27 – August 7, 2022

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

Inspired by the Japanese concept of gambatte — to triumph over adversity — this exhibition features modern and historic photographs to present an intimate exploration of the lasting affect that the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II had on the nation and its citizens.

• Family-friendly
• Free for Members
• Researchers
• Teachers

Upcoming Exhibit

It’s Not Over: Forty Years of HIV/AIDS in Oregon

June 10 – August 14, 2022

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

Nationwide, HIV/AIDS killed more than 700,000 Americans between 1981 and 2021; 4,613 of them lived in Oregon. This exhibit explores the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Oregon with a focus on the work of Cascade AIDS Project and Our House Portland.

• Free for Members
• Researchers
• Teachers
• Family-friendly

Upcoming Exhibit

A Walk in the Park: Historic Images of Oregon State Parks

June 3 – October 16, 2022

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

Featuring photographs from OHS’s research library collections, this exhibition provides a historic look at Oregon State Parks over its 100-year history.

• Family-friendly
• Free for Members
• Researchers
• Teachers

Upcoming Exhibit,Traveling Exhibit

Brave in the Attempt: Celebrating 50 years of Special Olympics Oregon

June 1 – June 30, 2022

Chehalem Cultural Center
415 E Sheridan St
Newberg, Oregon 97132

This traveling exhibit highlights the 50th anniversary of Special Olympics Oregon.

• Family-friendly
• Researchers
• Teachers

Upcoming Exhibit,Traveling Exhibit

What If Heroes Were Not Welcome Home?

July 1 – July 31, 2022

Independence Heritage Museum
281 S. 2nd Street
Independence, Oregon 97351

This poignant exhibit examines the prejudice that Japanese American veterans from Hood River, Oregon experienced upon their return home from serving our country in World War II. These American citizens served heroically with the United States Armed Forces in the South Pacific and in Europe, yet many of their families were unjustly incarcerated in concentration camps on American soil.

• Teachers
• Family-friendly

Online Exhibit

Nevertheless, They Persisted: Women’s Voting Rights and the 19th Amendment

This original exhibit connects Oregon history to the national history of woman suffrage and commemorates the bravery of the women (and men) who demanded the vote and used their rights to shape our nation and our world.

• Family-friendly
• Researchers
• Teachers

Online Exhibit

Racing to Change: Oregon’s Civil Rights Years

From January through June 2018, the Oregon Historical Society was proud to host Racing to Change, presented by the Oregon Black Pioneers. Now, thanks to our partnership with Visiting Media, students and history enthusiasts across Oregon and beyond can experience the exhibit online. This exhibit illuminates Oregon’s vibrant black community and their courage, struggle and progress amongst a larger context of discrimination and displacement during the civil rights movement in Oregon in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

• Teachers
• Family-friendly

Online Exhibit

The View From Here

Photographer James Foley captures his adopted home of Oregon in this online exhibit featuring the shores of the Pacific, the High Desert of central Oregon, and the Portland skyline.

• Teachers
• Family-friendly

Online Exhibit

Windows on America

From June 2013 through February 2014, the Oregon Historical Society was proud to showcase Windows on America, the first ever public display of the world-class Mark Family Collection. Now, thanks to a new partnership with Visiting Media, students and history enthusiasts across Oregon and beyond can experience the exhibit online! Visitors to the virtual exhibit can experience the same content offered in the physical exhibit, as well as new digital enhancements. Get up close to artifacts, read text panels, hear recordings of historic documents, and go behind the scenes of some of the exhibit’s treasures in videos with OHS Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk.

• Teachers
• Family-friendly

Online Exhibit

“A Symbol of Home”: The Environmental and Political Legacy of Tom McCall in Oregon

Famous for his forceful language and political skill, Governor Tom McCall has remained the name and face of Oregon’s remarkable legacy of environmental lawmaking. His environmental efforts were not the earliest in the state, nor were his achievements his alone; but he provided people with a compelling and ambitious narrative that emphasized citizen responsibility to protect the land and its resources. This narrative continues to inform many aspects of lawmaking and advocacy in Oregon.

• Family-friendly
• Researchers
• Teachers

Online Exhibit

Flaxen: From Flax to Linen in the Willamette Valley, Oregon

Reproductions of hand-tinted glass lantern slides from the early 1930s document how flax was grown and processed to make fabric. The slides from the Oregon Historical Society’s Portland Public School (PPS) Collection were shown to schoolchildren to illustrate various Oregon industries and, in this case, children learned about making towels and napkins at the Oregon Linen Mill in Salem.

• Family-friendly
• Researchers
• Teachers

Online Exhibit

Frames Per Second: Selections from the OHS 16mm News Film Collection, 1969-1981

The images in this exhibit are scans from the KOIN and KPTV 16mm news film collections held at the Oregon Historical Society (OHS) Research Library. Every three frames of 16mm film represents 1/8 of a second — or just faster than the blink of an eye. These stories represent, in part, the day-to-day events that helped shape Portland from 1969 to 1981.

• Family-friendly
• Researchers
• Teachers

Online Exhibit

Harnessing the Power of Photography: Selections from the OHS Portland General Electric Collections, 1895-1979

The photographs in this exhibit show how Portland General Electric (PGE) used photography to promote its business over a span of more than 85 years. The images, all taken from the OHS Research Library, address the way in which PGE used photography to define and promote its various audiences: workers, engineers, managers, and customers.

• Family-friendly
• Researchers
• Teachers

Online Exhibit

Lost Portland

At the turn of the 19th century, Portland was still the metropolis of the Pacific Northwest, and its buildings reflected a sense of urban grandeur rivaling the great cities of North America. As the twentieth century progressed, many of these buildings fell victim to changing needs, economic imperatives, and a growing decentralization of urban life. While the Oregon Historical Society’s Davies Family Research Library holds thousands of images of lost Portland, few are so evocative of the city’s past grandeur as these postcards, created from re-touched and hand-colored photographs.

• Family-friendly
• Teachers
• Researchers

Online Exhibit

Mirror on the Modern Woman: Selected Images from the Oregon Journal, 1927–1932

The 1920s heralded the era of the Modern Woman, a more adventurous and independent type open to new possibilities. The new exhibit Mirror on the Modern Woman depicts some of these Modern Women, young and old, at work and at play. The exhibit features fifteen photographs from the 1920s and ’30s selected from the Oregon Historical Society Research Library’s collection of negatives from the Oregon Journal newspaper.

• Family-friendly
• Researchers
• Teachers

Online Exhibit

Portland: A Lot of People Have Lived Here

Call it the Clearing, Stumptown, City of Roses, P-Town, PDX, Ripcity, Bridgetown, or Little Beirut—Portland answers to them all. The city sits on the Willamette River, both sleepy and overwrought, dominating Oregon in population and voting trends. Obama loved it, George H.W. did not, Teddy Roosevelt slept here, and the Queen of Romania stopped by for dinner.

• Family-friendly
• Researchers
• Teachers

Online Exhibit

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde

The people of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde represent almost thirty different tribes and bands that the U.S. government removed to the Grand Ronde Reservation in the nineteenth century. The history of the reservation—and how so many western Oregon Native people came to reside there—is long and complex. With support from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, the Oregon Historical Society is working with scholars in an ongoing effort to create Oregon Encyclopedia entries on the people, places, and events connected to the history of the Grand Ronde people. Included in this new online exhibit are recently published entries by E.A. Schwartz, Kenneth Ames, David Lewis, Robert T. Boyd, Henry Zenk, William Lang, Dan Boxberger, Yvonne Hadja, and Chuck Williams. OHS archival material connected to the history of the Grand Ronde have been digitized and published on the OHS digital history websites.

• Family-friendly
• Researchers
• Teachers

Online Exhibit

The Fred Meyer Story

In many ways, the story of Fred G. Meyer and Fred Meyer, Inc. mirrors the story of the expansion and development of the city of Portland from a small, rugged, Western town to a booming metropolis. Follow the story of Fred Meyer from its humble beginnings to its expansion across the West.

• Family-friendly
• Teachers
• Researchers

Traveling Exhibit

Black Athletes Disrupting White Supremacy in Oregon

These exhibit panels were displayed on the campuses of the University of Oregon and Oregon State University during February 2014 to accompany public programs about national and state history related to African American football players. The exhibit panels were created by Dr. Darrell Millner of Portland State University in collaboration with OHS staff.

• Teachers
• Family-friendly

Traveling Exhibit

Clink! A Taste of Oregon Wine

OHS’s “Clink! A Taste of Oregon Wine” traveling exhibition explores the story of Oregon wine and some of the moments that make up its history. The narrative spans over 150 years, from the pioneers who brought grapevines on the Oregon Trail to the winegrowers who blazed a new trail in the 1960s to the innovations continuing to take place across the state. Learn about the seasonal workers who support an entire industry and the dedication of people who have grown, made, and embraced Oregon wine.

• Family-friendly
• Teachers
• Researchers

Traveling Exhibit

Oregon Is Indian Country

First exhibited in 2009 at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, Oregon Is Indian Country represents a groundbreaking project that brought together all nine federally recognized Oregon Tribes to present information, never-before-assembled in one exhibit, on contemporary indigenous cultures. This rich content is now available for museums and cultural institutions across the state as a traveling exhibit of vibrant banners.

• Teachers
• Family-friendly

Traveling Exhibit

Oregon: 150 Years of Statehood; 150 Million Years in the Making

In 2009, Oregon celebrated 150 years as a state. Oregon’s landscape has a much longer history — geological processes have been building the state's landscape for more than 150 million years! The windows in this exhibit illustrate how geology crafted Oregon’s landscape and natural resources and continues to shape the land and lives of its citizens. The most iconic of Oregon’s landscapes — Crater Lake, Multnomah Falls, Newberry Crater, Steens Mountain, the Painted Hills, and so much more — display Oregon’s geologic splendor.

• Teachers
• Family-friendly

Traveling Exhibit

Oregon's Landmark Legislation

Oregon has repeatedly led the nation in creating, revising, and implementing laws shaping the quality of life of its citizens. While Oregon’s innovations have evoked controversy, they have charted the course for other states and nations. The 16 exhibit panels highlight groundbreaking legislation that Oregon has passed since Statehood either by Politician, Legislative Action, or Public Initiative. Arranged chronologically, the window panels present legislation that focuses on environmental, social, and land use issues.

• Teachers
• Family-friendly

Traveling Exhibit

Places by the Sea

In 1910, going to Oregon's places by the sea from Portland wasn’t an easy trip. After 1890, a train connected Portland as far as Seaside. These photos on display were taken between 1906 and 1920 and show the Oregon coast as a place of bustling activity and as a place of solitude. The photos come from an album commissioned by the SP&S (Spokane, Portland & Seattle) Railway to promote Oregon’s coastal beauty and ease of rail travel.

• Family-friendly

Traveling Exhibit

The Call of Public Service: The Life and Legacy of Mark O. Hatfield

This traveling exhibit focuses on Mark Hatfield’s legacy in Oregon and across the nation. Featuring three, three-sided pop-up kiosks, the exhibit highlights the main issues he championed: healthcare, education, equal rights, the environment, and world peace.

• Family-friendly
• Researchers
• Teachers