The Oregon Encyclopedia

An Authoritative and Free Resource on All Things Oregon

Alan Hart (1890-1962)

June is LGBT History Month

Alan Hart (1890-1962)

Alan L. Hart was an Oregon physician, researcher, and writer and one of the first female-to-male transgender persons to undergo a hysterectomy in the United States and live the reminder of his ...

Basic Rights Oregon

June is LGBT History Month

Basic Rights Oregon

Established in 1996, Basic Rights Oregon was the first statewide political organization in Oregon to work on the behalf of LGBTQ rights (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer). Its mission is to ensure ...

Gay and lesbian rights movement

June is LGBT History Month

Gay and lesbian rights movement

Before Stonewall

Before New York’s Stonewall Riots in 1969, the history of gay rights in Oregon, as in the United States generally, was one of curtailment. For example, in the nineteenth century ...

Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest LGBTQ History

June is LGBT History Month

Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest LGBTQ History

The Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest was founded in October 1994 by a small group of community historians in Portland. At the time, it was the only gay and ...

Gus Van Sant (1952-)

June is LGBT History Month

Gus Van Sant (1952-)

Gus Van Sant, Oregon’s most celebrated filmmaker, has lived and worked in Portland for more than thirty years. Portland is the setting for several of his independent films, which portray the Bohemian ...

Johnnie Ray (1927-1990)

June is LGBT History Month

Johnnie Ray (1927-1990)

Johnnie Ray was completely different from anything that went before him. . . . I consider Johnnie Ray to be the father of rock and roll.—Tony Bennett

In the early 1950s, Johnnie Ray ...

KBOO Community Radio

June is LGBT History Month

KBOO Community Radio

In 2008, KBOO Community Radio (90.7 FM) celebrated forty years on the air since its humble beginnings as a barely audible 10-watt repeater signal in a tiny basement studio in downtown ...

Marie Equi (1872-1952)

June is LGBT History Month

Marie Equi (1872-1952)

Dr. Marie Equi was a fiercely independent Oregon physician who was engaged in the political turmoil and social change of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She was a fearless advocate ...

Oregon Anti-Sterilization League

June is LGBT History Month

Oregon Anti-Sterilization League

The Oregon Anti-Sterilization League, formed in February 1913 at the East Portland Branch Library, was the first known effective political advocacy group that worked against legislated human sterilization. The group initiated a referendum that repealed the ...

Portland Gay Men's Chorus

June is LGBT History Month

Portland Gay Men's Chorus

The Portland Gay Men's Chorus (PGMC) was founded in April 1980 to perform a concert as part of that year's local Gay Pride Festival. Twenty men responded to an ad ...

Walter Cole (Darcelle)

June is LGBT History Month

Walter Cole (Darcelle)

When Walter Cole was discharged from the military in the late 1950s, he had little idea that his alter ego, the female impersonator Darcelle, would emerge and that he would become the ...

Research Categories

Become a member of the Oregon Historical Society, GET THE QUARTERLY, have some cheese

As far as encyclopedias go, The Oregon Encyclopedia may be the greatest encyclopedia of all time. It has all the best entries, the best authors, and the best photographs—thousands of them. The OE is part of one of the greatest research libraries in the West, which is located in the largest historical society in the state—the Oregon Historical Society. All sorts of history things are here, including a pardon signed by President Harrison for an Oregon bootlegger, a photo of Santa Ana's cork leg, the film "The Haunted Camera" directed by a 15-year-old Medford girl in the 1930s, and an animatronic elf (or three) from SantaLand. Millions of history items are catalogued, carefully stored, and kept safe at OHS. Come visit! Even better, with an annual membership to the Oregon Historical Society, you'll help keep all that history in good order; you'll get a subscription to the Oregon Historical Quarterly; and you'll be invited to special events, cheese included. You'll also have access to many other historical and cultural institutions around the state. Excellent!

Click here to join Oregon's public history community

June: LGBTQ History Month

This June, recognizing the joys and sorrows that the gay and lesbian movement has witnessed and the work that remains to be done, we observe Gay and Lesbian Pride Month and celebrate the progress we have made in creating a society more inclusive and accepting of gays and lesbians. I hope that in this new millennium we will continue to break down the walls of fear and prejudice and work to build a bridge to understanding and tolerance, until gays and lesbians are afforded the same rights and responsibilities as all Americans. --President Bill Clinton, June 2, 2000

Click here to see LGTBQ History in Oregon

Looking for history in All The Places?

The Oregon History Wayfinder is an interactive map that identifies significant places, people, and events in Oregon history. Each point on the map connects to the historical records and scholarship on the Oregon History Project and The Oregon Encyclopedia, two of the digital history sites created by the Oregon Historical Society. The Oregon History Wayfinder is supported in part by the Oregon Heritage Commission.

Click here to get out the map

Upcoming Events

History Pub: McMenamins Old St. Francis School in Bend

"The 1920s Oregon KKK and its Opponents: A Case Study in Resistance." Presented by David A. Horowitz

June 26, 2018 at 7 p.m.

More details...

Location

McMenamins Old St. Francis School
700 NW Bond Street
Bend, OR 97730

Google Map...

Welcome to the award-winning Oregon Encyclopedia

Western History Association, Gene Autry Public History Award, 2012.

AASLH American Association of State and Local History, Leadership in History Award, 2011.

NCTE logo National Council of Teachers of English, Multicultural Program Award, 2009.

OHS Digital History Projects

In addition to The Oregon Encyclopedia, the OHS Digital History Projects include the Oregon History Project and Oregon History Wayfinder.

Oregon History Project

Oregon History Wayfinder

The OE is Green!

The Encyclopedia's editorial process is completely paperless. Our authors and editors use a one-of-a-kind online workshop developed by Portland State University. We've published hundreds of authoritative entries on Oregon history and culture without hurting a single Douglas Fir. Donate your green to The OE and keep us—and the trees—growing.

Additional Funding

This project has been funded in part by the Oregon Heritage Commission and the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Project Partners

LSTA Libraries as Community Resources Meetings, made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to The Oregon Encyclopedia.

Donate to the OE