The Oregon Encyclopedia

An Authoritative and Free Resource on All Things Oregon

Elizabeth Woody (1959-)

March is Women's History Month

Elizabeth Woody (1959-)

Poet and artist Elizabeth Woody was named Oregon Poet Laureate in 2016, the first Native American appointed to the position. Woody's roots are in the Deschutes and the Columbia River basins ...

Esperanza Spalding (1984-)

March is Women's History Month

Esperanza Spalding (1984-)

Esperanza Spalding’s fierce talent in double bass and vocal work earned her a Grammy in 2011 for Best New Artist, making her the first jazz musician and one of only four Oregonians ...

Esther Clayson Pohl Lovejoy (1869-1967)

March is Women's History Month

Esther Clayson Pohl Lovejoy (1869-1967)

Physician Esther Clayson Pohl Lovejoy took an active and significant role in public health reform, suffrage, and politics in early twentieth century Portland. Lessons she learned in Oregon became the foundation for ...

Eva Castellanoz (1939- )

March is Women's History Month

Eva Castellanoz (1939- )

Eva Castellanoz—traditional artist, curandera (healer), activist, and teacher—is a leading spokesperson for Oregon's Latino community. She received a National Heritage Award in 1989, has been the subject of Oregon and National ...

Fern Hobbs (1883-1964)

March is Women's History Month

Fern Hobbs (1883-1964)

In January 1914, thirty-year-old Fern Hobbs achieved international celebrity when Oregon Governor Oswald West sent her, along with several National Guardsmen, to tame the reputed “lawless” town of Copperfield on Snake River ...

Gracie Diana Hansen (1922-1985)

March is Women's History Month

Gracie Diana Hansen (1922-1985)

For being a little over five feet tall, Gracie Hansen stood out in a crowd. Maybe it was her wild boa, her hat creations, or her contagious laugh. It could have been ...

Harriet "Hattie" Redmond (1862-1952)

March is Women's History Month

Harriet "Hattie" Redmond (1862-1952)

Harriet “Hattie” Redmond was a leader in the long struggle for Oregon woman suffrage, especially during the successful campaign of 1912. The right to vote was especially important to Redmond as a ...

Hazel Ying Lee (1912-1944)

March is Women's History Month

Hazel Ying Lee (1912-1944)

Hazel Ying Lee, who was born and educated in Oregon, was the first Chinese American woman to fly for the U.S. military, one of two Chinese Americans in the Women Airforce ...

Jacqueline Schumacher (1920-)

March is Women's History Month

Jacqueline Schumacher (1920-)

Jacqueline Martin Schumacher, a ballerina and choreographer of ballet and musical theater, danced the Swan Queen in the first full-length Swan Lake in America. For forty years, she was a ballet teacher ...

Jean Kitts Young (1904-1992)

March is Women's History Month

Jean Kitts Young (1904-1992)

Jean Kitts Young amassed a half-century of volunteer service and political activism ranging from civic advocacy and governmental reform to work on behalf of the Republican Party in Oregon. “Few people,” ...

Kalliah Tumulth (Indian Mary) (1854-1906)

March is Women's History Month

Kalliah Tumulth (Indian Mary) (1854-1906)

Kalliah Tumulth, also called Indian Mary, was a Cascade (Watlala) Chinook born in October 1854 to a signer of one of the main Oregon treaties. Kalliah was a strong, independent woman who ...

Kathryn Harrison (1924- )

March is Women's History Month

Kathryn Harrison (1924- )

Kathryn Jones Harrison of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is one of Oregon's important tribal leaders. She is known especially for her work as a member of the Tribal Council ...

Kwan Hsu (1913-1995)

March is Women's History Month

Kwan Hsu (1913-1995)

Kwan Hsu arrived in Portland in 1964, a newly minted professor tasked not just with teaching at Portland State College (now Portland State University) but also with creating a new biophysics program ...

Lizzie Weeks (1879-1976)

March is Women's History Month

Lizzie Weeks (1879-1976)

Lizzie Koontz Weeks was an African American activist in Portland in the years after women in Oregon had achieved the right to vote in 1912. She organized black women to empower them ...

Manche Irene Langley (1883-1963)

March is Women's History Month

Manche Irene Langley (1883-1963)

Manche Irene Langley was among the first women admitted to practice law in Oregon. During her nearly six-decade-long career, from 1909 to 1963, she was one of few women litigators in ...

Molala Kate (1844?-1938)

March is Women's History Month

Molala Kate (1844?-1938)

Molala (or Molalla) Kate Chantal—the daughter of Molalla Chief Yelkus (Kil-ke), a signer of treaties with the United States in 1851 and 1855—was born in Dickey Prairie, near present-day Molalla, Oregon, in ...

Narcissa Whitman (1808-1847)

March is Women's History Month

Narcissa Whitman (1808-1847)

Missionary Narcissa Prentiss Whitman is probably Old Oregon’s most famous and tragic woman. Her reputation ranges from heroic to intolerant. In 1836, she moved west with her husband, Dr. Marcus Whitman, to ...

Nathalie McDowell Johnson (1959-)

March is Women's History Month

Nathalie McDowell Johnson (1959-)

Dr. Nathalie McDowell Johnson, a dancer and physician, moved to Oregon to focus on women’s breast health and cancer education. She is known for her empathetic treatment style, based in large part ...

Paulann Petersen (1942-)

March is Women's History Month

Paulann Petersen (1942-)

Paulann Petersen, Oregon’s sixth Poet Laureate, is an award-winning poet, influential teacher, and ambassador for poetry. Her poems, which are rooted in Pacific Northwest landscapes, have appeared in national and regional literary ...

Sacagawea

March is Women's History Month

Sacagawea

Sacagawea was a member of the Agaideka (Lemhi) Shoshone, who lived in the upper Salmon River Basin in present-day Idaho. In about 1800, she was kidnapped by members of the Hidatsa tribe ...

Sarah Winnemucca (1844?-1891)

March is Women's History Month

Sarah Winnemucca (1844?-1891)

Sarah Winnemucca, a Paiute, had a clear purpose in life: “I mean to fight for my down-trodden race while life lasts.” Winnemucca lived part of her adult life on reservations in ...

Susan Castillo (1951-)

March is Women's History Month

Susan Castillo (1951-)

Susan Castillo was the first Latina elected to the Oregon State Legislature and the first to hold statewide elected office as superintendent of public instruction. She was also the last person to ...

Thelma Johnson Streat (1912-1959)

March is Women's History Month

Thelma Johnson Streat (1912-1959)

Thelma Johnson Streat was a multi-talented African American artist who focused on ethnic themes in her work. Born on August 29, 1912, in Yakima, Washington, to James and Gertrude Johnson, she moved ...

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929 - 2018)

March is Women's History Month

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929 - 2018)

Ursula K. Le Guin, one of Oregon’s preeminent writers, was born Ursula Kroeber in 1929 in Berkeley, California, the youngest and only girl in a family of four children. Her parents were ...

Victoria (Wishikin) Wacheno Howard (c. 1865-1930)

March is Women's History Month

Victoria (Wishikin) Wacheno Howard (c. 1865-1930)

Victoria (Wishikin) Wacheno Howard was the teller of Clackamas Chinook narratives and traditions transcribed by anthropologist Melville Jacobs and published by him as Clackamas Chinook Texts (1958-1959), one of the richest records ...

Winona LaDuke (1959-)

March is Women's History Month

Winona LaDuke (1959-)

Winona LaDuke (Mississippi Band of Anishinaabe Indians) is an internationally respected Native American environmental leader, author, politician, and economist. She is best known for her work in the contemporary Indigenous environmental movement ...

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

March is Women's History Month

Click here to read how Girls Run the World 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

"Giving the Noose the Slip: An Analysis of Female Murderers in Oregon, 1854-1950." Presented by Jenna Barganski.

March 26, 2019 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