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Sarah Munro

Sarah Munro has a B.A. from Pitzer College and an M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2004, with the Labor Arts Forum, she helped organize a symposium on New Deal art in Oregon. She is the author of Timberline Lodge: The History, Art and Craft of an American Icon, published in 2009, and has curated exhibits celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the New Deal at the Oregon Historical Society and Timberline Lodge. Currently, she serves as the Director of the Hoover-Minthorn House Museum in Newberg, Oregon, boyhood home of Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States.

Author's Entries

  • Community of Zigzag

    On October 11, 1845, Joel Palmer wrote about a ravine on Mount Hood: “The manner of descending is to turn directly to the right, go zigzag for about one hundred yards, then turn short round, and go zigzag until you come under the place where you started from; then …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Fernando (Basque trickster figure)

    Fernando is a trickster, the character in traditional Basque folk tales who disobeys normal behavioral rules, outsmarts a figure of authority (such as the priest), and overcomes oppression or discrimination. Fernando is lazy, greedy, and always hungry; he depends on wit and double entendre to obtain his ends. Basque immigrants …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Four Rivers Cultural Center and Museum

    The Four Rivers Cultural Center in Ontario is a nonprofit organization dedicated to telling the history of the western Treasure Valley. “Four Rivers” refers to the Snake, Malheur, Owyhee, and Payette Rivers, which converge in Ontario and provide water critical to farming, a mainstay of the region’s economy. …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Jordan Valley

    The town of Jordan Valley stretches along Highway 95 in Oregon’s High Desert. At an elevation of 4,385 feet, the town is on the north side of Jordan Creek, a tributary of the Owyhee River. Located on a volcanic plateau, Jordan Valley was shaped by volcanic eruption about …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Margery Hoffman Smith (1888-1981)

    Margery Hoffman Smith, a painter and interior designer, was called the “grande dame of arts and crafts” for her work at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood. She also encouraged the formation of the Asian Art Society at the Portland Art Museum in 1974 and contributed funds for a …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Morrow County Courthouse

    The Morrow County Courthouse in Heppner is one of the oldest continuously operating courthouses in Oregon. Named for pioneer merchant and legislator Jackson L. Morrow, the county was created on February 16, 1885. Heppner was named the county seat in an election held the following June, and local citizens paid …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Pelota Fronton

    The pelota fronton in Jordan Valley is a handball court built by Basque sheepherders in 1915. This landmark, at the heart of the city on Highway 95 and Bassett Street, is a symbol of the cultural traditions of Basque immigrants during a period when sheepherding dominated the local economy. Popular …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Portland Art Association

    The Portland Art Association (PAA) was organized on December 12, 1892, by citizens interested in developing a collection and providing a space where art could be studied. PAA was created with a $1,000 total investment from local businessmen and politicians, including Henry W. Corbett, Henry Failing, Dr. Holt …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Rachael Griffin (1906-1983)

    Rachael Griffin, educator and curator, is recognized for encouraging local artists, for fostering public appreciation of art, and for serving seventeen years as curator at the Portland Art Museum (PAM). Her first association with PAM was as an eight-year old, attending Saturday morning classes at the museum, which was then …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Richard L. Kohnstamm (1926-2006)

    Richard L. Kohnstamm was the president and area operator of Timberline Lodge and Ski Area from 1955 until 1992, when he turned the operation over to his son Jeff. Upon Kohnstamm's death in April 2006, U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer memorialized him before the House of Representatives as "a visionary leader …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Timberline Lodge

    Timberline Lodge is the showplace for Works Progress Administration projects in Oregon. Its construction was financed with nearly a million dollars from the WPA, with additional funding from the Federal Art Project for furnishings and art. Emerson J. Griffith, Oregon's WPA director, spearheaded the Timberline project by submitting applications for …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Zigzag Ranger Station

    Zigzag Ranger Station is the headquarters for the Zigzag District of the Mount Hood National Forest. Built mostly on the south side of Highway 26 (formerly known as the Mount Hood Loop Road), the station is a compound of about twenty-five structures, the oldest of which was built in 1914 …

    Oregon Encyclopedia