Thank you to all those who attended the 2023 Collector Car & Classic Boat Show! We had an amazing turnout of volunteers and guests, as well as wonderful support from the Car & Boat Show Committee. The Car & Boat Show is the largest event that OHC hosts and is one of our major fundraisers. Because of the support that goes into the show, we are able to fund new exhibits, archival projects, and education programs.
Did you have a favorite car at the show?
You'll be able to see photos from the event soon on our website, including winners of the sponsor trophies and more information about the booths, sponsors, and participants that made it out to the event.
We'll see you next year on August 25, 2024, for another great show!
Kathryn Sinor Executive Director
We will be open for Chautauqua on Wednesday, Sept. 6th, and rental events, but the museum's normal hours will be closed for a few days. Staff will be attending conferences in order to better the Heritage House's community engagement, educational programs, and exhibit protocol. We look forward to sharing what we've learned!
Something exciting has recently come into the possession of the Heritage House: approximately 150 bound copies of the LO Review, which Archivist Mark Browne calls "the diary of the town." These historic newspapers chronicle a changing Lake Oswego and will be available for research by request.
We would not have been able to accept this donation from Pamplin Media Group without the support of Carissa Barrett, the Technology/Adult Services Librarian at the Lake Oswego Public Library. Carissa is a fervent supporter of the history of Lake Oswego, having contributed to the creation of the Barrett Family Archive Room at the Oswego Heritage House.
THANK YOU!
This project has been made possible thanks to invaluable community members like you!
OHC volunteers have been hard at work scanning and cataloguing over 2,000 photographs as part of our new Vose Family Collection. These photographs chronicle a prominent family through 20th century Oswego. While the family has kept the original photographs, Sharon Gustafson has allowed us to make scans of the historic photographs for our archives.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO HISTORY!
Do you have photographs or documents you've considered donating but don't want to let go of yet? We can do the same for you! Preserve a small piece of history by keeping a copy of your historic photographs or documents in our archives.
If YOU have something you would like scanned and preserved, please fill out this form. We'd love to reach out and discuss more with you.
Membership changes coming your way!
If your membership renewal is coming due, you'll soon notice some changes: simplified tiered levels that have new benefits. We hope that these new levels will provide better opportunities to engage with the exciting work being down at the Heritage House and takes into consideration the feedback received on our membership survey earlier this year.
It is a way to show our appreciation of your support every time you hit "renew." These changes will be on our website this month but will not affect our current members until their next renewal.
Thank you!
JOIN US SUNDAY, AUGUST 27th FOR THIS YEAR'S COLLECTOR CAR & CLASSIC BOAT SHOW!
Expect 200 cars, 20 boats, and fun exhibitor booths to keep you and your family entertained. The weather's scheduled to be great, the vehicles will be unique, and the community that you'll find at the event can't be beat.
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM George Rogers Park Sundeleaf Plaza
Proceeds from the event support fulfill the mission of the Oswego Heritage Council to preserve and promote the history of Lake Oswego.
FIND OUT MORE ON OUR WEBSITE
Thank you to all those who attended our annual fundraiser, Rock Your Ribs! Despite the hot weather, we had a great turnout and raised more than $8,000 for special archives projects and general operations to keep the Heritage House flourishing. The Lakeridge High School Jazz Band did an amazing job with stellar music, and we couldn't have done much of the behind-the-scenes work without NCL's mother-daughter teams volunteering and our wonderful Board of Directors.
If you weren't able to make it to the festivities, there are other ways to support the Oswego Heritage House that we hope you'll consider:
Thank you,
There are many opportunities to get involved on Sunday, August 27th! We need help in the following areas:
If you've got a free day and are looking to give back to a local non-profit, volunteering for this massive community event is a great place to do so! Once you sign-up as a volunteer, our Car & Boat Show Committee will get back to you ASAP.
WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
Have you seen our volunteers hard at work upstairs at the Lake Oswego Public Library? Been wondering what they're up to?
OHC Archivist Mark Browne has trained several library volunteers in the important work of cataloguing, archiving, storing, and organizing LOPL's historical collection. This extensive work will make it easier to locate items within the library's collection, with the end goal to digitize both the LOPL historical collection AND the OHC historical collection. New photos, documents, and other artifacts will be brought to the light for the first time in our town's history.
Working together, we are able to build on past work by both organizations to create a new, thriving historical hub in Lake Oswego! This will be a resource that will be accessible to anyone, anywhere.
This project has been made possible thanks to the generous donations of invaluable community members like you!
This July, OHC Archivist Mark Browne led a group from Mary's Woods to Gaiety Hollow, the home, garden, and studio of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, the first all-female landscape architecture firm in the Pacific Northwest. Lord and Schyver designed over 200 landscapes and gardens in the region between 1929 and 1969. These influential landscape architects operated across the Pacific Northwest, with some of their gardens still surviving in Lake Oswego today!
If you remember our "Children of Oswego" exhibit from a few years ago, you aren't the only one! We recently received a donation from someone who attended that exhibit and wanted to add to our collection. The donation is an American Flyer 1921-1922 wind-up locomotive set, and we're so grateful to add it to our archives. You'll see it on display soon!
If YOU have something you are considering donating, please fill out this form. We'd love to reach out and discuss more with you.
It is a way to show our appreciation of your support every time you hit "renew." These changes will be on our website in September but will not affect our current members until their next renewal.
THANK YOU TO THESE SPONSORSFOR THEIR SUPPORT OF OUR ANNUAL CAR & BOAT SHOW
The Historic Rose Garden is in bloom, and so are exciting things at OHC!
Our new website has launched (more about that below), and some exciting projects are taking root at the Heritage House!
We have begun Phase One of a multi-year project with the Lake Oswego Public Library. Archivist Mark Browne is leading a team to properly preserve, organize, catalogue, and eventually digitize the library's vast historical collection. The new cataloguing system builds on the one already in place at the library but will make it more effective for people wanting to view the archives from anywhere in the world.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT, KATHRYN?
With this project's completion, you'll be able to browse the library's website and find an online archives of 7,000 photographs -- some of which our team at OHC have never seen before, and most of which are currently unavailable. We will be able to add our own collection to this database, meaning that we are increasing access to two important community hubs for history.
This is one important step on making sure that the history of Lake Oswego is accessible to anyone, anywhere, any time. We are incredibly grateful to be able to do this work and would be unable to provided these services if it wasn't for our wonderful members supporting us!
NEW WEBSITE HAS ARRIVED!
If you haven't gotten the opportunity, go check out our new website! It's at the same URL as the previous one (www.oswegoheritage.org), but you may notice it has a completely new look. Explore information on exhibits and programs, event pages, and our blog.
We have an additional feature available just for members! Members can login to the website using the red square at the top right, above the banner, on any page. Use the email address this has been sent to, and if you can't access it, please reset your password.
Members gain additional access to past exhibits and our quarterly historic journals, which will continue in August. We're excited to provide some new benefits to those who have supported our organization!
The Lake Oswego Arts Council wants your feedback!
Please take a few minutes to complete a short survey about the future of public art in Lake Oswego. They want to hear from the people that support OHC, so let's make sure they hear our voice on important topics like:
What kinds of art? Where to place it?
This survey closes July 1st. Please provide your feedback here:
WE STILL NEED YOUR SUPPORT!
For only $1,750, a preservation specialist has agreed to restore the 1893 painting of Willamette Falls, where it will hang in the Heritage House as an important piece of local history. Please consider donating today, as it is only with your support that we can protect these historical treasures.
You can learn more about the history of the artist and its connection to Oswego families HERE in May's Hello LO on Historic Preservation Month.
MAKE A GIFT TODAY:
We would be deeply grateful!
Congratulations to Courtney Clements, this year's recipient of the C. Herald Campbell Award! This award is gifted to someone who has made important contributions to the Oswego Heritage Council's mission to preserve and promote the history of Lake Oswego. Myself and Board President Jeff Gudman presented the award to Courtney at the Chamber of Commerce's Community Awards event on Tuesday.
Courtney has been a volunteer at the Heritage House for just over a year, but she jumped right into researching our collection. Some of her accomplishments include:
Transcribing and conducting research on Theresa Truchot’s war time diaries
Publishing a new edition of the 1898 diary of Clara and Cora Wilmot with additional research and a new introduction
Writing an article entitled Flirting by fruit box: A look at an early 20th century dating app. This article, based on letters written to local resident Lucy Pollard, will be published in the June issue of the Genealogical Forum of Oregon’s Quarterly Bulletin
We could not exist without the incredible work of our volunteers, and we are incredibly humbled that they choose to spend their time contributing to the archival research of our collection.
If you see Courtney, make sure to congratulate her!!
Executive Director
Flirting by Fruit Box: An Early 20th Century Dating App by Courtney Clements
NEW WEBSITE COMING SOON!
We have been hard at work behind the scenes to create a new website! This new website will allow guests to better explore our archives, have special members-only content, and better support history sleuths around the world so that they can discover more about the fascinating world of Lake Oswego.
The banner above is the first glimpse of our new website. We hope that it will prove to be a more useful tool in preserving and promoting the history of Lake Oswego.
The website launch will happen in the next month!
Oswego Heritage House and Museum398 10th St.Lake Oswego, OR 97034(503) 635-6373
Hours of Operation:Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Copyright © 2023, Oswego Heritage Council. All rights reserved.
