More Of Oregon’s African American History Archived At Museum

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Portland, Ore. – The photograph archive of the largest African American newspaper in the Pacific Northwest, The Skanner, is now available for researchers to use at the Oregon Historical Society’s Davies Family Research Library. A complete finding guide can be accessed through the Northwest Digital Archives database (https://nwda.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv36972/op=fstyle.aspx?t=k&q=the+skanner), showing the full breadth of this collection.

In honor of this occasion, the Oregon Historical Society will host The Skanner’s publisher, Bernie Foster, and executive editor, Bobbie Dore Foster, for a public program as part of its Second Sunday series. OHS Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk will lead a conversation and Q&A with the Fosters on Sunday, February 8 at 2 p.m. at the Oregon Historical Society (1200 SW Park Avenue, Portland). Admission is free & open to the public (regular museum admission required to view current exhibits).

The Oregon Historical Society is pleased to add The Skanner archive to its growing resources documenting Oregon’s African American history. These include the archive of Portland’s Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church and oral histories of residents of the Albina neighborhood. The Society recently acquired a rare photograph album with portraits of African American notables from the 1880s and 1890s.

The opening of the Skanner archive also coincides with the Society’s newest exhibit, A Community on the Move, created by the Oregon Black Pioneers, which explores how the WWII shipyards, migration from the South, the Vanport flood, and urban renewal projects impacted Portland’s black families and businesses.

Background on The Skanner & the Collection:

The Skanner began publication in 1975 and quickly became one of the strongest voices of Portland’s African American communities. With the inauguration of its Seattle edition in 1990 its coverage expanded to encompass the entire region. The Skanner’s long time publishers, Bobbie Dore Foster and Bernie Foster, have received numerous awards for their outstanding work in journalism.

Containing thousands of images, the archive provides an unusual visual record of African American life in the Pacific Northwest from the late 1970s to the 1990s. Subjects include civil rights and housing discrimination protests throughout the late 1970s and 1980s; efforts at community empowerment and political representation; educational initiatives; community groups and organizations; churches and religious issues; and the flourishing of African American culture in general.

Thanks to the generous support of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the collection has been professionally processed by archivists Jack Falk and Jeffrey Hayes, and over 1500 images have been digitized.

About the Oregon Historical Society
For more than a century, the Oregon Historical Society has served as the state’s collective memory, preserving a vast collection of artifacts, photographs, maps, manuscript materials, books, films, and oral histories. Our research library, museum, digital platforms & website (www.ohs.org), educational programming, and historical journal make Oregon’s history open and accessible to all. We exist because history is powerful, and because a history as deep and rich as Oregon’s cannot be contained within a single story or point of view.

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