OREGON HISTORICAL BUSINESS

The Oregon Historical Society holds a special place in my heart.

I took a temporary job there as a museum guard, a six month assignment to watch over an exhibit called Soft Gold.

Six months turned into twenty-odd years before I signed off.

It was a dream job from guard, to exhibit worker, to curatorial assistant, to collection manager.

While I was there I got married, had kids, bought a house, and finished my college degree.

With my blue-collar mentality I was an odd fit.

After working in an Oregon saw mill, a fishery, an Army medic, a newspaper printing room, and the back office at EF Hutton in lower Manhattan, the Oregon Historical Society was a dream.

I called it the Smithsonian of The West.

Most of the staff was older with skills that included sitting in an office with feet on a desk for research reading.

The more energetic people were tasked with applying that research.

 

In The Club

At the time I started,  the #1 and #2 guys in charge were both former Marines, one from WWII, the other Korea.

The old guard were fancy dressing, suit and tie, fund raising wizards.

In other words, they had style from a different era and stood as examples of what could be done with a good staff.

But time moved on, I moved on, and the museum is moving forward with great exhibits and programs.

And mailings to improve service for the future.

One of the mailing was a Member Survey.

The questions included what is the value of OHS membership, the last visit, and the next visit.

I liked the question of using OHS digital resources.

No matter where you are you’re in the History Club.

Another question asks if I’d recommend OHS to others.

I do it all the time.

 

Your Oregon History

If you’ve never been a history authority, join OHS.

Can you talk about Oregon history with confidence? Why not?

Do you have historical objects you don’t know what to do with and you’d like to see them in a safe place?

Visit OHS.

 

One of the benefits of being on OHS Member?

If you’ve seen a movie with elegant gatherings of people nibbling cheese and sipping wine and wonder what it’s like, join OHS and attend an event.

Does that sound like fun? It is when it’s history related.

But, if like me you’re more hands on, find a place at OHS to volunteer.

Call it civic engagement, a learning experience, or fulfilling a lifelong dream of seeing a museum from the inside, you’ll find it at the Oregon Historical Society.

It may not be for everyone, but there’s something at OHS involvement that reverberates in your community.

Because I was a museum guy, my mother in law became a museum docent in her town.

I was proud of her.

Join OHS and watch what happens in your family.

Set the bar, set the standard, and others will follow.

After a long trip through the American West, Oregon has never looked better.

The Oregon Historical Society matches every museum and visitor’s center I’ve seen.

Make it your museum.