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Oregon Heritage News

Heritage MentorCorps serving organizations statewide

A statewide network of volunteer mentors trained in collections care and emergency management is working directly with Oregon museums, libraries and archives. Mentors voluntarily work directly with Oregon archives, libraries and museums to improve the care of cultural artifacts, and prepare for emergencies.
 
“People who care for these collections of historic objects and paper are seeking more skills and knowledge to address issues of preservation and disasters,” said Kyle Jansson, coordinator of the Oregon Heritage Commission and the project director of the new Oregon Heritage MentorCorps. “MentorCorps members provide consulting, mentoring and training on these topics in ways that meet the needs of the 1,000 cultural heritage organizations in Oregon.”
 
Mentors’ experience ranges from graduate students to retired heritage executives with decades of experience. Mentors will work with organizations in their region of the state. All nonprofit and government archives, libraries and museums areable to access the free service. So far, more than 40 organizations have recieved service.
 
“We appreciate the mentors giving these organizations directly skills and knowledge,” said Jansson. “In the process of helping organizations, the mentors are also indirectly supporting the heritage of their own communities and regions.”
 
The MentorCorps takeoff is funded by a grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, and funds from the Oregon Heritage Commission and the Oregon Cultural Trust. Project partners include the Oregon Heritage Commission, Oregon Library Association, Northwest Archivists, Oregon Museums Association, Oregon State Archives, Oregon State Library, Oregon Historical Society, Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, and other organizations.
 
More information is available at the MentorCorps website.
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Online history, archaeology library is starting point for researchers

Oregonians and other historians are now able to harvest information about hundreds of historical books and studies in an online History and Archaeology Library created by the Oregon Heritage division of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.
 
“During the past five decades, we have received hundreds of studies and reports about historic and pre-historic places in Oregon,” said Chrissy Curran, manager of Oregon Heritage and the deputy state historic preservation officer. “We’ve worked so that the public can now have easy access to these documents as well as the titles of other books that have been published since the 1950s.”
 
Organized by county, the online History and Archaeology Library also includes links to lists of historic cemeteries and National Register sites in the counties. There are also links to the State Archives location guides to government records in each county.
 
“We have also included links to digital projects that we have supported with our grant programs,” said Kyle Jansson, coordinator of the Oregon Heritage Commission. “For example, we link to the historic photos digitized in a joint project of the Albany Regional Museum and the Albany Public Library. Another link is to historic land survey maps digitized by Baker County.”
 
The History and Archaeology Library also includes listings and links of other regional and statewide resources related to history and archaeology, and history research guides. Oregon Heritage will continue to add studies and book listings to the online library as they are received.
 
“We want researchers who know about other work to let us know of its existence,” said Ian Johnson, manager of the State Historic Preservation Office. “We want researchers to think of this as the first place to go when they are gathering information.”
 
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