The Oregon Encyclopedia

An Authoritative and Free Resource on All Things Oregon

November: National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

Athapaskan Indians

According to Tolowa oral histories, the Athapaskan people of southern Oregon and northern California arrived from the north in ancient times, traveling by canoe. Linguists estimate that they arrived in the region …

Kalapuyan peoples

November: National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

Kalapuyan peoples

The name Kalapuya (kǎlə poo´ yu), also appearing in the modern geographic spellings Calapooia (for a river in Linn Country) and Calapooya (for a mountain range and creek in Douglas County), goes …

Molalla Peoples

November: National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

Molalla Peoples

The name Molalla ([moˈlɑlə, ˈmolɑlə], usually spelled Molala by anthropologists; also Molale, Molele, Molalis) refers to like-speaking Indigenous peoples who at the time of earliest EuroAmerican contact occupied the greater part of …

November: National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

Multnomah (Sauvie Island Indian Village)

"Multnomah" is a word familiar to Oregonians as the name of a county and a waterfall, among other places. Less well known is its origin as the name of an Indian village …

November: National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

Native American Art of the Wapato Valley

Sauvie Island, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, was the geographical focus of a sizable body of Native art pieces in the Chinookan Art Style, a unique art form characteristic of …

November: National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

Portland Basin Chinookan Villages in the early 1800s

During the early nineteenth century, upwards of thirty Native American villages were documented in the Portland Basin (present-day Multnomah, Clark, Clackamas, and east Columbia Counties). Most of the villages were sited on riverbanks …

Research Categories

The downtown Research Library is closed for renovation, but Oregon history is ALWAYS OPEN on The OE

Researchers WILL HAVE ACCESS to reference services during the renovation; please contact [email protected] with your reference inquiries. Construction is underway to transform the OHS Research Library into a welcoming and fully accessible twenty-first-century space for research, learning, and collaboration. Our library is the heart of everything we do at the Oregon Historical Society. Our exhibits, the scholarship in the Oregon Historical Quarterly, our online Digital History Projects, and the free public programs we offer would not be possible without the invaluable librarians and archivists who safeguard and make accessible the largest collection of Oregon history available anywhere in the world.

To learn more about library services during the renovation, click here

Protest against Emanuel Hospital expansion, 1973

Oregon Protests

With the Portland and state-wide protests in the national news, it is well worth the time to learn about other protest movements in Oregon's history. This page features information on activists and movements for the environment, civil rights, religious freedom, anti-war, and labor reform.

Click here to learn about Oregon protest movements.

Looking for history in All The Places?

The Oregon History Wayfinder is an interactive map that identifies significant places, people, and events in Oregon history. Each point on the map connects to the historical records and scholarship on the Oregon History Project and The Oregon Encyclopedia, two of the digital history sites created by the Oregon Historical Society. The Oregon History Wayfinder is supported in part by the Oregon Heritage Commission.

Click here to get out the map

Welcome to the award-winning Oregon Encyclopedia

Western History Association, Gene Autry Public History Award, 2012.

AASLH American Association of State and Local History, Leadership in History Award, 2011.

NCTE logo National Council of Teachers of English, Multicultural Program Award, 2009.

OHS Digital History Projects

In addition to The Oregon Encyclopedia, the OHS Digital History Projects include the Oregon History Project and Oregon History Wayfinder.

Oregon History Project

Oregon History Wayfinder

The OE is Green!

The Encyclopedia's editorial process is completely paperless. Our authors and editors use a one-of-a-kind online workshop developed by Portland State University. We've published hundreds of authoritative entries on Oregon history and culture without hurting a single Douglas Fir. Donate your green to The OE and keep us—and the trees—growing.

Additional Funding

This project has been funded in part by the Oregon Heritage Commission and the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Project Partners

LSTA Libraries as Community Resources Meetings, made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to The Oregon Encyclopedia.

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