Shawna Gandy

Shawna Gandy currently serves as Library Director at the Oregon Historical Society. In addition to her professional work in libraries and archives and public history, she maintains a strong interest in social and religious history, in particular the intersection of gender, class, and ethnic identity. Ms. Gandy holds degrees from the University of Washington, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Portland State University.

Author's Entries

  • Francois Blanchet (1795-1883)

    François Norbert Blanchet arrived in Oregon in November 1838 as vicar general to the diverse Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest, the French Canadians, the British, the Americans, and others who occupied the vast Oregon Country. He traveled with fellow Canadian and Roman Catholic priest Modeste Demers on a five-month-long …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Modeste Demers (1809-1871)

    Modeste Demers answered the missionary call to Oregon in 1838, just two years after his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest in his native Quebec. In July 1838, Demers departed his Red River (Manitoba) post with the newly appointed Vicar General François Norbert Blanchet on the annual Hudson’s Bay Company …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur

    Early in January 1844, six Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (SNDdeN) departed Antwerp aboard L'Infatigable bound for the Oregon Country. After a long journey that took them around the tip of South America, they crossed the treacherous Columbia River bar on July 31. Accompanied by their recruiter, Rocky Mountain …

    Oregon Encyclopedia