Oregon

OREGON
The information below are past events for your state.

Past Events 2009

The following information was excerpted from The Oregonian, Portland’s newspaper on Tuesday, July 28, 2009.

Portland: The Dill Pickle Club arts group recently toured their community on bicycles to view the New Deal public art in inner Portland. This tour was planned and led by Marc Moscato. WPA pins (replicas of the originals were given out to all the cyclers and a brief overview of what would be seen during the tour was given. The tour included nine stops at Skidmore Fountain, Portland Art Museum, Oregon Historical Society, Muitnomah County Library, Abernethy School, Westmoreland Park, Franklin High School, East Portland Post Office and Woody Guthrie Circle. At the post office they were able to view a mural that was a replica of the first one created by Paul Grellert. The first one done in 1938 featured the Pony Express but was later damaged and thrown away. In the 1960’s when Grellert heard about this he offered to repaint the mural and the new one was hung in 1970.
It is interesting to note that the name of this club has a history. During the Depression, a group in Chicago formed such an organization with “the purpose of giving dispossessed and eccentric folks throughout society--doctors, labor leaders, prostitutes and hobos--a forum to share ideas.” Such a purpose inspired Moscato to form such a group with new friends in Portland They hope to have their own meeting space to hold lectures, exhibitions, etc. but in the meantime they have a website (www.dillpickleclub.com) and plan to tour manufacturers in August and food producers in September.

Past Events 2008

1. Mt. Hood National Forest and Timberline Lodge- May 31. All day activities are scheduled at this national forest. Presentations will be made at 10, 12 and 2 at the Zigzag Ranger Station and driving and walking tours can be done on your own at the CCC Camp Zigzag, Tollgate Campground, Mt. Hood Cultural Center and Museum and Timberline Lodge. Commemorative passports for the day will be provided and stamped for visitors at each location. Call 503.622.3191 for information. Sponsored by the US Forest Service, Friends of Timberline, Mt. Hood Cultural Center and Museum and the R.L.K. Company (Timberline Lodge).

2. New Timberline Lodge Book ---Sarah Munro, a NNDPA national board member, is hoping to complete her book on the Timberline Lodge for the 75th celebration. Teacher workshops at the Lodge are planned for based on the receipt of a NEH grant.

3. Oregon Experience : CCC

The Civilian Conservation Corps was one of Franklin Roosevelt’s most popular New Deal programs. It targeted unemployed young men, WWI veterans and American Indians. It put hundreds of thousands of men to work on federal and state land for the ‘prevention of forest fires, floods, and soil erosion, plant, pest, and disease control.’ The ‘CCC boys’ came to be known as the Tree Army – planting 3 billion trees.

Oregon was a major site for CCC camps, employing thousands of young people from across the country. The program put money into local economies and gave a wage to families struggling through the Great Depression. Today, the CCC ‘s work is still enjoyed in parks and forests around the state.

Through interviews with former enrollees, the program will tell the story of the CCC and its works in Oregon. It is scheduled to air on OPB Fall 2008.

The program is a part of the ongoing series Oregon Experience. From historical biographies to issues and events that have shaped our state, Oregon Experience is an exciting television series co-produced by OPB and the Oregon Historical Society. The series explores Oregon's rich past and helps all of us — from natives to newcomers — gain a better understanding of the historical, social and political fabric of our state.

Each half-hour show brings to life fascinating characters — both familiar and forgotten — who've played key roles in building our state into the unique place we call home. For more information visit http://www.opb.org/programs/oregonexperience/

4. Portland—The Oregon Historical Society is planning an exhibit of Oregon’s New Deal history and panel presentations are being developed. The organization’ quarterly publication, The Oregon Historical Quarterly, Summer 2008 issue includes four articles about Oregon’s New Deal. One article is written by our board member, Sarah Munro.

5. Summer. Timberline Lodge and Mt. Hood National Forest. Exhibit and tours. Both the CCC and WPA are being featured in these activities based on all the work they did in this area.

6. The Portland Art Museum has a document created by Margaret Bullock, a former curator, which shares about their New Deal public art within the museum’s fine art collection. Be sure and asked for a copy of this document

7. "Jewels forged in Depression" article on bridges spanning bays and rivers 3/29/09 Sunday Oregonian
in Oregon

New Deal Restoration in Oregon:

Art from Oregon's New Deal projects in the federal post offices, the Portland Art Museum, the state capitol and library, and at Timberline Lodge has been preserved and, where needed, restored.

Oregon's Timberline Lodge is a New Deal icon and success story. This ski lodge is situated at 6000 feet on Mount Hood in the national forest. It was hand-built from native wood and stone and furnished with hand-made furniture and decorated with wrought iron and hand-sewn, hooked or appliqued textiles. Art by some of Oregon's finest artists is here. The lodge was approved for funding by the WPA in December 1935, constructed between June 1936 and February 1938, and dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt on September 28, 1937. The world's second chairlift, the Magic Mile, also funded by the WPA, was completed a year later. The lodge only operated for four years before it was closed during World War II. Reopened in 1945, it operated for ten years with declining success, until the Forest service revoked the permit of the permittee. Within months Richard L. Kohnstamm became area operator and the lodge entered a period of renaissance and growth. In 1975, the non-profit group, Friends of Timberline was organizied to assist in restoration and preservation of the lodge. Today, it receives two million visitors annually and is one of the state's top tourist attractions. (by Sarah Baker Munro who wrote Timberline Lodge: The History, Art and Craft of an American Icon, Timber Press, forthcoming)

Many public schools have murals painted by notable local artists on New Deal projects that are at much greater risk. The following two examples illustrate murals in great need of preservation (Rose City Park School) and murals that generated a broad-based community response for restoration and reinstallation in another school (the Bush School murals). The italicized paragraphs below are excerpts of stories about these two school murals:

The Oregon History murals at Rose City Park School in Portland, painted during the WPA Federal Art Project by Oregon artist, Martina Gangle Curl, are badly in need of restoration. Therefore the Pathways/Ol Partners have been holding events to raise funds for this restoration project. They were selling as a unit 36 framed original prints by Oregon WPA period artists and also oils, gouaches, watercolors by some of the artists of that period including Martina, Runquists, Charles Heaney, Wm.Givler and five others. The Museum of People’s Art and Art Space Gallery in Bay City, OR is selling limited edition individual number prints struck from its collection of wood and linoleum blocks from Martina. Donations are also accepted by sending to the Museum of People’s Art, PO Box 3023, Bay City, OR 87107.

Bush School Library Murals Conservation Project: The Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission, in collaboration with the Salem-Keizer School District and the Salem Art Association, spearheaded a community project to salvage, restore, and re-install two historic murals painted in Salem during the l930s as part of the Works Progress Administration. The murals are the early work of Louis Bunce and Clifford Gleason, two artists who became prominent members of the Northwest art community. abc funds were used to develop curriculum and display materials to expand the audience for these historic and important works. “More than 100 individuals contributed financially to the effort. The Bush Murals Restoration Committee was comprised of community members who worked tirelessly and for over 16 months to see this project completed. The partnerships among the school district, nonprofit, and arts community strengthened relationships. The murals are now in an appropriate location and will be enjoyed by students, parents, and visitors for many future generations.” www.ochcom.org. Oregon Arts Commission Connections, June 2007. The murals were installed at the North Salem High School.

Ed Quigley's murals at Irvington Elementary School were restored through community efforts that included contributions from 200 area citizens and businesses (2002, restoration was managed by the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission) and local awareness of C.S. Price's murals at the Pendleton High School was raised by a film that students, under supervision of artist-in-residence Larry Johnson, made about restoring the murals (1990). Several inventories of the WPA art in schools have been completed and efforts are now underway to identify restoration and preservation needs. Some WPA murals have been lost over the years, but increased community awareness of these New Deal treasures raises the likelihood that surviving art will be cared for. The Friends of Art in the Schools is just such a group. The following italicized excerpt describes their efforts:

Friends of Art in the Schools, a group of parents, art historians, educators and conservators, aims to preserve the historic works many local school buildings were decorated with in the early 20th century as part of the Works Progress Administration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s initiative to create jobs for artists during the Great Depression. ... Many of the murals were painted over at some point and forgotten, only to be rediscovered recently, in need of repair and preservation. ... At Southeast Portland’s Abernethy School, for example, a square-foot piece of a larger mural painted in 1939 was recently discovered, having been covered with five layers of paint. ... It’s called “A Pageant of Oregon History,” painted by artist Erich Lamade as part of the W.P.A. and depicting scenes from the lives of Native Americans. ... The new group seeks to locate, identify, preserve and better display the historic artworks in Portland’s public school buildings. "New Group Seeks to Save Art in Portland Schools," by Jennifer Anderson, Portland Tribune, December 3, 2007 at www.portlandtribune.com. A related article by Lisa Grace Lednicer, "Saving WPA Treasures: An Era and its Art are Hidden in Portland Schools - Sometimes in Plain Sight," was in The Oregonian, December 30, 2007, and is reprinted at www.chicacoconservation.com.

Most of the New Deal projects in Oregon, as elsewhere, were roads, airports, bridges, forest trails and camps and park developments. Of these, state parks are undertaking an initiative to take their origins into account in developing master plans at the most significant Oregon State parks. The following italicized section is excerpted from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department website:

Honeyman Memorial State Park is located in Oregon’s coastal sand dune area, one of Oregon’s greatest treasures. The park is just south of Florence on scenic Highway 101, sited between the towering sand dunes and freshwater lakes that offer a wealth of year-round recreation. In carrying out the design for the park, CCC workers constructed Honeyman in the classic rustic style that is a trade mark of early park design in the United States. Honeyman, along with Silver Falls State Park and Crater Lake National Park, are the best surviving examples of Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) built parks in Oregon. The rustic stone work and axe-cut wood used in construction of the buildings, walls and shelters created a back drop that complimented the impressive natural setting that included easy access to lakes, dense forest, huge stretches of dunes and of course, the ocean.

The inspiring cultural heritage of the park and the work of the CCC need to be celebrated while retaining the vitality of the park through the wide range of recreational opportunities available to the public. This is the challenge for Honeyman; to recognize the work of the CCC and their built legacy and still serve the visitor and local community who value the park and make it a very active place to visit. In appreciating the history of Honeyman and communicating that history to a wider audience, it follows that the visitor expects development of facilities to meet this need. Providing interpretative facilities that explore the history of the CCC and their legacy will need to be balanced against current park use needs; protecting the very resources that will be interpreted. ... In addressing these issues at Honeyman, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department will go a long way to meeting its goals for state parks. Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (Nov. 2008)

For several recent articles about the New Deal in Oregon, published in the Oregon Historical Quarterly, see: www.historycooperative.org/journals/ohq/109.2/munro.html - and www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-34612893_ITM - 24k -

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