[Heritage] Oregon Heritage News 2009-10-15

[Heritage Info]

In this issue:
1.  Authors make presentations in Albany, Bend
2.  Willamette Falls area listed in National Register
3.  Oregon Jewish museum begins move
4.  Heritage Programs offices closed Oct. 16
5.  Heritage tourism survival kit in development


AUTHORS MAKE PRESENTATIONS IN ALBANY, BEND

Albany:  The Linn County Historical Society will feature author Jane
Kirkpatrick at 2 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Lakeside Center of the Mennonite
Village, 5353 Columbus St. SE. She will discuss the history of Aurora,
upon which she has based two of her books. The presentation is partially
supported through a grant from the Linn County Cultural 
Coalition made with funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Bend:  Author James Crowell will be at the Bend Costco, 2500 NE Highway
20, for a book signing from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 25. His book, "Frontier
Publisher", shines a light on George Palmer Putnam, heir to the Putnam
Publishing Co. and one of the early owners and editors of the Bend
Bulletin. The book details Putnam's years in Bend with his new wife,
Dorothy Binney of the Crayola fortune, which shaped Putnam just as much
as they shaped Bend, including his election as mayor at the age of 23.
Putnam later would marry and manage the career of his second wife,
Amelia Earhart, The book is published locally by the Deschutes County
Historical Society. For more information, please call the Des Chutes
Historical Museum at 541.389.1813.


WILLAMETTE FALLS AREA LISTED IN NATIONAL REGISTER

The Willamette Falls Neighborhood Historic District in West Linn is
Oregon’s latest entry in the National Register of Historic Places. 

Platted by the Willamette Falls Co. in 1893, the community of
Willamette Falls was designed by businessman and real estate speculator
Nicholas O. Walden. Walden’s ambitious plan for the town called for a
modern and bustling trade and manufacturing center complete with
underground utilities, including water and sewer systems, and
electricity generated at Willamette Falls. Soon after its founding, the
town boasted a number of fine homes, busy downtown, modern shoe factory,
and an electric trolley line. The town was incorporated in 1908.

While Willamette Falls never grew into the boomtown its founders
envisioned, the community is important as an example of the many towns
that developed along the banks of the Willamette River in the late-19th
and early-20th centuries. Willamette Falls is recognized as the largest
and most developed of these communities and one of the very few towns in
the nation during the late 1900s that incorporated modern utilities into
the original city design. The neighborhood also boasts one of the best
collections of historic housing in West Linn.

Oregon’s State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation
recommended the district’s nomination in June. Three properties are
already recognized in West Linn, including the Willamette Falls Locks
and the former home of Nicholas O. Walden, which is located in the
recently established historic district. The National Register is
maintained by the National Park Service under the authority of the
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. 

More information about the National Register and recent Oregon listings
is online at http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/NATREG/index.shtml 


OREGON JEWISH MUSEUM BEGINS MOVE

Following a six-year search, the Oregon Jewish Museum is moving to 1953
NW Kearney St. The building, originally built to serve the film
industry,is a 6,400 square foot facility will enable the museum to
expand its exhibits, programs and services.

The new gallery space will allow for both larger and multiple
concurrent exhibitions. An expanded volunteer program will provide a
variety of Museum services and new volunteer opportunities in
hospitality, tours/docents, research and multimedia. Spaces which
originally served as film vaults will provide a safekeeping solution for
the museum's collections and artifacts. When completed, the former
screening room will be configured for school presentations, museum and
community programs, movie screenings, digital presentations and online
meetings and programs with other museums and education institutions.
Convenient parking and handicapped accessibility are two vital
components of the new location. 

The museum plans to open in the new location by mid-December. For more
information, visit  www.ojm.org or phone 503.226.3600. 


HERITAGE PROGRAMS OFFICES CLOSED OCT. 16

The Heritage Programs Division of the Oregon Parks and Recreation
Department will be closed on Oct. 16 as a result of a mandated furlough
day for state employees. It is the first of 10 scheduled furlough days
over the next two years. The staff will resume normal hours on Monday,
Oct. 19.

The OPRD Heritage Programs include the parks department's cultural
resource specialists, as well as the State Historic Preservation Office,
the Oregon Heritage Commission, the Oregon Commission on Historic
Cemeteries, the State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation, and
the Oregon Historic Trails Advisory Council.


HERITAGE TOURISM SURVIVAL KIT IN THE WORKS

The National Endowment for the Arts has provided a grant to the
National Trust for Historic Preservation to create an online survival
toolkit for cultural and heritage tourism attractions and organizations.
 As part of this effort, the National Trust will seek and share creative
strategies that cultural and heritage attractions are using to survive
and thrive in a down economy.  The creation of this toolkit offers an
opportunity to provide assistance to the cultural and heritage tourism
industry. 

The Heritage Tourism Program will survey cultural and heritage
organizations and attractions this fall as the first step towards
creating this toolkit.  While the toolkit development effort will
continue through the fall of 2010, toolkit resources will be posted on
www.culturalheritagetourism.org and www.preservationnation.org as
they become available.  

As a first step the National Trust wants your help to identify
potential resources and possible case studies that should be included in
this toolkit.  Contact Amy Webb, director of the National Trust's
Heritage Tourism Program, at amy_webb at nthp.org or (303) 413-1986 with
your ideas and suggestions for the toolkit.
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Oregon Heritage News is a service of the Oregon Heritage Commission,
which can be contacted at heritage.info at state.or.us