The Oregon Historical Society Has Launched a New Online Museum Portal

Users can explore over 10,000 historical objects.

Quilt-install-1_cropped OHS Exhibit Production Manager Franc Gigante and OHS Deputy Museum Director Nicole Yasuhara install the Afro-American Heritage Bicentennial Commemorative Quilt in the pavilion at the Oregon Historical Society in September 2020. (Oregon Historical Society)
By Bennett Campbell Ferguson

The Oregon Historical Society has officially launched its Museum Collection Portal, a public online database.

“The portal is an important tool for researchers, students and curious individuals around the world,” OHS deputy museum director Nicole Yasuhara stated in a press release. “We hope that users will discover the amazing objects that OHS stewards, and in doing so, will learn something new about Oregon history.”

OHS’s museum is home to over 75,000 objects that document the history of the region. Over 10,000 of those will be featured on the portal, including artifacts that date back to the Oregon Trail.

The portal promises to help chronicle both inspiring and chilling chapters in Oregon’s history. Among the collection is pro- and anti-Rajneeshpuram memorabilia, bringing to life the period of 1981 to 1985 when the Oregon Rajneesh commune established oppressive control over the town of Antelope.

Yasuhara believes that the portal will be a way to draw users into the organization’s larger mission.

“Every day that the museum collection staff handles or catalogs an object, we learn something new, and we hope to bring that knowledge to our community and beyond,” she said.

The portal can be accessed at museumcollection.ohs.org.

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