Exhibits

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Black United Front leader, Ron Herndon, stands on a desk at a School Board protest against the closure of Harriet Tubman Middle School, March 30, 1982. Steve Nehl, Oregon Journal. OrHi 95005 ba018353

Current Exhibit

Racing to Change: Oregon’s Civil Rights Years

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

This exhibit illuminates Oregon’s vibrant black community and their courage, struggle and progress amongst a larger context of discrimination and displacement during the civil rights movement in Oregon in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

  • Free for Members
  • Family-friendly
  • Teachers
KBOO photographs 015

Current Exhibit

50 Years of KBOO

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

50 Years of KBOO is the story of Oregon’s first community radio station. Learn how KBOO started as a relief to Portland’s bleak FM desert and became a community effort to build a more accessible media. This exhibition reveals how KBOO connects to counter-culture and activism locally as well as nationally. See how radio is made, and how listener-supported radio first came to be, as part of a chronicle of our region’s shared history.

  • Family-friendly
  • Free for Members
  • Researchers
  • Teachers
Aerial view painting of OSC campus, 1912

Current Exhibit

Oregon State University: A Legacy of Transformation

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

For 150 years, Oregon State University has provided access to a high-quality college education for all Oregonians, solving tough challenges through groundbreaking research, serving community needs, and propelling the state and global economy. This exhibit shares — through 150 stories — how Oregon State University has transformed the community, the state, the nation, and the world in surprising ways.

  • Free for Members
  • Family-friendly
  • Researchers
  • Teachers
Two young road-runners sitting upright after swallowing lizards, the tails of which are still hanging from their mouths. Arizona, 1910. William L. Finley Photographs Collection, OrgLot369_FinleyA0156

Current Exhibit

Birds on the Wire

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

Birds on the Wire presents a gallery of bird photography featuring the work of William L. Finley and Herman T. Bohlman. The exhibit reflects on Finley and Bohlman’s use of photo essays in the Sunday Oregonian to help advance their conservation goals and connect readers with the birdlife of Oregon.

  • Free for Members
  • Family-friendly
  • Researchers
  • Teachers
Master Calligrapher: Yoshiyasu Fujii. The blue mountain looks like an old friend while the river flows like delicious sake. As usual we face each other on the boat together, savoring our sake and reminisce about our old hometown.

Upcoming Exhibit

The Playful Brush: Works by the Meito Shodo-Kai Calligraphy Association

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

In Shodo (Japanese calligraphy), the brush creates living art by exploring the balance between lines and space. The Meito Shodo-Kai Calligraphy Association pursues the graphic beauty of Kanji (Chinese characters imported to Japan that are still used today) through various aspects of style and expression.

  • Family-friendly
  • Free for Members
  • Researchers
  • Teachers
The Psychedelic Shop, a store that catered to the counterculture youth of Portland, was located downtown at SW Thirteenth and Washington in the late 1960s. The shop sold jewelry, concert tickets, herbs, posters, and clothing. 022772, bb002266

Upcoming Exhibit

Portland Psychedelic: Music and Culture in the Rose City and Beyond, 1966 – 1972

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

Portland served as a common West Coast stop for touring bands in the 1960s and 1970s, with a number of nationally known musicians playing shows in the Rose City. Local music thrived at the same time, centered on psychedelic coffeehouses across Portland. Featuring posters, handbills, autographs, and other memorabilia representing bands including The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and Buffalo Springfield, Portland Psychedelic includes over 100 objects recently donated to the Oregon Historical Society Research Library by donor Peter Glazer. Showcasing one of the largest collections of local poster and handbill art, the exhibit gives visitors a glimpse into the music and visual design that dominated the countercultural scene in Portland in the 1960s.

  • Free for Members
  • Researchers
180 degree immersive theater introduces Experience Oregon exhibit

Upcoming Exhibit

Experience Oregon

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

From a 360 degree intro theater to an immersive build that will let visitors walk through a covered wagon, Experience Oregon will provide a portal to Oregon for all visitors, whether you are a sixth generation Oregonian, a recent arrival to our state, or a tourist from another part of the world. Central themes like water, land, and home span the exhibition’s timeline, inviting viewers to think about how Oregonians have defined our state. By showcasing new and much-loved artifacts, along with diverse voices representing Oregon’s many cultures and geographies, this re-imagined exhibition will engage visitors in the experience of Oregon and its history.

  • Family-friendly
  • Free for Members
  • Teachers
  • Researchers
Children at Swan Island refugee center set up by the Red Cross after the Vanport Flood, 1948. OrHi 90661. Photographs: Portland - NE Neighborhoods - Vanport [graphic]; Photo file #1689-A; 1948/05

Permanent Exhibit

History Hub

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

History Hub is an exhibit where Oregon’s youth, students, and families can explore the topic of diversity through fun, hands-on interactives, objects, and pictures. History Hub is developed in partnership with an advisory committee of students, teachers, cultural organizations, and museums to tell the stories of people who live in Oregon, today and in the past. The content of History Hub spans grades K-12 with a focus on 4th – 8th grade.

  • Free for Members
  • Family-friendly
  • Teachers
Fight for Beaches Ralley Measure 6, Peter Frost, Cannon Beach, 1968. 207-A OrHI 91802

Permanent Exhibit

Oregon Voices

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97205

Oregon Voices examines some of the important people, events, and ideas that have shaped the state in the modern era, from the end of World War II to the present. It features the people of Oregon, from Native Americans, who have lived here since time immemorial, to recent arrivals. It looks at Oregonians who have fought for and against social change. And it explores the land—how people have used it and how they have worked to save it.

  • Free for Members
  • Family-friendly
  • Teachers
Vanport flood recovery. bd001987

Permanent Exhibit

Vanport Interpretive Panels

Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, Oregon 97205

On Memorial Day in 1948, the Columbia River, swirling fifteen feet above normal, punched a hole in a railroad embankment that served as a dike, starting a flood that would leave 18,000 people homeless and alter race relations in Portland forever. This exhibit of four interpretive panels tells the story of what was once the second-largest city in Oregon.

  • Free for Members
  • Family-friendly
  • Teachers