Winter 2008

“Julia Hoffman and the Arts and Crafts Society of Portland: An Aesthetic Response to Industrialization”

by Richard S. Christen

Scholar Richard S. Christen discusses early twentieth-century Portland founder of the Arts and Crafts Society of Portland,Julia Hoffman, within the larger context of arts and crafts movement. Outlining the aesthetic and educational goals of the Portland

society and its founder, Christen contrasts the society’s aims with the more radical social and economic concerns of the broader movement’s founder, William Morris. In his analysis of organization documents, Hoffman family papers, and other sources, Christen finds that the society’s philosophical goals informed is decisions about the allocation of time and resources and also guided connections with other organizations and events.

“A Gallant Little Schooner: The U.S. Schooner Shark and the Oregon Country, 1846.”

by Gregory Paynter Shine

The U.S. Schooner Shark forged a lasting connection to Oregon through its wreck on the Columbia River bar in September of 1846 and the resulting archeological finds reputedly related to the ship and its final resting place (the most recent of which were two carronades discovered on the Oregon coast in February of 2008). Drawing on newspaper accounts, letters, and military accounts to document the ship’s entire history and reveal the historical context of its destruction, historian Gregory Paynter Shine concludes that an examination of the Shark’s service and personnel records prior to the wreck generates a revealing look into the mid nineteenth-century U.S. Navy. His close study of the ship’s last voyage and captain, Neil M. Howison, also allows for a discussion of Oregon settler life in the mid nineteenth century.

“Voyage of the Isaac Todd”

by H. Lloyd Keith

During the War of 1812, the British North West Company endeavored to expand its fur trade operations in the Oregon Country, an undertaking historian H. Lloyd Keith researched by studying personal correspondence and business records. The maiden voyage of the company’s newly established globe circling trade route was assigned to the Isaac Todd, a recently acquired vessel owned by John McTavish, nephew of the company’s senior partner. Hostilities between America and Britain forced the trade ship to sail with a military escort, and military engagement with American ships was especially a concern in the disputed territory of the Columbia River. Keith concludes that, although the Isaac Todd completed its trade mission, the endeavor resulted in considerable financial loss to the company, forcing the North West Company to greatly reconsider its commercial policies.

“Economic Phoenix: How A. B. Hammond Used the Depression of 1893 and a pair of Defunct Oregon Railroad to Build a Lumber Empire”

by Greg Gordon

A.B. Hammond was the “Missoula Octopus,” a man who had a financial hand in nearly every aspect of the Montana town’s economy. While the Depression of 1893 foiled the plans of many of his competitors, historian Greg Gordon finds that Hammond prospered by expanding his business interests into Oregon. He purchased and completed both the Astoria and Columbia River Railroad and the Oregon Pacific Railroad. The Oregon Pacific Railroad opened the coast to tourism and brought profit to the economically stagnant town of Astoria and to Seaside. Gordon points out that Hammond also used the railroad to open the coastal forests to his next business venture, entering the lumber industry.