Century of Action and New Documents Projects

Last night at the official kickoff of the Oregon woman suffrage centennial commemoration at the state capitol Secretary of State Kate Brown hosted an event that did us all proud. Former Governor Barbara Roberts inspired everyone as she spoke, and Oregon Heritage Commission Coordinator Kyle Jansson read the official proclamation declaring the 2012 woman suffrage centennial a statewide event. Many thanks to everyone who attended to show their support and to the best co-conspirators possible, Jan Dilg, Project Director of Century of Action, and Eliza Canty-Jones, President of the Oregon Women's History Consortium and editor of the Oregon Historical Quarterly.

The Heritage Commission grant for the Century of Action website has helped us create a dynamic resource. Last night I was proud to introduce the work of Western Oregon University history and honors students on documents projects for the website. They started with articles from local newspapers from 1912 and with additional research created contextual essays introducing these newspaper articles on themes, people, organizations and events from the 1912 campaign. They also transcribed the articles, some 130 in all, and all are hyperlinked and posted to the website.

Two history students, Sarah Hardy and Jenn Newby, facilitated class discussion on using newspapers as primary sources and their essay is included in the documents project on the site. Visit the site and return often as we add new resources.