[Heritage] Oregon Heritage News 2006-10-18

[Heritage Info]

In this issue:
1. Historic cemeteries commission to meet in Eugene
2.  November open house list announced
3.  Ancestors Day event planned near Baker City
4.  State and local history conference seeks presentations


HISTORIC CEMETERIES COMMISSION TO MEET IN EUGENE

The Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries will meet at 1 p.m. Oct.
20 at the Eugene Public Library.

The OCHC is directed by a board of seven citizens who have broad
knowledge in the issues concerning the care and protection of historic
cemeteries and gravesites. The Commission meets quarterly in various
parts of the state. Commission meetings are open to the public and all
interested parties are encouraged to attend, inform the Commissioners
about their interests and concerns, and meet others who are involved in
the care and protection of the state's historic cemeteries.

For more information, go to www.oregonheritage.org and click on
"historic cemeteries."


NOVEMBER OPEN HOUSE LIST ANNOUNCED

Open houses for properties in the National Register of Historic Places
are scheduled during November in 27 communities around Oregon.

The historic properties include a blacksmith shop, a cigar store and
two hotels as well as a varied assortment of business sites and private
houses. The locations are (by region):

Each of the properties receives property tax relief under the state's
special assessment program, which freezes a property's assessed value
for 15 years for local tax purposes. 

The monthly open house list is distributed through the State Historic
Preservation Office and certain participating chambers of commerce,
historical societies, assessor's offices and local landmarks offices. It
is online with other information about the program at
http://egov.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/SHPO/tax_assessment.shtml 


ANCESTORS DAY EVENT PLANNED NEAR BAKER CITY

The theme of Ancestors Day at the National Historic Oregon Trail
Interpretive Center near Baker City on Oct. 21 is "History Unrecorded Is
History Lost." The goal of the day is to provide the opportunity to
learn the right questions to ask and how to record the information you
gather when you talk to your elders.

Ancestors Day activities will take place at the Interpretive Center
between noon and 4 P.M.  Featured will be information on the resources
available locally to trace your family tree. The Baker County Library
will  be providing information on how to do genealogies and the
extensive resources that you can access through the Library.  At the
same time, the 
Eastern Oregon University History Club will be presenting information
on oral histories. 

At 12:30 p.m .in the Leo Adler Theater, Susan Badger Doyle of the
Oregon/California Trail Association will be presenting "Finding the
Oregon Trail In Historical Resources.". This presentation outlines how
personal diaries of the pioneer era are used to find remaining remnants
of the Oregon Trail and what those diaries tell about life in the
mid-1800s. 

At 1:45 p.m. EOU history professor Rebecca Hartman will moderate a
panel discussion with four descendants of Oregon Trail pioneers. A
humorous living history presentation, "Arze Bolder: Back Tracker" will
be presented at 3:30 p.m .in the Adler Theater. Hear the tales of a
pioneer who traveled west only to travel east. 

The National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center is open from 9
a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. The Interpretive Center is 5 miles east of Baker
City on Highway 86. Take Exit 302 from I-84. For more information call
(541)523-1843 or visit the website at oregontrail.blm.gov. The
Interpretive Center is operated by the Bureau of Land Management and is
a federal fee site.  


STATE AND LOCAL HISTORY CONFERENCE SEEKS PRESENTATIONS

The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) is has
selected "Relevance = The Bottom Line" for its 2007 annual meeting tol
be held Sept. 5-8 in Atlanta. The program committee intends to emphasize
the necessity to make our historical societies relevant and important to
the communities we serve, both through the educational services we
provide as well as practices we utilize to make our organizations
financially sustainable.

The program committee believes the richness of the theme can be
expressed in a number of ways. Accordingly they are seeking session
proposals that: (1) explore how we respond, as an industry, to our
visitors' interests; (2) identify subject matters and delivery methods
to appeal to our audiences as being relevant to and important in their
lives; (3) elaborate on the variety of ways to achieve relevance for
diverse audiences; (4) highlight best examples of projects and
institutions that have exhibited greatest appeal to visitors as well as
donors; and (5) identify best management practices to assure our
organizations will achieve long-term financial stability.

Proposals will be accepted in one of the following six formats: panels,
workshops, roundtables, point/counter-point, laboratories, or critical
issues forum. Each session must have a chairperson responsible for
finding other panelists and coordinating logistics. All chairs must be
affiliated with an institutional member or be an AASLH individual
member. Topics for sessions should fall into at least one of the
categories listed on page one of the proposal form.

Proposals must be submitted on a Call for Proposals form.  Click here
(http://www.aaslh.org/documents/2007CallForProposals.pdf) to download
a PDF version of the Call for Proposals form from the AASLH Web site. To
obtain a copy in Microsoft Word to complete and submit via e-mail, send
a message to Bethany Hawkins at hawkins at aaslh.org. For more information,
visit the AASLH Web site, www.aaslh.org, or contact Bethany Hawkins via
e-mail or phone (615-320-3203).
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which can be contacted at heritage.info at state.or.us