[Heritage] Oregon Heritage Conference - We’d be on the road right now...

Tue Apr 21 12:36:17 PDT 2020

We’d be on the road right now—to see you in Corvallis

Today marks the day we would have been on the road to the 2020 Oregon Heritage Conference in Corvallis. We will miss three days of meetings, networking, sharing your excellent work, and being inspired together.

But what continues to inspire us in these unprecedented times is your response to COVID-19. Heritage organizations have stepped up by closing doors, pivoting programming, and making the tough decisions that are helping communities across Oregon stay healthy and not overwhelm their medical systems. Thank you for making those necessary sacrifices. We see you, and we support you!

Here are some great ways to connect with the heritage community this week:

Oregon Heritage Commission Meeting- April 22
The Oregon Heritage Commission will meet via teleconference, April 22 from 9am-12pm. Statewide partners will share state level response efforts to COVID-19, and the agenda includes discussion of COVID-19 impacts to heritage, commissioner fieldwork reports, Oregon Heritage Tradition review, and regular business items. Access the meeting via this link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/780448549; Phone: +1 (646) 749-3122; Access: 780-448-549.

Heritage COVID-19 Commiseration Call Part 2- April 23
Join colleagues from across the state to “commiserate” in a constructive way! On Thursday, April 23 from 11am-12pm we connect for an informal conversation focused on strategies to communicate with stakeholder groups during COVID-19 such as members, donors, foundations, and sponsors. Continued support of your organization and its mission during this critical time will be discussed, along with ideas and examples of value messaging. Join us to get ideas, share ideas, and remember that you are not alone! Access the call via this link: JoinSkype Meeting<https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fmeet.lync.com%2Fstateoforegon-oregon%2Fkuri.gill%2F4YFLF0KJ&sa=D&ust=1587918252438000&usg=AFQjCNE9hftYcYIyhvoYwwScbwrwldjBew>; +1 (503) 446-4951, Code: 495798622#

Preview of Oregon Heritage Fellows Research
Each year, Oregon Heritage highlights outstanding research done by students at Oregon universities through the Oregon Heritage Fellowship program. This year, three fellows were selected based on the strength of both their scholastic achievement and their research topics.

One of our favorite sessions at the conference is the chance to hear the Oregon Heritage Fellows present their research. With the cancellation of the conference, we hope you enjoy these three preview blog posts. Final papers will be shared in June!

--- Katie Bush, Portland State University graduate student in Public History: “The Spaces of Policing/The Policing of Spaces: Pathologizing Mental Illness and Poverty in Progressive Era Portland”<https://oregonheritage.wordpress.com/2020/04/21/policing-in-progressive-era-portland/>
--- Adam Fitzhugh, Portland State University graduate student in History: “Battle Rock: Anatomy of a Massacre”<https://oregonheritage.wordpress.com/2020/04/21/battle-rock-anatomy-of-a-massacre/>
--- Georgia Reid, Lewis & Clark College undergraduate student in Anthropology and Sociology: “Flax and the Oregon Landscape: Boom, Bust, and a Hopeful Future”<https://oregonheritage.wordpress.com/2020/04/21/flax-and-the-oregon-landscape/>

Participate in Volunteer Appreciation Week- April 20-24
The heritage world couldn’t function without our volunteers. Since it’s Volunteer Appreciation Week, what better way to keep the spirit of the conference alive than thanking your local heritage heroes? If you need quick and easy ideas, including a free image to download and share, check out the Oregon Heritage website<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/pages/tools.aspx#volunteer>.

Spotlight on Historic Downtown Corvallis
One thing that makes Oregon Heritage conferences special is that we work closely with the host community to reflect the authenticity of the location, highlight local projects, and intentionally place ourselves in historic downtowns for a chance to explore each unique location. While our opportunity to gather in downtown Corvallis is postponed until 2022, let’s shine a light on why this town is great!
Lovely downtown Corvallis is a model for downtown revitalization. It has charming stores and historic buildings, a lively and engaging Willamette Riverwalk, and more than 40 restaurants offering diverse ethnic flavors created from fresh, locally-grown products.

  *   Conference headquarters was planned to be at the New Corvallis Museum. Benton County Historical Society<http://www.bentoncountymuseum.org/index.php/> recently completed this state-of-the-art facility that brings exhibits and education downtown. Keep an eye open for the official grand opening!
  *   Our Wednesday reception and opening plenary were scheduled to take place at the historic Whiteside Theater<https://www.whitesidetheatre.org/>, one of Oregon’s original movie palaces, constructed in 1922.
  *   Conference sessions would have taken us into the Majestic Theater<https://www.majestic.org/>, which opened its doors in 1913 as a vaudeville house and today serves as a center of performing arts; Depot Suites<http://www.corvallisdepot.com/>, the Corvallis Masonic Lodge 14<https://www.corvallis14.org/>, and the Corvallis IOOF Hall<http://www.corvallisoddfellows.org/>.

We greatly appreciated our local conference partners, including the Downtown Corvallis Association<https://www.downtowncorvallis.org/index.php>, the Historic Resources Commission, City of Corvallis, Oregon State University, and Visit Corvallis.
We look forward to visiting all these great locations in 2022. In the meantime, be sure to support your local downtown businesses by buying items online, getting take-out, and purchasing gift certificates when you are able. If you’re not connected to your downtown organization, look them up on social media because they are sharing great ideas for how to help. Of course, please donate to your local heritage organization. And finally, let your leaders and decision makers know how important heritage resources like museums and historic downtowns are to your community.

Congratulate an Oregon Heritage Excellence Award winner
Another highlight of our annual heritage gathering is the chance to recognize individuals, businesses, and organizations doing outstanding work with Oregon Heritage Excellence Awards. If you missed this year’s award winners, check out the list on our website,<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/pages/awards.aspx#one> and be sure to reach out and congratulate them! We look forward to rescheduling the award event for later in the year.

Announcing the 2021 Oregon Heritage Summit!
Mark your calendar for 2021 Oregon Heritage Summit -- April 29-30 in The Dalles
Collaboration is key! We know the reasons to partner with other groups and individuals- to reach new audiences with our missions, create lasting impacts, and increase the return on our investments of time and money. But let’s be honest, true collaboration that is mutually beneficial is process driven. It takes time and commitment, and it doesn’t happen immediately. As communities across Oregon do the hard work of recovering from COVID-19, it’s more important than ever to use our resources strategically and collaborate rather than compete. The 2021 Heritage Summit will focus on understanding needs, priorities, and opportunities within our communities. True collaboration can help us make history visible and heritage organizations even more relevant.

*********************************
Share your photos of Oregon’s heritage on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using #oregonheritage.

Oregon Heritage News is a service of Oregon Heritage, a division of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The news editor can be contacted at heritage.info at oregon.gov<mailto:heritage.info at oregon.gov>.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/heritage/attachments/20200421/036d0a77/attachment.html>