Legacy Labor: Making a Living on the Land in Southern Oregon
FAIN: PY-253042-17
Southern Oregon University (Ashland, OR 97520-5001)
Maureen Battistella (Project Director: May 2016 to June 2019)
Victoria Sturtevant (Co Project Director: December 2016 to June 2019)
The development of community historical archives through digitization days and community forums, which will document the agricultural and timber heritage of southern Oregon. Through the digitization of family photographs and other publicly held artifacts, the project would document the dramatic change of Oregon’s landscape over the past century, including the transition away from a timber economy to industrial agriculture and urban development. The project would increase awareness of southern Oregon’s occupational folklore heritage, improve access to important cultural documents, and support partnerships between the Josephine County Historical Society, local public library systems, and the Southern Oregon University. The collected images, artifacts, and stories of heritage farm families and loggers would enrich local and regional collections, provide content for research, enhance pride of place, and showcase the state’s rich heritage. The project would be organized by a consortium of local organizations, led by the Southern Oregon University’s Hannon Library, county 4-H programs of the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center, Jackson County Library Services, and Josephine County Historical Society.
Southern Oregon's landscape has changed dramatically over the
last hundred years. Historic family farms have yielded to housing developments,
pear trees have been pulled out to plant vineyards, and timber is nearly played
out. The Legacy Labor project is designed to document a way of life that may be
lost to memory because of cultural, political, and economic pressures. Legacy
Labor organizes humanities-based community forums about the region's
agricultural and timber heritage, digitizes family photos and artifacts, and
develops rich historical archives for public use. The project is designed to increase
awareness of heritage agriculture and timber work life and to enhance the
importance of preserving and sharing community values. Legacy Labor: Making a
Living on the Land in Southern Oregon focuses on the work life heritage of two
contiguous, largely rural counties in Southern Oregon: Jackson and Josephine
counties.
Associated Products
Southern Oregon Digital Archives | Stories of Southern Oregon (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)Title: Southern Oregon Digital Archives | Stories of Southern Oregon
Author: Maureen Flanagan Battistella
Abstract: Southern Oregon is rich with stories of generations of families who have worked in the dense forests or in the mills, who have plowed the fields and who have run cattle. The Stories of Southern Oregon project celebrates heritage agriculture, the timber industry, mining, the mills and more with video family histories of our region’s folks, fields, forests and foods, and also photographs, documents and other ephemera. These materials give texture, context and nuance to Southern Oregon’s history, the families that have lived here and our shared cultural traditions. The Stories project has been funded by grants to Southern Oregon University from the Oregon Heritage Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Program, the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the Jackson County Cultural Coalition.
Year: 2017
Primary URL:
https://soda.sou.edu/stories/Primary URL Description: This URL links to the Stories collection in the Southern Oregon Digital Archives at Southern Oregon University's Hannon Library.
Access Model: open