Category: Feature

Reed College Canyon: new digital collection now available!

We are excited to announce a new RDC resource: the Reed College Canyon collection!

The images in this collection were largely created by Canyon Restoration Manager Zac Perry to document the Canyon from about 1999 to the present. The Reed Canyon was declared a wildlife refuge by the state of Oregon in 1913, and restoration efforts began in 1999. “Restoration goals include improving diversity of wildlife, managing invasive plant species, restoring native plant communities, and increase potential habitat for salmon and other resident fish.” (https://www.reed.edu/canyon/visit.html)

Also included in this collection are photographs of Canyon Day, images created by Canyon student employees and visitors, as well as pre-1999 photographs from the Reed College Archives.

This collection is open to current Reed students, faculty, and staff.

Questions? Contact Laura Buchholz or Zac Perry.

Portland Muslim History Project archives collection now available in RDC!

We’re excited to announce our most recent addition to Reed Digital Collections: selections from the Portland Muslim History Project archive, recently donated to Special Collections and Archives by Reed College professor Dr. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri.

View the Portland Muslim History Project archive in Reed Digital Collections

The 2004 Portland Muslim History Project narrated the history of Muslim built communities in Portland, Oregon. Its aim was to contribute to scholarship on Islam and American religions by exploring how Islam becomes rooted in a local American context.

Archiving the records of this project, as well as the digital collection, is a part of a larger effort led by Dr. GhaneaBassiri, local historian Johanna Ogden, and Multnomah County archivist Terry Baxter to archive the history of Muslims in Oregon. The Oregon Historical Society, Portland State University, and Oregon State University have all played roles in this larger project.

A finding aid for the entire archive donated to Special Collections and Archives will be available in the near future. The digital collection is open to the public.

The Portland Muslim History Project digital collection is the product of a collaboration between Dr. GhaneaBassiri and Special Collections and Archives. Reed College religion majors Tehniyat Naveed and Delainey Myers were indispensable in making this project a reality.

Questions about this collection, or about Reed Digital Collections? Please write to rdc@lists.reed.edu.

Reed Student Publications


April 6 – June 1, 2018
Flat cases and wall case by the Reference Desk

In many ways, the types of publications Reed students choose to produce are indicative of much larger social trends at the college and beyond. The newest exhibit from the Archives and Special Collections, “Student Publications at Reed” takes a look at the ways students have used pamphlets, comic books, journals, fliers and more as a media by which to process their world. Take a look through a few, and you might just get a glimpse of Reed of yesteryear…

Quest newspaper digital collection now available

We’re excited to announce our most recent addition to Reed Digital Collections: digitized issues of The Quest newspaper, beginning with the first issue in 1913. The collection is open to current Reed students, faculty, and staff.

Check out a sampler of Quest mastheads below to get you started!

 

An Identity Crises: Images of Dissent at Reed, 1966-1972

Like any institution, Reed College has always been shaped by the individuals who care about it most. Founded out of Progressive Era ideals, Reed’s early years were fueled by a desire to reject the status quo of other institutions. This Reedie way of life, however, was not always interpreted in the same way. In the 1960s Reed was beginning to undergo an ideological schism between the Old Guard, Reed’s established faculty and administrators, and the Young Turks, the younger, often un-tenured faculty. This exhibit and corresponding website uses items from the college archives to give an overview of Reed’s identity crisis and the global issues which pitted the young thinkers against the status quo.

The exhibit runs from December 8th 2017- February 1st, 2018. Curated by Emily Jane Clark, Social Justice Exhibits and Research Intern.

See the online exhibit here (http://blogs.reed.edu/an-identity-crisis/)

Small Gems: Small Books from Reed’s Collection

August 2 – November 1, 2017
Library flat cases

Often good things come in small packages, and the many small books in the library’s special collections testify to the great variety and beauty possible in tiny books. From a facsimile of a 1320’s Book of Hours (at 10cm high) to a foldout artist’s book showing the audio waveforms of ‘noisy words’ (at 43mm tall), these books both inform and entertain.

Great Ideas: The Inventivity of Books

April 4 – June 23, 2017
Flat cases and wall case by the Reference Desk

Surprisingly, the book format has long experienced creative developments. Though outliers to the normal codex format, the items shown in this exhibit confirm that bookmakers are ingenious in their invention. From the physical—like The Invisible Book made out of clear tape–to the shaped, such as Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, and from the food box of Eat and Die to the Viewmaster of Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats, there will be something to impress and surprise the viewer.

Thomas Lamb Eliot Papers: new digital collection!

We are pleased to announce a new RDC collection: the Thomas Lamb Eliot Papers!

T.L. Eliot (1841-1936) was an influential Unitarian minister in Portland, worked in education and jail reform, founded the Art Association and the Humane Society, helped develop the public library, worked for temperance and women’s suffrage, and played a large part in the formation and final founding of Reed College in 1911, serving as a Trustee and major advisor until his retirement in 1925. Eliot Hall was named for T.L. Eliot in 1935.

The digital collection contains scanned versions of correspondence and other documents. View a love letter sent to Eliot by his wife, Henrietta, documents issued by the Missouri Militia relating to civil war era service, and note from Eliot’s life insurance company granting him permission to travel to Oregon.

Please note, this release is only the beginning! We have finished scanning the first four boxes out of a total of 119. We will continue to add newly digitized content to this collection in small batches.

All items in this collection were digitized from the holdings of Reed College Special Collections & Archives. We welcome visitors! View the Special Collections & Archives website for hours, contact, and location information.