This Oregon State Capitol History Center Project Newsletter is being sent to you as someone who may be particularly interested in this exciting new project at your Oregon State Capitol.
In this Issue:
Advice and Ideas Inform Project Planning
New York Capitol Creating History Center
Capitol Master Plan Includes Historical Center
Celebrating Oregon Senate History
Capitol Foundation
Members
Sen Jason Atkinson*
Sen Betsy Johnson
Sen Joanne Verger
Rep Vicki Berger
Rep Brian Clem*
Rep Matt Wingard
Sandra Allen
Frankie Bell*
Kathryn Boe-Duncan
Frank Brawner
Jane Cease, Vice-Chair*
Herb Colomb*
Verne A. Duncan
Paul Hanneman
Ginny Lang
Bill Markham
Anthony Meeker
Fred Neal*
Norma Paulus
Annette Price
Norm Smith
Gerry Thompson
Fred VanNatta*, Chair
Gary Wilhelms
* Project Governance
Committee Member
Advice and Ideas Inform Project Planning
Interviews are now being conducted across the state to gather citizen and expert input that will guide the strategic planning underway for the Oregon State Capitol History Center. As attention is focused on the project, ideas, information and resources are being offered by a broad range of representatives of institutions and individuals passionate about the State Capitol and Oregon's ground-breaking political history.
New York Capitol Creating Historical Center
Chet Orloff, an Oregon history expert, Director Emeritus of Oregon Historical Society and an adjunct professor at Portland State’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, forwarded this comment via email to the project team:
“Interesting article in yesterday's New York Times about how New York's legislature and governor are creating their own historical center within the state capitol….renovating the capitol and bringing out its history”.
From the January 3, 2012 Times article by Thomas Kaplan, “…You tend to think,” said Governor Cuomo, “Well, what we’re dealing with has never been dealt with before. (But) When you understand what’s been done in this building….the challenges we’re looking at tend to shrink before your eyes.”
Renovations of the New York State Capitol, which like Oregon State Capitol is a National Historic Landmark, have been underway since 2000. Unlike Oregon, New York’s 1899 state capitol building had, according to the Times article, “…become so dilapidated in recent years that construction workers could put their fists through holes in the red terra cotta roof”.
Capitol Master Plan Includes History Center
The 2010 Oregon State Capitol Master Plan, while focused primarily on renovations that will earthquake-proof the state’s center of government recommends developing a history center to serve the over 300,000 visitors who travel to Salem each year to experience the Capitol. Visit the Master Plan website to review the complete report.
Celebrating Oregon Senate History
With Senate Resolution 3 in the 2011 session, the Oregon Senate celebrated five notable figures in Oregon Senate history by naming rooms near the Senate Chamber in their honor. Each of these figures will be profiled beginning with Senator W. H. (“Bill”) Strayer.
Senator W. H. Strayer Gallery: The Oregon Senate designated the corridor immediately behind the Senate Chamber as the “Senator W.H. Strayer Gallery.” Senator Strayer is the longest-serving state Senator in Oregon history and the longest-serving Senator in Oregon’s second Capitol that was destroyed by fire in 1935. Senator Strayer represented Baker County in the Senate for nearly 32 years from 1915 to 1946. Senator Strayer was described as a legislator “whose colleagues are all his friends” and as “one of the ablest thinkers and most impressive speakers in the upper house” who was “capable of swaying opinion as few other legislators have ever been able to do.” The Strayer Gallery features photographs of all the Senate Presidents since Statehood and the membership of the Senate for the past four decades.
The other notable figures honored by Senate Resolution 3 include Senator Lenn Hannon, Senator Kathryn Clarke, Senator Debbs Potts, and Floyd G. McMullen. For more information, please contact the Secretary of the Senate’s Office, and please feel free to visit the Senator W. H. Strayer Gallery to learn more.
Thanks to the time, effort, and thought contributed by many people in the Capitol, including especially the staff in Facilities Services, Information Services, Committee Services, Visitor’s Services, and the Secretary of the Senate’s Office, these rooms help celebrate the history of the Oregon Senate.
