Project sponsored by the Oregon State Capitol Foundation.
This project newsletter is being sent to you as someone who may be particularly interested in this exciting project at your Oregon State Capitol.
In this Issue:
Strategic Plan Approved
Message From the Chair
The Canoe Group
What Could it Look Like?
Pacific Wonderland Plates
Become a Capitol Friend
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
Debbie Miller
Fred Neal*
Norma Paulus
Annette Price
Norm Smith
Gerry Thompson
Fred VanNatta*, Chair
Gary Wilhelms
* Project Governance
Committee Member
The Oregon State Capitol Foundation unanimously approved the History Gateway Strategic Plan at their June 20th meeting. With OSCF's approval, the plan will be presented to the Legislative Administration Committee (LAC) for review and final adoption consideration in September.
To view the executive summary or the strategic plan.
Message From Fred VanNatta, OSCF Chair
We came together to recommend this strategic plan, a plan that invites partnership, builds from the unique assets of the Capitol and connects the history of our beloved Oregon and its cultural institutions. The plan aims to make the most of what we hold dear. We believe that preserving history and passing stories down from generation to generation heightens life’s continuity and generates learning, knowledge and wisdom.
The strategic plan would not have been possible without the passion, commitment, ideas and insights of legislators, legislative leadership, Friends of the Foundation, staff of Legislative Administration, key leaders from a broad variety of history and cultural organizations, volunteers and citizens from all walks of life.
In years to come, our hope is that we remember and learn from the lessons of our forbearers. May the Oregon Capitol be known as a gateway both to the past and to the future for our state’s revered democracy.
Photo: Oregon's previous capitol, current capitol, and the territorial capitol building. 
Open Letter from the Paddlers of The Canoe Group
Last August, we began navigating the work of this strategic plan for Oregon’s History Gateway. With the unanimous approval of the Plan by the Oregon State Capitol Foundation, our shared efforts have landed on solid ground.
We leave the trek of phase one implementation in able hands of Legislative Administration, having provided a roadmap that describes the path ahead. It will provide a foundation for developing historic interpretation and visitor services for the future.
With the elegant, necessary and long range State Capitol Master Plan (which will earthquake-proof our State Capitol and prepare it for its next 70 years of service to Oregon) on the horizon, the plan articulates an integrated and thoughtful approach to the display of history in the building. The History Gateway has been developed to support the opportunities of Master Plan implementation.
The History Gateway Plan was collaboratively developed by a vast number of people (too numerous to mention here) and represents the intersection of many hopes and dreams. Our hats are off to the Foundation, Foundation’s Governance Group members and to the key staff of Legislative Administration. We here at The Canoe Group are grateful to have had the opportunity to paddle alongside so many visionaries who have – during this journey - become such new, good friends.
What Could it Look Like?
Oregon’s History Gateway at the State Capitol will, when completed, provide an enhanced visitor experience at the State Capitol; a new Visitor Welcome Center, an interpreted history pathway through the building and grounds and new and improved online connections and historic resources.
The Visitor Welcome Center will introduce the State Capitol Visitor Pathway, which will showcase 50-100 individual “history spaces” and/or artifacts, each of which will be interpreted. The Visitor Welcome Center will also provide visitors with a “point of entry” or “launch point for discovery” for a quality experience.
The online resource site will aggregate, introduce and connect to Oregon’s rich history reserves, already gathered and displayed online at local and county history museums and at our state’s primary history institutions
Pacific Wonderland License Plate Sales Provides Funding
The Oregon History Gateway at the Capitol’s first phase will be primarily funded by sales of the special one-time reissue of 40,000 “retro commemorative” Pacific Wonderland license plates. Oregon schoolchildren created the original plate in 1959 in honor of Oregon’s 100th birthday, and the original plates were available until 1964. SB 961 dedicated sales of the commemorative license plate last session.
Reissued to honor Oregon’s 150th birthday, sales of the plates ($100 buys “Pacific Wonderland” as a permanent commemorative) support the Oregon Historical Society and the Foundation's Capitol History Center project. The plates are available through any DMV office or download the application form on DMV’s website and get the plates by mail.
Become a Capitol Friend
The Oregon State Capitol Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
Join the many friends that have already committed to helping the Oregon Capitol Foundation accomplish its goals. We've made it easy for you to join. Make a secure donation online by clicking here, or complete the Capitol Friend Membership Application Form and mail to: Oregon State Capitol Foundation, 900 Court St. NE, Room 140-A, Salem, OR 97301.
