In the spring of 2022, PSU history students in Professor Catherine McNeur’s Public History Lab supported the Friends of the Peninsula Park Rose Garden in their ongoing efforts to celebrate Peninsula Park’s rich history. Following the 2020 Black Lives Matter vigils and marches that began in Peninsula Park honoring George Floyd, the Friends realized theirContinue Reading Parks in Context: A Community History of Peninsula Park

Virtual Commencement Brief Remarks June 11, 2021 John Ott, Professor and Chair Good afternoon, and welcome to the 2021 Virtual Commencement Celebration of the Department of History at Portland State University! I would like to extend a warm welcome to everyone attending this afternoon: our current faculty and staff; our alumni and emeritus faculty; theContinue Reading 2021 History Department Graduation Reception and Awards Ceremony

  Virtual Commencement Brief Remarks June 11, 2020 John Ott, Professor and Chair   Good afternoon. I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of you attending or listening to this first ever – and, hopefully, last ever – virtual commencement and award ceremony for the Department of History. I would like toContinue Reading 2020 History Department Graduation Reception and Awards Ceremony

by Liza Rosier :: Students in Dr. Katy Barber’s Introduction to Public History course (HST 4/594, Fall 2018) participated in a terrific video/social media project with the Museum of the Oregon Territory. As part of a grant plan to reinterpret the Stevens-Crawford Heritage House, Museum Director Jenna Barganski called on the class to create someContinue Reading Junk in the Trunks: Reinterpreting the Stevens-Crawford Heritage House

He’s back! Professor John Ott kindly returned to the show to discuss religion in medieval Europe and the different relationships it created and affected. Join Christian and myself as we discuss the role of religion in the lives of the average Medieval European as well as some of the important events and evolution of theContinue Reading Medieval Hour: With Our Resident Medievalist, Professor John Ott

by Brandon Dieckmann :: History as it is remembered and history as it is experienced are seldom one in the same. My summer and autumn spent at the Washington County Museum gave insight into the contrasts and overlap between these worlds. Currently at the museum stand two displays in the main gallery that exemplify them.Continue Reading The Humanity of History: Autumn at the Washington County Museum

by Brandon Dieckmann  :: I opened a dusty old cardboard box and pulled out an exquisitely Swiss-crafted Bolex analog movie camera, manufactured about 7 or 8 decades ago. I loaded the reel spring tight and let the mechanical motor hum. I wondered about how the different ways engineering, design, and cultural values synthesized into differentContinue Reading Old Negatives, New Dark Room: Fresh Perspectives at the Washington County Museum

by Ryan Wisnor :: September 2018 marks the twentieth anniversary of the beginning of the Powell’s Books union campaign and the subsequent formation of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 5. The unrelenting creativity of the booksellers’ work stoppages and street theater captured the imagination of activists and generated a social movement of supportContinue Reading Workers of the Word Unite!: A Timeline of the Powell’s Books Union Campaign, 1998-2000

Undergraduate History Major, Charlotte Crabtree will be presenting her paper, “A New Perspective on Roman Dictators” at the 13th Northwest Undergraduate Conference on the Ancient World (NUCAW 2018), Saturday April 21, 2018 in Kremer Board Room (Ford Hall 102), at Willamette University. ABSTRACT: In Ancient Rome, the dictatorship was an emergency command position. Although weContinue Reading Charlotte Crabtree presenting at NUCAW 2018

By David Peterson del Mar :: Source: Actually President Trump, we need more Africans: Guest opinion | OregonLive.com   Buried beneath President Trump’s meandering and racist pronouncements regarding immigration resides a key question: What sort of immigrants should the United States admit? Contrary to Trumpian stereotypes, Africans come to the U. S. well-prepared to contributeContinue Reading Actually President Trump, we need more Africans | David Peterson del Mar