Multco Archives

04/29/2025

For Preservation Week (April 27th - May 3rd), it’s fun to share some of the unusual media formats you might find in the Archives that we preserve alongside our many paper and digital records. Archives are entrusted with preserving a large variety of records and some media can be more challenging to preserve and make accessible due to the rapid changes in technology. Things can become outdated so quickly! Audiovisual records and early born-digital computer files can be difficult to play back as this media can be very fragile. We may not have a functioning playback machine to hear or see the records. Archivists provide access for future generations by keeping one foot in the past. One of those preservation challenges here at the County Archives were dictation records on blue vinyl recordings called Audographs.

An Audograph was a dictation disc format introduced in 1946 by the Gray Manufacturing Company in the US. They were thin plastic discs, recorded from the inside to the outside, the opposite of conventional phongraph discs. Unlike a phongraph discs, the Audograph was driven by a surface-mounted wheel, meaning that its recording and playback speed decreased toward the edge of the disc (like the Compact Disc and other digital formats), to keep a more constant linear velocity and to improve playing time. Audograph discs were available in three different sizes.

At the County Archives, we used a record player with digital output to play the vinyl discs from the Board of County Commissioners records (multco008) at 33 rpms, and using a media player slowed the speed to sound more like normal human speech. Now it was possible to digitize these recordings and provide access.

If you want to learn more about different types of old formats you can go to https://obsoletemedia.org/obsolescence-decade/ where I got some additional information about Audographs for this post.

If you have questions about preserving your family records, we can help! Feel free to contact us via email at [email protected]. We can give you some preservation advice, or point you in the right direction.

Preservation week was started by the American Library Association’s Core (ALA) team. Preservation Week inspires action to preserve personal, family, and community collections in addition to library, museum, and archive collections.

For some handy quick preservation tips you can visit this website for more information on how to preserve your own family archive:https://preservationweek.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PWfirststep_nodate.pdf

And free preservation webinars https://preservationweek.org/past-webinars/

Preserve the Past, Shape the Future: Inspiring the Next Generation.

03/27/2025

For Women’s History month, a spotlight on the women of the Multnomah County Health Department who have worked to provide healthcare and information countywide for decades. Your work is vital to improve health equity and we thank you for your service.

Historic photographs are from the Director's Office (DOH) Department of Health records, multco047 (Box 6)

01/14/2025

The winter of 1949-50 brought a total of 44.5 inches of snow to Portland with January of 1950 seeing over 41.5 inches of snow. In this photo from the Dept. of Community Services. Land Use and Transportation (Road Services records multco007) we see NE 116th Avenue between Shaver and Fremont where onlookers are watching a snow plow at work.

12/17/2024

Oregon was the first state in the Pacific Northwest to build a public Tuberculosis (TB) hospital and was, for a long time, the epicenter of TB surgery in the region, because until 1946, Portland had the region's only medical school. Mobile x-ray trucks parked outside schools, offices and factories to administer chest x-rays to screen for TB.

From our Department of Health records (multco047) there is a Tuberculosis Program scrapbook that documents the County’s efforts to create public awareness and to provide screenings and treatment of the disease that was so rampant until a cure was developed in the 1950s. Photos and newspaper clippings from this scrapbook document the community-wide efforts of county health workers and partners.

11/22/2024

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, it’s important we recognize the diverse tribal community living in Multnomah County, which has the 9th largest urban Indigenous population in the United States.

From the Director's Office (Department of Health) records, the 2012 report titled “The Native American Community in Multnomah County” emerged from a partnership with Multnomah County, Portland State University, and Coalition of Communities of Color. This graphic found on page 21 of the report, illustrates some of the many tribes that are part of our community.

Resources like this can demonstrate that despite misconceptions, Native Americans are – and always have been here. Indigenous people continue to live and thrive here. The land holds many stories, growing traditions and vibrant cultural practices. For information about Native American county resources go to this link: https://multcolib.org/community/native-american-indigenous-community-resources

10/31/2024

Election Day is November 5th. For current election information, please see https://www.multco.us/elections. You can mail your ballot back on or before Election Day or return to an Official Ballot Drop Site by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day. Ballots mailed back must be postmarked on or before Election Day.

For Throwback Thursday, here is a voters’ pamphlet from the January 30, 1996 special election. Multnomah County Archives has voters’ pamphlets dating back to 1933 in the Election Records (multco016) which include records related the management of elections, registration of individual voters, abstracts of votes, precinct maps, and other election related material.

10/24/2024

October is Archives Month! The Multnomah County Archives preserves the history, organization, functions, and activities of the Multnomah County government from its formation on December 22, 1854 to the present day. These are the records of our history as a community. Our goal is to expand public awareness and access.

This image is from the Columbia River development drawings, 1970. Creator Robert N. Royston, an American landscape architect and a University of California, Berkeley, professor. He was recognized internationally for his public projects in addition to designs for residences and gardens. More of his work is also preserved at the Environmental Design Archives at University of California, Berkeley. While this specific plan was not executed, it lives on in the archives.

10/14/2024

Today we honor Indigenous Peoples Day by reflecting on a milestone in Multnomah County’s relationship with Native American communities. Recognizing the unique political status tribal governments hold as sovereign nations within the United States, a Bridge Renaming Council was established. After the County reached out to multiple tribes, three tribes with historical ties to the island offered their expertise on the Council. The Council was made up of appointed culture-keepers, elders, tribal electeds and tribal staff. This was the County’s first formal consultation process with tribal governments.

Last November, the Board of Commissioners voted to unanimously accept a new name for the bridge that connects the community to Sauvie Island. The bridge is now named Wapato Bridge, honoring a First Food for Native American communities in the region. Wapato is an edible type of tuber or potato-like plant. Historically, Sauvie Island was a very large gathering spot for agriculture and trade. The original inhabitants of the island were the Multnomah tribe and there were about 2,000 islanders who lived in cedar log-style houses.

This photo of the bridge is from the Public Affairs records, multco057.

10/10/2024

Have you considered that the digital records we create today will someday be part of the archives? October 10th is Electronic Records Day, and just like handwritten letters, maps, and photographs on paper, the emails, texts, and photos taken on our phones tell our stories and document life in our times. Our digital imprints are just as important as the records our parents and grandparents produced in their lifetimes. Here’s a throwback to early 1980s computing and electronic records creation at Multnomah County.

10/03/2022

October is ! Our Elections collection has elections history records and results, voters pamphlets, maps, photos, all documenting the essential service of . View more of our digital collections at https://multco.access.preservica.com

07/13/2022

You're in the home stretch now! See more of east county.

Despite the name, there are no Larch trees on this mountain, only noble firs.

06/22/2022

https://www.multco.us/tour-de-multnomah-east-county/sight-5-gresham-library