Oregon Historical Society: Archive Crawl Survival Guide

The Oregon Historical Society hosts its annual Archive Crawl October 8. The event is free and open to the public; it runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"It's a good opportunity to be able to see 24 organizations, not just archives and both public and private stuff. Government and genealogical societies, that sort of thing," said Scott Daniels, of the Oregon Historical Society.

The event is hosted at three different locations: City of Portland Archives and Record Center, Oregon Historical Society and Multnomah County Library.

Oregon State Archives, Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education and OHSU Archives will all have informational booths present at the Crawl.

"The crawl started out as a way to celebrate archives and to get people into a kind of concentrated event, and that's how it evolved," said Daniels.

While there's no craft beer served during the crawl, it's not unlike a typical Oregon bar crawl.

When asked what kind of person should attend the Archive Crawl, Daniels explained that it's meant for people with any interest in archives; for academic purposes or creative.

"We get a lot of first time visitors. It's kind of like a trade show or a fair that supplies the bare minimum of information about what that organization is about," said Daniels.

While people aren't actually allowed to do research during the crawl, there is a staff available so that you can ask questions.

The event is free to attend, and there is no registration necessary. There is an open house format, so people can come and go as they please. Close to 500 people attended the previous crawl and OHS expects similar numbers this year.

If the Crawl starts to get overwhelming, you can pop over to the House History Workshop. Hosted by Jennifer Keyser, the event runs from 10Am-12PM and costs $20 to attend but only $15 for OHS members. You can buy tickets ahead of time, too.

"My favorite part is that there are so many different types of people, everybody from students to families, to serious academics, people who've never really gotten into the history of Oregon, so you never really know who you'd be talking to," said Daniels.

"People might be looking for information about their house, which might be 100 years old, then there are people doing research to write their thesis. It's a good time to be able to share information, we're proud of it and want people to attend."

Oregon Historical Society has plenty to offer the public besides the Archive Crawl, like access to the Oregon Encyclopedia, the Online Library Catalog and the nifty Oregon History Wayfinder tool.

Image via Scott Daniels, Oregon Historical Society