Newly restored Oregon Constitution on display in Portland
Following a massive statewide crowdfunding campaign, the newly restored Oregon Constitution is now on view at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland through Sept. 3.
What started as a penny drive targeted at Oregon students to raise funds to preserve and exhibit the original 1857 Oregon Constitution turned into over $100,000 raised to restore this historic document. The Oregon Historical Society is proud to have joined many Oregonians in contributing to this effort, and is the first location outside of the Oregon State Archives in Salem to host the document.
Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson arranged special TSA clearance as the constitution traveled from Portland to the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) in Andover, Massachusetts. The detailed conservation effort included digital imaging to create a record of the document prior to restoration, and some of the “before and after” photos of the constitution are on view in the Oregon Historical Society display.
Mary Beth Herkert, director of the State Archives Division, shares an overview of the restoration in a video, and the NEDCC further details the complex conservation process in this video. Steps included repairing pages that were loose from the binding (while preserving the original binding), as well as essentially giving the pages a “bath” in order to clean the pages that were starting to discolor due to the type of ink that was used in writing the document. The full effort took a single conservationist four months to complete.
While the constitution is on view, the Oregon Historical Society will host two free public programs in the month of August to invite conversation around this important founding document:
Presented by Manuel Padilla on Wednesday, August 8 at 7pm
Join Manuel Padilla for a dialogue on the foundations of citizenship in the Oregon constitution. The discussion will explore the local people that shaped this concept of citizenship and will then situate the conversations of the past in the current socio-political climate of the present. Have we progressed beyond the considerations and limitations of 1857? Have we transcended past Oregonians’ debates over belonging? Or, is there something of us in them, and something of them in us today?
A White Man’s Democracy: The Drafting of the Oregon State Constitution in the Era of Dred Scott
Presented by Kenneth Coleman on Wednesday, August 15 at 12pm
Kenneth Coleman will discuss the national and regional historical context of the Oregon Constitutional Convention and the ultimate outcome of debates surrounding slavery, racial exclusion, and woman suffrage. He will also consider the meaning of representational democracy in antebellum Oregon, focusing on those Oregonians who had no access to the convention or the right to vote on its final draft.
To learn more about Oregon’s road to statehood and the constructing of Oregon’s Constitution, visit www.ohs.org/constitution. Explore OHS digital history projects for more background on Oregon’s road to statehood and to view the draft copy of the Oregon State Constitution’s preamble and bill of rights that is part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library collection.
View this historic document now through Sept. 3 at the Oregon Historical Society (1200 SW Park Avenue, Portland). The museum is open seven days a week, Monday -Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon – 5 p.m. Admission to the museum is currently discounted to $5 as we renovate our permanent exhibition on the third floor. Admission is free every day for OHS members and Multnomah County residents.
