Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 18.djvu/337



News AND Comment 301

marks a notable advance for the society. More space could be used to good advantage for the displays. The society dwells in hope of occupying, some day, its own commodious building.

The Work of the SoaExv. Twenty years of historical work in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest will be the record of the Oregon Historical Society at the end of the current year, which the society began last month. One of the most permanent productions has been the Quarterly, which began in March, 1900, and is now in its eighteenth volume. The society has made a great collection of pioneer and Indian relics, newspapers, letters and "original sources." It may be said that this collection is surpassed no- where in the West. Among the classifications may be noted the following: Newspapers (not bound), 197,000; newspaper files (boimd), 297; documentary pieces, 14,038; pamphlets, 20,000; letters, 27,881; books of reference, 14,267; account books, 358; maps and charts, 352; relics of pioneer days, 13,065; Indian relics (chiefly stone), 1,937; Indian pioneer and scenic pictures, 7,000; lantern slides, 889.

BiNGER Hermann's Reminiscences of Southern Oregon. Pioneer beginnings of the Umpqua-Rogue River country were narrated at the latest annual meeting October 27, 1917, by Mr. Dinger Hermann, formerly Commissfoner of the Gen- eral Land Office. The society was glad of the opportunity afforded by Mr. Hermann to review the history of the Southern Oregon region. The title of the address was "Southern Ore- gon, Incidents and Actors In Its History." The Quarterly will reproduce the narrative in the next ntunber. The gold activities of the Northwest, which started its progress, began in the valleys of Rogue and Umpqua rivers. Mr. Hermann came of a pioneer family and his narrative feels the pioneer spirit.

Death Roll of the SoaETY.

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Death carried off eighteen members of the society in 1917.