Becoming an ORBios Project Volunteer

Volunteering is as easy as 1 .. 2! Just follow these two steps:

  1. Select a source from which to transcribe biographies (a list of Recommended Sources is below).

  2. Email the biography to the ORBios editor (Jenny Tenlen, jtenlen -at- drizzle.com). Please be sure to include the following information:

    • The full bibliographic information [author or editor, if listed; title of book; publisher and year published, page(s).]
    • The county in Oregon under which the biography should be listed.
    • Any additional information you may have on the subject.
    • Indicate whether you wish to be contacted by others regarding this biography. If you do not wish to be contacted, your email address will not be listed.
    • If you wish to include photos with the biography, please attach them in JPG format to the message.
    • If the biography was published after 1925, please include documentation of permission granted by the copyright holder to reproduce the biography.

You will be notified as soon as the biography is posted.

Thank you for contributing to the Biographies project!

Recommended Sources

The following sources are all works containing OR biographies that are no longer copyrighted. Most of these sources are available at the Seattle Public Library (in my hometown), are certainly available in Oregon libraries, and possibly at other libraries as well. Many books have been digitized and made freely available by the Internet Archives, Google Books, HathiTrust Digital Library, and other sources.

This list is certainly by no means exhaustive; if you have other sources that meet the criteria of the project, you are welcome to use them, as long as they fall within Copyright Guidelines. Please contact Jenny Tenlen, jtenlen -at- drizzle.com if you would like to determine whether a particular resource is appropriate for the project.

Bancroft, Hubert Howe. The History of Oregon, Vol. I 1834-1848. From "The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft," Vol. XXIX. The History Company, San Francisco, CA, 1886.

Carey, Charles Henry. History of Oregon. Chicago, Pioneer Historical Pub. Co., 1922. 979.5 C188H [An INDEX to this book has been posted.]

Evans, Elwood. History of the Pacific Northwest; Oregon and Washington. Portland, OR, North Pacific History Company, 1889. R979.5 H629

Gaston, Joseph. The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912. Chicago, Clarke Publishing Co., 1912. 979.5 G219C [An INDEX to this book has been posted.]

Hines, Harvey K. An illustrated history of the state of Oregon. Chicago, the Lewis Publishing Co., 1893. [An INDEX to this book has been posted.]

Horner, John B. Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature. Corvallis, OR, Press of the Gazette-Times, 1919. R979.5 H784o

Lang, H. O., ed. The History of the Willamette Valley, "Being A Description of the Valley and its Resources, with an account of its Discovery and Settlement by White Men, and its Subsequent History; Together with Personal Reminiscences of its Early Pioneers." Portland, OR, Geo. H. Himes, Book and Job Printer, 1885. [An INDEX to this book has been posted.]

An Illustrated History of Central Oregon. Western Historical Publishing Company, Spokane, WA. 1905. [All of the Wasco Co. biographies from this book have been transcribed - other counties are still available.]

Walling, Albert G. Illustrated History of Lane County, Oregon. Portland, OR 1884. R979.5 W158i [All of the biographies from this book have been transcribed.]