PSU shares grant to fund the cooperative Governor’s Papers Project
A $68,344 grant was awarded to a consortium of schools, including Portland State University, Pacific University and Western Oregon University, to be shared for the cooperative Governor’s Papers Project.
The Governor’s Papers Project aims to process, preserve and enable access to important gubernatorial documents that are not included in the official state archives. The official state archives have strict categories for what is included in their collection, and the Governor’s Papers Project archives some documents that fall outside those categories.
According to Cristine Paschild, the head of special collections and university archivist at PSU, grants from the Oregon Library Services and Technology Act—the source of the funds—are competitive, and only a little over a dozen other institutions have received a grant.
The consortium was an ideal choice because one purpose of the LSTA is to create resources that serve all of Oregon.
“If you show that you’re serving a lot of institutions and covering a lot of ground,” you are an ideal choice, Paschild said.
The state archives do not include certain documents and artifacts from a governor’s term, such as campaign materials.
“[In order to] get a complete picture of a governor’s term as well as what they were involved in and how it fits with the events of the time, we need these collections as well as the state archives,” Paschild said.
For the project, PSU will hold and preserve the papers of Governor Barbara Roberts.
Barbara Roberts was the first—and so far the only—female governor of Oregon. Serving from 1991 to 1995. She was also Oregon’s first female House majority leader and secretary of state. The papers include a comprehensive documentation of Roberts’ political career as well as the handwritten manuscript for her autobiography.
She is the third female governor to write about her time in office.
“We are going to process the Barbara Roberts Papers to preserve them for the long term and make them available to researchers both from campus and the community,” Paschild added.
The papers are part of a larger collection of materials in the Millar Library, which includes a number of private and special collections of women in leadership positions in Oregon. The collection has been built in partnership with the Center for Women, Politics, and Policy.
“We are ecstatic to have Governor Roberts’ papers, as she is the only female governor in Oregon history,” said Sunny Petit, associate director of the Center for Women, Politics, and Policy. “Her legacy is extremely important to all Oregonians and especially so in a forum where students and the public have access to look further into her story.”
According to Petit, the center is looking to conduct some research with the papers, but plans have not been finalized yet.
The Barbara Roberts Papers are available for use on the first floor of the Millar Library in special collections. Those interested must make an appointment for research.
“These papers show female students that [political leadership] is not a path they have to blaze themselves—it is something others have done before them,” Petit said. “When you are studying public policy, that’s one thing, but when you can go to the archives and see personal notes, information and letters, that just adds so much texture. I would love for students to see that there are such a variety of things that happen when women are in leadership positions. [Roberts is] a role model and a leader.”
