Special Collections and University Archives - Portland State University Library

Special Collections Open for Appointments Starting September 23

September 12, 2024 Special Collections and University Archives

Special Collections and University Archives will be open for in-person research appointments starting September 23. Please contact us at specialcollections@pdx.edu with inquiries and requests. We are looking forward to seeing you and working together this Fall term! For more information on the library’s reopening, please refer to our FAQ. … Continue reading →

Special Collections and University Archives Access Update

May 3, 2024 Special Collections and University Archives

Access to the Library building, work spaces, and collections is in the process of being restored following recent events. While we are unable to schedule research visits at this time, we will do our best to answer your questions and to provide access to digital scans of materials where they are available. Please see this … Continue reading →

Summer 2023 Library Exhibit: Medieval Portland Senior Capstone

June 16, 2023 Exhibits, Special Collections and University Archives

Welcome to Medieval Portland! Students in Professor Anne McClanan’s Medieval Portland Senior Capstone present the Summer 2023 Library exhibit, featuring 14th- and 15th-century manuscripts and incunabula from PSU Library Special Collections, and reproductions of manuscripts and printed books from Reed College Library Special Collections. Many of these pages are some of the earliest to be … Continue reading →

Preserving a part of Black history with Oregon Black Pioneers

April 6, 2023 News, PDXScholar (Campus Repository), Special Collections and University Archives

In 2018, Oregon Black Pioneers, a unique historical society dedicated to preserving and presenting Black history in Oregon, received a collection of historic photographs from the owners of a house in Portland’s Albina neighborhood. Two fragile photo albums, which the homeowners had discovered stored under a stairwell, contained pictures dating primarily from the 1940s-1960s of … Continue reading →

New Exhibit for Fall 2022

October 27, 2022 News, Special Collections and University Archives

The Library is excited to announce our newest exhibit for Fall 2022! Entitled “An Urgent Appeal: Coalition Activism in Response to Oregon’s Ballot Measure 9” and curated by PSU Library Special Collections & University Archives staff in partnership with the Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest, “An Urgent Appeal” presents primary materials related … Continue reading →

Summer 2022 Exhibit: Medieval Portland Explores the Nuremberg Chronicle

June 9, 2022 Exhibits, News, Special Collections and University Archives

The Liber chronicarum or Weltchronik of 1493, more commonly known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, is a world history that is one of the most famous early printed books or incunabula. This summer, the PSU Library exhibit presents interpretations of leaves of the Nuremberg Chronicle by students in the Spring 2022 Medieval Portland Capstone taught by … Continue reading →

The Copper Beech Tree

April 12, 2022 Special Collections and University Archives

Copper Beech (Fagus sylvatica v. purpurea) Resources and information about Portland State University Library’s historic tree Portland State University Library’s curved façade encircles a towering copper beech tree planted in approximately 1890. The tree was designated as a City of Portland Heritage Tree in 1995 and an Oregon State Heritage Tree in 2022. This site … Continue reading →

How Portland State Became the “Vikings”

February 8, 2022 Special Collections and University Archives

Why are Portland State teams called the Vikings? First, we were the Vanport Vikings! Vanport Extension Center, the college that became Portland State University, opened its first classes in summer term 1946. By November of that year, Vanport students were competing in intercollegiate sports, but the teams needed a name and a mascot. The Vanport … Continue reading →

Winter 2022 Exhibit: The Art and Social Practice Archive

January 5, 2022 Exhibits, Special Collections and University Archives

Loose Body: A Survey of Ephemera from the Art and Social Practice Archive Part of PSU Library Special Collections & University Archives, the Art and Social Practice Archive was founded in 2018 in collaboration with the PSU Art and Social Practice MFA program and is the first public archive dedicated to socially engaged art … Continue reading →

Portraits of PSU Veterans

November 9, 2021 PDXScholar (Campus Repository), Special Collections and University Archives

As we honor and remember those who have served in the military this Veteran’s Day, Portland State Magazine presents interviews with six veterans who have also been students, faculty, or administrators at Portland State. Veterans were Portland State’s first students and teachers, and these interviews express the centrality and importance of veterans’ experiences and contributions … Continue reading →

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