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Image of the Month

Interior of the cab of Oregon and California Railroad's steam locomotive #1361. Two pipe-smoking engineers sit on either side of center control panel. Scene shows various dials and gauges, oil cans, oil lanterns and a heart-shaped mirror in an ornamental wooden frame. Date unknown – Catalog Number: GN4142

NEW!
The museum is now accepting donations of digital photo images which document Lane County history to add to our photograph collection. Publication and ownership rights and privileges must transfer to the museum with the images. If you are interested in donating digital images under these provisions, contact the archives at (541) 682-4242.

Below is a sampling of the photographs in the collection.

Actor Clem Bevans, playing the role of Ben Mattling, stands atop a stump in the town square of New Salem, Illinois on location of the Academy Award nominated film "Abe Lincoln in Illinois". Actors Howard Da Silva (left, back to camera) and Raymond Massey (right) stand to the left of Bevans in the foreground. Da Silva and the Canadian born Massey both reprised their roles of Jack Armstrong and Abraham Lincoln from the original Broadway play of the same name. Da Silva would later be blacklisted from Hollywood. Massey would earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance. Director John Cromwell (back to camera, dressed in white) is seen to the left of Bevans. Minor Watson, wearing a top hat and playing the role of Joshua Speed, is seen to the immediate right of Bevans. c.1939 - Catalog Number: L82-516-16157	Leading lady Mary Howard (left) sits next to an unidentified female, possibly Howard's stand-in, on location of the Academy Award nominated film "Abe Lincoln in Illinois". Howard played the role of Ann Rutledge, the supposed first love of Abraham Lincoln. c.1939 - Catalog Number: L82-516-16153
Leroy Wood in band uniform holds a baby in the bell of his tuba. Wood probably lived in the Cottage Grove area. Date unknown – Catalog Number: GN4031	Portrait of a boy identified with R.M. Elspass. Full view. 30 August 1930 - Catalog Number: L82-516-10607B
Portrait of a baby boy identified with J.E. Potts. Full view. 21 July 1942 – Catalog Number: L82-516-9859	Residence at 165 West 5th Avenue, formerly the Charles F. Littlefield home. Exterior. View from side yard showing gable balcony with circular opening and circular windows below. Date unknown – Catalog Number: GN1262
Branding Iron Restaurant, 570 East Broadway. Exterior. View looking west toward Eugene Hotel in distance. c.1967 - Catalog Number: GN363	Russell's Department Store, 64-66 East Broadway. Women's dresses in window display. Sign on window reads: "Eugene's Own Store/Russell's". 6 August 1945 - Catalog Number: GN389
Looking north on Willamette Street from 10th Avenue intersection, on a rainy night. Ax Billy Department Store, on the northeast corner of Willamette and 10th Avenue, appears on the right in the photo. Roach Music House, 986 Willamette Street, appears on the left. Street scene. c.1915 - Catalog Number: GN1047	Overview of Cottage Grove from unidentified location. School buildings with belfrys can be seen on the left; smoke rises from mills in center. c.1915 - Catalog Number: GN4021
Laurelwood Golf Course, 2700 Columbia. Spencer Butte in seen in the background. c.1931 - Catalog Number: GN495	Early automobile on the Central Military Road near Oakridge. Scene shows vehicle rounding curve in highway with a guardrail on one side and steep bluff on the other. Forest mountains in background. c.1917 - Catalog Number: GN4582
Six men ride double on 3 motorcycles in unidentified setting; open plains in background. c.1910 - Catalog Number: GN4477	Western Oregon Glider Club airfield near Springfield. Man in white shirt and tie is seated on glider and holding control stick prior to liftoff. Tow ropes are visible on right; man on grass in background holds glider's tail. c.1931 - Catalog Number: GN4654
Wiley Griffon (sometimes spelled "Griffin") poses with the mule-drawn streetcar that he drove from Willamette Street to the University of Oregon. The mule-driven line was owned by Henry W. Holden, and was later replaced by Portland, Eugene & Eastern Company's electric line. Wiley Griffin was one of Eugene's first black residents. c.1893 – Catalog Number: GN4127	Portland, Eugene and Eastern streetcar for the Fairmount Street run, parked at the beginning of the line near the Southern Pacific Railroad Depot on the north end of Willamette Street. Two crewmembers pose in foreground; towers of Shelton-McMurphey residence and Skinner Butte can be seen in background. c.1909 – Catalog Number: GN4126
Train wreck scene from the Buster Keaton movie, "The General", filmed on the Row River near Cottage Grove in the summer of 1926. Image shows steam locomotive and coal car on bridge, collapsing into river below. Men on horseback watch from riverbank on the left. c.1926 – Catalog Number: GN4206	Eugene High School baseball team members pose in their uniforms. Team coach, in suit, appears at far left. Exact year unknown. c. 1910 – Catalog Number: 4625
Miners on skis at the Musick Mine in the Bohemia mining district southeast of Cottage Grove. Roof of mine building is in background behind snowdrfit. Mine is in the Bohemia Saddle on the north slope of Bohemia Mountain. c.1915 - Catalog Number: GN3769	Eight-horse team and crew haul boiler to the coast on Tilden Rock Road. Boiler became first steam "donkey" engine to operate on this portion of the coast. Scene shows dwelling in the distance in forest-lined valley. c.1915 – Catalog Number: GN4085
Worker rides flume between Prune Hill and Saginaw, 2 miles north of Cottage Grove. Scene shows flume trough, used to transport lumber via water and gravity, running through treetops. c.1912 - Catalog Number: GN3931	Residence of photographers George Worth and Clarence Noe, while they visited the Bohemia mining district southeast of Cottage Grove. Worth stands to the right of small log building with sloping roof and half-size entry doorway. Date unknown – Catalog Number: GN3848
Surface tramway at Champion Mine mill, in the Bohemia mining district southeast of Cottage Grove. Scene shows miners riding ore carts on double-track tramway down forest-lined incline. Tramway was later covered over. c.1908 - Catalog Number: GN3781	Crew at North Fork tunnel near Westfir and Oakridge pauses for photo. Men are carving tunnel wall with picks and are wearing grimy overalls. Boards and beams support tunnel walls and ceiling. Tunnel was part of Southern Pacific Company's Natron Cut-off, the railroad route from Eugene to Klamath Falls. c.1912 – Catalog Number: GN4294

The color photographs at the bottom of every page on this website are courtesy of Vern Rogers, who is a Lane County photographer.

The "Oregon Trail" video on the home page is courtesy of Jacob McNeill of Steelhead Advertising