Can you guess what famous musical company manufactured amplifiers in Lake Oswego in the 1980s?
We recently got this fascinating question about a famous company's little known existence in Lake Oswego, which led Archivist Mark Browne down a rabbit hole to discover the answer...
Stay tuned to the end of the newsletter to find out more!
Today, it's sunny outside, and after a busy February, we're preparing for an even busier March... While the museum will be closed to the public beginning on March 10th and through the end of the month, we'll be inside getting set-up for an amazing new exhibit. This exhibit was curated by the Jeffrey Allen Gallery, telling the story of a Vietnamese family who immigrated here 50 years ago through art, photography, and upcoming programs.
More information on this exhibit, along with ample programs to accompany it, will be coming soon. We are SO excited to the use the museum in a new way, and you won't want to miss out.
In the meantime, enjoy the sunshine, and take a walk through our garden, which the Lake Grove Garden Club has been working on to ready for spring!
P.S. If you see Caroline Glad, give her a warm congratulations on receiving the C. Herald Campbell Award, which we give out at the Chamber's Community Awards event to a well-deserving Heritage Champion. Caroline has led the charge on developing some much-needed finding aids for each of our collections, and these tools will prove useful to teachers looking to introduce local history into their classrooms, researchers, and the curious. A few can be found on our website here, but more coming soon!
Kathryn Sinor
Executive Director
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As part of our year-end appeal, we requested donations for a joint project with the Lake Oswego Preservation Society to transcribe and publish copies of 800 pages of original Board records for the Oregon Iron & Steel Company, from 1882 to 1930. This is an invaluable historical asset that follows an iron town's transformation into present-day Lake Oswego.
Last week, the Lake Oswego Preservation Society dropped off our copies! We look forward to digging into them to discover new insights into Lake Oswego's past. Here's a snippet from one of the volumes...
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In October of 1888, the general superintendent of the Oswego iron furnace operations, Mr. F.C. Smith, submitted his letter of resignation to the Board of Directors of the Oregon Iron and Steel Company. The president of the Board, Simeon G. Reed, read the letter into the record of the Board minutes:
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In addition to these marvelous records, we also accepted two new Jantzen bathing suits into our collection. These suits were worn by an Oswego resident, c. 1920s. One of these suits included the marvelous logo, pictured below. There was also a bathing suit dress, probably from a few years earlier. These textiles were kept in incredible condition, and we're thrilled to preserve them in our archives.
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UPDATE:
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Recently, one of our beautiful trees had to be taken down, as it had died. In the coming month, we plan to replant a tree on our property. We will match the original tree type and are looking forward to watching it grow for generations.
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There is ONE WEEK left to come visit our exhibit, The Side of Better Government: Voting and Civic Engagement. March 7th will be the last day, and then we are closing down the museum for the rest of March to clear it out in time for our new and extremely exciting upcoming exhibit! The new exhibit will open in the beginning of April. More details soon!
The museum is open to the public FOR FREE on M, W, Th, and Fri, from 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM.
This week, we also had a surprise visitor to the exhibit. Dora Espy Wilson (in the top left photo with her hands on her hips) was a prominent Oswego suffragist who was part of the Oswego Women's Club as they fought to get women the right to vote. She also helped organize local elections after women got the right to vote in 1912. Her husband, King Wilson, was one of the first mayors of Oswego.
A lot of the photographs and information about Dora Wilson came from her grand-niece, Sydney, who came to visit and tell stories about her Great Aunt Dora! Sydney's grandfather, Harry Espy, is next to Dora in the photograph. It was amazing to learn more about Sydney's family, Oysterville (where Dora's family is from), and see how Dora's legacy of getting things done continues to this day!
For February's Chautauqua, we welcomed Shelley Baker-Gard, Michael Freiling, Satsuki Takikawa, and Duane Watari to the Oswego Heritage House to talk about their book, They Never Asked: Senryū Poetry from the WWII Portland Assembly Center. This presentation included readings of poems composed by numerous Japanese American poets while detained at the Portland Assembly Center in both their original Japanese and translated English. Many people expressed a desire for additional readings related to this, which the group gladly shared:
Thank you to those who were able to attend, and we look forward to our upcoming Chautauqua presentations as well!
Step back in time to the 1920s, when the music was big and the booze was illegal! There will be live jazz music, light dining, and for those willing to bend the rules, for those who have the secret invite, a burlesque show in our speakeasy soiree. Don your skirts that fall above your ankles, put on your best suits and biggest hats, and be prepared for a night of vices, history, and fun.
CONSIDER SPONSORING THE EVENT TODAY
Were you able to guess what famous musical company manufactured amplifiers in Lake Oswego in the 1980s?
We recently got this fascinating question about a famous company's little known existence in Lake Oswego, which led Archivist Mark Browne down a rabbit hole to discover the answer... (Thank you to Andre for the question and context!)
In the mid-1960s, the Sundholds began producing Sunn amplifiers in a factory in Lake Oswego. These Sunn amplifiers expanded into amplifier models for both bass guitars and electric guitars, which were produced here until the mid-1980s, when the company was purchased by...
FENDER MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Fender bought the extant amplifier manufacturer to build Fender amplifiers and phase out the old Sunn amplifiers. The question that came up was... Where was this factory?
It took a while to find, but we have a plucky archivist! Mark Browne discovered through business records that the factory was located at 6024 SW Jean Rd., Building D. Fender occupied the site from Dec. 18, 1985, to Feb. 13, 1997.
ANOTHER HISTORY MYSTERY SOLVED!
