Join historian William L. Lang for a discussion of his new book, The Country for Me: Joel Palmer and the Shaping of Oregon, the first full biography of his ancestor, Joel Palmer. Born in Canada to American parents, Palmer played a central role in the political and economic shaping of Oregon. Having traveled on the Oregon Trail three times, he wrote a popular trail guidebook used by later emigrants. Palmer was appointed as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the territory in 1853. To quote the website of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians: "Palmer...seems to have had an unusual amount of compassion and understanding of our people’s situation, at least for a man of his time.” This reputation was shared amongst white settlers and led to his removal from office in 1856, after the negotiation of several treaties. Lang uses Palmer’s story as a means to better understand the context and realities of change in Oregon as it transitioned from a contested territory to a state. Copies of the book will be available for sale after the talk.

William L. Lang is Professor Emeritus at Portland State University and founding editor of Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture, a publication of the Oregon Historical Society. He is the author or editor of ten books about Pacific Northwest history, including Two Centuries of Lewis & Clark (2004) and Confederacy of Ambition: William Winlock Miller and the Making of Washington Territory (1996).

The monthly Windows in Time lunchtime lectures feature well-known writers and historians and bring alive the people, values, and events that shaped our Southern Oregon heritage. Lectures are jointly sponsored by the Southern Oregon Historical Society (SOHS) and Jackson County Library Services. Programs are presented in Medford (first Wednesdays) and again in Ashland (second Wednesdays). Recordings of Medford presentations are available on the JCLS Beyond YouTube channel.