Pat Harper
As It Was ContributorPat Harper is the archivist for the Southern Oregon Historical Society, where she digitizes records, manages websites and learns more about regional history from the SOHS volunteers. After receiving her Master’s Degree in library science from the University of Illinois in 1980, Harper worked as a reference librarian, then as a library administrator. From 1994 to 2005, she was the Siskiyou County library director and lived in the country near Hornbrook, California. Pat and her husband moved to San Rafael, Calif., in 2005 to begin their sailing adventures, and after three years they took an 18-month voyage on their sailboat, Ecos. Now they enjoy a more settled life in Medford, and cruise the Caribbean during winter months.
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Apparently Emmerson “Doc” Kennedy was a creative man, not overly constrained by convention, propriety or laws.He came to Oregon reportedly as a physician…
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In 1856, Indian Agent George Ambrose led Indians from the Table Rock Reservation on a forced march 263 miles to the Grand Ronde Reservation. Ambrose kept…
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Southern Oregon settlers were fortunate when Moses Williams arrived in 1858 to become the area’s first full time Presbyterian minister. His parishioners…
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Imagine a picture of the Jacksonville post office in 1903, with varnished and polished woodwork, oil paintings, engravings, deer antlers on the walls, and…
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Moses Williams established the first Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville in 1857. Prior to becoming known as “Father Williams” to Presbyterians and many…
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The manager of the Craterian Theatre in Medford, Ore., offered a free Christmas matinee in 1927. Here’s how the Medford Tribune described the mob…
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In Medford, Ore., in 1923, Nona Dunlap was a single mother, a legal secretary and a suspected bootlegger.She, her son and her sister Babe moved into a…
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Ashland once had its own curious and spooky tourist attraction. It was called Satan’s Sulphur Grotto, a small cave-like space dug into the bank on the…
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Marriage celebrations can be noisy, fun affairs, but one in particular got out of hand on West 14th Street in Medford, Ore., one night in October 1913.The…
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There are fish stories, and then there are fish stories! It’s hard to beat this whopper published with tongue-in-cheek by the New York Times on March 8,…
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While the concept of the mythical State of Jefferson is popular with some today, a similar separation effort in the 1800’s had more nefarious goals.In…
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On the Klamath Indian Reservation in the 1900’s, fourth grade was the highest level available to Indians. Nevertheless, Dibbon Cook got a broad education,…