An Updated History of Oregon
Posted By: Liz Goodrich
Date Posted: 9/18/2003
Deschutes Public Library and Deschutes County Historical Society welcome David del Mar to the Brooks Room on Saturday, September 20th at 2:00 p.m. for a reading and book signing of his recently published book, Oregon's Promise: An Interpretive History.
del Mar, who was born and raised in Clatsop County, teaches history at Oregon State University, Portland State University, and the University of Oregon, including online courses for Central Oregon students at 5OSU. “I wrote Oregon's Promise because I was frustrated that the most recent history of the state was twenty-five years old and out of print,” says del Mar. “I think that the history of all places is interesting,” continues del Mar, “it is the account of how human beings act in a variety of situations, and I find people intrinsically interesting.” del Mar cites Oregon's history as distinctive because it has a long tradition of being a relatively stable western state.
As a historian, del Mar is highly qualified to write about Oregon. His family has been in the state since the 1880’s and has experienced Oregon at its best and its worst. “My mother taught in a one room school house in Tillamook County and my father was thrown out of work when the mill in Garibaldi closed during the Depression.” del Mar was a tenured, Associate Professor the University of Northern British Columbia until 1999 and has also worked at Fort Clatsop National Memorial and the Clatsop County Historical Society. del Mar’s other works include: What Trouble I Have Seen: A History of Violence Against Wives (Harvard University Press) and Beaten Down: A History of Interpersonal Violence in the West (University of Washington Press). His articles have also appeared in the Oregonian, Oregon Coast Magazine, and the Oregon Historical Quarterly.
This program is free and open to the public. For more information about this or other library programs, please call 312-1032.
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