Oregon Chautauqua Program co-hosted by the Yaquina River Museum of Art and Toledo High School

Oregon State University professor emeritus William Robbins will present Oregon Stories: Reflections on the Sesquicentennial examining the historical events, circumstances, and personalities that have shaped Oregon history for the last century and a half and more. The presentation will approach Oregon’s history with a healthy dose of skepticism about the claims of its boosters. It will examine and question conventional notions of “discovery”, “exploration”, and “progress”. The Yaquina River Museum of Art along with Toledo High School are pleased to host this Oregon Chautauqua from the Oregon Council for the Humanities. This free, public program will take place on Thursday, May 21 at 6:30 pm in the Media Center (Library) at Toledo High School, 1800 NE Sturdevant Road, Toledo.

A Connecticut native, William Robbins served in the U.S. Navy before attending Western Connecticut State University. He moved west in 1963 to pursue graduate studies in history at the University of Oregon, where he spent the summer months setting chokers on logging operations and fighting forest fires. Robbins joined the Oregon State University faculty in 1971, and retired in 2002 as Emeritus Distinguished Professor of History. Bill is one of the Pacific Northwest’s foremost authorities on the interplay between history and landscape. His most recent books include Landscapes of Conflict: The Oregon Story, 1940 – 2000 and a short history, Oregon, This Storied Land. He is Book Review Editor of the Oregon Historical Quarterly and is a frequent speaker at symposia and conferences on Western History.

Bill’s program is made possible by funding from the Oregon Council for the Humanities (OCH), an independent nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities that is dedicated to the belief that knowledge and ideas are fundamental to the health of our communities. More information about OCH can be found at www.oregonhum.org.
For more information on this presentation please call the Yaquina River Museum of Art at (541)336-1907 or e-mail yrartmuseum@charter.net.

Oregon Chautauqua Program