Oregon Public Speakers Preservation and Access Project

About This Grant

Portland State University Library holds approximately 250 hours of original reel-to-reel audio recordings, representing over 200 public speaking events recorded on the Portland State campus from the 1950s through the 1970s. As primary documentation of the visits of noted public figures in government, foreign policy, education, science, the arts, and social activism, these unique recordings capture an important moments of contemporary culture.  At this time, however, this entire collection of recordings is entirely inaccessible. Playback in the original format may cause irreversible damage and loss due to the fragile nature of the medium. The goal of this project is to preserve these invaluable and unique resources through transfer to a digital format and to make them easily and freely accessible online to a broad range of users.