Preserving the Legacy of an Oregon Archivist and Artist: Making Accessible the Chuck Williams Collections

About This Grant

This project will preserve, promote, and make publicly accessible the archival collections of Charles Otis “Chuck” Williams II (1943-2016). Williams was an Oregon-based professional photographer and environmental activist who was of Cascade Chinook descent and a member of the Grand Ronde Tribe. Willamette University’s Chuck Williams Activist Papers collection documents Williams’s integral role in preserving the Columbia River Gorge and leadership in the grass-roots activism resulting in the National Scenic Act. Oregon State University’s Chuck Williams Photo Collection—part of its Oregon Multicultural Archives— showcases Williams’s prolific career as a photographer during the 1980s and 1990s, and documents a wide variety of cultural celebrations, Pacific Northwest landscapes, and tribal communities in Oregon. Together, these collections provide a unique perspective of Oregon’s history around topics such as environmental and political science, photography, and the state’s multicultural history. As part of this project, Willamette and Oregon State Universities propose to process both collections, digitize selected content, and host a public exhibit and programming celebrating Williams’s work.