Norma Paulus at the Alliance

The first Wednesday of the month will often find me lunching at the Alliance of the First Unitarian Church, downtown on SW 12th. Yesterday’s speaker was Norma Paulus, talking mostly about the Oregon Historical Society – review after the break.

Their web site says of the Alliance, “This group traces its roots to the historic “Ladies Sewing Circle” which was instrumental in the founding of First Unitarian Church in the 1860s.” And that’s what it feels like, minus the sewing. Although a few men attend, it’s mostly dozens of women, meeting for lunch, conversation, and entertaining information. Most of them are at least ten (twenty, or thirty) years older than me. I love hanging out with older women. For one thing they tend to have so much wisdom, and share it gently and firmly in ways easy for me to hear. And many of them are mothers and grandmothers. There is something ineffably sweet to a 48 year-old woman whose own mother is half a world away, to have an entire lunch table of older women shocked and concerned that my lunch is the cheesecake provided for dessert, and pressing me to accept half their sandwich, carrot sticks, and/or fresh fruit.

I joined the Alliance a couple of years ago, having been invited by a dear friend who’s a member of the First Unitarian Church. We bring a sack lunch (or not, in my case), then listen to a presentation. The speakers are varied, and always inspiring while seeming conversational. I particularly remember an Alliance member who escaped the Holocaust, who started her talk by saying she didn’t think her story was particularly unusual or interesting. Most of the speakers aren’t members, though. There was a presentation by the founders of the White Bird dance company, complete with white bird. Last month we sang Christmas carols, and I learned that Unitarians (or at least this group of Unitarians) are great singers. We hear poets, spiritual leaders, historians. September’s title was, “Is your milk hormone free?” And then yesterday, one of the great pioneering women in the history of Oregon, Norma Paulus.

Norma Paulus was born in Nebraska, moved to Oregon and graduated from Burns Union High School. She represented Marion County in the Oregon State Legislature after law school at Willamette University. She was the first woman elected to statewide office in Oregon when she won the Secretary of State position in 1976. During her two terms as Secretary of State she pioneered, championed, and enacted Oregon’s and the nation’s first Vote By Mail laws. She ran for Governor against Neil Goldschmidt in 1986, and was appointed by him to serve as Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1990, subsequently winning election to two terms in the position. She sought election to the US Senate when Bob Packwood resigned, losing in the December 1995 primary to Gordon Smith (who then lost to Ron Wyden but was elected to replace Senator Mark Hatfield).

And then (who knew?) she became Executive Director of the Oregon Historical Society, serving there from December 2000 to 2003. The Historical Society was the focus for most of Norma Paulus’ comments at the Alliance.

From my Napkin Notes:

The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) was established in 1898, with designated seats for the Governor and the Superintendent of Public Instruction on its Board. Historically (no pun intended), the Society received state funding, but the last three Legislatures provided none. Governor Kulongoski’s budget proposes to provide $2m of lottery funds, mostly for staff. Anyone who has ever tried to win grants knows it is next to impossible to find sources for operating costs and administrative support, yet without staff it is very difficult to maintain daily operations and seek grants for projects and improvements.

When Norma left OHS, the debts on the current building were paid off, a sizable endowment had been built up, and a new archives storage building in Gresham had been bought and paid for. “Since then, the funds have disappeared,” she said. “They weren’t stolen or misused or anything like that – it’s just that the new director was not good at fundraising, in fact raised zero dollars.” OHS had to fire staff, stopped publishing books, and canceled their Oral History program.

Budget cuts at Multnomah County also hit OHS. OHS Board member Chet Orloff and former Multnomah County Library chief Ginny Cooper had worked out an innovative plan allowing Multnomah County library cards to be used in the Historical Society’s archives – not only good for citizens, but also providing the County with a “research arm” which is crucial in seeking big grants to help with County funding. Norma says that Diane Linn cut the funds to OHS that were allocated in the deal; she hopes Ted Wheeler’s Board will restore them. She also noted local historian and City Commissioner Randy Leonard helped secure $500,000 in city support for OHS. Norma hopes restoration in public funding, and new Executive Director George Vogt, will return OHS to solid financial status and allow the return and expansion of its signature programs.

I believe preserving the history of our state is essential. If artifacts are lost and memories aren’t documented, they are gone for ever. Half a million dollars from the city, $2m from the state, and a chunk from the County is a small price to pay, and makes every taxpayer a stakeholder and contributor to this responsibility of our society. If you want to get your money’s worth from the comfort of your own computer desk, go to the Oregon History Project and click through the Learning Center and Historical Viewers, for instance to the Portland Panorama Historical Viewer. Or play with digital photographs and review manuscripts under the Historical Records section. As Norma said, “If you want a photograph of anything in Oregon, we’ve got one.”