Polk Cooperative History Project (PCHP) Historical information on Polk County, Oregon
Please Note: While the content of this page has been migrated, it has not been updated or significantly maintained since the original grant ended in 2002.
Welcome to the Polk Cooperative History Project!
The Polk Cooperative History Project (PCHP) was a grant-funded effort to make the rich local history collections within the libraries and museums of Polk County, Oregon, more accessible to the general public. The Project created a variety of printed and electronic “finding aids” to the collections involved, all of which can be accessed using the “Pathfinder.” In addition, the Project has developed a “resource manual” for agencies wanting to replicate the work of the Project in other localities.
The Pathfinder to the History of Polk County, Oregon is a researcher’s guide to the local history collections of six museums and libraries within Polk County. This Web document reproduces the paper Pathfinder in its entirety and adds to it important database search capabilities. The Pathfinder provides subject access to over 3,500 pamphlet files, 250 book and serial titles, and 100 archive, manuscript, and scrapbook collections.
The Resource Manual is designed to assist local agencies and individual librarians and public history professionals in adopting the survey and classification work of the Polk Cooperative History Project to other localities. The Manual provides both a theoretical basis for the collecting and preserving local history materials well as a detailed plan for organizing these materials according to a universal classification system.
P.L.I.N.
The Polk Library Information Network was a community information database developed for government agencies and private organizations within Polk County or serving Polk County as part of a larger, regional jurisdiction. It is no longer maintained
The six participating agencies of the Project were:
Dallas Public Library
Heritage Museum
Independence Public Library
Monmouth Public Library
Polk County Historical Society Museum
Hamersly Library, Western Oregon University
Funding for this Project came from the Library Services and Technology Act, a Federal grant program from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Oregon State Library. The grant project ran from January, 2000, to March, 2001. It is no longer updated or maintained.
