Scope and Contents
The Jefferson Center collection includes meeting materials and minutes, correspondence, forest product research, published and unpublished manuscripts, articles, photographs and other media relating to non-timber forest harvester/workers, rural communities and contingent laborers. The collection is organized into series and subseries. Many materials are available in English, Spanish, Cambodian and Lao.
Series I: Administration, Subseries A: Financial Records (1994-2005) provides insight into the account
management of a new non-profit and includes financial information and some fundraising records. A much larger group of fundraising records can be found in Series V: Fundraising.
Subseries B: Personnel Records includes job descriptions, applications and resumes. This subseries reveals the difficulties in filling multicultural positions.
Subseries C: Internal Documents, 1994-2007, provides information about the Jefferson Center Board of Directors and includes internal evaluations among other internal business documentation. The oral interview transcriptions used to write the Voices from the Woods publication are located in this subseries. Some transcriptions are restricted from the public until a later date for privacy reasons.
Subseries D: General Business includes the forms and contact information the Center used when conducting business.
Subseries E: Popular Education highlights why and how Jefferson Center chose a Popular Education approach to facilitating self-education and dialogue between groups, rather than using the more typical top-down formal education approach (See also Series VII: Other Meetings for documents from Popular Education meetings).
Subseries F: Cultural Exchange includes Spanish, Lao, Cambodian and English cultural materials that were used at Jefferson Center meetings to facilitate cross-cultural exchange. Examples include song lyrics, sheet music, and labor/folk songs.
Subseries G: Publications, 1998-2006 consists of Jefferson Center meeting reports, bulletins and manuscript projects in multiple languages.
Series II: Correspondence, 1985—2004, is arranged into three Subseries:
Subseries A: Incoming is organized alphabetically by sender.
Subseries B: Outgoing is organized by date.
Subseries C: Topical Correspondence is organized alphabetically by name and/or subject. A significant portion of this subseries includes documentation of Jefferson Center’s coordinated letter writing campaigns.
Series III: Working Notes, 1994-2003, is organized by meeting, subject or by note taker. This Series also includes daily journal logs by Beverly Brown.
Series IV: Networking Visits, 1997-2001, is organized by name of trip. Notes, reports, correspondence and other documents provide insight into Jefferson Center’s visits to areas in Oregon, Washington, Northern California, Alabama and Mexico to learn and work with groups and advocates of forest workers/harvesters, rural workers and contingent laborers.
Series V: Fundraising Files,1991-2004, is organized alphabetically by the donor agency name, and then by date within an agency if there is more than one folder for any donor. This series offers a rich source of documentation on why and how a non-profit seeks funding for its services and how donors choose which organizations to fund.
Series VI: Forest Worker Harvester Gatherings, 1994-2001, records the history and documentation of the Jefferson Center’s meetings with forest workers and harvesters. This series is organized into subseries’ by year, and meeting folders are arranged chronologically within each year. Materials include meeting minutes, reports, correspondence, attendance and publications. Please see also Series XII: Photographs for pictures from many of these meetings.
Series VII: Meetings, Workshops and Conferences, 1991-2007, document the numerous meetings and workshops that Jefferson Center staff attended. Notes, reports and correspondence offer insight into how the Jefferson Center researched ideas and opportunities to improve and expand its services and how to better collaborate with “sister” organizations.
Series VIII: Other Organizations, 1981-2009, is organized alphabetically by organization name. This series offers information on the varied “sister” organizations that the Jefferson Center often collaborated with and sometimes requested funding from. This series offers researchers entry into a network of rural/forest workers, contingent labor and natural resource advocates.
Series IX: Publications is organized alphabetically by the title of publication.
Series X: Subject Files includes thirty-five related subjects organized alphabetically by title of subject. This series emphasizes the research arm of the Jefferson Center. Subjects include Asian history and labor, contingent labor, ecosystem management, forests and timber, immigration, non-timber forest workers/harvesters and rural communities
Series XI: Electronic Media includes CD Rom, DVD, Video and Audio tapes.
Subseries A: CD Rom and DVD includes Jefferson Center photographs, meeting materials and documents on disk.
Subseries B: Video includes meeting and conference recordings, interviews, footage from mushroom camps, and an oral history video interview of Beverly Brown.
Subseries C: Audio Cassette Tapes – Multiple topics consists of interviews with non-timber harvester/gatherers, rural Oregonians, sister organizations, gatherings, meetings and conferences. The cassettes are organized by title.
Subseries D: Audio Cassette Tapes: Voices from the Woods Interviews (Current and Restricted Access) focuses on the audio interviews of participants that became a part of the Voices from the Woods publication project. The cassettes are organized by name of interview subject. Some of these interviews will be restricted from research until their individual release date is reached.
Series XII: Photographs is arranged into twenty-one subseries by subject, type of image (i.e. slide, negative or photograph) and/or by size of photograph. Researchers will find pictorial documentation of Jefferson Center staff, gatherings, meetings, visitors, workers and networking trips. The photographs come in a variety of sizes and some are in color and some are in black and white.
Series XIII: Oversize includes documents from other series that, because of their size, needed to by physically segregated from the other materials. Items include meeting flipchats and publications.
Dates
- 1935-2009
Creator
- Brown, Beverly A., 1951 February 21- (Person)
- Jefferson Center for Education and Research (Organization)
Language of Materials
Collection materials are primarily in English.
Documented from boxes 65-72, there are documents in both English and Spanish.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time. Collection includes sound recordings, moving images, and digital files to which access is restricted. Access to these materials is governed by repository policy and may require the production of listening or viewing copies. Researchers requiring access must notify Special Collections and University Archives in advance and pay fees for reproduction services as necessary. Series I, Subseries C, Internal Documents, contains restricted oral history interviews. Series XI, Subseries D, Audio Cassette Tapes: Voices from the Woods, contains restricted audio oral history interviews. Materials will be added to the finding aid when they are publically available
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish collection materials must be submitted to Special Collections and University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.
Biographical / Historical
The Jefferson Center for Education and Research, headquartered in Sunny Valley, Oregon, was founded by Beverly Anne Brown in 1994 as an organization whose mission was to facilitate understanding, education and self-empowerment among low-income rural working people, across different languages and cultures. The center worked to combat the marginalization of low-wage non-timber forestry workers and harvesters, contingent laborers, rural and immigrant peoples of multiple occupations. Jefferson Center aided communication between groups of workers that were heretofore separated by language and customs by offering simultaneous interpretation in different languages at the Center's meetings and gatherings. The Center also published its reports and publications in English, Spanish, Cambodian and Lao.
Between 1994 and 2004 the Jefferson Center chose three major programs to focus on. From 1994-2000 the Center emphasized facilitation between non-timber forest workers and harvesters. From 2000-2004 the program was centered on contingent workers in natural resources. The third focus was on a rural-worker empowerment program which began in 2005 and ran till 2007. The Jefferson Center is now dormant following the death of its founder Beverly Brown in 2005.
Extent
78 linear feet (102 containers)
Abstract
The Jefferson Center for Education and Research specialized in facilitating discussion, problem solving and community connections among low-income non-timber forest workers and harvesters, rural communities and contingent laborers in the Pacific Northwest. This collection provides much needed insight into the economic, political, and social issues among these groups. Founded by Beverly Anne Brown in 1994, the center was headquartered in Sunny Valley, Oregon. The collection includes meeting materials and minutes, correspondence, forest product resources and information, published and unpublished manuscripts, interviews, photographs, and audio and video materials.
Outline of Arrangement
The collection is organized into the following series:
Series I: Administration
Subseries A: Financial Records
Subseries B: Personnel Records
Subseries C: Internal Documents
Subseries D: General Business
Subseries E: Popular Education
Subseries F: Cultural Exchange
Subseries G: Publications
Series II: Correspondence
Subseries A: Incoming
Subseries B: Outgoing
Subseries C: Topical
Series III: Working Notes
Series IV: Networking Visits
Series V: Fundraising
Series VI: Forest Worker Harvester Gatherings (FWHG)
Subseries A: FWHG 1994
Subseries B: FWHG 1995
Subseries C: FWHG 1996
Subseries D: FWHG 1997
Subseries E: FWHG 1998
Subseries F: FWHG 2000
Subseries G: FWHG 2001
Series VII: Meetings, Workshops, Conferences
Series VIII: Organizations
Series IX: Publications
Series X: Subject Files
Subseries A: Africa
Subseries B: African American History and Labor
Subseries C: Amazon
Subseries D: Appalachia
Subseries E: Argentina
Subseries F: Asian History and Labor
Subseries G: California
Subseries H: Canada
Subseries I: Community Development
Subseries J: Contingent Labor
Subseries K: Economics / Economy
Subseries L: Ecosystem Management
Subseries M: Environment
Subseries N: Ethnicity, Gender, Race and Labor
Subseries O: Forests and Timber
Subseries P: Globalization
Subseries Q: Haiti
Subseries R: Immigration
Subseries S: Indonesia
Subseries T: Labor
Subseries U: Land Management
Subseries V: Legal
Subseries W: Mexico
Subseries X: Native Americans
Subseries Y: Non-Timber Forest Product and Workers (NTFP/W)
Subseries Z: Oregon
Subseries AA: Political, Property and Social Theory
Subseries BB: Poverty
Subseries CC: Resource Management
Subseries DD: Rural Communities
Subseries EE: Sea/Sea Islands
Subseries FF: Trade Policy
Subseries GG: Turkey
Subseries HH: Unions
Subseries II: U.S. Policy
Series XI: Audio and Video Material
Subseries A: CD ROM, DVD - REMOVED
Subseries B: Video
Subseries C: Audio Cassette Tapes – Multiple Topics
Subseries D: Audio Cassette Tapes – Voices from the Woods Interviews (Current and Restricted Access)
Series XII: Photographs
Subseries A: Workshops
Subseries B: Southern Cooperative from Alabama
Subseries C: Forest Workers/ Harvesters and NTFP
Subseries D: Rural Development Leadership Network (RDLN)
Subseries E: Mail Community Forestry Visitors
Subseries F: Popular Education
Subseries G: Jefferson Center Offices and Gatherings
Subseries H: Jefferson Center Board
Subseries I: Forest Worker/Harvester Gatherings (FWHG)
Subseries J: Contingent Labor Forum (CLF)
Subseries K: Alliance
Subseries L: Mexico
Subseries M: Guy and Candi Carawan visits and Popular Education Conference
Subseries N: Field Trips
Subseries O: Laos
Subseries P: Clearwater, Montana
Subseries Q: Other People
Subseries R: Cambodian Meetings and Cambodian New Year Celebrations
Subseries S: Mushroom Meetings
Subseries T: Meetings
Subseries U: Photograph Albums
Series XIII: Oversize
Subseries A: Flip Charts
Subseries B: Oversize Publications
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Beverly A. Brown in 2004 and Sarah Loose (on behalf of the Jefferson Center) in 2009.
Physical Description
72 manuscript boxes, 1 half-manuscript boxe, 7 flat boxes, 25 small flat boxes, 6 tubes
Processing Information
Collection processed by Tanya Parlet. Updated by Sonia De La Cruz in 2014.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
- Administrative records Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Audiocassettes Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Correspondence Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Educational fund raising Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Foreign workers -- Employment -- United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Forests and forestry -- Northwest, Pacific Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Hispanic Americans -- Employment -- Northwest, Pacific Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Immigrants -- Services for -- Northwest, Pacific Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Interviews Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Labor History Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Labor movement -- Northwest, Pacific Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Minorities -- Employment Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Northwest, Pacific -- History Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Photographs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Poor -- Employment -- Northwest, Pacific Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Videocassettes Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Guide to the Jefferson Center for Education and Research Records
- Status
- Complete Description
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by University of Oregon Libraries, Archivists' Toolkit Project Team, Tanya Parlet and Sonia De La Cruz.
- Date
- 2011; 2014
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English
Repository Details
Part of the University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives Repository