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Jefferson Center for Education and Research records

 Collection
Identifier: Coll 317

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Center collection includes meeting materials and minutes, correspondence, forest product research, published and unpublished manuscripts, articles, photographs and other media relating to non-timber forest harvester/workers, rural communities and contingent laborers.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

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.

Related Materials

Other collections relating to Jefferson Center for Education and Research at Special Collections and University Archives include: Beverly Brown papers, Coll 318;



Contained in boxes 65 - 72, the following folders contain some materials in Spanish:

Box 65 - Folders: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 13

Box 66 - Folders: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10 and 16

Box 67 - Folders: 2, 4, 5, 10 and 11

Box 68 - Folders: 20, 21 and 22

Box 70 - Folder: 4

Box 72 - Folders: 17 and 19

NOTE: Spanish materials have only been documented from box 65 -72

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.

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

Contact:
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403-1299 USA