Oregon -- Biography

Kathrine Beck, a novelist who writes under the name K. K. Beck, researched and wrote a biography of Opal Whiteley titled, Opal: A Life of Enchantment, Mystery, and Madness (2003). The collection (1911-2002) contains research files, correspondence, manuscripts, and interviews gathered or produced during the writing of the Opal Whiteley biography.

Daniel Giles was born in 1836. He traveled overland from Iowa to Oregon in 1852. Collection consists of a typed copy of the account of Giles' journey overland from Iowa to Oregon in 1852, and his experiences in gold mining and Indian fighting in southern Oregon, 1853-1855.

Wyona Eliza Surfus Gordon was an Oregon pioneer and school teacher. The collection consists of a detailed typewritten memoir of an overland wagon trip from Kansas to Oregon in 1883.

Fay Hampton Robertson compiled histories of the Moore, Hampton, and Dillard branches of her family. The collection consists of typewritten copies of those histories as well as the trail diary of Jonathan Limerick Moore (1830-1862).