All About Access: Exploring OHS Collections Online

Presented by Nicole Yasuhara and Mathieu Deschaine

Recorded August 25, 2022

The Oregon Historical Society is dedicated to making Oregon’s history visible and accessible to all. In recent years, OHS has expanded access to its research library and museum collections through OHS Digital Collections and the recently launched Museum Collection Portal. Join Digital Collections Manager Mathieu Deschaine and Deputy Museum Director Nicole Yasuhara to learn how to use these robust online resources while discovering some of the materials preserved in OHS’s museum and library collections.

OHS Digital Collections launched in 2017 and currently has more than 36,000 high-quality digital reproductions of historical photographs, manuscripts, maps, publications, oral history interviews, and film footage from OHS’s research library collections. The Museum Collection Portal launched earlier this year and already has more than 12,000 object records available for curious individuals to discover. Users can browse three-dimensional objects and artworks using keywords, date ranges, maker, and inscription, among other search fields. Museum collection staff have also pre-loaded searches of popular subjects for easier browsing, including material that relates to the Oregon Trail, the Yasui Brothers Store, the Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition of 1905, and recent acquisitions.

4:48 Intro to OHS Digital Collections
9:09 Tour of OHS Digital Collections
23:19 Intro to OHS Museum Collection Portal
28:50 Tour of OHS Museum Collection Portal
43:40 Q&A

Download the program transcript: https://www.ohs.org/events/upload/All...

Nicole Yasuhara is OHS’s Deputy Museum Director and is responsible for overseeing the museum’s vast collections along with the staff charged with safeguarding them. Yasuhara graduated from University of Hawaii with a B.A. in anthropology and earned an M.A. in museum studies from George Washington University. Before moving to Oregon, she interned at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian Cultural Resources Center and the National Museum of American History’s Archives Center.

Mathieu Deschaine is OHS’s Digital Collections Manager. He manages OHS Digital Collections and is the chief architect of the OHS Digital Vault — the workflows, systems, and activities created to preserve the library’s digital content into the future. He enjoys learning new technologies, building things, and sharing collections and their stories with people. Before arriving at OHS in 2015, Deschaine worked in the tech industry solving problems and building support tools. He holds a B.A. in philosophy and communications and a M.S. in library and information science specializing in archives management.