Willamette Heritage Center Collections
In order to fulfill its mission, the Willamette Heritage Center has extensive collections documenting the history of Marion County, Oregon. This includes everything from heavy textile machinery to fragile photographs.
Collections History
We have over
The Willamette Heritage Center’s current holdings are anchored by the materials collected for half a century by its predecessor organizations the Marion County Historical Society (est. 1950) and the Mission Mill Museum (est. 1964). The bulk of the collections are centered around Marion County, Oregon and the greater Salem area. Materials are consistently displayed in our permanent and changing exhibits and are available to researchers through our library and archives.
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23,834 objects
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200,000 photographs (49,129 currently catalogued)
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8,000 books
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and 4,600 archival collections
Scope of Collections
The Willamette Heritage Center collections house unique objects, photographs, archives and library materials with documentary significance to the history, lifeways and culture of the greater Salem area, Marion County, Oregon, and when deemed appropriate, desirable or necessary, the Mid-Willamette Valley region. Click here to read our scope of collections statement.
Donate
Interested in donating an item to the museum’s collections?
Access
We do not currently have a way to comprehensively access our collections database online. Access can be obtained in the following ways:
- Search the WHC blog for materials highlighted from our collections. Just look for the magnifying glass at the far right of the menu header.
- Check out our growing list of collections guides below.
- Search our Master Subject and Name Indexes HERE
- Use the research request inquiry form HERE to contact us.
Guides
Digital Collections
Questions?
You can reach the research library via email or phone 503-585-7012 ext 257. Please be aware that our staff and research volunteers are not in the office everyday. We will get back to you as soon as we can. We thank you for your patience.