This photograph by June D. Drake from 1929, shows a girls basketball team from Mt. Angel, Oregon.
Courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society, OrLot678_B27_089
The team at the Oregon Historical Society’s Digital Collections recently released thousands of historic images from local photographer June D. Drake.
This 1928 photograph taken by June D. Drake shows Cascade Highway (Oregon Route 213) between Portland and Salem.
Courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society, OrgLot678_B28_212
Drake operated a commercial studio in Silverton, Oregon, in the early 1900s.
Before his retirement in 1960, Drake took tens of thousands of images throughout Oregon and Washington.
The photographs create beautifully preserved time capsules of life in the early 1900s.
They include everything from studio portraits to community gatherings, church groups to farmers picking crops and a variety of regular Oregonians just going about their daily lives.
Some of the most interesting photographs may be the panorama images taken with a Cirkut camera.
The Oregon Historical Society’s blog says the Cirkut was unique because its shutter remained open while the camera rotated on a tripod.
This photograph from 1934 taken by June D. Drake, shows a group gathered for the Golden Jubilee Convention at Willamette University in Salem.
Drake June D. 1880-1969 photographer. / Oregon Historical Society Resear
According to the blog, this is the first time OHS staff has digitized images like these: “OHS’s Digital Collections Photographer Robert Warren carefully unwound the rolls of film to capture one segment at a time, between five and ten frames depending on the length and condition of the item. He then digitally stitched the frames together, which resulted in the images that you see online.”
This photograph from the 1934 Jubilee Gathering in Salem, shows a close up of just the right side of the larger panoramic image.
Courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society, OrgLot678_B25_004 / Oregon Historical Society Resear
All that careful work really pays off with close viewing. Those high-resolution scans show the individual faces posing for a large group photo.
The June D. Drake Collection spans from 1900-1952. The collection includes nearly 3,000 original photographic prints and 3,800 original glass and acetate negatives, as well as early images from other photographers.
According to OHS, Drake was instrumental in creating Silver Falls State Park. For nearly three decades, he took numerous photographs of the falls, while also creating brochures and booklets highlighting the area’s natural wonders.
Those images helped bring statewide attention to the region and protected it from logging. Silver Falls opened as a state park in July of 1931.
This photograph from 1923 by June D. Drake shows Silver Falls State Park's South Falls in winter. Notice the people just to the bottom left of the image.
Courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society, OrgLot678_B46_1658
Thanks to his efforts, the park’s Drake Falls was named for him.
In addition to his busy photography career, Drake was also chief of the Silverton Fire Department, a member of the Silverton City Council and founded the Silverton Historical Society.
The Drake Collection, and thousands of other digitized images held at OHS, can be viewed on the Oregon Historical Society Digital Collections website.
Related Content
The Oregon Experience documentary “Capturing Oregon’s Frontier” showcases a collection similar to the Drake photographs.
More than 30 years ago, photographer Lloyd Smith bought a box of historic glass plate negatives at a garage sale. The box contained hundreds of photographs documenting rural life in Southern Oregon in the early 20th century
The collection reveals a remarkable insight into Oregon’s rural communities rarely seen. This treasure may have been lost, but Smith spent years carefully preserving and digitally scanning each image.
This short video uses some of the photographs from the Drake Collection of the 1914 Independence Day parade in Silverton, Oregon.
Over at OPB’s Oregon Art Beat, Jacob Pander produced this piece on Silverton’s most famous son.
