Nos gustaría destacar algunas actividades al aire libre para disfrutar en familia:

Nota: La mayoría de los enlaces son a páginas con información en inglés, usted puede cambiar el idioma a español en su dispositivo para poder ver la información en su idioma de preferencia. 

1. Parque Gateway Discovery: Arte y actividades culturales. Se llevarán a cabo durante todo el verano en este parque del este de Portland.
2. Fuentes interactivas: Lista de fuentes y otras áreas de chapoteo para refrescarse este verano en el área de Portland y Gresham.  
3. Jardín Japonés de Gresham: Un hermoso jardín japonés para visitar y donde ofrecen eventos durante todo el verano.
4. Áreas de juego Harper: Encuentra parques en Portland y sus alrededores con áreas de juego inclusivas para todas las habilidades.
5. Mike Bennett's A to Zoo: Maravillosas exhibiciones de arte al aire libre que brinda diversión y educación a toda la familia. Actualmente se pueden encontrar en el noroeste de Portland.
6. Mapas de murales: Tres mapas del arte callejero de Portland: un mapa con una caminata en el distrito del arte de Alberta; un mapa de ciclismo del Distrito Industrial del este y un mapa de lo más destacado de toda la ciudad.
7. Caminatas en Portland: La Oficina de Transporte de Portland sugiere esta lista de caminatas, incluyendo una que va a  la biblioteca del Norte de Portland. También hay otras sugerencias para ir en bicicleta.
8. Puentes de Portland: Travel Portland ofrece la historia y las características de los 12 puentes del río Willamette de la ciudad.
9. Granjas U-pick : Granjas U-Pick (cosecha frutas y verduras) en el área de  Portland y el condado de Multnomah. Las granjas están ordenadas por condado.
10. Caminando con Ramona: ¿Conoces a Ramona Quimby? Bueno, puedes caminar en sus zapatos con este mapa del vecindario de Ramona.
11. Hoyt Arboretum: ¡Un museo vivo! Hogar de 2,300 especies de árboles y arbustos de seis continentes. Hoyt Arboretum es un lugar de belleza y serenidad sin importar la temporada del año y cuenta con 12 millas de senderos para caminatas.
12. Almuerzos de verano: Cada verano, Oregon ofrece sitios de comidas de verano para niños de 1 a 18 años de edad. Algunos programas ofrecen actividades de aprendizaje para niños antes y después de las comidas. Hay varias formas de encontrar sitios para comer en su área. Encuentre un sitio cerca de usted.

Renée Watson is a New York Times bestselling author, educator, and activist.  One of  her passions is using the arts to help youth cope with trauma and discuss social issues. Renée grew up in Portland, and splits her time between Portland and New York City.

For so many of us, last year stretched us in ways we could not have imagined. There was great loss, turmoil, and so much change. Still, there was much to be grateful for—unexpected phone calls from loved ones, zoom meet ups with friends, time outdoors and the relief of fresh air. 

And books.

I am so grateful to have books to turn to for comfort, distraction, company. Books have always been a kind of friend to me. I spent a lot of time reading and imagining as a child. I loved walking to the North Portland Library in the summertime to roam the aisles. Books took me to faraway lands, made me laugh, taught me important lessons, and made me see myself in familiar and new ways. I especially gravitated to poetry and loved stealing away to read the words of Nikki Giovanni and Eloise Greenfield.   

I remember the first time I discovered "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes. I was attending Vernon Elementary School and was chosen to recite the poem at a Black History Month assembly. The speaker in the poem sounded like my mom. I even think my mom had said some of those things before. She was always pushing her children, telling us to never give up no matter how hard life might be. When I first read Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise, I felt powerful and proud of my ancestors. I was buoyed by their resilience. 

And so I fell in love with poetry. 

I loved the rhythm, I loved trying on different ways to say a phrase. I loved the line breaks, how each stanza would take me deeper and deeper into the meaning of the whole poem. I learned that poetry can be about anything. I could write odes to my neighborhood or favorite food, I could honor a loved one who had died, I could protest with my words and write poems that stood up against injustice. 

Over the years, poetry became the way I celebrated, mourned, raged. And so, when the pandemic swept over our nation and living in quarantine became the new normal, I found myself turning to poetry for comfort and peace. And then summer came and with it came a even more police brutality and violence against Black men and women. I was weary. I turned to the poets who raised me, the poets who lived through The Great Depression, Jim Crow, The Civil Rights Movement. They knew something about sorrow, about loss, about protest. They also knew about joy and love and how to hold on to hope. 

It’s a new year and still, we need comfort, we need inspiration. I’m still keeping poetry nearby and I offer these recently published books as a refuge, a guiding light, a healing balm. Some are novels-in-verse, some are traditional poetry collections. All of them are treasures and medicine for the soul.

MHCC Head Start and Early Head Start have over 900 openings for the 21/22 School Year!

They provide FREE services to pregnant women and families of children ages birth to 5 who reside in East Multnomah County, outside of Portland Public Schools.

Programs include

Home Based Program

• For pregnant parents and children 0-5 years old
• Provides weekly home visits with a childcare provider
• Focuses on connecting with little ones and parenting skills

Preschool classes

• For Children 2-5 years old
• Ranges from 3.5 – 7 hours per day, 2-5 days a week
• Learn-by-playing approach builds social and emotional development

Full-Day Childcare*

• For children 6 months - 5 years old
• Ranges from 8.5 -10 hours per day
• Offers year-round coverage

Here are flyers in English, Spanish, Arabic, Somali and Russian. 

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Families who are eligible

• Receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Security Income, or
• Are homeless, or
• Have an income below the federal poverty guideline, or
• Have a child in foster care

*Additional Eligibility Requirements for Full-Day Childcare:

• Family must be working and receiving childcare subsidy, or
• Be an MHCC Student taking 9 credits or more

Ready To Apply? Call the main office at: 503-491-6111 or click here.

Más escuelas en el Condado de Multnomah están abriendo siguiendo la planificación del estado de Oregon. 

Hemos recopilado lo siguiente:

• Enlaces sobre información acerca del aprendizaje según los diferentes distritos escolares
• Consejos para familias - Ayudar a sus hijos a prepararse para el aprendizaje en casa y en la escuela
• Una actividad para iniciar la conversación con sus hijos sobre el regreso a la escuela

 

Información del aprendizaje en casa y en la escuela de los diferentes distritos escolares

Los Centros de salud para estudiantes

Para ver la información de esa página en español u otro idioma en la computadora o un dispositivo móvil, por favor haga clic en la esquina superior derecha donde dice “Select language” y busque su idioma preferido.

Los Centros de salud para estudiantes están abiertos en las escuelas secundarias de Centennial, David Douglas, Parkrose, Reynolds y Roosevelt. Cualquier joven en los grados K-12 que vaya a la escuela en el condado de Multnomah o viva en el condado puede venir a las clínicas. No es necesario que asistas a la escuela donde se encuentra el centro.

Ubicaciones y horarios

Los superintendentes de los distritos escolares de Gresham-Barlow, Centennial y Reynolds hablan de qué esperar de la reapertura de sus escuelas

Centennial School District

Para ver la información de esa página en español u otro idioma en la computadora, por favor haga clic en la esquina superior derecha donde dice “Translate” y busque su idioma preferido.

La actualización del superintendente (10 de marzo) - La información se presenta en inglés. Incluye el horario para los estudiantes del kinder al 6° grado. 

“Los planes de los grados 7 a 12 se compartirán en las próximas semanas. Afortunadamente, el verano pasado los administradores del Distrito Escolar de Centennial y el personal de las escuelas redactaron planes operacionales para el distrito y cada una de nuestras escuelas, basados en el Departamento de Educación de Oregón (ODE) - copias de los planes de cada escuela se pueden encontrar en: https://or50000628.schoolwires.net/domain/107” 

 

Corbett School District

Para ver la información de esa página en español en la computadora o un dispositivo móvil, haga clic en la esquina superior izquierda donde dice español.

Distrito escolar Corbett: Resumen del modelo de reapertura Febrero de 2021

Corbett boletín electrónico: Abril

 

David Douglas School District 

Para ver la información de esa página en español u otro idioma en la computadora, por favor haga clic en la esquina superior derecha debajo de donde dice “Translation by Google” y busque su idioma preferido. Si está en un dispositivo móvil, busque “Translation by Google” cerca del centro superior de la página.

Video - Protocolos de seguridad en persona

Horario de regreso a la escuela (17 de marzo)

 

Gresham-Barlow School District

Actualización GBSD: El Distrito Escolar de Gresham-Barlow reanudará la instrucción en persona a través de un modelo híbrido

Mensaje a la comunidad de GBSD (5 de marzo) - Incluye la línea de tiempo de implementación para el modelo de aprendizaje híbrido

 

Parkrose School District

Para ver la información de esa página en español u otro idioma en la computadora o un dispositivo móvil, descargue la página y haga clic en la esquina izquierda inferior donde dice “Select language.” Busque su idioma preferido.

Sobre la instrucción híbrida de Parkrose (16 de Marzo)

 

Portland Public Schools

Para ver la información de esa página en español u otro idioma en la computadora o un dispositivo móvil, descargue la página y haga clic en el centro inferior donde dice “Select language.” Busque su idioma preferido.

¡La instrucción híbrida (en casa y la escuela) comienza esta semana! Información y actualizaciones importantes (29 de marzo)

Aprendizaje híbrido (en casa y en la escuela) de PPS K-5: Preguntas y respuestas más frecuentes (15 de marzo)

El primer día para que los estudiantes comiencen el aprendizaje híbrido (en casa y en la escuela):

• Desde Pre-Kínder a 1º grado.: El jueves, 1º. de abril.
• Desde 2º. a 5º grado.: El lunes 5 de abril.
• Secundaria y preparatoria: La semana del 19 de abril.

(Nota: las fechas están pendientes según la aprobación por los miembros de la Asociación de Maestros de Portland y la Junta de Educación de PPS)

Servicios telefónicos multilingües | Español:  503-916-3582

 

Reynolds School District

Para ver la información de esa página en español u otro idioma en la computadora, haga clic en la esquina superior derecha donde dice “Select language” y busque su idioma preferido. Si está usando un dispositivo móvil, toque las tres líneas en la esquina superior izquierda al lado de donde dice “Reynolds.” En el menú que abre, toque donde dice “Select language” y busque su idioma preferido.

Actualización de la línea de tiempo para el modelo de aprendizaje híbrido (en casa y en la escuela) (16 de Marzo)

Viajando el el autobús

Línea de asistencia de servicios lingüísticos: (503) 492-7268

 

Riverdale School District

La información de este sitio se presenta en inglés.

 

Consejos para familias - Ayudando a sus hijos a prepararse para el aprendizaje híbrido

Estos consejos fueron traducidos de las páginas de Anne Arundel County Public Schools: Helping Your Child Prepare for Hybrid y Reach Out Oregon: Ready or Not: We Can Do This! Tips for Navigating Our Kids’ Return to School

• Cuídense ustedes mismos
  • Es más fácil ayudar a nuestras familias si nos estamos cuidando nosotros mismos.
• Restablezcan rutinas predecibles a la hora de acostarse, de levantarse y de comer
  • Asegúrense de que sus hijos tengan tiempo y descanso suficiente para prepararse para la escuela.
  • Tengan en cuenta que la hora de inicio de la escuela cambiará cuando comience el aprendizaje híbrido (en casa y en persona). Revisen el horario híbrido específico de la escuela de sus hijos.
  • Consideren hacer un calendario familiar para revisión fácil.
• Hablen con sus hijos sobre lo que pueden esperar
  • Hablen sobre cómo la escuela podría ser diferente en el modelo híbrido
  • Revisen los protocolos de seguridad actuales, como el uso de mascarillas, el lavado de manos y el distanciamiento social.
• Asegúrense de que sus hijos tengan sus materiales para el modelo híbrido
  • Consideren hacer una lista de materiales que necesitarán llevar a la escuela cada día.
• Practiquen la separación
  • Los niños pequeños, en particular, pueden experimentar ansiedad por la separación o timidez al principio.
  • Intenten no demorarse cuando dejen a sus hijos.
  • Dígales que los quiere, que pensará en ellos durante el día y que volverá para recogerlos.
  • Considere la posibilidad de enviar un objeto de transición (como una foto o un pequeño recordatorio) que ayude a sus hijos a sentirse conectados cuando estén separados.
• Ayude a su hijo a prepararse emocionalmente para la vuelta a la escuela en persona
  • Tenga conversaciones abiertas y sinceras.
  • Puede ayudar a su hijo a sentirse más cómodo hablando abiertamente de sus preocupaciones, respondiendo a sus preguntas y haciéndole saber que está bien sentirse preocupado.
  • Permita que su hijo tome decisiones (por ejemplo, qué ropa ponerse, qué elegir para comer), es decir, cosas que le ayuden a sentirse en control. 
• Concéntrese  en las cosas positivas
  • Dígale que es natural que esté nervioso, pero que se sentirá cómodo una vez que se haya familiarizado con las nuevas rutinas.
  • Enfatice aspectos positivos, como la posibilidad de ver a sus amigos y a su maestro.
  • Pregunte a su hijo, “¿Qué esperas de la escuela?”
  • Compruebe con su hijo lo que le va bien una vez que empiece el colegio.
• Prepárese para los cambios de comportamiento
  • Muchos niños pueden mostrar dificultades con la separación de los padres, cierta timidez o preocupación por los horarios, las tareas escolares o los amigos. Esto es normal durante la transición del regreso a la escuela.
  • Continúe comunicándose con la escuela, ya que el retraimiento o las preocupaciones constantes pueden indicar un problema.
  • Si está preocupado por su hijo, póngase en contacto con el consejero de la escuela.
• Manténgase informado y conectado
  • Siga de cerca la comunicación de la escuela de su hijo.
  • Consulte con la maestra de su hijo para saber cómo está afrontando la vuelta a la escuela y cómo puede apoyar a su hijo en casa.
• Si su hijo tiene un IEP, póngase en contacto con su distrito escolar lo más pronto posible para hablar de cómo puede ser necesario ajustar el plan de su hijo 
• Asegúrese de documentar sus preocupaciones con el mayor detalle posible en cartas para compartir con la administración de la escuela y/o el departamento de educación especial
  • Algunos de nuestros niños tienen necesidades emocionales o de comportamiento que no tenían la primavera pasada.
• Comparta historias sociales para ayudar a los niños a visualizar su jornada escolar
  • Las historias muestran situaciones como las nuevas normas en el autobús escolar o "por qué mi profesor parece diferente".
• Sea amable, tenga paciencia y conozca los signos de malestar mental en adolescentes y niños
  • Los adolescentes, especialmente los que ya viven con ansiedad y depresión, pueden tener dificultades con las nuevas presiones.

 

Una actividad para iniciar una conversación con sus hijos sobre el regreso a la escuela en persona

Traducido de la idea “future sketch” en el artículo ADDitude: How to Activate Your Child’s ADHD Brain for Distance Learning

Las preguntas guiadas resultan útiles para ayudar a nuestros hijos a anticiparse a las transiciones y cambios.

1. Pídale a su hijo que dibuje o escriba algo que representa cómo imagina que serán sus días aprendiendo tanto en casa como en persona.
2. Participe en la actividad dibujando o escribiendo también sus propias ideas.
3. Compartan que dibujaron o escribieron. 
4. Hablen de las similitudes y diferencias entre lo que dibujaron o escribieron.
5. Hagan un plan de cómo hablar de cualquier desafío que pueda surgir.
6. Señalan al menos una cosa que les haga ilusión.

 

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Recopilado por Kimberly S.

Change is always present in our lives, but this past year has been a little extra. And by a little extra, I mean A LOT EXTRA! All this change can be hard on our kids and on ourselves. And if you or your child is neurodiverse or has a history of trauma, that adds another layer that makes dealing with change even harder. So we have put together some information on how to talk with your kids about change, help you support them now and in the future with the change that is inevitable, and hopefully help yourself as well. 

Some things to talk to your kids about:

Talk about the change. Tell them what to expect, both good and bad, and what the change will mean for all of you. Answer as many of your kid’s questions as you can, and if you can’t, be honest with them about that. Tell them you’ll figure it out together!

And talk about it early, as soon as you know there might be a change coming. Time is your friend when processing a big change. Using visuals as you talk can be really helpful, even for children that are verbal. For children who are reading, this can be a list or chart. For big, complicated changes, have lots of conversations over time.

You can also bring up examples of changes that have happened in the past. Talk about what was good and not so good about it? What did your child learn from the experience? How did they get through it, and what coping skills did they learn? Let them know that every time they experience a change, they’ll become stronger and more prepared for the next one! 

Involve your child in decisions about the change. Children typically have no control over the major changes in their lives. By involving and including them in decisions, you help them feel more in control. This can happen in big and small ways, at any age. So give them choices and also ask for their help. Children like to contribute and feel valuable, responsible, and helpful.

Acknowledge your child’s worries and fears. While you’ll want to focus on any positives associated with the change, it’s important to allow your child to feel angry, sad, or scared. These feelings are normal and your child needs to be allowed to express them. 

If your child struggles to name what they are feeling, help them label the emotion (ie, anxious, sad, nervous, worried, scared, etc). Putting a name to a feeling makes it less overwhelming and easier to manage. And coaching children through their feelings is a vital learning experience. Talk about and practice emotional regulation strategies when a child is calm, so that the child can use one of those strategies when their emotions start to escalate. Remember that behavior is communication, and difficult behavior could be a way of saying "I'm having a hard time with change."  

Also be sure to let your child know that you take their concerns seriously. Like us adults, children simply want empathy, understanding and to be heard. 

Encourage your child to write (or draw!) about their feelings around change. Always be there for them to talk to, but sometimes kids need to process on their own. Giving them a journal to write or draw in, is a great way to give them that space.

Show your child the positive ways that you handle change. This can be harder than it sounds. I know I don’t usually react positively to change. But try and talk about how you feel during times of change and about what you do to cope. For example, I show my child the lists I make to help me stay organized and focused and feel more in control.

Keep the connection going. Make sure your child knows that no matter what else changes, you are there for them. If you can, set aside time each day to give your child your undivided attention - even 10 minutes is great. You can talk, play, share an activity. If your child is older, you can watch the same movie or play a video game. A little extra attention doing something you both enjoy reassures your child, making it much easier to cope with life’s changes. And I promise, it will help you as well. 

Beyond talking with your kids, here are some other tips for helping them (and you!) through change:

• Keep family routines the same, if you can
• Try to keep other changes in your lives to a minimum
• Talk with your child’s teacher or child care provider to keep them in the loop and get support
• Make sure your child eats well, gets plenty of exercise, and gets enough sleep (again, this can be easier said than done, but we can try)
• If you can, give your family time to prepare for the change. And remember that kids who have had more trouble with change in the past, may need extra time and support in the future.
• And of course, read books about big life changes (see below for help with that!)

We pulled these tips together from a variety of sources, including these articles:

• 7 Ways to Help Kids Cope with Big Life Changes
• Helping Children Deal with Change and Stress
• Ways to Teach Children Positive Coping Skills During Life Changes
• What to Do When Plans Change? 5 Tips for Children with Autism

And we also recommend checking out Purdue University’s page on Families Tackling Tough Times Together.

This post is part of our “Talking with kids” series, as featured in our monthly Family Newsletter.  Reach out to us at learning@multcolib.org if you have questions. We’re here for you!
 

School is once again changing for many of our kids. Some will be returning to Modified In-Person Learning either part-time or full-time, while others will continue with Comprehensive Distance Learning that will most likely look different. We tried to pull together some resources to help families know what to expect with this new hybrid learning and help support you through this time. 

Here are some great general ideas for Helping Your Child Prepare for Hybrid put together by the Anne Arundel County Public School district in Annapolis, MD. They include things like:

• Re-establish predictable bedtime and mealtime routines (because if your family is like mine, those have gone right out the window!)
• Be ready for behavior changes (just like adults, changes cause stress and stress can lead to some not-so-flattering behavior)*
• Focus on the positives (something we all can try and do!)

And the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds has put together ways to support kids and teens in “Returning to the Classroom During COVID-19,” including helping them with:

• Fitting in at school after a year away
• Health and safety for kids and teens who might be nervous about catching the virus
• Catching up academically

Looking at things locally, Oregon Public Broascasting’s (OPB) Education Reporter Elizabeth Miller has written a number of articles about schools returning to in-person. Including this one titled, “Here’s how hybrid will look for Portland Public Schools students.”

Local station KGW has put together “Frequently asked questions amid plans for reopening Oregon schools” and made a video about what returning to school looks like in Portland. And here are all their recent stories regarding schools in Oregon. 

Multnomah County put together an extremely helpful COVID-19 Teen Guide To Returning To Class.

If you like Podcasts, we highly recommend checking out All in My Head Podcast 3. Online School: How are we coping? This episode features teens giving their take on online school and mental health. 

And we recommend this article for parents and caregivers on Managing Your Own Anxiety During School Reopening.

And here is specific information from all the school districts in Multnomah County (who knew we had so many?!):

• Centennial School District  
  • Or the In-Person Learning Policies (not updated as of 4/5/21, but bookmark for future)
  • Superintendent´s March 10th update from their Facebook
• Corbett School District
• David Douglas School District
• Gresham-Barlow School District 
• Parkrose School District
• Portland Public Schools
• Reynolds School District
• Riverdale School District

And Student Health Centers are now open at Centennial, David Douglas, Parkrose, Roosevelt and Reynolds high schools, for kids 5-18. Student Health Centers are like doctor’s offices and offer comprehensive primary and mental health care services to all Multnomah County youth. There are no out-of-pocket costs.

If you have questions about finding the most up to date information regarding your child’s school we can help. Please contact the library for assistance.

*If you'd like to read more on change, and how to help support your family through change, please check out our article on "Talking with kids about change."

This article was written for our Family Newsletter, brought to you by Home Learning Support and available in English and Spanish. Please sign up here and you can email us at learning@multcolib.org with any questions.

Genealogists will often go pretty far out of their way to track down obituaries and funeral notices.  And with good reason!  An average, non-fancy funeral notice often reveals the names of family members, the place of burial or interment, the deceased’s home address, and other details crucial to family history research.  But they can be a challenge to find.

Despite their names, Portland's two long-running daily newspapers the Oregon Journal (published 1902-1982) and the Oregonian (published 1861-present) were/are local papers focusing on readers in the Portland area.  So for the most part, these newspapers did not publish obituaries for people who lived in other parts of our very large state.

Whose obituaries can you expect to find in the Oregon Journal and the Oregonian?

The vast majority of the funeral notices, death notices, and obituaries in the Oregon Journal and the Oregonian are for people who lived in the Portland area or had some deep Portland connections.  They are usually very, very short!  Sam Nudelman’s funeral notice (at right), from the August 17, 1944 Oregonian, is a good example.  It is brief and to-the-point, listing only Mr. Nudelman's date of death, his address, a short list of his surviving relatives, and information about his funeral services and place of burial.

Sometimes the deaths of prominent figures in Oregon politics, business, or social life were written up in the Journal or the Oregonian, even if they were from Burns or Salem or Joseph.  A person’s statewide fame might make their obituary of local interest despite the fact that they lived and died far away from the Rose City.  

However, these notices often have the feel of straight news, rather than obituary.  For example, the day after former Oregon senator and long-time Eugenian Wayne Morse died in 1974,  the Oregonian ran a full-page-width headline at the very tippy-top of page one (at left).  

In the early years of the 20th century and before, obituaries for Oregon “pioneers” (that is, European-American settlers who travelled west to the Oregon country in the mid-19th century or thereabouts) were a regular feature in the Oregonian.  And the editors regularly featured obituaries for pioneers who lived and died in other parts of Oregon.  An example (at right) is the brief obituary for Mrs. Mary Goodman, of Eugene, from the January 2, 1909 Oregonian.

Are you ready to start searching for an obituary or death notice in the Oregon Journal or the Oregonian?

If you think your ancestor's obituary or death/funeral notice is likely to be in the Oregonian, you can get started by searching for their name in the library's Historical Oregonian (1861-1987).  To look for obituaries in the Journal, search for your ancestro's name in Oregon Journal (1902-1982). (To use these resources from outside the library, you'll need to log in with your library card number and password.)

If these newspaper archive resources are new to you, we can help. Get in touch with a librarian for personalized help with your research! And remember, if you don't find an obituary, death notice, or funeral notice that you think really ought to have been in the Oregonian or the Oregon Journal, librarians can always help you think of other ways to search.

When should you look somewhere other than the Oregon Journal and the Oregonian?

Are you looking for an obituary for a Portland resident, but can’t find it in the Oregon Journal or the Oregonian? Portland has had many other daily and weekly newspapers that ran obituaries over the years. Central Library has long archives of many of these papers for your researching pleasure! If you want to begin your research on your own, take a look at Research with historical Portland newspapers, beyond the Oregonian. If you’d like a hand getting started, ask the librarian on duty in Central Library’s Periodicals room (on the second floor), or contact us to get personalized help from a librarian by phone or email.

If you've done all that great newspaper research but you're not finding an obituary for a Portland ancestor, you might want to try another tack. Take a look at my post Can't find that Portland obituary? Try the Ledger Index instead -- it talks about using an early and surprisingly detailed death index to learn details about a deceased person when there isn't an obituary available.

Did the person you’re researching reside in St. Johns or Gresham? Try looking for a funeral notice or obituary in their local paper. The St. Johns Review had really lovely, robust obituaries in its early years, and most issues of the Review from 1904-1922 and 2015-2016 are fully searchable in the University of Oregon Libraries’ wonderful Historic Oregon Newspapers database. Multnomah County's own Gresham Library has an archive of the Gresham Outlook going back to 1911; librarians there can help you search, or you can get help from a librarian by phone, chat or email.

If the deceased person you’re looking for lived outside the Portland area (even if they died in Portland or in Multnomah County), look for an obituary or death notice in their hometown paper. 

If you’re not sure what the name of that newspaper was, or even if there was a newspaper in print at the time, the next step is to ask the public library in the city or town where the deceased person resided. If you'd like our help finding the correct public library, let us know!

 

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Do you want to learn more about family history research with obituaries? My colleague Kate S. walks you through some of the basics in her post on Obituaries 101.

Or, call or email a librarian to get personalized help with your obituaries-related questions. If you’d rather have face-to-face help, ask the librarian on duty the next time you visit the library.  We're always happy to help!

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