Local History Room

Open during library hours, this controlled atmosphere room contains an ever-growing collection of source documents, maps and photos, many of which are not found in any other collection.  Our local history room has helped numerous researchers find needed information about the people, events and organizations of the Athena area, beginning in the mid-to-late 1800s.   Some of the many records in this constantly expanding goldmine of information are...

  • a large collection of Athena Press newspapers (a gift from the estate of Mildred Hansell Miley)
  • handwritten cemetery and funeral records from the late 1800s and early 1900s
  • city court records from the first half of the 20th Century
  • personal scrapbooks and social club record books compiled by area residents spanning several decades of the 20th Century
  • detailed information collected on many of the historic homes and buildings in the city of Athena
  • Athena high school annuals (beginning in the early 1900s)
  • historic photographs of Athena and the surrounding area
  • historical records of the Hodaka motorcycle, which was produced in Athena in the 1960s and 1970s.
  • oral histories (recorded interviews of elderly residents)
  • records of pioneer and city cemeteries in East Umatilla County
  • DVDs containing silent movies filmed in the Athena area in the 1920s and 1930s.
  • histories of the Baptist and Christian churches of Athena
  • research files on local families

If you want to know more about Northeast Oregon's people and events from the past 140 years, our Local History Room is an excellent place to visit.

Umatilla County History Research

In this column are links to a few of the many excellent websites that contain a wealth of freely available historical and genealogical information relating to Oregon and the Athena area. You may also want to check out the genealogy websites featured on our DATABASESDATABASES page.
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Digitized collection of the Weston Leader newspaper, beginning  with the December 21, 1878 edition.