PSU Magazine Winter 1993

• ra1 "A restless night: The dogs bark, the wolves prowl, the horses take fright and break loose. Some of the men about the fort have a spree; the winds blow our tent over ... All cause our sleep to be filled with anxiety, and dreams." -Myra Fairbanks Eells, Oregon Trail diary. at Koehler opens the marbleized paper diary with care; the just-hand– sized book is nearly 150 years old, and its pages are yellowed and brittle, and covered with tiny strokes of writ– ing. Every Thur day for six year now, Koehler, who graduated from Portland State in 1974 with a bachelor's in political science, has spent the after– noon as a volunteer in the manuscript room of the Oregon Historical Society, inventorying hi torical collections of letters, personal papers and other memorabilia important to Oregon's hi - tory. But for the past year, Koehler ha been working on a project that has been especially meaningful: With other 20 PSU manuscript room volunteer she ha - often pain takingly-read and analyzed an amazing record of the Oregon Trail, in the form of over 200 diaries, jour– nals, and reminiscences. The group's goal was to organize the pioneer diaries for display at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City in time for the 1993 sesquicentennial (150 year) eel bration of the trait's beginning. But the volun– teers were so excited about the project, Koehler says, they finished nearly a year early. The cause for excitement lay in the "diaries" themselves. Written by men and women, either during the trek, or in some cases, years later, they offer a time-capsule entree into another era. "I could feel the pulse of the time in those diaries. The stories unfolded, scene by scene, like movies." By Eva Hunter Pat Koehler STEVE DIPAOLA "I cou ld feel the pul e of the times in those diaries," Koehler says. "The stories unfolded, scene by scene, like • JJ movie. It was a newspaper ann uncement asking for volunteers that drew Koehler to the Historical Society in 1986. The Magna arta exh ibit the year before