■ Editor’s note: This month, The Chronicle looks at Springfield’s past through the lens of three history buffs as they prepare to launch “Historic Atlas of Springfield, Oregon,” a 200-plus page organized collection of Springfield’s history and development.
SPRINGFIELD—After years of compiling, tracking down and connecting the dots, a trio of local historians is reinvigorating Springfield history through “The Historical Atlas of Springfield, Oregon,” a 200-plus-page book set to debut this summer.
The Atlas is the brainchild of Madeline McGraw, curator of the Springfield History Museum; Jenna Fribley, architect and co-founder of Campfire Collaborative Architecture & Design; and Megan England, freelance writer and chair of the Springfield History Museum Committee.
This Atlas project was inspired in 2021 during the expanded digitalization of the museum’s photo collections, during which staff and volunteers transferred over 5,000 photos from the museum’s permanent collection to a cloud-based public database.
The museum launched its digital catalog in November 2024, now accessible here.
McGraw said in a previous statement that only 3% of the museum’s collection is on display at any given time, so digitalizing the archives will make local history more accessible to residents. The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) administered by the State Library of Oregon partly funded the effort.
According to its editors, “The Historic Atlas of Springfield, Oregon,” takes the project one step further by uniquely organizing Springfield’s history.
For the book, thousands of images from the museum’s photobooks were scanned into a database. Other information for the atlas was collected from the Lane Country History Museum, the Oregon Historical Society, and even archives from other states. According to the organization, Springfield residents have also been collecting items for a museum as early as the 1950s.
“The idea was that there are lots of different little pockets of Springfield history, but they have never really been collated together in one, easily accessible space,” McGraw said.
McGraw describes Fribley as a “design brain ” who helped plan the layout of the atlas. Fribley’s love for antiquated buildings can be seen across the county, from renovating the historical Rivett Building and Lofts at 118 Main St. in Springfield to the ongoing historical Bohemia Inn at 602 E. Main Street in Cottage Grove.
The committee estimated they had spent hundreds of hours volunteering on this project, based on weekly meetings and independent work compiling, researching, writing, and editing.
Finding the correct information was a time-consuming challenge.
Digging deep
“We have less stuff from midcentury on. So, from the ’50s onwards, there isn’t much in the photo collection. We don’t have a lot of artifacts or images, or even just recorded information, because, to a lot of people, that’s not super historical. People haven’t saved it or passed it on,” said Fribley.
“Deciding what to use based on what we can find, and then when we’re looking to find something about a certain thing, not being able to find that thing, and then spending dozens of hours hunting,” said Fribley.
According to the epilogue, this historical atlas is one attempt to make local history accessible to Springfield residents and the general public. It highlights unique aspects of Springfield, but it is far from comprehensive. Future installations could be created with additional attention to local agriculture, schools, businesses, culture, and more. The Springfield History Museum houses many compelling photographs and other archival materials.
MgGraw at the release of the “Springfield A to Z” publication that debuted in 2022.
CHRONICLE ARCHIVE PHOTO
The Atlas is published by the same company as Springfield A to Z, a collaborative effort between the Springfield Museum and the Springfield Library published in 2022 through Luminare Press, a self-publishing company in Eugene. The book features 55 local artists and contains historical photographs and artwork, such as drawings of the city hall fountain and the Equestrian statue on A Street.
“We went back to Luminare Press and asked if (the Atlas) be something … they would you be interested in publishing, and they were all really stoked. They’ve never done anything like this, so they were like, let’s make it happen,” McGraw said.
Today, the atlas is 200 pages and growing, with 10 chapters. Nine are about the different regions of Springfield, and the final chapter is a historical timeline of landmark events in the town. McGraw said the editing process is still underway for the Atlas, which is prepped for publication and distribution this summer.
To read excerpts and summaries and see photos from the draft pages of the Atlas, check out Part 1 here of our monthlong series.
Do you know more about this topic or have other stories about Springfield to share? Contact McGraw at [email protected] to help fill in the blanks of local history.
This reporter is supported by the Catalyst Journalism Project at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.
