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Jim Scheppke

Jim Scheppke was the State Librarian of Oregon from 1991 to 2012. He worked at the Oregon State Library for twenty-five years and before that at the Texas State Library. He served as president of the Oregon Library Association and of the Western Council of State Libraries, and has written numerous articles for professional library publications. He was named Oregon Library Association Librarian of the Year in 1996 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oregon Association of School Libraries in 2001. He has a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Author's Entries

  • 24 Hour Church of Elvis

    For three decades, one of the best known and quirkiest Portland tourist attractions was the 24 Hour Church of Elvis. The creation of artist Stephanie Pierce in the mid-1980s, the sidewalk-facing exhibit helped establish Portland as the home of the weird and the offbeat. Pierce moved to Portland to …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Animal House (film)

    National Lampoon’s Animal House, one of the most successful American film comedies of all time, was filmed in the Eugene area in the fall of 1977. The producers needed a campus setting for their story of the disreputable Delta Tau Chi fraternity and the mayhem it creates in 1962 …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Carnegie Libraries in Oregon

    Of the 1,679 public library buildings funded in the United States by Andrew Carnegie between 1883 and 1929, 31 were in Oregon. As was true in most states, the possibility of obtaining a Carnegie library grant spurred the development of public libraries in Oregon in the first two decades of …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • David C. Duniway (1912-1993)

    David C. Duniway was the first Oregon State Archivist and a champion for historic preservation in Salem. He had a deep interest in local history and historic preservation and was a founding officer, in 1940, of the American Association for State and Local History and a founding member of …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Enchanted Forest

    The Enchanted Forest theme park in Turner, Oregon, just south of Salem off Interstate 5, has been a favorite roadside attraction for generations of Oregonians. It was the dream of Roger Tofte, whose job as a young draftsman at the State Highway Department in Salem did not allow him to …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • James Beard (1903-1985)

    Known as the Dean of American Cookery, James Beard hosted the first cooking program in the history of television. The author of twenty-two cookbooks and many magazine and newspaper articles, he paved the way for today's celebrity chefs. As Julia Child proclaimed, “In the beginning, there was Beard.” Beard was …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Lincoln (town)

    After about 1850, wheat was the most important crop in the Willamette Valley, and the burgeoning town of Lincoln was where much of the wheat grown by Polk County farmers was shipped downriver to Portland. Located about six miles north of Salem on the west bank of the Willamette River, …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (film)

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a film based on the 1962 book by Oregon writer Ken Kesey, is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. Made in Salem and Depoe Bay in the winter of 1975, the movie tells the story of Randle Patrick …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • Oregon Territorial Library

    The Oregon Territorial Library was the first publicly funded library in Oregon. It was created by the U.S. Congress under the same act that established the Oregon Territory in 1848. Beginning with the Wisconsin Territory in 1836, Congress had made a practice of appropriating funds so that new territories could …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • State Library of Oregon

    Since 1905, the State Library of Oregon in Salem has worked to develop library services for all Oregonians. The library also serves as the library for state government, maintaining a comprehensive collection of state publications dating to the nineteenth century, including documentation of the Oregon Territory. As part of the …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • The General (film)

    Buster Keaton's masterpiece and one of the greatest silent movies of all time was filmed in the Cottage Grove area in the summer of 1926. The General is a Civil War tale, the fictionalized account of an attempted hijacking of a Confederate train called the General by Union spies in 1862. …

    Oregon Encyclopedia

  • The Kingsmen

    The Kingsmen were the most successful and influential rock and roll band Oregon has produced. The band’s recording of "Louie Louie" was a nationwide hit in 1964, and it has remained one of the most popular rock songs of all time. The band got its start in Portland in 1959 …

    Oregon Encyclopedia