Oregon Countryman, 1908-1922

We acknowledge that materials in SCARC collections and the language that describes them may be harmful. We are actively working to address our descriptive practices; for more information please see our SCARC Anti-Racist Actions Statement online. SCARC describes the contents of its collections using the language and terminology of the collections themselves. Since culturally acceptable terminology shifts over time, some of the terms that appear in these materials are currently outdated or offensive. The term “gypsy” is considered derogatory by many Roma people. It comes from the word “Egyptian,” where many Europeans mistakenly believed the Romani came from. In 1971, at the First World Roma Congress, a majority of attendees voted to reject the use of the term “gypsy,” however some still use it to self-identify.

In this collection, the term “gypsy” refers to the “Asian gypsy moth” or “gypsy moth,” a group of invasive moth species that includes Lymantria dispar dispar, Lymantria dispar asiatica, L. d. japonica, L. albescens, L. umbrosa, and L. postalba. In 2021, the Entomological Society of America (ESA) voted to change the common names, and in 2022, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced new names for these species. Lymantria dispar dispar is now known as the “spongy moth,” and the rest are now the “flighted spongy moth complex.” There are no references to this term in the finding aid, but it does appear in materials that have been scanned and uploaded to Oregon Digital.

In order to provide historical context and to enable standardized searching and access across our collections, we have retained the original wording. We acknowledge the racism represented by the term “gypsy” and the harm it may cause our users. Providing access to these historical materials does not endorse any attitudes or behavior depicted therein. For more information, please see our blog post.

[Date of Acknowledgement: November 2024]