This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
By Tiah Edmunson-Morton
Title: Art Larrance Papers, 1876-2000
Predominant Dates: 1900-1990
ID: MSS MSSLarrance
Primary Creator: Larrance, Art, 1944-
Extent: 540.6 megabytes. More info below.
Arrangement: The Art Larrance Papers consists of four series: 1. Hops, 1896-1925; 2. Oregon breweries, 1876-1996; 3. Portland Brewing Company, 1986-2000; 4. Prohibition, 1900-1925.
Date Acquired: 00/00/2015
Languages of Materials: English [eng]
Art Larrance is the co-founder of Portland Brewing Company and the Raccoon Lodge & Brew Pub and Cascade Brewing. He co-founded the Oregon Brewers Festival and collects materials related to Northwest beer history. The Art Larrance Papers include digitized versions of materials held by Larrance, including articles of incorporation for Portland Brewing, company newsletters, and pre-Prohibition hops and brewing advertising and company materials.
The digitized materials in this collection are available in Oregon Digital.
These materials were provided to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2015 for digitization. The original items have been retained by Larrance.
These are digital surrogates of materials held by Art Larrance, including articles of incorporation for Portland Brewing, company newsletters, and pre-Prohibition hops and brewing advertising and company materials. The materials in this collection have been digitized and are available online.
The Art Larrance Papers include documents and photographs related to beer brewing and the hop industry in Oregon. Series 1 contains photo postcards, invoices, and packaging related to the hop industry, featuring hop fields, hop pickers, and various hop-related activities in Oregon, Washington, and California, mostly from the early 1900s. The photographs depict hop fields in various stages of growth and harvesting; men, women, and children picking hops; and hop-related activities and objects. The McNeff Brothers, a prominent hop merchant of the time, feature in some of the items, including letters to their clients.
Series 2 focuses on Oregon breweries, with photographs of saloons, breweries, and delivery wagons, as well as brewery newspaper ads and beer bottle labels. The documents range from beer stamps and transit tickets to invoices and letters, reflecting the business operations of various breweries and saloons, including the Henry Weinhard Brewery and the Portland Brewing Company.
Series 3 shows the activities of the Portland Brewing Company, with a photograph of the first brew on January 1, 1986, newsletters, fliers for events, and certificates of registration of different corporate names issued to Larrance for brewing companies.
Series 4 focuses on the theme of Prohibition, with postcards reflecting opposition to Prohibition and attempts to repeal it. The collection includes a pledge card promoting the Union Sunday School Temperance Army and encouraging children to pledge abstinence from alcohol and an anti-Prohibition cartoon from a group called the Anti-Prohibition Gravediggers Association.
Art Larrance is the co-founder of Portland Brewing Company and the Raccoon Lodge & Brew Pub and Cascade Brewing. He also co-founded the Oregon Brewers Festival and collects materials related to Northwest beer history.
Larrance was born in 1944 and grew up in the Hillsboro area, just outside of Portland, Oregon. He attended Linfield College and was a member of the National Guard during the Vietnam War.
Larrance's interest in brewing started when he was a homebrewer. In 1983, he incorporated the Portland Brewing Company with Fred Bowman, and in 1986, the brewery officially opened its doors with owners Larrance, Bowman, and Jim Goodwin. The Portland Brewing Company was one of the first microbreweries in Oregon and became a pioneer of the craft beer movement in the Pacific Northwest. Its flagship beer, MacTarnahan's Amber Ale, gained popularity and helped the brewery expand its operations, making it one of the largest breweries in Oregon. Larrance left the Portland Brewing Company and opened the Raccoon Lodge & Brew Pub and Cascade Brewing in Southwest Portland in 1998. Cascade Brewing and brewmaster Ron Gansberg led the Northwest sour beer movement. Larrance sold Cascade Brewing and retired in 2020.
Larrance worked with other brewers on the Brewpub Bill (1985 SB 813). Prior to this, brewpubs were illegal in Oregon, and breweries were required to work with third-party bars and restaurants to sell their products. Larrance, Bowman, and other influential brewers were instrumental in lobbying for the legalization of brewpubs in Oregon, effectively legalizing the marriage of production and on-site sales. Governor Vic Atiyeh signed the bill into law on July 13, 1985.
In addition to his work with Portland Brewing Company, Larrance played a crucial role in the creation of the Oregon Brewers Festival in 1988. He served as the festival's Executive Director and helped promote Oregon's brewing culture to a national audience. In 1988, the festival began with only six breweries in the state. The festival grew to become one of the nation's longest-running and most popular beer festivals, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each year.
Throughout his career, Larrance was recognized for his contributions to the brewing industry. In 2013, he received the Brewers Association Recognition Award and in 2022, he was inducted into the Oregon Beer Awards Hall of Fame. He was named Restaurateur of the Year by the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association in 2012.
In addition to his work in the brewing industry, Larrance also collects materials related to Northwest beer history, including advertising and photographs from the pre-Prohibition era. He is a member of the Cascade Breweriana Association, a group of beer history collectors.
More Extent Information: 540.60 megabytes
Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.
Acquisition Note: These materials were provided to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2015 for digitization. The original items have been retained by Larrance.
Related Materials:
The Art Larrance Papers are complemented by several other collections, which are described on the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives research guide. More information pertaining to the history of hop growing and brewing in Oregon can be found on the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives website. Of special note are the Fred Bowman Papers and Portland Brewing Company Records.
Tiah Edmunson-Morton conducted oral histories with Art Larrance (2018) and Fred Bowman (2015).
Preferred Citation: Art Larrance Papers (MSS Larrance), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Larrance, Art, 1944-
Brewers--Oregon--Portland--Biography.
Brewing industry--Oregon.
Hops--Oregon.
Hops and Brewing
Portland (Or.)
Portland Brewing Company.
Prohibition.
Digital images.
The series consists of photo postcards, invoices, and packaging related to the West Coast hop industry. The items feature hop fields, hop pickers, and various hop-related activities in Oregon, Washington, and California.
Many of the photographs show hop fields in various stages of growth and harvesting. Some are labeled with specific locations and dates, such as a hop field in Evans Valley, Oregon in 1908, and a hop field in Southern Oregon in 1914. Other photographs show unidentified hop fields, such as a hop field in California circa 1905.
The photographs show men, women, and children picking hops, often in groups. Some are labeled with specific locations and dates, such as hop pickers in Oregon City in 1907 and hop pickers in McMinnville, Oregon in 1910.
The series also includes an invoice from 1910 for Pacific Coast Hops from the McNeff Brothers. There are letters from the McNeff Brothers to the Becker Brewing and Malting Company, one of their clients, from 1910 and 1917. These letters provide insight into the business side of the hop industry and the relationships between hop dealers and their customers.
In addition to photographs depicting hop fields and pickers, the series includes several items that depict hop-related activities and objects. For example, there is a photo that shows Badger Brand Hops packaging from circa 1925, and another that shows a cartoon of a bird and frog picking hops, presumably for a children's audience.
The series contains a variety of documents and photograph postcards related to beer brewing and consumption in Oregon from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century.
The series includes photographs of saloons, breweries, and delivery wagons, as well as brewery newspaper ads and beer bottle labels. Some of the notable photographs include the Columbia Saloon, the Max Weiss Brewery in Roseburg, and the interior of a saloon in Glendale, Oregon. There are postcards featuring images of various breweries and beer-related signs and advertisements, including the Portland Brewing Company's Edel Brau beer and the Star Brewery's Rose City Beer. The postcards and photographs also reveal the changing landscape of Oregon, with images of the Bonneville Dam celebration in the late 1930s and a Weinhard Rheingold sign during prohibition.
The documents range from beer stamps and transit tickets to invoices and letters, reflecting the business operations of various breweries and saloons. There are also documents such as invoices, checks, and letters related to breweries such as the Henry Weinhard Brewery and the Portland Brewing Company. Henry Weinhard's brewery in Portland was one of the largest in the region.
There are also materials related to the original Portland Brewing Company. In 1905, George Wilhelm, Otto Meier, and Alvin Schmidt incorporated the original Portland Brewing Company. The next year, Mary Wilhelm, George's mother, bought the business and became a principal stockholder; Mary had run the Sellwood Brewing Company following the death of her husband. Maurice Reinstein was elected Portland Brewing Company president. Mary wasn't involved for long and by 1911, Arnold Blitz had joined the board of the brewery. After the merger with the Weinhard Brewery in 1928, Blitz became president.
This series shows the activities of the Portland Brewing Company, founded in 1986. Among the documents are newsletters, including a special issue newsletter from 1993, which includes articles on the company's history and growth, as well as information on its different beers and brewpub locations. Other documents include fliers for events such as the company's grand opening and Octoberfest, a menu from the Portland Brewery Dinner in 1989, table stands, and a brochure for Bert Grant's Yakima Brewing and Malting Company. There is also a shareholders' certificate from 1993 and a special tax stamp from the 2000 Oregon Brewers Festival. Additionally, there are several certificates of reservation for corporate names issued to brewing companies in Oakland, San Francisco, and other parts of California, and Yakima, Washington in 1986.
There is a photograph of Frank Commanday, Fred Bowman, Art Larrance, and Bert Grant making the first brew on January 1, 1986.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.