By Finding aid prepared by Elizabeth Nielsen.
Title: Basques of Harney County, Oregon, Oral History Collection, 1976-2001
Predominant Dates: 1976-1979
ID: OH 004
Primary Creator: Jackson, Royal G.
Extent: 0.5 cubic feet. More info below.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in two series: I. Audiotapes and II. Transcripts. Some of the interviews were previously assigned individual numbers; the OH04 item numbers were assigned by the Archives and the 979- and 986- numbers by the Horner Museum.
An alphabetical view of the oral history interviewees whose recordings are held in this collection is as follows.
Arguinchona, Santos (September 24, 1976) Barainca, Alsna (July 18, 1976) Baraibar, Maria (September 21, 1976) Baraibar, Nicholas (September 21, 1976) Diaz, Aval (March 23, 1979) Ebar, Josephine (September 21, 1976) Ereno, Carlos (September 25, 1976) Harrit, Jean (September 26, 1976) Iturriaga, Claudio (March 24, 1979) Iturriaga, Maria L. (March 24, 1979) Larraneta, Martina (September 3, 1976) Larraneta, Mike (September 9, 1976) Mallea, David (September 25, 1976) Osa, Marcelino (September 24, 1976) Stevens, Marguerite (September 23, 1976) Urizer, Cecilia (August 31, 1976) Vidando, Nicholas (September 7, 1976) Zabala, Joe (September 24, 1976)
Languages of Materials: English [eng]
The Basques in Harney County, Oregon, Oral History Collection consists of audiotapes and transcripts of oral history interviews conducted in 1976 by Royal G. Jackson and Jennifer A. Lee. The collection includes audiotapes and transcripts for 14 interviews and a transcript only of the interview with Alsna Barainca.
The oral histories address a variety of topics pertaining to the Basques in Harney County, including their work as sheepherders; Basque food and festivals; use of the Basque language; discrimination and prejudice against Basques; the Basque community in Burns, Oregon; other towns in the region, including Nampa, Idaho, and McDermitt on the Oregon-Nevada border; and Basque hotels and boarding houses including the Star Hotel and the Commercial Hotel in Burns.
The interviewees ranged in age from 30 to late 70s at the time of the interviews in 1976. Most of the interviewees were born in Spain and came to the United States in the 1910s and 1920s; five of the interviewees came to the United States between 1954 and 1970. Several interviewees were born in the United States.
All of the audiocassettes held in this collection have been digitized and these files are available upon patron request.
Basque sheepherders immigrated from northern Spain and southwestern France to southeastern Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada from the 1890s until the early 1920s. They worked as itinerant herders on the mountain ranges of Harney County until the 1930s and often spent the winters in Basque boarding houses or hotels, such as the Star Hotel in Burns. The Taylor Grazing Act, drought, and the depression brought an end to the sheep industry in Harney County.
The Basques of Harney County, Oregon, Oral History Project was part of an inventory of historic sites in Harney County conducted by Royal G. Jackson and Jennifer A. Lee in 1976 and was funded by the OSU Research Council and the Harney County Oral History Program. Jackson was an Associate Professor in the Department of Resource Recreation Management at Oregon State University; Lee was a student in that department fulfilling an internship requirement.
More Extent Information: 28 audiotapes and 3 photographs; 2 boxes
Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.
Related Materials: Other materials pertaining to Harney County are available in the Extension Service Records (RG 111), Agricultural Experiment Station Records (RG 025), and the Edwin Russel Jackman Papers (MSS Jackman).
Preferred Citation: Basques of Harney County, Oregon, Oral History Collection (OH 004), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Processing Information: The contents of this collection originally resided in the Horner Museum Oral History Collection (OH 10). Materials were removed and described as separate collection in 2008. Further additions and description were completed in 2014.
Jackson, Royal G.
Harney County Oral History Program (Or.)
Lee, Jennifer A.
Purkey, Amanda B.
Basque Americans--Oregon--Harney County--Interviews.
Basque language--Oregon--Harney County.
Burns (Or.)
Cookery, Basque.
Folk dancing, Basque--Oregon--Harney County.
Harney County Oral History Program (Or.)
Jackson, Royal G.
Natural Resources
Oregon Multicultural Archives
Oregon State University. Research Council
Sheepherding--Oregon--Harney County.
Audiocassettes.
Oral histories (literary genre)