By Adriane Burk and Natalia Fernández
Title: Chuck Williams Photograph Collection, 1948-2016
Predominant Dates: 1990-2010
ID: P 345
Primary Creator: Williams, Chuck, 1943-2016
Extent: 26.0 cubic feet. More info below.
Arrangement: This collection is organized into 16 Series. Series 1: Photographer's Documents, 1982-2016; Series 2: Book: Bridge of the Gods, Mountains of Fire, 1972; Series 3: Personal, 1948-2003; Series 4: Unidentified People and Places, Undated; Series 5: Artifacts, Undated; Series 6: Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest, 1990-2011; Series 7: Environmental Activism and Events, 1971-2007; Series 8: Cultural Celebrations, 1991-2009; Series 9: Portland Pride Celebrations, 2001-2009; Series 10: Fairs and Celebrations of the Arts, 1991-2009; Series 11: Pacific Northwest Events and Celebrations, 1991-2010; Series 12: Food and Agriculture Fairs and Celebrations, 1992-2006; Series 13: Oregon Scenery and Recreational Activities, 1980s-2006; Series 14: National Parks, 1970-2005; Series 15: U.S. and International Travel, 1970s-2011; Series 16: Wilma Roberts, 1987-2014
Date Acquired: 00/00/2016
Languages of Materials: English [eng]
The Chuck Williams Photographic Collection consists predominately of slides, but also includes prints, contact sheets, and negatives, as well as textual documents, artifacts, and digital images. Physical and electronic records are available for use in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center reading room.
The collection materials include documentation that Williams used to support his work as a photographer, including a sampling of photography related artifacts, materials relating to Williams’ 1980 book Bridge of the Gods, Mountains of Fire: A Return to the Columbia Gorge, and contents from his personal life and activities.
A large portion of the collection documents the activities of Native American communities in the Pacific Northwest during the 1990s-2000s. The materials pertain to Indigenous communities’ health services, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, various committees and councils, as well as community, cultural and recreational events organized by tribal communities. The tribal communities represented include: the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community, the Klamath Tribes, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Indigenous communities within the Wapato Valley, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and the Yakama Nation.
Williams traveled across the Pacific Northwest documenting various community events and cultural celebrations. The collection includes photographs from environmental protests and demonstrations, heritage-based events and celebrations featuring African, Asian, Pacific Islander, European, Latinx, and Caribbean communities, and events showing LGBTQIA+ pride in the Portland, Oregon area. Also included are images of events celebrating art and artistic expression, mostly music, but also the visual arts, crafts, dancing. The collection also includes photos of events and fairs focused on an agricultural harvest or food, as well as a variety of events documenting street fairs, holiday celebrations, and visits from prominent public figures.
Williams documented the outdoors and traveled across the United States as well as internationally. The collection includes scenic photos and outdoor activities within the state of Oregon, Williams’ photographs of over 50 of the United States’ national parks, preserves, and monuments, and a wide array of documentation of his domestic and international travels.
The collection also includes a set of unidentified portraits, landscapes, and events taken by Williams, as well as the work and related information Williams gathered pertaining to the work of photographer Wilma Roberts (1914-2014).
Copyright for the materials in the Chuck Williams Photograph Collection (P345) reside with the OSU Libraries Special Collections and Archives Research Center. Please contact SCARC for more information regarding use and reproductions.
Charles Otis "Chuck" Williams was a photographer with a decades-long career, predominately between the 1970s-2000s in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, during which he photographed a variety of events, locations, and communities. Williams was born on July 20, 1943, in Portland, Oregon, and was a direct descendant of Chief Tumulth of the Cascades Tribe, who signed the (ratified) 1855 Treaty of the Willamette Valley. In addition to his work as a photographer, Williams worked as publications editor and public-information manager for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission in Portland, co-founded and managed Salmon Corps, and was the former national parks expert for Friends of the Earth. He also started the campaign for a Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, and his land donation is now the Franz Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
“Chuck” means “river” in Chinook Wawa. In 2007, Chuck Williams wrote, “undammed rivers are not only important to me personally, but also seem like an appropriate symbol of the enduring River People.” Throughout his life, Williams was a dedicated advocate for the rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Columbia River Gorge area. His core values informed his artistic and professional endeavors. As a part of his activism, he created art that celebrated and supported the River People, while also educating the broader community about important issues.
For much of his life Williams was based in The Dalles area in Oregon, and by virtue of his work as a professional photographer, he attended events, festivals, and celebrations predominantly in Oregon and Washington. He sought out opportunities to document these events and his career flourished; in time, several organizations invited him to be one of their official photographers.
In 1994, Williams opened his gallery, The Columbia Gorge Gallery, which was located in downtown The Dalles, Oregon. He exhibited his own photographs, along with the works of other artists. While the Gallery was a space for people to see his work, Williams also participated in community activities in order to reach a wider audience. He gave lectures and slide shows for speaker series and special events, and his photography was shown in numerous museums and galleries, predominately in Oregon.
After the success of the Gallery’s first exhibit, “Photographs of Celilo Falls by the Elite Studio,” Williams created a companion calendar in 1996 that featured selected images from the exhibit; he published another calendar in 2008. In the introduction to the 1996 calendar Williams wrote, “I hope this calendar will remind people of what was lost by our taming of the great river and will help the river Indian community of which I am a part flourish.”
Williams published the book Bridge of the Gods, Mountains of Fire: A Return to the Columbia Gorge in 1980. In the book, he combined traditional Indigenous stories, his own ancestry, and historical and geological records. Williams complimented the historical images with his own contemporary photographs, effectively bridging past and present controversies in the Gorge.
In 2015, Williams was diagnosed with lung cancer, and he passed away on April 24, 2016.
More Extent Information: 21 cubic foot boxes, 3 oversize boxes, 1 map folder; 62,516 slides; 8,146 prints; 1,933 negatives; 130 contact sheets; 23,347 digital files, 53.07GB; 44 posters
Statement on Access: This collection is open for research. Copyright for the materials in the Chuck Williams Photograph Collection (P345) reside with the OSU Libraries Special Collections and Archives Research Center. Please contact SCARC for more information regarding use and reproductions.
Use Restrictions: Copyright for the materials in the Chuck Williams Photograph Collection (P345) reside with the OSU Libraries Special Collections and Archives Research Center. Please contact SCARC for more information regarding use and reproductions.
Acquisition Note: In 2016, in a collaboration between Oregon State University and Willamette University, OSU acquired Chuck Williams' photographic collection and WU acquired his papers: Chuck Williams Papers, 1943-2016.
Related Materials:
In 2016, in a collaboration between Oregon State University and Willamette University, OSU acquired Chuck Williams' photographic collection and WU acquired his papers: Chuck Williams Papers, 1943-2016
Williams photographed a variety of events, locations, and communities. His photographic record includes images of Native American communities as well as events related to environmental activism, cultural celebrations, Pride celebrations, food and agriculture, and the arts. His collection also includes documentation of Oregon’s scenery and recreational activities as well as national parks across the United States. For other SCARC collections related to a variety of the topics covered in the Williams collection, see collection guides for the Oregon Multicultural Archives, the OSU Queer Archives, Travel and Tourism, and the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives. Of particular note within the collection are the materials related to the Homowo Festival; see the Obo Addy Legacy Project Collection for more information.
Preferred Citation: Chuck Williams Photograph Collection (P345), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Williams, Chuck, 1943-2016
African Americans--Oregon
Asian Americans--Oregon.
Homowo African Arts and Cultures
Indians of North America--Oregon.
LGBTQ people
Mexican Americans--Oregon.
National parks and reserves
Sexual minorities.
Contact sheets.
Film negatives.
Photographic prints.
Slides (photographs).