Oregon Public Broadcasting

The board of trustees for the Oregon Historical Society has approved funding for two positions in the OHS research library until June.

This comes on the heels of last month’s announcement that the Historical Society was cutting the equivalent of 15 full-time staff positions.  Most of those cuts were at the research library.

That library holds a collection of historic photographs, films, manuscripts, and oral histories about Oregon.

Historical Society spokeswoman Rachel Schoening says it’s important to maintain the library and to allow researchers to use it.

Rachel Schoening: “It’s extremely important and if you’re trying to write anything that is historically significant and accurate regarding the state, you have to have access to something in our library.”

Schoening says the two new hires may not restore the hours the library had before.  But she says a schedule should take shape by the end of the month.