Books published by publisher Oregon Historical Society

During the rough-and-tumble world of frontier Indiana politics, two men stood head and shoulders above their contemporaries—William Henry Harrison and Jonathan Jennings. Harrison, the hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe, established a powerful political machine as governor of the Indiana Territory and went on to become the ninth president of the United States. Jennings stood as Harrison’s biggest rival, leading the fight to keep slavery out of the Hoosier State.History, however, has not been kind to Jennings, who became Indiana’s first governor and served four terms in Congress. In this fourth volume of the Indiana Historical Society Press’s Indiana Biography Series, Randy K. Mills, noted historian and writer, has produced a groundbreaking look at Jennings, one of the nineteenth state’s most complex and fascinating figures. Mills details how Jennings worked his way up the state’s political ladder to become a hero of mythical stature to some, winning praise as "a young Hercules" and "the Colossus of Indiana," a champion of freedom and hero of the people.Jennings’s rise to the pinnacle of power in Indiana quickly turned to tragedy as he wrestled with alcoholism. By his death in 1832 at the relatively young age of fifty, Jennings had fallen far in the hearts and minds of the Hoosier public. For several decades, no gravestone marked Jennings’s final resting place. Using personal letters, official government records, and newspaper and diary accounts, this biography presents a more thorough and balanced assessment of Indiana’s first governor. The book also illuminates an important period in Indiana and American history as well, a time when "electioneering madness" played a major role in the life of the country.

This expanded edition of The Tinkham Brothers' Tide-Mill includes the real-life story that inspired the nineteenth-century author, John Townsend Trowbridge, to write this popular juvenile novel. Through extensive original research, Richard A. Duffy describes the life and times of B.F. Woods, a nineteenth-century tide mill owner in Arlington, Massachusetts. Woods endured years of conflicts to sustain his little factory on the Mystic River-a tale as colorful as that of the Tinkham Brothers, but with a sadly different outcome.

Esperanza is a courageous and imaginative Mexican American girl living in the frontier town of Tucson, Arizona in 1876. She tries to be a responsible young lady, but she and her dog, Chica, always seem to find trouble. Esperanza's dearest wish is to discover what happened to her brother, Carlos, who years earlier was captured by Apache Indians. Then, miraculously, U.S. soldiers locate Carlos and bring him back to the ranch. But instead of the happy homecoming Esperanza envisioned, her brother is angry that he has been taken away from his Apache family and wants to return to them. Can Esperanza find a way to understand her brother? Or will she and Carlos be estranged forever? Filled with humor and adventure, this true-to-life story celebrates the cultures and lives of the people who shaped the American Southwest.

It is comparatively easy, when driving through Brown County , to imagine Indians and wild animals lurking in the wooded hills. It is something else to realize that a large part of Indianapolis was once forested, that Fall Creek had no bridges, that grist mills dotted the suburban areas, that a bear was chased down Thirty-eighth Street, and that children could get lost in going form the east side of the present State Fairgrounds over to a log school on Central Ave.

The Grand Excursion of 1854 brought 1200 people to the edge of the world. Of course, they knew the actual world went far beyond the Mississippi River. But they were city folk. To them a world without large cities, thriving businesses, and factories belching clouds of black smoke was still "savage." The small settlements between Davenport and St. Anthony hardly made an impression, and Indians were regarded as exotic and fearsome creatures. When the excursionists debarked in St. Paul, continuing their quest, they immediately jumped onto stages and wagons bound for the Falls of St. Anthony. What they wanted all along was a taste of nature in the raw. What they saw as participants during their seven-day "Grand Excursion" more than answered their expectations in beauty and rugged spectacle. Retracing the route of the Grand Excursion is an exhilarating experience. The grand vistas, picturesque islands, and awe- inspiring bluffs are still there. Eagles still soar overhead, and waterfowl continue to nest in the sloughs and backwaters. But today’s skyline along the shore is as much shaped by steeples and smokestacks as by willow and cottonwood trees. In the space of 150 years, the river has spawned the flourishing cities that today line its banks and pay tribute to its nurturing presence.

As Giant Steps opens, Bernie Epperson, age thirteen, of Lafayette, Indiana, is wrestling with the double standards placed on her compared with her brothers. Soon her cousin awakens her to all the unfair restrictions women face, and Bernie becomes a suffragette. Meanwhile, World War I begins. Her family is devastated when her brothers become soldiers, and Bernie must decide how to help the war effort and continue to fight for the rights of women. While this story is fictional, the details of the suffrage movement and the war efforts of ordinary Americans are true. Middle and high school students will relate to Bernie and her brothers dilemmas a century ago because they also face making decisions in a turbulent world while sifting through contradictory news and changing wisdom.