Saturday, July 23, 2011

how to live: the oregon extension as experiment in living, 1964-1980 [thesis]

TECH ALERT: Some folks are having trouble accessing the PDF file. If this is you, click here for more. The short version is leave me your contact information or shoot me an email at feministlibrarian [at] gmail [dot] com and I'll make sure you get a copy somehow!


OE cabin, circa 1975
Image scanned from slide by Jim Titus.
Used with permission
As promised, amidst this East Coast heat wave, I finally have a full PDF version of my thesis: How to Live?: The Oregon Extension as Experiment in Living, 1964-1980 available for download from DropBox. The first page is a bit funky since I scanned the title page with my advisers' signatures, but from there on out it's direct document-to-PDF conversion that should read and print perfectly cleanly. Let me know if there are technical difficulties. The file is 180 pages long and about 38.5MB so just be aware of that before you click through and start to download and/or print!

As the title page of the thesis indicates, I have a Creative Commons Attribution License on this work. This basically means you're free to download, print, share, quote from, and otherwise use anything from this thesis as long as you attribute my ideas and words (and only my ideas and words) to me. Pretty standard.

Folks who read it, I welcome comments, questions, feedback, etc., by email or blog comment thread. I hope you find something in it that provokes new thoughts or brings back good memories.

Rainbow over mill buildings at Lincoln, 1970s
Image scanned from slide by Jim Titus.
Used with permission.
Participants: If you would prefer a hard copy of the thesis, send me a email and I'll provide one. I'll be sending a copy to Lincoln and to a couple of folks I know don't do email or the internets. Do sing out if you would likewise prefer that I provide you with an analog version. It's a small price to pay for your willingness to share your stories with me.

I will also be sending a copy to the Southern Oregon Historical Society, which provided me some long-distance reference services and has requested  a copy of the finished product for their files. I am still working out the details of long-term preservation of the oral histories, but I figured y'all would be pleased to know that the research will in this small way, at least, be "on record" in the region.

Friday, July 22, 2011

in which I'm unexpectedly proud...

... to receive this in today's post:


My work simply would not have been possible without the generosity of everyone who shared their oral histories and personal papers with me. Thank you, everyone! And I promise I will get over my bashfulness and post a link to the PDF of my thesis tomorrow.