Interview

This interview is with Rachael Woody, who started the Oregon Wine History Archives at Linfield University. In this interview, she shares the history of the Oregon Wine History Archive itself. At the start, she speaks about her early life, education, and initial interest in archives. She takes us through her time at Pacific University where she studied History and Anthropology, and then through her time at Simmons University where she studied Archives Management. Rachael then describes the work she did after earning her Archives degree, which included working at the Smithsonian where she became a Project Manager and Program Coordinator responsible for promoting and organizing the Smithsonian Collections Blog.

Later, Rachael discusses her move back to Oregon and why she made the decision to become Director of Archives at what was then Linfield College. She talks about the establishing the Oregon Wine History Archive and goes over the steps they took to make it successful. She shares her favorite memories of the job, as well as the successes and difficulties that stand out. Rachael also discusses the initial goals of the Oregon Wine History Archive, going on to talk about how the archives has met those goals, what it has accomplished, and what she hopes it can do in its future.

This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at Ponzi Vineyards in Sherwood on July 30, 2021.

Interview

This interview is with Rich Schmidt of the Linfield University Archives and the Oregon Wine History Archive. In this interview, Rich speaks about his education at Willamette University, where he got his first job in a library and developed an interest in interlibrary loan. He goes on to describe his first experience working in an archive and what it was like being hired at Linfield. He talks about launching the archive program at Linfield and beginning the Oregon Wine History Archive. He discusses what it’s like to keep records of people’s lives, talks about some of the interesting people he’s met, and tells some funny stories.

He goes on to describe how the Wine Archive is different than other archives, and how it is recording history as it takes place. He speaks about how the archive works with Linfield and the Oregon community, and how it helps Linfield students. Finally, he gives advice about what people can do to further support the program.

This interview was conducted by Evan Bellingar at Bellingar Estates in Newberg on March 11, 2021.