vintage slide projector image of a park

Hannon Library’s Special Collections recently received the gift of a Bausch and Lomb “balopticon” slide projector (sometimes called a stereopticon or “magic lantern”) which had belonged to John Herbert Doran, the first manager of Lithia Park Auto Camp. Stereopticon shows were a form of popular entertainment before the advent of moving pictures. The gift also includes three sets of glass slides.

antique balopticon slide projector

Ashland’s free Lithia Park Auto Camp, which opened in 1915, accommodated a considerable number of visitors, catering to the growing Southern Oregon tourist trade. According to The American Motorist, the journal of the newly organized AA A, the Lithia Park Auto Camp was an “Auto Camp Delux, with electricity, gas cooking plates, and hundreds of lights strung in trees.”

Realizing that he could put on evening programs in the camp, Doran purchased a stereopticon and showed colored slides of Southern Oregon sights including Ashland, surrounding areas, Crater Lake, Oregon Caves, and flowers. He also had a show about the Oberammergau Passion Play and created a lecture entitled “Man in the Making,” which related to evolution. These slide shows were shown from 1917 until 1924 when the Dorans moved to California.

Doran’s slide presentations in the Lithia Park Auto Camp became a popular evening entertainment, particularly during evenings when there was not a Chautauqua program. Ashland was a Chautauqua town. The Chautauqua movement began in Ashland in 1893 and faded away in the 1920s. With a goal of furthering moral and intellectual culture, Ashland Chautauqua programs consisted of concerts, classes, prayer meetings, and lectures, including a packed address by William Jennings Bryant in 1897.

vintage slide projector image of a park

The stereopticon and slides remained in the Doran family until July 12, 2018 when it was generously presented to Hannon Library by Cynthia Doran, Herbert Doran’s granddaughter-in-law.

Special Collections staff look forward to displaying the Doran stereopticon and slides in the future within the library and in conjunction with regional commemorations. Plans are underway to restore the Doran stereopticon to working order.

 

 

It’s a good time to be a science major. Why? Because Hannon Library now provides free access to Science Online.

The Latest Research

Science Online is the world’s leading journal of original scientific research. New editions are published every week, connecting you to the latest science research, news, and commentary as well as over twenty years of archived content.

All articles are full text and peer-reviewed, giving you the power of cutting-edge research for your papers and class projects. The subjects covered by this journal are too many to list and include fields like anthropology, ecology, psychology, and medicine.

Easy Searches and Citations

Articles include references and notes with links to source materials and other related resources. And citation is a breeze thanks to clearly listed, easy-to-find publication information.

The website is simple to navigate and puts the latest updates right at your fingertips. Browse by topic or by table of contents of the most recent updates. You can also search for articles by keywords, article type, or publication date.

New E-Resources

Hannon Library is committed to providing SOU students and faculty with access to high-quality materials and resources. There are more great e-resources being introduced this year, so subscribe to this blog and make sure you get the latest news and updates.

people sitting in a movie theater

Free Video Streaming

Get ready to take your research to the next level. Hannon Library now offers free video streaming by Academic Video Online.

View documentaries, interviews, newsreels, and much more. Academic Video Online provides over 66,000 titles from a wide range of subject areas including

  • Anthropology
  • Business
  • Counseling and therapy
  • Education
  • Environmental studies
  • Global Issues
  • History
  • LGBT studies
  • Media studies
  • News and current events
  • Nursing
  • Performing arts
  • Science

Browse and search subjects to find the exact content you need. With students and instructors in mind, Academic Video Online curates high quality productions from publishers like BBC and Bloomberg Media Group.

Easy to Use

Navigate videos quickly and easily thanks to a visual table of contents for each film. Create bookmarks for when you need to come back to a particular scene. Or use searchable transcripts to jump straight to specific quotes and timestamps.

The multi-language interface uses a Google Translate widget to provide page translations in dozens of languages, including video transcripts, abstracts, and search results.

More than Movie Watching

Don’t just stream—tailor your viewing experience to match your education needs, whether you’re a student needing an edge on your next big project or an instructor looking to incorporate new material into your classes. Create playlists and video clips, even share them on Facebook, Twitter, and many other sites. Embed videos into your presentations or Moodle courses, with complete publication information for easy citations.

Academic Video Online is only one of the great new e-resources Hannon Library is providing this year. Subscribe to this blog and make sure you get the latest news and updates.

smokejumper firefighters inside airplane

Stories of Southern Oregon

The Southern Oregon Digital Archives (SODA) is a digital library with thousands of scanned images and documents. These collections are curated, digitized, and made available to the public on the Hannon Library website .

Our newest SODA collection, Stories of Southern Oregon, archives generations of regional history and the life stories of the people of Southern Oregon. This project celebrates cultural traditions and a shared heritage of agriculture, the timber industry, mining, mills, and even aerial wildfire suppression.

Smokejumpers

Among the new collections are historic photographs from the Siskiyou Smokejumper Base Museum, which is located at the Illinois Valley airstrip outside of Cave Junction, Oregon. Smokejumpers are specially trained firefighters that parachute into remote forest areas to combat developing wildfires. The smokejumper base in Cave Junction was established in 1943, when smokejumping was still a relatively new approach to firefighting.

Photos from this collection capture the life and work of smokejumpers during the 1940s through the 1970s. From behind-the-scenes images of the Siskiyou Base to live shots of jumpers launching themselves from airplanes, this collection is a special part of Oregon’s history.

Men examining equipment for parachuting and firefighting

firefighters preparing to parachute out of a plane

Firefighter parachuting into the forestView more photos on our SODA website.

Digital Collections

Hannon Library has two platforms for digital collections. The original platform, Knowvation (formerly ArchivalWare), includes the BioregionFirst NationsSouthern Oregon History collections as well as the Institutional Repository with SOU scholarship from faculty and students. These are primarily collections of text documents.

Most of the library’s other collections are primarily image collections and are on a CONTENTdm platform.

Several of these projects were supported in whole (or in part) by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Oregon State Library. Other support also provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

logo for the Institute of Museum and Library Services

logo for National Endowment for the Humanities

person on a beach reading a book

What’s New in Featured Fiction

With summer upon us, it’s a perfect time to escape into a good book. But with so many books to choose from, where does a hopeful reader start?

Fortunately, you don’t need to look any further than our Featured Fiction collection, which is stocked with award-winning titles in multiple fiction genres. Located within the first floor New Books Alcove, our Featured Fiction books are thoughtfully selected and regularly updated in order to provide you with quality reading choices. Best of all, these hot summer reads are conveniently displayed where you can browse easily without having to roam through the stacks or search for titles in the catalog.

Liked It? Rec It!

Ever love a book so much that you can’t wait to tell everyone about it? If you enjoyed reading one of our Featured Fiction books, we’d love to hear about it. Comment cards are available next to the book display, giving you the opportunity to share a few thoughts about what you liked about the book and why you recommend it to other readers.

image of comment card asking for book titles and a short review

Liked It? Rec It!

Submitted comments are turned into custom “Hannon Recs” bookmarks that help identify hot picks for future readers. So don’t be shy! Let us know what you have to say about our selection of summer reads.