Moving Pictures: Digitizing Our Collection

By Adair Law

Since the 1980s the USDCHS has recorded various ceremonial (and often jovial) aspects of the life of the court for the District of Oregon. Our archives contain recordings made in a variety of different formats between the late 1980s to the present. Among the recordings are investitures, portrait unveilings, retirement parties, and memorial services. We are grateful to the courtroom technologists who made these recordings over the years, and especially to Houston Bolles, the videographer behind the camera for most of these particular recordings.

With the financial support of the Attorney Admissions Fund, the vision of our president and board, and the wrangling/administrative skills of USDCHS board member Ethan Knight, over 100 recordings now have been digitized.

The next step involves reviewing what we have. As we work through this content, the Society looks forward to sharing this newly accessible trove on our website and through other social media.

For example, we are excited to be able to share the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse from November 13, 1997. We wrote about the event in our newsletter on the 20th anniversary of the ceremony. We are now able to provide the video of the event, which we have added to the article on our website here. The video brings to life the pomp and circumstance of the celebration. It is stirring to see the pride exuding from the speakers over the accomplishment of this new building. Senator Hatfield accepts a range of accolades. His gentlemanly personality is on display as he reflects on his 46 years of public life and pays homage to the independent judiciary.

Another example is the swearing-in ceremony of Reginald Madsen as U.S. Marshal for the District of Oregon in 1997. Mr. Madsen just recently passed away. Please find an article about Mr. Madsen’s life, which includes the video, here.

Finally, we point you to Judge Garr King’s investiture ceremony, which we have added to his oral history, and an article reflecting on his life at his passing, here.

We can’t wait to share more and more of these digitized collection of memories over the coming months.