The State of Oregon was granted ownership of Sections 16 and 36 of each township by the federal government at statehood in 1859. The intent of this land grant was to provide a source of revenue to fund public education. When this land is leased or sold, exchanged (for better management purposes), easements granted, or land donations received, these books contain the resulting deeds.
The first deed in the first book, dated July 13, 1868, is for the sale of 5 lots of school lands totaling 44.53 acres for the sum of $89.06.
To hold a book, containing hand-written documents, 140 years old is very cool.
City Daily Photo network designates the first of each month as a "theme day" and today it is "books". You can see 178 cities participating --> view thumbnails.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Theme Day - Books
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14 comments:
Makes me wish I'd taken up bookbinding.
How absolutely fantastic these are. I adore the way you've taken this photograph, Jill. The colours, the textures - I so agree, to hold a book containing handwritten pages of such age. Fabulous and a great post for today's Theme.
These are fabulous and you found a great way to frame them so they look amazing. Nice!
This is a spectacular shot! I love hearing about the history too. I think something similar was done in California as well, but I don't know what became of all that.
I would LOVE to open one of these! The pages must feel extraordinary, and the writing is probably beautiful. EXCELLENT choice Jill! I am so glad you shared these!
Well done! The spines of these volumes are gorgeous and I like the handles on the shelves. Are they housed in a state archive building? Is the money still used to fund public education?
Thanks everyone.
uselaine -- I do believe CA got the same deal. Not sure about other states.
slim -- it seems these books should be in the state archive bldg, but they are housed in the Dept. of State Lands.
The Oregon Constitution dedicated the school lands and their mineral, timber and other resources to the Common School Fund and also established the Land Board as trustee of the Common School Fund. The Department of State Lands is the administrative agency of the State Land Board.
In February of 2006, the fund reached over $1 billion (the legislature has had an eye on this more than once, but are constitutionally prohibited from touching it). I do not know the value after the recent meltdown.
And the earnings are distributed twice each year. Each county's population of 4-to-20-year-olds determines that county's share of earnings. In 2007, a total of $48.5M was distributed to schools.
I love this photo and the look of the bindings of these old books! Your post & photo are fascinating!
Those bindings give the books such a nice old feeling. These books look like a collectors' item.
Oh wow! I love the binding of these deeds — beautiful! And thank you for such an informative post! I love it! Fantastic choice for theme day!
Very interesting post and amazing photo!
I was born in 13th July bu not in 1365 :)
Jill this is a superb photo...I love the angle you have taken it from.
Books are a major part of my life and I was so interested to read the history behind these ones..thanks for the photo and the history:)
I believe this is one of my favorite photo blog photos, ever. Thanks for the info on the Blackfish Cafe--someone at work said that it's great, too. We hope to get to try it, depending on the weather and my sweet little ladies' mobility.
"Louis" didn't register his blog for theme day, but bookworm "Louis" is having a splendid time visiting those of you who did!
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