Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Permanent University Archive public records are available for research, and are subject to state, and in some cases federal freedom of information laws. In compliance with applicable state and federal laws, including, but not limited to, FERPA and HIPAA, specific records that are legally protected, sensitive, private, or confidential are exempt (not subject to disclosure) and closed to protect individual privacy. Access to paper records will be granted after a professional review of the records occurs based on regulations in state and federal laws. Contact Special Collections and University Archives well in advance in order to access these records.
The Museum of Natural and Cultural History (MNCH) is Oregon's primary repository for anthropological and paleontological collections.
In 1935 the Oregon Legislature proclaimed the anthropological collections of the University of Oregon to be the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology, the repository for all holdings of anthropological nature to come into the hands of the state. In 1936 the State Board of Higher Education combined the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology, the Condon Museum of Geology, the University Herbarium, and the Museum of Zoology into the University of Oregon Museum of Natural History (now known as the Museum of Natural and Cultural History).
Today, as the premier natural and cultural history museum in the State of Oregon, the MNCH houses nearly 1 million ethnographic and archaeological objects and almost 100,000 fossils and biological specimens from Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and around the world. Samplings of these collections are available online in the web galleries.
The collection contains office files, correspondence, reports, meeting notes and minutes, Lane Cooperative Museum files, Herbarium historical documents, specimen identifications and site evaluations, negatives, glass negatives, photographs, plant log, a Museum of Anthropology accessions/inventory journal, and a negative of Fort Rock sandals.
Material is organized by accession and includes the following material: (lists are not comprehensive)
Accession 10.085.A: An accession/inventory journal for the Museum of Anthropology, and an accession/inventory journal for the Herbarium, 1933-1937.
Accession 1996.158.A: Herbarium documents, information on a "Herbarium attack" of 1998, Fungi catalog, plant log book, glass negatives, negatives, museum memos, and photographs.
Accession 11169.A: Office files, correspondence, and reports, 1956-1975 (this accession also includes the accession 2005.77.A).
Accession 1996.113.A: Office files, fellowship files, memoranda, and correspondence, 1968-1977.
Accession 11085.A: Office files, commissions, correspondence, meeting notes and minutes, plans, and Lane Cooperative Museum files, 1977-1982.
Accession 2005.77.A: A negative of Cressman's Fort Rock sandals (filed with accession 11169.A).
Accession 2002s.301.A: Specimen identification, reports and biennial reports, some correspondence, 1950s-1970s.