Collection is open for research.
Cartoons and some ephemera, gift of Dulcie B. Berget, November 1988.
George Luis Baker was born in 1868 in The Dalles, Oregon, but spent most of his adult life in Portland. As a young man he worked in theater, and he ran the Baker Theatre in Portland. He intermittently served on the Portland City Council from 1898 to 1913, and from 1915 to 1917, he was Portland's commissioner of public affairs. Baker was elected mayor of Portland in 1917, an office he held for 16 years before retiring in 1933. He died in May 1941.
George L. Baker papers, Mss 963, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Collection consists of miscellaneous letters and papers of and relating to George L. Baker, including a passport and itinerary for a European trip, 1931; letters to Rev. W. G. Eliot, Jr., regarding a campaign to promote homeownership; a petition for bankruptcy, September 14, 1905; a pamphlet by Sidney B. Whipple, "Bon Voyage: the American Mayor's Visit to France 1931," 47 pages, 1936; and miscellaneous ephemera. Oversize materials consist of a campaign broadside, 1917, and political cartoons, circa 1917-1933.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.