Collection is open for research.
Gift of Yosh Nakagawa, October 2018 (Lib. Acc. 29385).
Harold S. Hirsch was born in Portland, Oregon, in September 1907. He studied anthropology at Dartmouth College and Oxford University, but the Great Depression forced him to work in the family tent business, Hirsch-Weis. Hirsch, who had skied while in college, began to make ski apparel using the name "White Stag," a literal translation of the name "Hirsch-Weis." The line became successful, and later branched out into other kinds of sportswear. Hirsch racially integrated his plants during World War II, and was active in efforts to hire people from underrepresented groups and combat prejudice in the workplace. Hirsch was a supporter of higher education, the Japanese Garden Society of Oregon, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, and the Nature Conservancy Foundation. Hirsch died in 1990.
Osborn and Ulland, Inc. was a retail firm based in Seattle, Washington. It had a store in the Lloyd Center in Portland, Oregon, and sold White Stag apparel beginning in the 1960s. The firm went out of business in 1995.
Harold S. Hirsch correspondence and memorabilia, Coll 838, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
The collection consists of correspondence, photographs, and ephemera relating to apparel businessman Harold S. Hirsch. The bulk of the materials relates to honors that Hirsch received in his later life. These honors include the "Harold Hirsch Day" celebration held at the Osborn & Ullman store at Lloyd Center in Portland, Oregon, on October 19, 1988; and Hirsch's induction into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame in early 1990. Other items in the collection include biographical information about Hirsch; Hirsch's obituary; a postcard of the White Stag sign; and a framed portrait of Hirsch.
White Stag Experts Club plaque awarded to Yosh Nakagawa was separated to Museum Collections, Oregon Historical Society.
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.