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  • Home
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    • About Us
    • Visit
    • Research and Collections
    • School and Group Tours
    • Contact
    • Blog
  • At the Museum
    • Exhibits
    • Events
    • Voices of Gresham
    • Lectures & Documentaries
    • Newsletter
    • Flower Power Weekend
  • Support GHS
    • Membership
    • Volunteer
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    • Save the Polar King Signs
    • Donate to the Collection
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Research and Collections

Check out our online archive

Through a collaboration with the Oregon State Library and with support from the Schwemm Family Foundation, a portion of our historic collections is now online as part of the Northwest Digital Heritage platform.  Our online collections include photos, documents, objects, and audio recordings - and we're adding more all 

Browse the Catalog

What's your history mystery?

Search for the answer in our archives!  Resources include over 70 years of the Gresham Outlook (our local newspaper) as well as thousands of historic documents and photos covering over 150 years of our community's heritage. 

Contact us to book a research room appointment.

Contact Us

Museum Collection

Containing over 3,000 objects, the Museum Collection spans Gresham's history and contains innumerable stories that our curators share via rotating exhibits.

See What's On View

Searchable Archives

Find documents compiled and scanned primarily for research purposes. These include newspaper clippings, obituaries, records on historic properties, and various memoirs and research papers, both published and unpublished. 

Browse the Archive

Researching Historic Homes & Buildings

Online Resources to Guide Your Search

Whether you own a historic property or just want to learn more about our built environment, you're in luck!  There are multiple ways you can search for a house or property online.  The documents below include a guide to finding and using these resources.


If you can't find the information you're looking for in the documents below, we suggest contacting the Multnomah County Tax Assessor's office for a property card.  Property owners may also hire a title company to research a property's chain of ownership back to the first land claim.

Witter Residence on South Roberts, constructed in 1906

Guide to Researching Homes in Gresham (pdf)

Download

City of Gresham Updated Inventory of Historic and Cultural Landmarks part 1 (2016) (pdf)

Download

City of Gresham Updated Inventory of Historic and Cultural Landmarks part 2 (2016) (pdf)

Download

Historic Resources Inventory Report - Introduction (1987) (pdf)

Download

Historic Resources Inventory Report - Index, Maps, Evaluation Criteria (1987) (pdf)

Download

Historic Resources Inventory Report - Ambleside through Cleveland (ordered by street name) (pdf)

Download

Historic Resources Inventory Report - Division through Kelly (ordered by street name) 1987 (pdf)

Download

Historic Resources Inventory Report - Liberty through Main (ordered by street name) 1987 (pdf)

Download

Historic Resources Inventory Report - Mignonette through Palmquist (ordered by street name) 1987 (pdf)

Download

Other Free Research Resources

Historic Oregon Newspapers

Historic Oregon Newspapers

Historic Oregon Newspapers

A project of University of Oregon libraries, this searchable database contains almost 2,400,000 pages from Oregon newspapers dated 1846 - 2023 - including Gresham newspapers the Outlook and Beaver State Herald.

View Historic Oregon Newspapers

Multnomah County Library

Historic Oregon Newspapers

Historic Oregon Newspapers

Access the full span of the Oregonian and Oregon Journal with your library card, including articles, obituaries, and the funny pages.

View Library Resources

Northwest Digital Heritage

Historic Oregon Newspapers

General Land Office Records

This free online resource compiles the digital collections of many archives, libraries, and museums in our region including the Oregon Historical Society and the Oregon State Library. Our online collections are also housed here!

View Northwest Digital Heritage

General Land Office Records

General Land Office Records

General Land Office Records

The records of the General Land Office within the Bureau of Land Management include land patents (including Donation Land Act records), survey plats, land status records, tract books, and a land catalog, all digitally available for free.

View GLO Records

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

General Land Office Records

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

A searchable database of historic, color-coded fire insurance maps published by the Sanborn Map Company housed in the Library of Congress. Fire insurance maps are distinctive because of the sophisticated set of symbols that allows complex information to be conveyed clearly.

View Sanborn Maps

Donate to the Collection

Do you have belongings, papers, or family photos you're interested in donating to the Gresham Historical Society? We'd like to hear about them!

How to Donate

Explore

Exhibits

Save the Polar King Signs

Save the Polar King Signs

 GHS offers an array of rotating exhibits on themes in local history, changing every year to feature different subjects. Explore this year's exhibits with a kid-friendly museum scavenger hunt!   

See What's On

Save the Polar King Signs

Save the Polar King Signs

Save the Polar King Signs

Donate to the restoration fund for the two iconic polar bear signs from the Polar King Restaurant. Help us reach $10,000 by December 31! 

Donate to the Restoration Fund

Lectures & Documentaries

Save the Polar King Signs

Lectures & Documentaries

GHS volunteers and staff are working hard to find great local history stories and share them with you. Check out their research on our YouTube channel and learn about upcoming lectures at the museum. 

Learn More

Blog

Save the Polar King Signs

Lectures & Documentaries

Learn what's going on behind the scenes at the museum on the GHS blog. Volunteers and staff compile their research and stories from the archives with historic photos.

Read the Blog
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Gresham Historical Society

410 N Main Ave - PO Box 65 - Gresham, OR 97030

(503) 661-0347

Copyright © 2025 Gresham Historical Society - All Rights Reserved.

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