News

Portland State Library’s Special Collections is pleased to announce the recent donation of the James B. Knight Papers to its holdings. This collection, comprising 29 linear feet of records, notes, correspondence, reports, and other collected materials spanning 1974 to 2003, documents Jim Knight’s nearly 30 year career with the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD), including managerial positions for the Rural and Community Services Division and the Urban Division. Among his many other activities with DLCD, Knight was directly involved with drafting the seminal Statewide Planning Goals and with preparing and submitting the state’s application for the certification under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act. Knight also served as one of the department’s first field representatives to the Columbia Gorge, Portland Metro and Willamette Valley regions. The Knight Papers will serve as an invaluable resource for those researching the creation and legislative reach of the Department of Land Conservation and Development.

Since 2005, Portland State Library’s Special Collections has been working with the faculty and students of the College of Urban and Public Affairs to build a collection of unique historic records documenting the activities of public planning, urban development, local government and community activism that make Oregon a model for the nation. The Millar Library would like to thank Professor Sy Adler for his efforts in bringing about the donation of the James B. Knight papers, Professor Carl Abbott for his support in obtaining the personal papers of planner Ernie Bonner, and Professor Ethan Seltzer for his assistance in the accession of the papers of E. Kimbark MacColl and Elsa Coleman. To suggest other possible donations to this collection, we encourage you to contact Rose Jackson, Reference Librarian to the College of Urban and Public Affairs (rosej@pdx.edu) or Cris Paschild, Head of Special Collections and University Archivist (paschild@pdx.edu).