The American Red Cross has always been mindful of its history. We’ve long been committed to preserving historical artifacts in order to document and tell the story of our mission, and the Cascades Region is no different. At our Regional HQ in Portland, we have a significant collection of documents, images, memorabilia, and more from our evolution as an organization over the past century. Our historical archives are located in a 135-sq-ft space on a mezzanine above the busy warehouse floor, and it’s filled with stories and treasures of local Red Crossers from across the decades.

And while we take great pride in keeping our history alive, with so much of it, sometimes it’s easy to lose track of. As the organization has consolidated chapters, closed or moved offices, and remodeled workspaces, the historical archive in Portland have become a holding location for more boxes of material than it was intended. The result? Less a functional space, and more a storage room:

Until now! In 2025, a project was created to begin organizing and processing contents of the archive space. The goal was to re-establish the archives as a functional resource that can truly help bring our Cascades Region history to life. This work began as an AmeriCorps project, but it grew to engage our local volunteers and achieve significant milestones. Here are some highlights:

• ⛑️ 2 Public Health AmeriCorps members
• 🤝 12 Red Cross volunteer participants
• ⌚ Over 50 hours of volunteer labor
• 📦 58 boxes of historical materials inventoried and catalogued
• 📑 A searchable Excel-database of archival holdings
• 📐 Approximately half of the 135-sq-ft space made safe and functional

There is still much work remaining to process and catalogue the remaining half of the archive space. It’s an important task, and volunteers are needed! If this work interests you, reach out to Regional Communcations Director Rebecca Marshall to get involved by leading a volunteer cataloging event.

Many thanks to the Red Cross staff members, volunteers, and partners who made this archival project possible, including: staff members Rebecca Marshall, Isabel Anderson, and Kristen Heath; volunteers Holly Bullins, Jen Dolan, Holland Golec, Eric Jaroch, Sheryl Lee, Elise Lind, Susanna Pai, Linnea Roberts, Ann Sihler, Jade Thomason, Erika Totten, and Marianne Vicencio-Ward; and partner Jeffrey Hayes (Oregon Historical Society).