City of Portland
Multnomah County
Divorce Records (503) 988-3471
State of Oregon
Oregon counties hold birth and death certificates that occurred in Oregon for the first 6 months, then the records transfer to the State of Oregon. Marriage and divorce certificates that occurred in Oregon are held with the State. The state office has birth and death records dating from July, 1903; marriage records from 1906 and divorce certificates (not decrees) from 1925.
ODOT History Center (503) 986-3284
Other Institutions
Architectural Heritage Center (503) 231-7264
Chamber of Commerce (503) 224-8684
Federal Information Center (800) 688-9889
Port of Portland (503) 231-5000
Other Resources
This guide is sponsored by the Bureau of Planning and will help you get started on your house research.
Researching your house and property
Resources available online and through Multnomah County
This guide from the Multnomah County Library provides suggestions of reference books and links to local, state and federal resources. Use the links on the right hand side to navigate through the guide.
Interested in your Neighborhood's History
The Office of Neighborhood Involvement provides City Ordinances and Neighborhood Guidelines, historical reports and documents on neighborhoods and a Primer for Neighborhood Historians first produced in the early 1980s.
Portland's Transportation History
Read about Portland transportation history through I-5 construction. Check out the Portland Transportation History Timeline.
An Index and Summary of Oregon Building Information in the Portland Daily Abstract (1906-1910)
In 1992, Michael Shellenbarger published an index to building information in The Portland Daily Abstract as an initial phase of a larger vision to capture architectural information in several early newspapers of Portland, Oregon. The original 10 indexes, introductory matter, and appendix are reproduced in 29 separate PDF files to facilitate access and downloading.
Historic Oregon Newspapers
On this site you can search and access complete content for historic Oregon newspapers that have been digitized as part of the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program (ODNP)
Researching Oregon History --- Search the Oregon Digital Library Collections
The Oregon Digital Library Project provides a searchable portal for a number of digital collections created by institutions around the state of Oregon. At present, the ODL gateway can search and index approximately 500,000 items.
Using Archives: A Guide to Effective Research
Archives exist both to preserve historic materials and to make them available for use.This guide addresses the second purpose by outlining the functions and procedures of archives, and is designed both for first-time archives users and scholars who have already conducted research in archives.
