Jefferson, Matilda? Handwritten description of visit to locations in the Holy Land, including Jaffa, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. , 1910 - 1910

The bulk of the collection is made up of photographs, diaries, and travel documents relating to the Jeffersons' travels across the Western United States, the Middle East and Europe in the early twentieth century. Many of the photographs illustrate their interest in driving automobiles to exotic and scenic locations. There are many images of roads, unusual vehicles and tourist locations. Early images of tourist routes through Yosemite National Park, Mount Rainer National Park, and the Columbia River Highway depict the roads and natural scenery of these areas. The group of photographs from the Jeffersons' trip to the Middle East and Europe (1909-1910) includes many pictures of tourist sites, but also many pictures of street scenes. They took numerous photographs of people doing manual labor. There are pictures of African American dock workers moving freight, women washing clothes, shoe shiners, peddlars and two pictures of child laborers in Italy, among others. In addition to the photographs, other notable items in the collection include a two-volume diary of the Middle East/Europe trip; a visa issued for travel in Turkey; and a group of unidentified family photographs.

Provenance information for the collection: The donor of this collection to the Pacific University Archives, Glen Griffitts, worked as a police detective in Portland, Oregon. A colleague of his, Detective Patrick McGuire, found these items abandoned in a house in Northeast Portland in the mid-1970s. Glen Griffitts determined that they were once the property of Dr. G. Orlo Jefferson and his wife, Matilda. The Jeffersons donated a large sum of money to Pacific University around 1945 and had no children. Glen Griffitts believes, based on probate records, that the Jeffersons bequeathed this collection to one of their household staff, and that it was subsequently abandoned. Additional information about the provenance is available in the research notes section of this collection.