Northeast Portland's Albina neighborhood, with a legacy rich in Black culture and arts, has taken a digital leap to preserve its history. The Albina Community Archive, a hefty collection of historical memorabilia, has gone live, much to the neighborhood's fanfare. The digitization effort, meticulously spearheaded by the Albina Music Trust, brings together about 150 collections of photography, film, audio, and print materials, all celebrating the neighborhood's cultural tapestry, as KOIN reported. With partners and Portland musicians chipping in, this is no small feat for an area once bustling with the lives and stories of its Black residents.
It's nearly a ten-year journey that's now bearing fruit, with the Albina Music Trust to thank. This digitization project endeavors to permanently archive and showcase the rich African American history rooted deeply in the Portland area. "It has been an absolute pleasure for our team to connect with everyone in the community who has contributed," the trust expressed in a statement, hoping the project is going to continuously serve as a crucial cultural resource. Events to celebrate the archive have kicked off, as noted in the pages of Portland Tribune, marking a new chapter in the community's history.
The story of Albina is one intricately stitched with threads of jazz, civil rights, and the daily lives of its residents, but it also bears scars of displacement and gentrification. Calvin Walker, Albina Music Trust co-founder, emphasized this sentiment in an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive, saying, "This is basically the history of one community, an African American community in Portland, Oregon." The project not only draws from the works of Walker, Smith, and Berry, but also from many elders in the Black community and others who generously shared their memories, recordings, and artifacts.
The Albina Music Trust went all to make sure that the neighborhood's voices, once harmonious in their streets, would never fade into the background. They have successfully chronicled the vibrant history of a community that thrived, suffered, and is today reviving through initiatives like this online archive. "We hope to see that this project remains a resource to connect users with the arts and culture legacy of Albina," mentioned the Trust, highlighting the archive's significant role in bridging past and present generational gaps, as previously expressed by KOIN. The celebration of this achievement continues, with the community applauding the efforts to digitize a history at risk of being left behind.
