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Sustainable City Year: Gresham

This guide is a selected list of resources for researching issues relating to Gresham, Oregon. For more general approaches, you may want to consult the research guides for Planning, Architecture, or Landscape Architecture.  For further assistance, contact Tom Stave in the Document Center, at tstave@uoregon.edu.


Statistics

Community-level statistical data are produced by many different private and governmental organizations.  These resources can help locate the most useful series. Reference staff in the Knight Library's Document Center can assist with hard-to-locate data.

  • Data for Local Communities
    Search a database of websites with demographic, social, economic and environmental data for Oregon communities.  Tip: DO NOT search for “Gresham”.  DO enter search terms or browse by topic, then choose Geographic Level “City”.
  • Census 2000and 1990.  Note: for assistance using Census data, contact Tom Stave at tstave@uoregon.edu or Ted Smith at tedsmith@uoregon.edu in the Knight Library's Document Center.
    These data files contain the most reliable recent estimates of population characteristics, which may be displayed at the neighborhood level.  For example, Springwater comprises Census Tract 104.09 and Block Group 3 within Census Tract 99.02 in Multnomah County.  The Rockwood Triangle lies within Block Group 2 of Census Tract 96.04 in Multnomah County.
    For population counts and general (age, race, sex) characteristics, choose Summary File 1.
    For economic, social and housing characteristics of the population, choose Summary File 3.
  • Census: American Community Survey. 
    These data files contain the most recent (but not the most reliable) estimates of population characteristics, at the city level only.
    For the most recent estimates, choose 2007 ACS 1-year estimates.
    For a set of estimates that are more reliable (smaller confidence intervals), and include more variables, choose the 2005-2007 ACS 3-year estimates.
  • Earlier Census data. Census data published earlier than 1990 must be found in printed reports, which are maintained in the Knight Library's Document Center.
  • Document Center's statistics page.

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News and opinion

Use these resources to find coverage of the City of Gresham by news media and policy groups.
  • Gresham Outlook (1911-present).  Microfilm is shelved by city (Gresham), then by title, in the Microforms Collection.  Images may be printed or scanned.
  • Gresham Outlook website.
  • Oregonian. Online access to full text articles in the Portland Oregonian, 1987-present. (UO only)
  •  Oregonian Index Index to articles in the Oregonian, 1851-1987.  Articles may be viewed, printed or scanned from microfilm in the Libraries' Microforms Collection (first floor, Knight).
  • Portland Business Journal. Brief news articles; may be searched by key words or phrases, such as "downtown Gresham" or '"Gresham" and "light rail"'.
  • Lexis-Nexis Academic. Search and view full text of 6,000 news, business and legal sources.
  • Oregon Policy Directory Links to websites for 400 organizations that analyze or influence public policy in Oregon.  The full set of websites may be searched simultaneously, using terms such as "Gresham".

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Government & Business

Use these resources to find information from and about Gresham city government and local businesses.

GOVERNMENT
BUSINESS
  • Reference USA Database of U.S. business establishments, which may be searched by city, zipcode, type of business, and size.  Use to identify individual businesses, or to analyze the structure of the business community in Gresham. (UO only)
  • County Business Patterns Zipcode and county-level data on business establishments, including type of business, payroll, and employment.
  • Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, Or.).  Search in Lexis-Nexis Academic.
  • Portland Business Journal. Brief news articles; may be searched by key words or phrases, such as "downtown Gresham" or ''"Gresham" and "light rail"'.

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Map and GIS resources

The UO's large collection of maps and aerial photography is located in the Document Center, on the first floor of the Knight Library. This is also the location for datasets for use in geographic information systems (GIS) applications. For expert help, contact the Map and GIS Librarian, Jon Jablonski, at jonjab@uoregon.edu

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Natural Setting

  • Soil survey. Web Soil Survey (US Natural Resources Conservation Service) You may search for your area of interest via an interactive map, then display the soil map and soil type characteristics. A paper copy of the Soil Survey for Multnomah County (OR) is available in the UO Libraries’ Document Center (DOC-LC S599.O7 G727 1983).
  • Watershed.
    Surf Your Watershed (EPA): data for the Lower Willamette Watershed
  • Geologic maps for Gresham area.
    “Camas (WA-OR)”  contains most of Gresham
    “Damascus (OR)”  includes Gresham’s southern edge
    Pacific Northwest Urban Corridor geologic maps provides other regional geologic maps
  • Agriculture. Census of Agriculture 2007
    County level data for Oregon.Click by table title for specific crops, look for Multnomah County.

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Historical Resources

In addition to the catalogs, article databases, and newspapers described above, the following sources can be useful for researching the history of Gresham, .  For further assistance, contact the History Librarian, John Russell, at johnruss@uoregon.edu. 
  • Index to the Oregon Historical Quarterly (REF KNIGHT F871 .O43)
    Three volumes covering the Oregon Historical Quarterly from the 1900 through 1980. The fourth volume, covering 1981-2000, is available online.
  • Sanborn fire insurance maps.
    Historic large scale maps with building detail for Oregon cities. Gresham coverage includes 1911, 1922 and 1941.
  •  GLO maps and survey notes.
    General Land Office township plat maps for the Gresham area were produced between 1855 and 1898.  The Gresham site lies in two townships: T1N R3E and T2N R3E.  The current boundary between these two townships is SE Stark Street.
  • Zimmerman Heritage Farm Master Plan (includes historical section)
  • Oregon Historic Sites Database.
    Beta version of a database of historic sites, which may be searched by city, building style or function.
  • Census reports.  Census data published earlier than 1990 must be found in printed reports, which are maintained in the Document Center.  
  • Gresham Outlook (see News & Opinion section above).  The Centennial issue of 9 February 2005 contains a 100-page historical section.
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Journal articles


These journal article index databases are useful for searching the scholarly literature in such fields as planning, geography, sociology, transportation, business and public affairs.
  • Academic Search Premier (UO only)
    Citations to journal articles, often accompanied by full text, from a broad array of disciplines.
  • America: History and Life (UO only)
    Citations and abstracts for historical research relating to the Americas, including Native peoples. Covers more recent issues of local-interest journals such as the Oregon Historical Quarterly and Pacific Northwest Quarterly.
  • Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals (UO only)
    References to literature in the fields of architecture and related fields such as city planning and historic preservation.
  • Business Source Premier (UO only)
    Citations to business-related journal articles, often accompanied by full text.
  • GEOBASE (UO only)
    Literature in geography, ecology, and related disciplines including urban and regional planning.
  • Journal of Planning Literature DOCUMENTS REFERENCE HT165.5.J68 (through 2006).
    Current bibliography of books and articles in the field of planning. Search this journal, 1999 to date, in Academic Search Premier (limit search to SO Journal Name = Journal of Planning Literature). (UO only)
  • PAIS (UO only)
    Citations to journal articles, books and book chapters, and other resources in the area of public affairs.
  • SocAbstracts (UO only)
    References to literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences, including community development and the social aspects of planning.
  • TRIS online (Transportation Research Information Service)
    References to transportation-related information in books, journal articles, technical reports and the media.
  • Web of Science (UO only)
    The most comprehensive coverage of science and social science articles.

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Books, theses and terminal projects

  • UO Local Catalog
    The most complete version of the UO Libraries' own catalog.
  • UO WorldCat
    Books and other materials from the UO, its 35 partner libraries in the Northwest (Summit), and over 60,000 libraries worldwide (WorldCat).
  • Summit Union Catalog
    Books and other materials from 35 Northwest libraries, which you can borrow directly (5-day delivery).
  • WorldCat (UO only)
    Books and other materials from libraries worldwide, which may be requested through Interlibrary Loan.
  • PPPM Theses and Terminal Projects.
    PPPM masters theses may be located through the UO Library's catalog. Terminal projects for PPPM and for other AAA departments may be found through special databases.
Prepared by Tom Stave, Head, Documents Center
(541) 346-3060 tstave@uoregon.edu
Last modified 9/4/2009
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/guides/planning/GreshamCityYear.html