Digital Exhibits

Hillside Girls 4th of July Parade Float

A Fourth of July parade float near Forest Grove, Oregon circa 1910-1914. A note found with the original describes this as "Hillside Girls Float," indicating that the girls were from the Hillside neighborhood northwest of Forest Grove. A pennant on the front of the float that is faintly visible appears to say, "Hillside." One girl standing on a platform at the center of the float wears a sash that reads "Oregon." American flags and stars-and-stripes fabric decorate the float, which is built on a wagon drawn by a team of horses. Swags of greenery are draped over the wagon and the girls hold large bouquets of ferns and leaves, with crowns of flowers on their heads. For another view of the same float, see image PUA_MS154_048.

This is one image from a set of glass plate negatives created by William Alonso Clapshaw. Clapshaw was a clerk and shopkeeper who lived near Forest Grove, Oregon for most of his life. He was born in 1880, probably at the family's home in the Hillside neighborhood of Forest Grove, on what is now Clapshaw Hill Road east of Gales Creek. Around 1910-1914, William took an interest in photography and created a set of glass plate negatives documenting scenes near his family's lands as well as images of himself, his friends and family members. He most likely used a silver gelatin dry plate process. The photographs were donated to the Pacific University Archives in 2023.

Clapshaw, William Alonso, 1880-1994

circa 1910-1914

PUA_MS154_017

Fourth of July

Parades

Parade floats

Patriotism

Women

Forest Grove, Oregon

Gales Creek, Oregon

Hillside, Oregon

Gelatin silver negatives

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

Pacific University Archives