… in conversation … Interview by Tina Owen
An internship at University Archives gave Grace Pochis ’17 a fresh perspective on Willamette’s complex history.
> What did you discover about the university’s early history? After reading different portrayals of missionary and Willamette founder Jason Lee dating back to 1842, I realized that he’d been lionized to the point that he’s practically a fictional character. He was presented as a devout Christian and a vigorous and charismatic leader who wrestled a bear and rolled boulders up hills. He was mythologized in ways that were important to people creating the histories of the mission at Salem, but these versions of the past omit different perspectives and ideas that would present a more complete picture of his character and epoch. These Jason Lee mythologies can be categorized as Whig histories, one of the most common ways of telling the story of the past. We see it on the History Channel and learn it in high school. > What are characteristics of Whig history? Whig history — a term coined in the 1930s — takes a linear, cause-and-effect approach that values the present over the past and sees human history as an inevitable progression. It tends to focus on major events and figures, so Lee fits the Whig concept of great men propelling history. Whig history is very appealing to us because humans like explanations for why things happen. But it has been strongly critiqued because it omits many events, people and perspectives.
> What do other approaches offer? History is an interpretation of facts. Often, it’s more about the present than the past, more about the author than the subject. And there are many more people in history than are covered by the Whig approach. With the 1960s social movements, people of a variety of identities, including African-Americans, women and LGBTQ folk, successfully mobilized to protest their absence from interpretations of history. They brought about reconsideration of how histories of marginalized people have been written, or not written. Marxist, feminist or other approaches help balance and expand our understanding of the past. In Willamette’s case, Native Americans are missing from the Whig history accounts, even though Lee was a missionary to the Kalapuya people. Social history — the stories of ordinary people rather than the elite and powerful — could help recover parts of the picture that Whig history has somewhat distorted. If we want to capture the breadth of human complexity, we should appreciate all the ways we have to recover our histories. > Why is history important? Studying history gives us an anchor, an understanding of how and why we got where we are. For a long time, Willamette wasn’t comfortable talking about its history with the mission school and Native Americans. Now, as the university commemorates its 175th anniversary, it’s important to consider carefully how we talk about our history. Understanding our past affects our present — and our future. Learn more about Grace Pochis’ research on Willamette University’s history at willamette.edu/go/pochis
WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY
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