Return to Menu

Don Hunter Photography and Sound Recordings to be Preserved

Those who have been associated with Proscenia know that both Ken and I have a personal interest in sound design and listening. We've often spoken about audio pioneer Don Hunter who has been an inspiration to us both. So it was a pleasure to read that Hunter's 70 years of multimedia and audio work will be preserved.

University of Oregon news release:

"The Museum of Natural History and University Libraries will preserve the works of 89-year-old Don Hunter , who has been recording Pacific Northwest history with a microphone and camera for 70 years.

As a teenager in Oregon, Hunter began collecting sounds, standing beside train tracks with recording equipment to capture the noisy rhythm of a steam engine or piercing train whistles. Later, he used a camera to assemble scenes of Oregon's grandeur -- from the High Desert to the snowstorm of 1968. Now his sound archives and photographs are perfectly preserved remnants of an age long past.

Hunter was the founder and first director of UO's audio-visual media center, and still regularly performs spectacular multi-screen presentations that combine slide shows of his photographs with narration and the sounds he has collected over many decades. Because Hunter spent years perfecting the technical components of his presentations, they have become unique expressions of art.

Now, through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services , Hunter's work will be made available to a wide audience, which includes all Oregon middle and high schools. Nine of his three-screen, multi-projector presentations will be digitally archived as DVDs. Among the presentations are:

"The Sandal and the Cave" -- documents archaeologist Dr. Luther Cressman's research on Oregon Great Basin's earliest inhabitants and 10,000-year-old sagebrush sandals, among the world's oldest shoes;

"Mt. St. Helens and the Volcanic Cascades" -- a dynamic presentation of the Pacific Northwest's volcanic region, with the voice and photos of Harry Truman, the famous hermit of the mountain who died in the last eruption;

"The Pageant Years" -- a historical look at Eugene and University of Oregon pageants in the 1920s to 50s that were precursors to the current annual Eugene Celebration. For more go to the Don Hunter Exhibition site page."