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School of History, Philosophy, and Religion (SHPR) master’s student Jada Krening created the Parkrose Community Archive in the hopes of sharing her community’s history with the world.
Jada Krening
By Ellie Webb-Bowen, CLA Student Writer - September 18, 2024
Jada Krening, ‘20, M.A. ‘24, is passionate about sharing the history of her community, Parkrose, in Portland, Oregon. Krening recently graduated from SHPR with a master’s degree in history, focusing on community history and civic engagement. She also earned her undergraduate degree from Oregon State University, where she was a student-athlete who majored in political science and minored in sociology and writing. Krening also wrote for The Daily Barometer, which was hugely influential in her scholarship and development of her master’s project.
Krening grew up in the NE Portland neighborhood of Parkrose Heights and has immense pride in her community. Parkrose, which is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse communities in Oregon, allowed Krening to be a part of a community that values diversity of backgrounds and cultures. "I always felt fortunate to be in a community that exposed me to many different viewpoints and perspectives," Krening stated.
Coming to OSU as an undergraduate student, Krening began to notice that her peers were unfamiliar with Parkrose or unaware where Parkrose was located in Portland. “When people would ask where I'm from, they either wouldn’t know about Parkrose or make negative or patronizing remarks about Parkrose being ‘ghetto,’ since it’s in a lower socioeconomic area of the city.”
Parkrose’s first plat was created in 1911. The area was advertised as an alternative to living in the city due to its natural beauty, fertile agricultural land, and proximity to the Columbia River. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, big urban renewal projects in North and Northeast Portland, including the construction of the Memorial Coliseum, Interstate-5, and the Emanuel Hospital, displaced a significant portion of Portland's Black community to areas like Parkrose. Damaging urban renewal and gentrification in other areas of the city that targeted thriving areas of Portland with large populations of Black residents has led Parkrose to be one of the most racially and ethnically diverse communities in Oregon. In the 1980s, the city of Portland decided to annex Parkrose for its tax base, which was very contested in Parkrose, since many Parkrose residents did not want to be a part of the city.
When Krening returned to OSU to earn her graduate degree in history, she began researching Portland history, but was frustrated by lack of any comprehensive documentation on the history of Parkrose. “A lot of Portland history focuses on central downtown and the immediate surrounding neighborhoods. That was the issue I was running into.” She continued to say, “The project, in many ways, grew out of that frustration.”
It became clear to Krening that the community was overlooked in academic scholarship. Krening wanted her community's voices to be heard and documented to help restore and preserve its history.
Krening’s master’s project focuses on sharing Parkrose's past and present. Her website, Parkrose Community Archive, is a collection of oral histories, photographs, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia about Parkrose, much of it previously hidden away in people’s attics, basements, and garages.
"I felt a website was a good fit for the project because it is publicly accessible to the community, as opposed to a thesis, which would be tucked away in the confines of academia,” stated Krening. “My hope is that the archive will be a living project. I plan to keep collecting materials from community members, even after my time in the history graduate program.”
The website allows the general public and Parkrose residents to access previously inaccessible historical information. Sections of the Parkrose Community Archive website include collected materials, such as scrapbooks and photographs, a section of early Parkrose newspaper advertisements from the early 1900s, as well as an oral history section with transcripts and audio recordings of interviews with community members. Krening also received copies of the Mid-County Memo, an East Portland community newspaper, which ran from 1985 to 2019.
Krening started playing soccer at four years old and entered OSU in 2016 as a student-athlete. She grew up playing for a local club soccer team, Eastside Timbers, until she was in high school, when she began playing for the Portland Thorns Academy, an elite training program for young women. She committed to OSU the weekend after her sophomore year of high school, however, Krening was injured just before arriving on campus, tearing her ACL and her meniscus.
"My experience as a student-athlete was strange, because I arrived injured," Krening explained. “I am really grateful for the experience, but my injuries had an impact on my transition to OSU as an athlete and as a student, and having to undergo constant knee surgeries, rehab, and physical therapy made the adjustment difficult.”
While at OSU, Krening worked for The Daily Barometer. "My experience as a journalist was valuable in the sense that I connected and talked to a lot of different people I never would have talked to otherwise,” said Krening. “It allowed me to feel grounded in the OSU community on campus outside of soccer. Conducting interviews and writing for the newspaper also led me to what I'm doing now with Parkrose Community Archive, like conducting oral histories."
Krening’s reasons for returning to OSU for graduate school was wanting to experience OSU and Corvallis as a non-student-athlete, along with the opportunity to study history as a Horning Fellow and an OSU Provost Scholar. After two years, Krening graduated this past June and is now the marketing and communications director at the Mid-Willamette Family YMCA.