Start here if you have a family name you think homesteaded in Wallowa County. The first white settlers entered the county in the early 1870s, and many of them filed land claims—though some began to farm or raise livestock but did not file, so not everyone is in the records!

The BLM General Land Office (GLO) Records allows you to search for early homestead claims by location or name. You can also view the original survey plat maps and field notes, ongoing land status records, and tract records.

Search and read historic Oregon newspapers that have been digitized as part of the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program.

The Enterprise Library partnered with Advantage Archives to scan and make searchable the J.H. Horner Papers along with the following newspapers:

Wallowa County Chieftain, Enterprise Record Chieftain, Joseph Herald, Wallowa Record, Wallowa Sun, News Record, Chief Joseph Herald, Wallowa County Reporter, Enterprise Chieftain, Enterprise News Record, Flora Journal, Aurora, Silver Lake Herald, Lostine Reporter, The Bulletin, and the Border Signal.

The venerable Wallowa County Chieftain, founded in 1884 in what is now Joseph, is the county’s only current weekly newspaper. Their digital archives are available to subscribers, but you can also contact their office to visit and browse their back issues in person.

The national 1890 census was destroyed in a fire in 1921, but those searching for residents of Asotin County might make use of the 1885, 1887 and 1889 Washington State census records.

Unfortunately, there is no real equivalent for Wallowa County in Oregon, but there are some records enumerating veterans in the 1890s that might be useful.

If you can’t find a newspaper article in our Advantage Archives, this is the next place to look. You can save news clippings and the site is connected to the Ancestry.com, but the fees can be steep, so give us a call if you need some help. We may have the articles you need but just haven’t digitized them yet.

This is a great locals-run website featuring stories and family history as well as a grab-bag of county-specific information including schools, post offices, towns, veterans, and family Bibles.

This is a fantastic resource for birth, death, marriage, census, immigration, and other records, but like Newspapers.com, it can be spendy. Give us a call if you need some help. We may have the records you need but just haven’t digitized them yet.

This guide explains how to identify and date vintage Real Photo Postcards (RPPC) by the markings on the back of the postcard. You can identify the manufacturer of the photo paper in part by the artwork in the box where you put your stamp, so this guide includes tables of example stamp box artwork with the dates and manufacturer.

The Wallowa, Enterprise, and Joseph public libraries have extensive Oregon history collections available to borrow.

These libraries are also part of the SAGE library system connecting more than 70 libraries in Eastern Oregon. If you find a book in the SAGE catalog, you can log in with your library card number, place a hold, and have the book shipped to your local library for pick-up for free through inter-library loan.

Support your local library and help keep these historical books in circulation!

Rich Wandschneider has curated an impressive collection of books relating to the Nez Perce, Wallowa County, and statewide Oregon history.

This library is now a member of SAGE, so books can be found, placed on hold, and acquired through interlibrary loan like the public libraries.

The rest of the website is worth checking out for its digital exhibits, bibliographies, and commentary, much of which is focused on Nez Perce history and dispossession.

The Eastern Oregon University library in La Grande has an extensive collection and a very helpful team of librarians who can direct your request. They allow non-student community members to have a Community Patron library card that costs $10 per year.

The Internet Archive is a digital library in San Francisco that lends digital ebook copies of books in its physical collection. You have to make a free account and you can only check out books for an hour at a time, but there are some hard-to-find and early editions available.

The town of Maxville was a segregated logging town north of Wallowa where Black loggers brought from the South by the Bowman-Hicks Lumber Company lived and worked in the 1920s and 1930s. The Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center in Joseph has exhibits and also arranges townsite tours.

The Homeland Project in Wallowa puts on the annual Tamkaliks powwow and is another resource for questions about Nez Perce history. They have recently digitized thirty years of their organizational history, including event programs from past powwows and Nez Perce participation in the Chief Joseph Days rodeo, and made it available in a digital archive.

The story of Wallowa County has always been a story of living with and managing natural resources. Wallowa Resources has a significant research and education arm that works with people of all ages.

While the Wallowa History Center in Wallowa focuses on digitizing and storing documents, the Wallowa County Museum is the go-to place for physical objects and walk-through exhibits in Wallowa County. Located in the historic First Bank of Joseph building built in 1888, the museum is mainly open in the summer tourist season but may be accessible in the winter by appointment.

The Oregon Historical Society is a scholarly asset and a public resource dedicated to putting the power of history into everyone's hands and to advancing knowledge in all corners of the world.

Created by the Oregon Historical Society, the Oregon History Project is part digital museum, part encyclopedia, with hundreds of items from across the state.

An Oregon Historical Society project, the Oregon Encyclopedia features articles written by experts across the state—including some names you will recognize from Wallowa County!