Timothy Miller, a leading authority on communes in the United States, will speak at the University of Oregon on Feb. 22 about the phenomenon of intentional communities in Oregon and the critical role the researcher James J. Kopp played in tracing and preserving the history of these communities.

The talk is at 3 p.m. in Knight Library’s Browsing Room on the UO campus.

Miller is a professor of religious studies at the University of Kansas and authored the newly released Encyclopedic Guide to American Intentional Communities. His talk, entitled “Intentional Communities in Oregon and the Legacy of Jim Kopp,” will examine several communes as they manifested themselves in Oregon, including lesbian land communities featured in an exhibit entitled “West of Center: Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America, 1965-1977” concurrently running at the UO’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

Miller will also explain how the research of the late Jim Kopp contributed to our knowledge and understanding of the forces behind these communities. Kopp authored Eden Within Eden: Oregon's Utopian Heritage and conducted much of his research at the UO’s Special Collections and University Archives.

Kopp and his wife Sue have donated a large collection of important materials on intentional communities and utopias to the UO Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives. An exhibit entitled “Constructing Utopia: From Literary Works to Intentional Communities in Oregon,” which features many items from the Kopp collection, will be displayed in Special Collections and University Archives beginning February 8.

The talk is sponsored by the University of Oregon Libraries’ Special Collections and University Archives, UO Folklore Program, and Center for the Study of Women in Society.

- from UO Libraries