WPA Interviews in Linn County Oregon were done in the late 1930s and early 1940s by Leslie Haskin of Brownsville. He interviewed people who were pioneers in Linn County and people closely associated with them. In these interviews, you can find first person accounts of their passage along the Oregon Trail and early life in Linn County. You can also find a wealth of information about their family members and neighbors. Most of the interviews are concentrated around the Brownsville area, and some are from Benton County interviews with strong Linn County connections.
These interviews were transcribed by Patricia Dunn of Lebanon Genealogical Society between 1998 and 2001. She transcribed the interviews from over 900 handwritten, mimeographed, or typed pages found in notebooks maintained by Elsie Browning. Elsie and her husband, Emil Browning, were very involved with Linn Co. history. Elsie worked with others in recording the cemetery records done about the same time. Patricia has generously given permission to publish her transcriptions on the LGS web site. This effort represents a tremendous amount of work, and we thank Patricia for sharing it with everyone.