OREGON AMATEURS ORGANIZED a State association in 1880 with George M. Hoyt as President. At its second meeting Frank J. Streibig was chosen President, but after a meeting in Portland in June, 1881, it became essentially a local club devoted to social affairs. A later Portland A.P.A. was formed July 22, 1895, with Walter L. MacMullin as President and C. A. Bow as Official Editor.
The first amateur paper in Oregon apparently was the Oregon Amateur, published in Portland in 1874 by Oscar I. Clay. It remained alone until Frank J. Streibig and Curtis Holcomb began the publication of the Ark in Portland in 1878. It developed into a fine literary magazine, publishing the work of the leading amateur authors. In 1882 Streibig published the Scrutinizer. Later Portland had another excellent magazine in the Talisman, issued in 1894 by Charles A. Bow, one of the most gifted of amateur artists. In 1880 George M. Hoyt, also of Portland, issued the Oregon Boy, and W. Bittle Wells the Student.
In 1911, under the leadership of William R. Gekeler, amateur journalism was introduced to La Grande, Ore., and the Outlook Press Club of that city entertained the 1912 convention of the United Amateur Press Association of America. Gekeler published the Amateur Oregonian in 1911, while J. L. Robertson was responsible for the Amateur Outlook and Ye Pumpkyn Vinne. In the same year and city Sidney C. Happersett published the Joker.
