Harvey W. Scott

American journalist (1838–1910)

Harvey Whitefield Scott (1838–1910) was an American pioneer who traveled to Oregon in 1852. Scott was a long time editorialist, and eventual part owner of The Oregonian newspaper. Scott was regarded by his contemporaries as instrumental in bringing the state of Oregon firmly into the political camp of the Republican Party.

Scott was born February 1, 1838, in rural Tazewell County, Illinois, near the town of Peoria, the son of John Tucker Scott, a farmer. His eight siblings included notable sisters Abigail Scott Duniway, and Catherine Amanda Coburn. The family settled in Yamhill County, where they remained one year before relocating north to Mason County on Puget Sound in the Washington Territory. In 1855 and 1856, Scott fought for a year as a volunteer in the Puget Sound War, serving with the local militia in skirmishes against the Nisqually, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, and Klickitat peoples. With the so called Indian War at an end, in 1857, Scott walked 150 miles from the family home on Puget Sound to Forest Grove, Oregon, where he attended high school for four months.

After graduation from school, Scott spent a year in Idaho as a gold miner. Alfred Powers questioned his legacy, writing in 1936 that Scott was "lacking in sympathy and humanity" and that he "held to outworn social theories," and that his scholarship and character were overestimated.

After leaving the paper in 1872, Scott was the collector of customs for the Port of Portland until 1877.

Scott also edited the first history of Portland, Oregon, published in 1890, and compiled the six volume History of the Oregon Country with his son, Leslie M. Scott, who published it after Harvey's death.

Scott died unexpectedly following surgery in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 7, 1910. His wife, Margaret Scott, died in 1925. An unauthorized bust of York was installed around February 17, 2021 in the now empty location where Scott's statue used to be. On October 24, 2022, The Oregonian published evidence that Scott's 40 year tenure as the newspaper's editor was an era when "overtly racist words" were commonly published in its pages. In response to the article, in December 2022, the board of Pacific University voted unanimously to remove Scott's name from a campus building.

History of Portland, Oregon: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens and Pioneers. Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., 1890. Religion, Theology and Morals: Selected Editorials and Public Lectures Compiled by Leslie M. Scott. Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1917. History of the Oregon Country. With Leslie M. Scott. Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1924.