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TillamookTillamook, Oregon

Tillamook · A 90-second story

Tillamook — The Work We Share.

Before the familiar label, there were milk cans, shared standards and skilled hands. A Tillamook story told entirely through original 1941 photographs.

A story worth sitting with.Open film

Behind the film

Different farms. A shared name.

1909Chapter 01

A shared name.

Independent creameries formed the Tillamook County Creamery Association in 1909, working toward consistency under a shared name. The archival photographs shown here were made later, in October 1941.

The exterior of the Tillamook cheese plant, photographed in 1941.
01 / Film stillTillamook cheese plant · October 1941 · Russell Lee / Library of Congress
October 1941Chapter 02

The work arrives.

Russell Lee photographed farmers bringing milk to the plant and workers carrying out the steps of cheesemaking. The original captions identify the deliveries, tests, vats, cheesecloth, molds and presses.

A dairy farmer holding a milk can at the Tillamook cheese plant in 1941.
02 / Film stillFarmer delivering milk · October 1941 · Russell Lee / Library of Congress
The people behind itChapter 03

An ordinary day, preserved.

Tillamook remains a farmer-owned cooperative today. These photographs preserve an earlier chapter: the people and everyday tasks behind a name that would travel far beyond this room.

A farmer smiling in the doorway at the Tillamook cheese plant in 1941.
03 / Film stillDairy farmer at the plant · October 1941 · Russell Lee / Library of Congress

The story continues

The story continues.

Explore the cooperative, its history and today’s products on Tillamook’s official website.

01Visit TillamookThe official business website.