The $7.75 receipt is tattered at the edges now, and the printing is faded.

But to Melinda Vest and Beverly Morgan, it is precious proof positive that last year, during the brief window when gay couples were allowed to marry in Oregon, their marriage was certified in Multnomah County.

The receipt, saved for months and worn smooth, is one of dozens of pieces of memorabilia being collected and displayed by the county, home to Portland, where more than 3,000 gay couples from across the country came to get marriage licenses before a judge put a stop to the six weeks of impromptu weddings in mid-April of 2004.

The collection, dubbed the "Wedding Album Project" will be on display for a month at Multnomah County's headquarters, then turned over to the Oregon Historical Society for its research archives, and the use of future historians.

A similar collection was put together by the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, which published a special section featuring photographs from gay readers who had gotten married.

In Oregon, every couple that got a marriage license got an invitation from the county in the mail inviting them to take part in the project; so far, hundreds have done so.

Besides the receipt, there are countless photos, of beaming brides and bashful grooms. Some sent photographs of themselves in younger days, alongside pictures of their decades-later wedding day. One couple submitted a DVD of their wedding celebration; another framed their wedding invitations and vows, along with pictures of the ceremony.

"This is a time capsule," said Tracy Waters, who submitted framed photos and the invitation from her wedding to Laurel Harroun, her partner for 30 years. "I am proud of us - we are both proud of each other. We have both had life challenges to sort out, and I have felt compelled to get it in a frame for herstory's sake, because I believe there needs to be room for everyone in the circle."

One woman Xeroxed her journal entry from the day of her wedding, while others wrote testimonials about their time together, their year of being married, and the backlash against gay marriage in Oregon, which culminated in a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

"We met on Feb. 5, 1966," wrote Washington resident Vern Robbins. "At the time we met I was working in a night club as a lounge singer. We went home together and never ever slept apart after that."

Robbins' partner, Glen, died in January of diabetes, Robbins writes.

"Thank you, Oregon, for allowing me to grant his greatest wish (to be married)," Robbins' submission concludes.

Gay marriage remains a hot-potato topic in Oregon, with the legislature debating civil unions and a decision pending from the Supreme Court on the legality of the amendment banning gay marriage, which passed in November with 57 percent of the vote.

But Ken DuBois, a spokesman for the Oregon Historical Society, said the organization jumped at the chance to permanently house the wedding album project.

"Whether people are in favor of it or against it, it is part of history and there is no denying that," DuBois said. "We have to have as complete a record as we can possibly get of important times in our state's history. Just imagine how interesting this personal writing will be in 50 or 60 years."

County commissioner Maria Rojo de Steffey, one of four county commissioners who spearheaded the county's drive to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, said the idea for the wedding album came up when the county was looking for something to commemorate the first anniversary, traditionally celebrated with gifts of paper.

"We have gotten some calls about this, from people telling us it is the wrong thing to do," said Rojo de Steffey, who said she received hate mail and death threats during the first flush of the gay marriage decision in 2004. "But we feel strongly about it, about commemorating these folks and their marriages."

The county is also considering the possibility of doing an oral history project with some of the gay couples who were married, she said.

Anne Clark, a 43-year-old graduate student in clinical psychology at Antioch University of New England, was one of the couples who got married last year in Multnomah County. She was so moved by the other couples she met that she changed the topic of her dissertation to focus on the meaning of marriage for a cross-section of the couples she met.

When she finishes the dissertation, she plans to donate a bound copy to the wedding album project.

"I felt that I had to do this for historical purposes," Clark said. "I feel like I should be someone who speaks out, who talks about what the experience was like, and who shares the experience with someone else through my own words."

By JULIA SILVERMAN
Associated Press Writer

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