This summer the Resident Scholar Program at the Special Collections and Archives Research Center welcomed Camden Burd, a PhD candidate in History at the University of Rochester. Burd’s research focuses on the ecological and economic impact of 19^th century nurserymen, and how the plant trade in the United States transformed the rural landscape of the American West.

Burd presented a component of his research in mid-August in a talk titled, “Agents of Ecological Imperialism – Nurserymen and the Creation of Nineteenth-Century Plant Trade.” In his lecture, Burd depicted 19^th century nurserymen as both businessmen and emissaries of agricultural transformation, noting that nurseries encouraged farmers and settlers alike to change their surroundings with orchards and gardens in an attempt to both beautify and create bounty. Not only was this mindset beneficial to the businesses within the plant trade, but it was also well within the contemporary mindset and ideology of Westward expansion and frontier settlement.

One of the largest commercial nurseries mentioned by Burd was Mount Hope, located in Rochester, New York. The East Coast, and Rochester in particular, were central to the plant trade in the United States, and Burd pointed out that the number of nurserymen living in the Rochester area jumped more than ten-fold from 1840 to 1855. As these nurseries grew, they began to expand and make connections westward, where there resided an untapped market for pioneers migrating to unsettled territories. One entrepreneur, Henderson Leulling, was a nurseryman based in the Oregon Territory who is well-known today for providing plant material such as fruit trees to early Oregon growers.

While investigating the economic and cultural impact made by these nurserymen, Burd also explored the consequences of nation-wide plant distribution, mainly though a discussion of the San Jose scale, a pest insect that was originally discovered in California, and that proved to be especially devastating to orchards. The outbreak of the San Jose scale was attributed to East Coast nurseries and nurserymen, and soon led to stricter regulations surrounding the sale and distribution of plant material across state lines. These new restrictions dissuaded local farmers from purchasing plants outside their geographic area. This shift would gradually lead to declines in these once booming businesses after the turn of the 20^th century. The unintended consequences suffered by these nurserymen remind us, as Burd noted, of the “tangled relationship between nature and pioneering business.”

Camden Burd is the 30^th scholar to participate in the Oregon State University Libraries and Press Resident Scholar Program, which is now in its 12^th year.

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This post is contributed by SCARC student archivist Hannah Lawson, a chemistry major with a passion for art, conservation, and preserving history.

SCARC completed 10 new or updated finding aids in July 2019.  The following is a list and a little information about what we accomplished.   Several large projects were wrapped up in July – representing more than 116 cubic feet of paper records, 17+ GB of born-digital materials, and more than 7700 photographs.

These finalized finding aids are available through the Archives West finding aids database, and the OSUL discovery system (a.k.a. “the catalog”).  

• One of the guides is for a collection that was only minimally described and is now fully processed and described.
• Three  of the guides are for new collection received in 2014-2018 that were previously unavailable to researchers.
• Six of the guides are updates to incorporate addition or reflect current description standards and practices.

All of these materials are now available to researchers. 

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Collections that were only minimally described and are now fully processed and described:

Gerald W. Williams Papers, 1854-2016 (MSS Williams)

The Gerald W. Williams Papers document Williams’ research and writing on the U.S. Forest Service, forestry and public lands, and the environment and culture of the Pacific Northwest. Gerald “Jerry” Williams, a sociologist and historian for the U.S. Forest Service from 1979 until his retirement in 2005, spent much of his Forest Service career in the Pacific Northwest prior to being appointed national historian in 1998.

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New Collections:

Tracy Daugherty Papers, 1933-2018 (MSS Daugherty)

The Tracy Daugherty Papers offer a deep look into his personal, academic, and authorial life. Tracy Daugherty is a well-respected author and Emeritus Professor at Oregon State University.

Pink Boots Society Records, 2007-2019 (MSS PinkBoots)

The Pink Boots Society Records document the creation, growth, administration, and members of a professional organization that supports women in the brewing industries. Included are operational documents, marketing materials, legal and financial records, membership and volunteer management records, correspondence, meeting agendas and minutes, governance materials, scholarship programs information, presentations, events materials, photographs and videos, documents related to chapter management, the organization’s website, and records related to the Barley’s Angels. The Pink Boots Society Records is primarily an electronic collection and consists of born-digital materials (.mp3, video, documents, website); however, merchandise and ephemera from events are also included.  The Pink Boots Society was inspired by a 2007 cross-country trip taken by Teri Fahrendorf. When the trip was finished, Fahrendorf had collected contact information for nearly 60 women who wanted to create and participate in a supportive professional community. In 2012, the Pink Boots Society became a non-profit organization, which allowed them to raise funds and expand their educational scholarships, including support for women to attend brewing schools and travel abroad.

School of Forestry Senior Forestry Papers, 1910-1956 (RG 299)

The School of Forestry Senior Forestry Papers consist of about 700 undergraduate theses and term papers completed by forestry students at Oregon State College from 1910 to 1956.  The theses represent a wide range of forestry and forest products topics; many of the theses include original photographs, maps, and oversize charts and drawings.  The papers are available online in ScholarsArchive@OSU.

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Finding aids that have been updated to incorporate additions or reflect current standards and practice:

Nursery and Seed Trade Catalogues Collection, 1832-1999 (MSS Seed)

The Nursery and Seed Trade Catalogues Collection consists of more than 2200 flower and seed catalogues produced by nurseries and seed companies in the United States, Great Britain, Europe and Asia from the mid-19th century through the 20th century. An on-line exhibit — A Short History of the Seed & Nursery Catalogue in Europe and The U.S. — includes images of selected catalogs from the collection.

Margaret Osler Papers, 1912-2010 (MSS Osler)

The Margaret Osler Papers document Osler’s life and career as a historian of science and philosophy. Margaret Osler (1942-2010) was a historian of science and philosophy who published widely on the scientific revolution and on the connection between religion and early science. In her two books and more than 125 articles, Osler focused in particular on the work of Pierre Gassendi, Robert Boyle, and Isaac Newton. Osler was a member of the faculty at Oregon State University from 1968 to 1972, and a faculty member at the University of Calgary for thirty-five years.

Gerald W. Williams Collection on the Army Spruce Production Division, 1916-2013 (MSS Spruce)

The Gerald W. Williams Collection on the Army Spruce Production Division is made up of photographs, publications, newspaper clippings, research notes, and transcripts of oral histories documenting the Army Spruce Production Division. These materials were acquired by U.S. Forest Service historian Gerald W. Williams in support of his research and writings on the Spruce Division. Materials from this collection are available online in the Gerald W. Williams Digital Collection.

Gerald W. Williams Collection on the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-2012 (MSS CCC)

The Gerald W. Williams Collection on the Civilian Conservation Corps is made up of publications, photographs, newspaper clippings, maps, architectural drawings, artifacts, DVDs, sound recordings, and VHS videotapes documenting various Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps and enrollees in Oregon and other states. These materials were acquired by U.S. Forest Service Historian Gerald W. Williams.

Gerald W. Williams Ephemera Collection, 1866-2008 (MSS WilliamsEphemera)

The Gerald W. Williams Ephemera Collection consists of printed ephemera, documents, and objects assembled and acquired by Williams in the course of his work as a Forest Service sociologist and historian and due to his avocational interest in the history of forestry as a science and profession and the regional history of the Pacific Northwest.  Many of the materials in the collection were created or produced by the U.S. Forest Service.  Gerald Williams worked for the U.S. Forest Service from 1979 to 2005 as a sociologist (1979-1998) and historian (1998-2005).

Gerald W. Williams Moving Image and Sound Recordings Collection, 1959-2007 (FV 320)

The Gerald W. Williams Moving Image and Sound Recordings Collection consists of audio-visual materials, either collected or created by Williams, that document a variety of topics in the natural history of the Pacific Northwest, with a particular emphasis on the practice and culture of forestry in the region. The collection consists of multiple audio-visual formats including VHS tapes, DVDs, audio cassettes, and motion picture films, among others.

This post was contributed by Nicole Horowitz a graduate student in the OSU School of Writing, Literature, and Film, who recently completed an internship with curator Anne Bahde. Nicole examined women’s periodicals from the modernist period to look at the intersections between literature and material culture during the era.

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A venture over to any special collections or archival research center housed in a university worth its salt will boast a wide array of periodicals, likely ranging from the mid-19^th century to the modern-day. But, while most archival material is more likely spotted in the pages of a history book than on the shelves of the local supermarket, we’d like to bring your attention to a notable exception to that rule: the world of periodical advertisements.

And while OSU’s own Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) boasts a wide an array of ad-type holdings, one doesn’t need a Mad Men level appreciation of the history of adverts to appreciate them. In fact, many of the brands featured in popular periodicals of the Modernist Era, for example (roughly the 1890s to the 1930s), are as familiar to the modern consumer as they were to their 20^th century counterparts. A Women’s Home Companion, for example, contains ads for everything from Listerine to Sunkist Oranges to Valspar Paint, none of which would seem out of place in our modern marketplace. And a further look at these ads might reveal not only popular trends in art, fashion, and food of the era, but also the lasting power of these powerhouse brands, and how that might help us understand the American consumer as both ever-changing and ever-staying-the-same.

Take for example, two advertisements for Heinz products, one from 1918, the other from 1925. The 1918 spread is set in scene around a dinner table on a summer afternoon, and shows off the very epitome of post-World War I elegance, including a maid rushing to the table with signature Heinz Ketchup. It is printed in bright water-color-esque tones, with ornate floral embellishments. The 1925 advertisement, by contrast, is simpler; a clean white background with a single bottle of Heinz Ketchup centered, loving held, cleanly labeled. While the font is consistent (and indeed, consistent today), this bolder color palette and copy betrays the 1920s sensibilities that put less of an emphasis on family, and more on the food itself, as the increasing migration to cities brought an enthusiasm for dining out, and by extension, the perennial Ketchup-topped hamburger, front and center.

“Why does this matter?” you might ask. Well, if you’ve ever coaxed ketchup from a glass bottle at your own local greasy spoon, you are a part of the American legacy of Heinz. Products and the advertisements that sell them are an undeniable part of American identity, and to understand one’s place as part of this heritage is the best way to support it, or actively change it, as one sees fit. In other words, knowledge is power, even if that knowledge revolves around condiments.

This post was contributed by Nicole Horowitz a graduate student in the OSU School of Writing, Literature, and Film, who recently completed an internship with curator Anne Bahde. Nicole examined women’s periodicals from the modernist period to look at the intersections between literature and material culture during the era.

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            Upon entering the Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) as an intern, I found myself excited about so many different aspects of special collections and archival research. However, I’ve long felt that this propensity to be interested in so-called “old things” was rather innate, as opposed to a learned quality. This brings up an interesting “so what?” type question. What does it mean to be interested in material culture and archival research? What does that mean for scholarship in English literature? Is there an intuitive way to marry these two fields? And moreover, can this framework of marriage between disciplines (or, more acutely, between a field of scholarship and the material print culture than underpins it) be applied to different fields of study?

            The answer to this question has been, on the whole, tricky. In explaining the work of my internship (and to some extent, my thesis project in general) to my colleagues, I feel that specter, that so-what, so abundantly. Their work is largely forward thinking, using materials created in the last few years to underpin arguments about the changing nature of our world through climate change, through digital media, through rhetoric and its many applications. My work privileges the past: spends a lot of time mining the small details of artifacts housed there for insights, for distinctions, for joy.

            And maybe therein lies the answer, on some level, to the “so what.” I find archival work joyful. Particularly the work I do, looking at periodicals from the 1920s, it is hard not to get caught up in the optimism of the Modernist moment. This optimism is not unknown to those who don’t have a vested interest in periodicals. It is the reason why The Great Gatsby has been made into two films; why Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has found success. There is a sense of optimism that swaddles the era and the material produced from it. This manifests everywhere; in the clothing depicted, in the “you can do it yourself!” nature of sewing patterns and recipes. In the wonder-laded tone of the letters to the editors, gushing over new technology (electric billboards! New cold medicines!). In the advertisement of new ingredients (pineapple! Canned tuna!) perhaps before unseen to middle America. In the construction of the cityscape as a place to been seen in new clothes, buy new things, partake in new experiences that enrich the notions of what it means to be alive. And while in 2019, we might not find the same sense of wonder in the bright redness of a silk-styled robe or an advertisement for an electric phonograph, there is a relevant underlying question: where does that sense of optimism live in us today?

            Furthermore, there is an old, perhaps all too much used adage about history: why it’s important, why those who don’t understand it are doomed to repeat it. I would say that archival work is less concerned with the cautionary aspect of that adage, and more invested the mileage of historical reflection. Those who do not know what has come before are unable to innovate. They cannot do something “new” if they do not understand what is “old.” In this way, old things are the greatest teachers in the world. They show us the place from where we’ve come. In the case of the work I do: a place where American society is innovating inclusivity, perhaps in a clunky way, but with a vigor that suggests the ability of humankind to move past its limitation. These materials demonstrate both the successes and failures of print media of the time, and in so doing, give us a map of a training ground that allows us to be better in the modern world. And through that, we understand that the legacy of activism, of anti-racism, of feminism, is longer, more tangled, and might include more types of expression that we are accustomed to.

            I have found my research process dangling between the poles of being enthralling and incredibly frustrating. It is hard to do work in which there is such an abundance of material in some directions, and almost no information in others. It can be frustrating when things are missing, torn away, or when materials are not as engaged with modern relevance as anticipated. But still, I would argue that archival work is not only important in its physical/material incarnations, but also on a philosophical and even emotional level. And that this latter aspect is the way into the rest: it is the gateway, the evangelical pathway through which all archival research is conducted and insights created.

            In this vein, I cannot help but think about the difference between the reaction of my colleagues when I tell them about my research and when I show them things I have found. On the one hand, hesitation. Lack of engagement. On the other, as I hold up a picture on my phone of a long-forgotten F. Scott Fitzgerald story entitled “The Pusher in the Face” (complete with an illustration of a man, clad in his 1920s best, pushing a woman in the face, exactly as the title would suggest), enthrallment. A look of “what is this, and why didn’t I know about it before?” It is in these things, these looks, that the true thingness, the magic, of archival work is revealed. It is in this thingness that we continue to thrive.

SCARC completed 2 new finding aids in May and June 2019.  The following is a list and a little information about what we accomplished.

These finalized finding aids are available through the Archives West finding aids database, our Archon finding aids interface, and the OSUL discovery system (a.k.a. “the catalog”).

Both of these guides are for collections that were only minimally described and are now fully processed and described.

All of these materials are now available to researchers!

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Collections that were only minimally described and are now fully processed and described:

William F. Groves Photographs, 1888-1942 (P 135)
The William F. Groves Photographs are comprised of photographs assembled by William Franklin Groves throughout his life in Corvallis, and his time as a student at Oregon Agricultural College. Groves graduated from Oregon Agricultural College in 1897 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

Gerald Hoard Photograph Collection, circa 1890-1915 (P 068) 
The Gerald Hoard Photograph Collection consists of glass plate negatives of Oregon Agricultural College scenes contemporary to the late-19th and early-20th century. Gerald Lester Hoard Jr. was born In Portland, Oregon on October 1, 1931 and attended Oregon State College between 1954 to 1955, where he studied engineering. The images clearly predate Hoard’s time as a student at Oregon State College, having been taken in the 1900s or earlier.  Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

This post is contributed by Student Archivist Connor Lambert, a senior studying history and education. 

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As a senior with two majors, one in education and one in history, I have managed to keep myself busy these last four years. My dream is to become a secondary school educator. This aspiration began with my mother, who teaches first grade. I always felt proud to tell others that my mom was a teacher, but I wanted to be a biologist. When I was a junior in high school, my thoughts officially turned to teaching because of my outstanding history teacher. His class felt like I was sitting though a movie because the stories that he was telling were so exciting. I had never been so interested in a class. He is the main reason that I want to be a teacher. Once I begin to teach, my goal is to teach history in a way that brings entertainment to students. I want to be able to create an engaging class that can ignite a love for the stories that created the world we live in. This upcoming September I will have the chance to put my plans into action when my student teaching year begins. In order to help fund my student teaching experience, I needed a job. I was lucky to finally find a position that allowed me to experience history firsthand.

Over the last few weeks I have been tasked with shifting all the collections over a few spaces in order to create more room for future expansion. My task involved a lot of loading books onto a delightfully teal cart, moving them a few aisles over, and putting them back onto a shelf. As tedious as this may sound, it was in reality one of the most interesting tasks that I have ever had. As someone who is interested in history and books, I find the sheer number of items within the archive amazing. More amazing than that is the age of many of them. I was moving and touching books that were published before the Civil War, and even many from before the Revolutionary War. The amount of history there is magical. Some items there make me question why things are ever even published. For example, books that are three feet tall and weigh fifty pounds. I cannot see any reasonable person deciding to go to the bookstore and picking themselves up a copy. On the other side of those odd few books, there was a plethora of old scientific journals that were full of hand drawn plants and animals.  Looking through these was by far my favorite part of the shift. It is one thing looking at these images on a computer screen, it is completely different to be feeling the age of the books in your hands while seeing what lays within.

The biggest takeaway from this project is that there is so much more within these archives than I ever thought. It feels as if the archive contains something that relates to any topic you can imagine.

Looking toward the future, I hope to be able to use the sources in SCARC, or any other archive to bring excitement into a classroom.  Much like with the old science journals, holding the item in your hands is a much more interesting experience than just talking about them and looking at pictures. If I am ever able to teach a class that has the opportunity to explore the many items within an archive I will undoubtedly take them there. I feel that it is a way to get interested in history. It allows for you to physically hold history, and that is why, although I was just moving books, it has been one of the coolest experiences I have had.

This post is contributed by Student Archivist Genevieve Connolly, an undergraduate Physics major with a particular interest in particle physics and astrophysics. She loves studying languages on the side, and hopes that her future career takes her all over the world. 

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The natural beauty of Oregon in the 1920s is a unique sight. Portland-born photographer Ralph I. Gifford (1894-1947) made it his mission to capture Oregon’s trademark scenery. As a photographer for the Travel and Information Department in the Oregon State Highway Commission, his photographs were used to promote tourism. However in addition to his contributions to Oregon’s tourist business, he also took motion pictures. This “Mountain Rescue” video is one such example. Shot on Mount Hood, the production was probably intended to be a search and rescue training video. It portrays a staged rescue during which a man hiking on the mountain falls, injuring his leg. He is then found by a group of rescuers who use a portable radio to call for assistance and then carry the injured man down the mountain and evacuate him. At 3:40, a Crag Rats Hood River patch can be seen on the left shoulder of one of the rescuers. Founded in 1926, the Crag Rats is the oldest mountain search and rescue organization in the United States.

SCARC obtained this footage from a donor in 2009. It came to SCARC out of order and interspersed with other miscellaneous footage of Oregon. In total, the collection consisted of 7 reels of 35mm nitrate film negatives (about 3200 feet). After being digitized it was arranged into the order displayed in the final video by two SCARC student employees: myself and my sister. My sister, Maddie, first watched the entire video containing the mountain rescue footage (about 35 minutes) from start to finish to sort out the timestamps of the mountain rescue. Then she discerned the story line of the rescue and listed the timestamps in the correct order. Using this list, I put together the final video in Adobe Premiere by cutting the footage at the timestamps indicated by my sister and rearranging them into the order she determined. I am happy to have been able to contribute to giving the public a glimpse into this aspect of Oregon’s history.

SCARC completed 11 new or updated finding aids in April 2019.  Following is a list and a little information about what we accomplished.

These finalized finding aids are available through the Archives West finding aids database, and the OSUL discovery system (a.k.a. “the catalog”).

• Three of the guides are for collections that were only minimally described and are now fully processed and described.
• Four  of the guides are for new collection received in 2014-2018 that were previously unavailable to researchers.
• Four of the guides are updates to incorporate additions.

All of these materials are now available to researchers.

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Collections that were only minimally described and are now fully processed and described:

College of Business Videotapes, 1983-2005 (FV 194)

The College of Business Videotapes principally document the activities of, and coursework related to, the Austin Family Business Program, which was founded at Oregon State University in 1985. The collection consists of recordings of events and trainings sponsored by the program as well as promotional materials used for program outreach and third party productions relevant to the subject of family businesses. The collection likewise includes recordings of Family Business Management course lectures offered to distance students by OSU Business professor Pat Frishkoff from 1997-2000.

Alexander K. Chapman Photograph Collection, 1908-1910 (P 235)

The Alexander K. Chapman Photograph Collection is comprised of photographs assembled by Alexander Kesterson Chapman between 1905 and 1909, when he was a student at Oregon Agricultural College. The collection includes photographs of student groups on campus, but is primarily comprised of individual portraits, both identified and not identified. Chapman graduated in 1909 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. Select images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

Ralph VanCleave Photographic Collection, circa 1860-1949 (P 156)

The Ralph VanCleave Photographic Collection contains images of the Horning Carding Mill and F.A. Horning residence, and includes written histories of both subjects. Also held within the collection are images, taken in the 1940s, of public schools from all around the Willamette Valley.

Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

New Collections:

Educational Activities Committee Records, 1972-2015 (RG 293)

The Educational Activities Committee Records document the process for requests and allocations of student fees at Oregon State University.  In addition to information about the administration of the funding process, the records document the programs and activities of many fee-funded units and organizations such as the Associated Students of OSU, Student Media, Music Department, University Theater, and a multitude of students clubs and organizations.

Oregon Higher Education Oral Histories Collection, 2019 (OH 046)

The Oregon Higher Education Oral Histories Collection contains the interviews of 17 individuals sharing the histories and their experiences of 6 community colleges in Oregon including Blue Mountain Community College, Central Oregon Community College, Chemeketa Community College, Lane Community College, Linn-Benton Community College, and Portland Community College. All of the interviews are available online.

Joanne Tynon Papers, 1999-2016 (MSS Tynon)

The Joanne Tynon Papers document Tynon’s research in the area of outdoor recreation and tourism and her career as a faculty member at Oregon State University.  Tynon joined the faculty of the College of Forestry in 1997 and retired in 2017.

 

 

Wilson Room Prints Collection, 1738-1885 (MSS WilsonRoom)

The Wilson Room Prints Collection consists of nearly 200 prints from the late 18th century and early 19th century that were compiled by Norman and Glenville Starr Wilson and represent various printing processes of this period.

 

Finding aids that have been updated to incorporate additions:

Obo Addy Legacy Project Collection, 1970-2018 (MSS Addy)

The Obo Addy Legacy Project Collection consists of records, promotional materials, and various forms of media related to the Homowo African Arts and Cultures organization, later known as the Obo Addy Legacy Project. Obo Addy’s personal materials include correspondence, promotional materials, and photographs. Obo Addy, a master drummer at the age of six, established the Homowo African Arts and Cultures organization with his wife and manager Susan Addy as a way to celebrate and preserve the traditional music of Ghana and Africa. The organization was established in 1986 and closed in 2018.

Hop Growers of America Records, 1956-2011 (MSS HGA)

The Hop Growers of America Records (HGA) document the functioning of the organization. The HGA was founded in 1956 in Washington State. Its mission is to create a healthier and more efficient United States hops industry for corporations and farmers through education, advocacy, promotion, and support for technical and scientific research.

 

Thomas Kraemer Papers, 1908-2018 (MSS Kraemer)

This update reflects a major addition to this collection that was received in 2018.  Oregon State University alumnus Thomas Kraemer helped to found the Gay Peoples Alliance, the first officially recognized gay student group at OSU, in 1976. The Kraemer Papers reflect Kraemer’s decades-long research on LGBTQ+ issues. The collection includes Kraemer’s blog, blog reference materials, and research files; his collection of comics, magazines, and films; and some biographical materials.

Oregon Hop Growers Association Records, 1895-2004 (MSS OHGA)

The Oregon Hop Growers Association Records document the administration of the OHGA and its various activities, including outreach events and the collection of statistical information about hop production in the United States and abroad.  The general membership meeting minutes have been digitized: Oregon Hop Growers Association Meeting Minutes, 1955-1970; Oregon Hop Growers Association Meeting Minutes 1971-1983; Oregon Hop Growers Association Meeting Minutes 1984-1993.  All of the photographs and slides have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

The videos have been digitized and are available online: Oregon Hop Commission Historical Footage, John O’ Connell, Hop Growers of America conference presentation, Hops farming operations.

The Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) obtained a large collection of audio-visual materials from KBVR-TV in 2015, when OSU’s student television studios moved into the new Student Experience Center. This collection, which was fully processed in 2017, consists of a number of video cassette tapes and DVDs from the KBVR television studio. Included along with the video files are a handful of audio files as well; primarily KBVR-FM radio bumpers and audio CDs. But most prominent are the KBVR-TV shows, all created by Oregon State University students through the years. Comedy shows, newscasts, talk shows, short films, game shows…just about anything the creative Beaver could fathom, KBVR aired.

SCARC is pleased to announce today that 241 items, mostly videos, are now freely available online. While this is only a fraction of the whole collection received from KBVR, it does represent a significant release of content that had previously been available by request only. Here now is your guide to this new cache of fascinating and fun video!

SCARC has released forty-one episodes of The Beaver Sports Show, a half-hour long program that featured student hosts across campus reporting on the latest sports news and interviewing notable Beaver athletes, while providing their take on Oregon State’s sports teams. The Beaver Sports Show episodes obtained by SCARC range from the years 2008-2011.  One episode of interest, from 2009, highlights a “day-in-the-life” of two Oregon State football wide receivers, Taylor Kavanaugh and James Rodgers, who went on to play for the Atlanta Falcons. The show was anchored by several students, including John Hendricks, Kalena Bell, Rick Stella, and Boon Kruger.

Similar to The Beaver Sports Show, KBVR-TV produced KBVR News. This was a thirty-minute nightly news program that detailed happenings around campus including student events, Corvallis and world news, and sports highlights. All of the segments were anchored and produced by students, notably Spencer Smallwood, Kelsey Gill, Mike Card and Marcus Collins. The clips date from 2004 through fall 2011.

Continuing the theme of news programs, Blonde Bombshells on the Hour is also presented in SCARC’s KBVR release. Blonde Bombshells on the Hour was a KBVR TV show that announced the latest music news from hosts, Camille Field and Elle McCracken, as well as Maya Holmes and Brittany Wooten. All of the anchors in this 2011 show shared the same hair color: blonde! Back to the Theatre was a 2010 show preceding Blonde Bombshells, with a somewhat similar theme: movies. Movie news and movie reviews were discussed on this talk show, six episodes of which are available online. The show was hosted by students Mike Card, Kelsey Gill, and Jay Lee, and in one episode of prominence, hosted special guest, OSU Distinguished Professor of Film Studies Jon Lewis.

Letting your voice be heard was a popular trend among students creating programming for KBVR-TV, and a few shows highlight this: Campus View (2008), No Big Whoop (2004-2008), and Questions on the Quad (2011.) These shows, usually airing in the late night, all hosted by two or more students who share their opinions on campus issues and encourage viewers to call in and either ask their own questions or share their own views. They typically focus on a guest who can speak to a topic the hosts are discussing in the episode. Questions on the Quad focused on student hosts roaming around the Memorial Union Quad, interviewing students on various topics. The show Open World (2008) shined a spotlight on international students discussing different aspects of their culture: geography, family dynamics, and the differences they’ve experienced since becoming an international student. SCARC has released three episodes of this show, hosting students from Africa, Japan, and Vietnam. Similar in style to Open World is Dr. Haydrogen German Vids (2013) which presents fascinating interviews with German instructors on their backgrounds in the German culture and language.

Another popular trend among students was producing their own sitcom, reality show, or game show. The two sitcoms in the collection, Anchors (2012) and The Jota Show (ca. 2000s) stars a large cast of students portraying characters in silly scenarios. Anchors is about a group of college-aged news anchors who constantly find themselves in trouble. The Jota Show is about a group of friends navigating young adult life. The reality shows presented in the collection are Greek Pads (2009), Limited Reality (1999), and Trading Rooms (2007-2008.)  Greek Pads is an MTV-style show where the viewer gets a personal tour of just about any Oregon State sorority or fraternity they want to see. Trading Rooms is based off of popular TLC show Trading Spaces, using a similar synopsis with a university influence: two sets of roommates, two designers, twelve hours, and a 250-dollar budget to revamp each other’s dorm rooms. Limited Reality has a similar plot to The Jota Show, but is a reality show about how average people act when they know they are being filmed. SCARC also has several game shows produced for KBVR, all inspired by popular television game shows and starring student contestants: Who Wants to be a Beaver? (2001), Blind Date Oregon State (2002), and the OSU Dating Game (2008-2009). Also in the online collection is one episode of a popular KBVR aerobics show Bodywise (1994) and a Japanese cooking show called Naomi’s Itadakimasu (ca. 1998). Itadakimasu is Japanese for “let’s eat!”

Another common theme KBVR-TV programming through the years has been music-centric shows–if Blonde Bombshells on the Hour and their Music Fusion Fridays weren’t telling enough, Beavers love music. The music-specific collection of videos in the online release are mostly concert footage: “The Meow Meow Show,” Oregon State’s Battle of the Bands, and the Flat Tail Music Festival. “The Meow Meow Show” was a 2004 concert headlined by five punk-rock bands. The University’s Battle of the Bands and Flat Tail Music Festival are annual events where student bands are encouraged to perform. Locals Live is a show that began in 2006, and focuses on local artists performing in front of a small audience. The show still runs on KBVR today.  The online release also includes a collection of videos from past events, including “Snow on the Quad,” a winter sports event that took place in the Memorial Union Quad in the middle of May, 2006. The event received news coverage by KGW Channel 8 News, was so popular that it continued into the subsequent years, before becoming the “Campus Rail Jam Tour” and concluding in 2011.

Also included is a large collection of short films produced by New Media Communications students from the 2000s to 2010s, including several produced by student Kevin England. Among these are several short films produced specifically by New Media Communications 383 students, as well as a full-length student film, Spade on the River, which is about a young, by-the-book man becoming roommates with the kind of guy he’d been warned about. The short films collection displays the work of talented young students who shared a love for storytelling through this new medium.

This collection of items from the KBVR television and radio stations display the kind of passion that is prominent among Beavers. Whether it’s a passion for music, sharing their views, making their audience laugh, or even taking their own spin on a popular TV show, Beavers are creative, and they know how to show it. The 241 video and audio clips presented in this collection will be an excellent source of inspiration for future Beavers in this regard. Not only that, but the clips are a source for historical inquiry, including news stories documenting past events and campus happenings, and sports coverage of past match-ups. This collection will also provide a nostalgic way to look back on projects produced by previous Beavers–whether they produced, anchored, starred in, or filmed a KBVR production, their memories are now available. It is no doubt that these videos will continue to be a source of past university events, humor, and inspiration for years to come.

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This post was contributed by Student Archivist Katy Roach, a history major with the goal pursue a career in the archives.

SCARC completed 7 new or updated finding aids in March 2019.  Following is a list and a little information about what we accomplished.  These finalized finding aids are available through the Archives West finding aids database, and the OSUL discovery system (a.k.a. “the catalog”). 

All of these materials are now available to researchers.
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Collections that were only minimally described and are now fully processed and described:
Robert W. Henderson Photographic Slides Collection, 1936-1998 (P 098 – SG 1)
The Robert W. Henderson Photographic Slides provide visual documentation of Oregon State University and the state of Oregon from, in bulk, the mid-1950s to the late 1990s. Consisting of nearly 16,000 unique 35-mm color slides, all of which are described individually, the collection depicts a wide range of university activities, particularly as concerns agricultural research and the development of agricultural practices at OSU’s county Extension offices and regional Experiment Stations. Other strengths of the collection include faculty, staff and student life at OSU; Oregon’s rural communities as viewed from the ground and the air; and imagery from Henderson’s travels around the world. Photos of coins, insects, flowers, produce and numerous other subjects round out the collection. Robert Henderson (1914-2006) was an OSU alum and photography enthusiast who worked as a faculty member in Farm Crops and the Agricultural Experiment Station for thirty years.

Larry Kirkland Photograph Collection, 1951-1969 (P 125)
The Larry Kirkland Photograph Collection documents activities related to school spirit, athletics, and student social life at Oregon State University (OSU). Kirkland began his undergraduate work at OSU in 1968, studying art and working in the Instructional Materials and Research Center. Kirkland completed an Honors Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design in 1972.  Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

C. William Nelson Papers, 1958-1990 (MSS NelsonCW)
The C. William Nelson Papers document Nelson’s field collecting and research study of insects, especially moths and butterflies, in Oregon and Washington.  C. William Nelson was an avocational entomologist and insect collector who lived in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area.

 

New Collections:
Gail Achterman Papers, 1975-2012 (MSS Achterman)
The Gail Achterman Papers consist of materials created by Oregon State University Institute of Natural Resources’ creator and director Gail Achterman. Achterman led the institute from 2003 to 2011 and was renowned in the areas of natural resources and environmental law and policy. The collection chiefly consists of journals related to the Institute of Natural Resources and educational materials she shared during her time as director, as well as items pertaining to the Gail Achterman Willamette Legacy.

Fred Bowman Papers, 1983-2010 (MSS Bowman)
Fred Bowman co-founded Portland Brewing Company in 1986. The Fred Bowman Papers include digitized versions of photographs showing the renovation of the original Portland Brewing location and early events at the brewery. The digitized documents include news articles, business documents, and a personal pocketbook with handwritten notes.The digitized photographs in this collection are available in Oregon Digital. These materials were provided to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2015 for digitization. The original items have been retained by Bowman.

Fashion Organization Records, 1978-2012 (MSS FashionOrg)
The Fashion Organization Records consist of materials reflecting the activities and administration of the Oregon State University Fashion Organization (OSUFO) and are comprised of financial records, organizational records, correspondence, ephemera, newspaper clippings, audio-visual material, and photographs and slides. Previously known as the Fashion Group International-Student Chapter, OSUFO was a fee-funded student organization that organized fashion-related events on campus, including the annual Recycled Fashion Show. The group was established as the Fashion and Design Students club (FADS) in 1983, and disbanded sometime between 2012 and 2015.

Valley Library Art Collection, 1948-2018  (RG 297)
The Valley Library Art Collection Records document the artists and art represented in the Northwest Art Collection as well as the work of Betty LaDuke.  The Northwest Art Collection consists of more than 140 pieces of artwork that were installed in the Valley Library as part of the Oregon Percent for Art program at the time of major renovations of the Oregon State University Library in the late 1990s.