Adolph “Ade” Sieberts, a fabulous athlete!

It’s an exciting time to be a fan of Beaver Basketball. With a new coach at the helm, the son of former OSU great Gary Payton making headlines and an upset of #7 Arizona under their belts, things are looking bright for the team. With all of the focus on the players of the newest generation it’s easy to forget all the great athletes the Oregon State Basketball team has fielded over the years. In fact, it’s been almost 100 years now since Oregon State saw it’s first player who was accorded the honor of being an all-American.

99 years ago a player by the name of Adolph “Ade” Sieberts was captain of the Beavers and leading them to second place in the Northwest Conference and first place in the Pacific Coast Championship – the conference that would grow to become what is today the Pac-12.

Playing from the forward position, Sieberts would become a two-time All-Pacific Coast Conference Selection with the Beavers.

Sieberts was noted not just for his excellent skills as both a passer and shooter that made him a standout in basketball, but for the fact that he excelled at Baseball as well. Sieberts led the Beavers to a Northwest championship in 1916. His season with the Beavers was highlighted by his play against the University of Oregon, where he pitched both games of a double-header and led the beavers to victories in both of them. He started as a second baseman for the Beavers where he earned the nickname “swat” through his hitting, due to the way in which he hit the ball.

Although his successes are long in the past, not more than 25 years ago Sieberts was inducted into the Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame and remains one of the few athletes in school history who won multiple division titles in different sports in the same year. A commerce major from Portland, Sieberts was highly active outside of sports. He was a member of the fraternity Kappa Sigma Nu, an editor for The Beaver in 1917, and a Sergeant for the Oregon State ROTC in 1916. His yearbook quote for the 1917 issue of The Beaver was simply “Let us eat, drink and be merry”.

~Post written by Christopher Russell, SCARC intern & History major

January 2015, the month in finding aids.

Last month was a great one for revisiting collections!

Lucy Lewis Scrapbook.

Eight new finding aids were written in January for SCARC collections; this month’s batch includes guides for one new collection acquired in 2014, one maps collection, and 6 collections for which we previously had only minimal information available online.

All are available through the NWDA finding aids database, the SCARC website, and the catalog. As of January 31, 2054 the OSU Special Collections & Archives Research Center had 810 finding aids in NWDA.

New collection received in 2014:

Biddle, Margaret Alden, Scrapbook, 1910-1917 (MSS Biddle):

This scrapbook is comprised of materials assembled by Margaret Biddle during her teenage years in Portland, Oregon between 1910 and 1917 and includes programs, playbills, and newspaper clippings documenting music, dance and theater programs, playbills, and newspaper clippings documenting music, dance and theater performances, film showings, and lectures in Portland; souvenirs from a 1910 cruise to Holland and Norway, the 1914 Pendleton Round-Up, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco; and several drawings and photographs.

Maps collection:

Street Surface Maps of Oregon Cities and town, 1939-1942 (MAPS Streets):

This collection consists of 426 detailed maps depicting street surface types, railroads, and locations of structures for more than 200 cities and towns in Oregon.

Collections that previously had minimal information available online:

Lewis, Lucy, Scrapbook, 1914-1915 (MSS Lewis): This scrapbook humorously documents a 12-day hiking excursion taken by Lewis and six companions in 1915 to Mount Jefferson, a peak in Oregon’s Cascade Range. It contains an extensive narrative, a list of previous climbers successful in summiting Mount Jefferson, a full accounting of provisions, a Santiam National Forest brochure, a small ink and watercolor painting, and more than 100 photographs. Lucy Lewis began her career at Oregon Agricultural College in 1911 as an assistant librarian; in 1920 she was appointed College Librarian. She retired in 1944.

Mattson, Joe O., Photograph Collection, 1923-1924 (P 145):

Carlos Steele, a Beaver basketball player who received NCAA All-American honors in 1925. From the Joe O. Mattson Photograph Collection.

The Mattson Photograph Collections consists of 38 photographs taken and assembled by Mattson that document student life at Oregon Agricultural College in the mid-1920s. Detailed descriptions of the photographs and recollections of the events depicted in them were provided in a letter written by Mattson that accompanied the photographs. Mattson attended Oregon Agricultural College from the fall of 1923 through the fall of 1925.

Oregon Agricultural College Voluntary Observers’ Meteorological Records, 1889-1940 (MSS Meteorology):

These records are comprised of weather observation data collected on the Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) campus between 1889 and 1940 on behalf of the U.S. Weather Bureau. Included are daily temperature, precipitation, wind direction, evaporation, and wind speed values as well as notes on other meteorological phenomena.

Oregon State Yank Newsletters, 1943-1945 (PUB 010-15c):

These newsletters (8 total) were edited and published by two Oregon State College graduates for Oregon State alumni in military service during World War II. All the issues are available online at http://oregondigital.org/sets/oregon-state-yank/.

Parcher, Phillip, Photograph Album, 1915 (P 143):

This album consists of duplicate prints of photographs taken by Parcher during the summer of 1915, while he was attending Oregon Agricultural College Summer Session. The images depict campus buildings and view and other local scenes. Parcher earned a degree in Industrial Arts from Oregon Agricultural College in 1919.

Taylor, Armond C., Photograph Collection, 1916 (P 139):

This small collection of 21 photographic postcards includes images of various buildings and campus views at Oregon Agricultural College. Taylor attended Oregon Agricultural College in 1913-1917 and earned a degree in forestry in 1917.

Why we love student collections — Alice Fisher’s school work, c. 1930

Another fabulous addition to the “student experience” collections we have in the archives at SCARC. A small group of things from Alice Fisher came in a couple of weeks ago, and though it is small it is mighty!

Alice Mary Fisher was born in April of 1911 and graduated from high school in Albany, Oregon, in 1928. She enrolled at Oregon Agricultural College for the spring term in 1928 and completed her BS in Vocational Education in June 1932. While at OSC she was active in campus theater productions, including The Three Musketeers and Lady Windermere’s Fan, and completed several theater courses during her student years. Beyond drama, she was involved in many other student activities, including the Memorial Union Board of Directors, Beaver yearbook, Barometer campus newspaper, and the Associated Students of OSC. She was also a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority at OSC and established the Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter at Colorado College, where she pursued graduate studies in English. Alice Fisher Summers Roberts returned to Albany, Oregon, with her husband John Summers during World War II. She lived in Albany for the rest of her life, where she was an active community volunteer and was named the Linn County Woman of the Year; she passed away in 2014.

Fisher’s time at OSC is already represented in the small “Alice Fisher Community Drama Class Scrapbook” collection, which was donated by Fisher. The book consists of materials assembled by Fisher for the Community Drama class she took spring term of 1931, full of images clipped from magazines and newspapers illustrating clothing and furniture styles from various historical eras. You’ll also find class notes, a copy of her final examination, and a program for a production of My Fair Lady performed in Portland.

This new addition also contains items that she compiled while in school, included are notes from a French class, a Zoology test, a theater prompt book with all her lines, and a paper with the title “Polygamy and its subdivisions.” She also has items saved from a household management class, which is really interesting when you look at budgeting in 1931.

But the thing that brought Collections Archivist into my office to show off what he’d found was a bundle of papers tucked into a file with a label “The Parent/Child Relationship.”

It includes her notes from class, her research, and a “Study of a child at a nursery school.” It’s a personality study and psychological assessment of a 3 ½ year old named Robbie (who is totally adorable).

She’s included physiognomy, psychology, and (as an added bonus) some of his art.

New collection guides in December 2014

It’s time for your monthly update on all the new SCARC collection guides! Eight finding aids were completed or revised during December 2014 and all are available through the NWDA finding aids database, the SCARC website, and OCLC Worldcat. Records for most of them are also available in the new OSUL management and search system (a.k.a. “the catalog” or “Alma/Primo”).

This month’s batch includes guides for one maps collection and six collections for which we previously had only minimal information available online. In addition, one guide was revised during December to incorporate an addition to the collection and reflect better descriptive practice. As of December 31, 2014 the OSU Special Collections & Archives Research Center had 802 finding aids in NWDA.

Oregon Timber Tax Maps, 1950-1996 (MAPS TimberTax)

This collection consists of more than 4,000 maps and related documents detailing appraisal information for forest taxes. The collection includes annotated township maps, data sheets on timber volume, as well as many other pieces of information regarding the valuation of timbered lands in Oregon during the 1950s-1970s.

Dolph, Nixon, and Dolph Letterbooks, 1894-1899 (MSS Dolph)

These letter books document the professional activities of attorneys Joseph Dolph, Richard Nixon, and Chester Dolph between 1894 and 1899. Included is administrative correspondence and legal counsel regarding land disputes, immigration hearings, divorce proceedings, debt remittance, and other civil and criminal lawsuits. Litigants include the Oregon Gold Mining Company, the Last Chance Mining Company, the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, the American Loan & Trust Company, and others.

Morris, Jimmie, Papers, 1920-2008 (MSS MorrisJ)

The Jimmie Morris Papers reflects Morris’ life-long interest in broadcasting, his decades of service to KOAC radio and television, and the broader evolution of the station itself. The collection is particularly strong in its documentation of the emergence of television as a tool for statewide education, a development that came after much debate in the mid-1950s. An Oregon Agricultural College graduate, Morris was on the staff of KOAC from 1932 to 1963 and is the author of a history of the station, The Remember Years … , published in 1972. The collection includes a variety of material formats including photographs, reel-to-reel sound recordings, a motion picture film, and a vinyl sound recording.

Orange Owl, 1920-1928 (PUB 010-13c)

The Orange Owl was a college humor magazine published by the Orange Owl Chapter of the Hammer and Coffin National Honorary Society at Oregon Agricultural College during the 1920s. The magazine included humorous and satirical pieces as well as cartoons and pen sketches created by students. All 43 issues are available online: http://oregondigital.org/sets/orange-owl/

Patterson, Joan, Collection of Historic Oregon Houses Lantern Slides, circa 1935 (P 102)

This collection consists of 17 lantern slides of homes and other structures in Oregon assembled by Patterson, probably for teaching. Joan Patterson was a Professor of Clothing, Textiles, and Related Arts at Oregon State University from 1936 until her retirement in 1969. An item-level list of the images is part of this guide.

Stout, Ray, Photograph Collection, 1895-1940 (P 103)

This collection of about 30 portrait photographs was assembled by Stout during his student years at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) in the early 1900s. The images depict primarily OAC students. Stout graduated from OAC in 1905 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. An item-level list of the images is part of this guide.

Vincent, C.A., Photograph Collection, 1908-1912 (P 109)

These photographic postcards document student life at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC). Chester Andrus Vincent attended OAC in 1906-1910 and earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1910. An item-level list of the images is part of this guide.

Updated finding aid: Betzel, Irwin, Papers, 1911-1920 (MSS Betzel)

The Betzel Papers are comprised of materials assembled and generated by Irwin Betzel during his years as an Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) student and an OAC Instructor of Pharmacy. The collection includes two scrapbooks, a photograph albums, several loose photographs, three pharmacy notebooks, and a small collection of pharmacy ephemera.

2nd Annual OSU Book Collecting Contest!

The OSU Valley Library is proud to announce the second year of our sponsored Book Collecting Contest!

Sponsored in association with the Himes & Duniway Society, a group of book collecting enthusiasts in Oregon, this contest is intended:

to encourage students in the collection and enjoyment of their own personal libraries,
to aid students in developing an appreciation for the special qualities of printed or illustrated works, and
to encourage students to read, research, and preserve these works for pleasure and scholarship.

The collection can focus on any subject, and the contest is open to all full-time students.

Prizes:

Three prizes will be awarded to student winners:

1st prize: $1,000
2nd prize: $500
3rd prize: $250

Prizes are generously funded by the Himes & Duniway Society.

APPLICATIONS ARE DUE Friday, March 13, 2015 by 5:00 PM.

How Do I Enter?
The Application Package should include the following:

The application form;
The essay, which should be at least two and no more than four pages in 12-point type with lines double-spaced describing how and why the collection was assembled;
A bibliography of the collection preferably using the MLA Bibliography format with each individual title numbered and annotated. The annotations should reflect the importance of each item to the collection as a whole
An annotated wish list of up to five other book titles that you would like to add in the future to complete or enhance your existing collection; and
digital images of at least 5 representative items in the collection, with 10 or more images being preferable.

You can submit your application in one of two ways:

1. Email your application package to Anne Bahde at anne.bahde@oregonstate.edu

2. Drop off your application package to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center, 5th floor of Valley Library.

What’s a “Collection?”
A collection

Consists of items that a student has come to own following a particular interest, or passion, which may be academic or not
May consist of all books or a combination of books and other formats. For instance, a collection on a geographical topic may include a map, a collection on a playwright may include a poster or playbill, or a collection about an historical event may include ephemera.
Consists of not less than 15 items or more than 30 items of which the majorityshould be books, but related materials such as photographs, illustrations, maps, ephemera, CDs, music scores, posters etc. may be included.
Can be on any topic; subjects can be contemporary or historical and may stress bibliographical features such as bindings, printing processes, type, editions, illustrations, etc. Rare books are not expected. Comic books and graphic novels are acceptable; ephemera alone if of historical interest is acceptable; historical–not current–textbooks may be included.

Example Topics:

Vampires
Comic books or graphic novels
Jane Austen
The Beat Poets

Previous Sample Entries:

 An Interdisciplinary Survey of 20th Century Propaganda – Andrew Fink

 Words of the Waves: A Nautical Collection – Emily Selinger

 How To Be Alone – Mack Sullivan

How Do I Win?
Criteria for selection:

Clearly state the purpose or unified theme of the collection;
Explain the extent to which the collection represents the stated purpose;
Evidence of creativity in building the collection;
Originality, innovation, and uniqueness;
Quality of the collector’s essay describing the collection

A team of judges from campus and The Himes & Duniway Society will determine the contest winners.

The Fine Print:

Students are limited to one entry. The student must be a full time student and the sole owner of the collection. The winners may be eligible for entry into The National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest supported by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS) of which The Himes & Duniway Society is a member, the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division (the Library of Congress) with major support from the Jay I. Kislak Foundation. http://hq.abaa.org/books/antiquarian/abaapages/contest

If you have questions about book collecting or this contest, contact Anne Bahde at anne.bahde@oregonstate.edu or 541-737-2083.

The Orange Owl ~ flying to a screen near you

It’s ripe for a pun, don’t you think?

Orange Owl, October 1925

We’ve digitized the whole run of the Orange Owl, and you can see all the issues online in The Orange Owl Digital Collection ~ keyword searchable and available in full.

What’s the Orange Owl? It was a college humor magazine published by the Orange Owl Chapter of the Hammer and Coffin National Honorary Society at Oregon Agricultural College during the 1920s. The magazine included humorous and satirical pieces as well as cartoons and pen sketches created by students.

The first issue of the Orange Owl appeared for Junior Weekend in May 1920. In 1921-1922, the humor magazine was published by the Orange Owl Club, which became the Orange Owl Chapter of the Hammer and Coffin Society at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) in 1922. The Orange Owl promoted creative talents among students in wit, humor, cartooning, and sketching. A broad representation of OAC students were involved in writing, editing, and publishing of the magazine. In the 1926-1927 academic year, more than 40 students contributed materials and more than 35 worked on the managerial and circulation staffs. The magazine was funded by advertising as well as subscriptions.

M. Ellwood Smith and Edwin T. Reed served as faculty advisors for the publication and were referred to in some issues as the “Shock Absorbers”.

Orange Owl, January 1925

According to the 1928 Beaver yearbook, “… the Orange Owl represents the fun and frolic of the students and shows that college life is more than a wearisome grind. It might be called the carnival representative of Oregon State”.

The Hammer and Coffin Society originated at Stanford University to promote literary and artistic talents of students as expressed in wit and humor. In the mid 1910s, the Society transformed into a national collegiate humor organization with 25 chapters.

Five or six issues were published per academic year beginning with volume 3 in 1921-1922. Most issues are 32 pages; as many as 3000 copies were printed and distributed on campus and in the Corvallis community.

The purpose of the magazine was to promote creative talent among students in humorous writing as well as cartooning and sketching. The magazines include poems, jokes, short humorous stories, satire, plays, limericks, cartoons, sketches, and colorful covers. All issues include local and national advertisements. Some material was reprinted by College Humor and other college comic magazines around the country and the Orange Owl also reprinted exchanges from college comic magazines published by other chapters of the Hammer and Coffin Society.

In 1923 and 1927, women students had full responsibility for publishing one issue of the magazine.

This collection includes 43 issues of the magazine, all of which are available online. The collection includes duplicate copies of many issues; however, one issue (volume 2, no. 3 for May 1921) is only available on microfilm and online.

Orange Owl, January 1923

A bit late… New finding aids from October & November

Looking for a winter break research project? You might just find inspiration here.

The following is a list of 12 finding aids for SCARC collections that were completed or revised during October and November 2014. All are available through the NWDA finding aids database as well as on the SCARC website. MARC records for these collections are not available through the OSU Libraries’ Catalog, Summit Navigator, and Worldcat — yet. Creation of MARC records has been placed on hold during the migration to the new library catalog and discovery system.

This month’s batch includes guides for 5 “new” collections that were received in 2013 or 2014, one maps collection, and 3 collections for which we previously had only minimal information available online. In addition, three guides were revised during October and November to reflect additions to the collections and incorporate links to materials that are now available online. As of November 30, 2014 the OSU Special Collections & Archives Research Center had 795 finding aids in NWDA.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the preparation and review of these new guides – this work is definitely a group endeavor!

New collections received in 2013 or 2014:

Cooley, Roy M., Photograph Album, 1907-1911 (P 302)

This photograph album consists of postcard prints assembled by Cooley during his student years at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC). Cooley attended OAC in 1909-1911.

Crop Science Club Records, 1965-1991 (MSS CropClub)

These records document the membership, programs, and activities of the Crop Science Club at Oregon State University. The Crop Science Club was established at Oregon State in 1955. The collection includes 58 photographs.

Norris, Marie, Collection, 1974-2004 (MSS Norris)

The Norris Collection documents Norris’ life and work as a Native American activist, storyteller, and historian and consists of materials created by Norris and assembled by Roger Weaver. Marie Norris pursued a life of active service to her Klamath community until her death in 1981. Roger Weaver met Norris in 1974 and was inspired by her to develop a course on Native American literature at Oregon State University, where he was a faculty member in English from 1962 until his retirement in 1996. The collection includes one audiocassette.

Political Identities Project Records, 2010-2011 (RG 256)

These materials document the preparation of sound recordings of student papers prepared for a class assignment on personal political statements. The Political Identities Project was a joint effort of the Associated Students of Oregon State University (ASOSU) and the Division of Student Affairs. The records consist primarily of born-digital electronic records.

Rockwell, Theodore, Papers, 1915-2013 (MSS Rockwell)

The Rockwell Papers document the life and career of Ted Rockwell, a member of the Manhattan Project, technical director for the U.S. Navy’s nuclear propulsion initiative under Admiral H.G. Rickover, and co-founder of engineering firm MPR Associates, Inc. and nuclear advocacy group Radiation, Science, and Health, Inc. The collection also documents Rockwell’s interest in parapsychology and includes extensive research materials on consciousness studies, telekinesis, dowsing, extraterrestrials, and other phenomena. The papers include photographs, microfiche, sound recordings, and born-digital materials. A detailed list of the contents of the collection is part of this guide.

Maps collections:

Corvallis and Benton County, Oregon, Maps, 1859-1991 (MAPS Corvallis)

This collection consists of 236 maps depicting Corvallis and Benton County, including road and street maps, land use and comprehensive planning maps, and plans for city parks. The maps depict roads, parks, schools, public buildings, and natural features. The maps were prepared by numerous organizations and individuals. An item-level list of the maps is included with this guide.

Collections that previously had minimal information available online:

Corvallis, Oregon, Photograph Collection, 1902-1964 (P 051)

These photographs (about 50 total) document Corvallis and vicinity in the early and middle 20^th century. A variety of formats are represented in the collection, including panoramic prints, nitrate negatives, hand-tinted prints, and large mounted mural-size prints. The photographs were assembled from a variety of sources. An item-level list of the images is part of this guide.

Price, Frederick Earl, Photograph Collection, 1965 (P 073)

This collection consists of photographs of the retirement dinner for Price and includes images of Price’s family and Oregon State University administrators. Frederick Earl Price was a faculty member at Oregon State and served as Dean of Agriculture and Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station and Extension Service from 1950 until his retirement in 1965. A detailed list of the 33 images in the collection is included in this guide.

Smith, Clifford L., Photograph Collection, 1916-1919 (P 037)

This small collection of 33 photographs was assembled by Smith and document student life at Oregon Agricultural College in the late 1910s. Smith earned a BS from Oregon State in 1929 and joined the faculty in the early 1940s.

Updated finding aids:

Engineering, College of, Moving Images, circa 1980 – 1996 (FV P 069)

This collection consists of 2 videotapes and a motion picture film documenting the academic programs of the College and the Multiple Engineering Cooperative Program (MECOP). They also include footage of College of Engineering faculty and students and are available online through links within the finding aid.

Hatfield Marine Science Center Videotapes, 1968-1998 (FV P 254)

These 12 videotapes document the research activities and public programs of the Hatfield Marine Science Center. Oregon State University established the Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon, in 1954 as a marine laboratory. All of the videotapes are available online via links in the finding aid.

United States Forest Service Video Workshop Videotapes, 1988-1989 (FV P 264)

These videotapes (6 total) were generated as part of Forest Service workshops held at Oregon State University. The productions were intended for a general audience and address reforestation, debris burning, log exports, logging careers, and tree diseases and pests. All of the videotapes are available online via links in the finding aid.

That’s a lot of video tapes! New additions from KBVR

Several days ago collections archivist Karl McCreary rolled in a dolly of boxes. He left and returned with another dolly of boxes. What’s in the boxes? A whole lot of videotapes!

KBVR, OSU’s student-run tv station is preparing for the closing of Snell Hall and move to the (nearly done!) new Student Experience Center. Karl’s always busy, but the relocation of many student groups and programs over winter break will lead to more accessions from KBVR (e.g. music shows with live bands). He’s also expecting additions from Greek Life and possibly from the Panhellenic Educational Activities Committee.

Find the current KBVR collection information online

What’s in the boxes?

Several different formats (VHS, Beta, U-Matic) that are mainly from the 1990s, and a total 8 cubic feet of programs ranging from news programs to music shows, faculty conversations with Gov. Barbara Roberts, ASOSU senate, and nightly news. One to watch for sure is the Ms. OSU pageants, which ended their run in 1993.

I love this label from 1992, which warns us that removing this particular pageant recording from the facility is a no go. It’s okay though, we’re archivists.

I’ll also admit that these two were my favorites of those I saw. I think you’ll see why…

Give us a bit to get these accessioned before storming the gate to get a viewing. If you are anxious just email scarc@oregonstate.edu before making the trip to see if they are available.

Josh McGuffie, Resident Scholar

Many may not know this, but we have a fabulously robust resident scholar program here in SCARC. Joshua McGuffie has been with us for several months and recently gave a talk, which is summarized in this blog post by our student volunteer Anna Mitchell. We thank Mina Carson (professor in the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion) for this photo.

Josh McGuffie, a Resident Scholar in the Special Collections & Archives Research Center, and a Masters candidate in OSU’s History of Science Program, recently reported out on research that he is conducting concerning three distinguished scientists who worked at the Hanford Nuclear Site in eastern Washington. In his talk, he focused on the site during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. McGuffie researched Hanford scientists Herbert Parker, Dick Foster, and William Rickard, and sought to understand how their narratives pertain to the one of the nation’s most polluted place that was once declared safe.

McGuffie described Herbert Parker’s era as one of “needful vigilance.” Parker came to Hanford to lead in the radiation protection program, and headed up the Health Instruments Division. McGuffie stated that Parker felt a responsibility to protect people from radiation, but also thought that the word “radiation” was dirty and a classified term. McGuffie argued that Parker, “wanted to control radiation and not hide it under a bushel.”
McGuffie found that while staggering amounts of Plutonium spewed from Hanford, Parker held a two-fold goal for himself and for the physicists working with him. First, he wanted to avoid or at least competently handle any radiation to which workers at Hanford might be exposed. Second, he aimed to understand the local population’s chronic exposure to radiation and not allow it to become a problem. McGuffie noted that the second goal has been seen as a failure by many people. Most specifically, in 1949 superiors at the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) conducted a test at Hanford called “The Green Run” that purposefully released up to 80,000 curies of radio iodine and up to 16,000 curies of radio xenon in a single night. At the time of the test, forceful winds blew plumes of radio iodine over Hanford and through the Tri Cities area. Despite ample reason to believe otherwise, Parker continued to argue that the tests should show no explicit danger to human lives.
Next, McGuffie analyzed Hanford scientist Dick Foster, who described Hanford as “safe by any name.” In his talk, McGuffie stated that, “If Herb Parker argued that Hanford was by nature an environmental place, Dick Foster argued that it was a safe place.” Foster grew up in Washington and studied in the School of Fisheries at the University of Washington. Later, he moved to the fish lab at Hanford, where he exposed salmon and white fish to the site’s effluent reactor.

Needed as a coolant, the Columbia River’s water was passed through the reactor and back into the river, after having sat in cooling trenches for hours. In its review of this system, the AEC asked Foster about the effects of a potential reactor failure on the Columbia River. Foster acknowledged this as a problem but noted that, “many of the organisms in the Columbia would be afforded considerable shielding by the riverbank and the typography of the land and depth of water. In the worst case scenario, should the Columbia’s food chain be disrupted by a lower aquatic organism dying in mass from radiation, nearly normal conditions would probably be restored in one years’ time from reseeding and migration.” Foster also claimed that the radiation from effluent found in the Columbia and picked up by fish was not at all hazardous. He was certain that because the amount of released radiation was well within guidelines established by the government, that people and aquatic life would remain completely safe. He believed further that the radioactive landscape was totally natural and safe, and that Hanford could coexist with normal, everyday human life.

The last scientist that McGuffie discussed was Bill Rickard, who described Hanford as “a pristine island.” Rickard had a background in terrestrial research at Washington State University, and in 1960 he was hired at Hanford to conduct both basic and applied radio ecology in the biology department. To Rickard, Hanford represented unlimited field research possibilities that were much more fascinating to him than was classroom teaching at the university level.

Three administration events took place in Rickard’s first decade at the site. The first was in 1962 when, under Herb Parker’s suggestion, 120 square miles of the site were fenced off and set aside for future use. Then, in 1964, the site’s first ecology lab burned down, causing a shift from lab-based research to land-based research. Lastly, in 1968 the biology department was broken apart to create a separate and independent ecosystems department. These three events helped Rickard to develop research in the 120 square miles of land that had been fenced off by Herb Parker.

This land was called the Arid Land Ecology Reserve (ALE) and was designated for desert and grassland biome studies. McGuffie noted that because of ALE, Hanford received funding from the National Science Foundation to participate in the International Geophysical Year, which looked to take a snapshot of the world’s ecosystems. In 1972, twenty-six discrete ecological studies were conducted at ALE. Rickard and his colleagues studied the land as they walked amongst it: they mapped soils and geological features, defined the water table, and studied the ground water flows emerging from ALE’s two perennial springs. Rickard was particularly interested in beetle studies and the study of energy transfer through biomass. McGuffie’s analysis indicates that Rickard’s narrative was the first to focus on the land itself rather than the land in relation to radio nuclides.
McGuffie’s research sheds important light on the different ways in which three scientists vital to Hanford’s story went about approaching radioactivity and the area’s ecology.

Herbert Parker saw himself as a real environmentalist, because he had protected a landscape characterized by atomic risk. Dick Foster saw the radioactive landscape as a safe place, because it was protected within the standards accepted by the social and scientific communities for atomic responsibility. Finally, Bill Rickard saw the land as pristine because it kept intact the biotic communities, even though it sat in the midst of a radioactive landscape.

Back in time — what was it like in 2003?

These three women, all residents of the Oxford House Co-op, put together a small box of things they thought captured the spirit of the year.

We haven’t done much research on these three, but we do have a nice collection of materials in the Oxford House Records (1966-2014) that helps to tell the the story. You can learn more about other houses here too, because we have the records of several cooperative houses including the Dixon Lodge, the Maple Manor Cooperative House, and the Azalea House.

We also know that this small box was found in a wall as they remodeled the building after the co-ops closed in June 2014, and then it ended up here with us last month to be labelled, described, and seen!

The box was certainly a snapshot of pop culture in the early 2000s, and you can see what was inside by scrolling down the post, but it also came with a 2 page letter from the three contributors. I’ve scanned the first page, but it’s a teaser because you’ll have to come in to read the whole thing.

After we’ve met their 22 year-old selves we learn more about their activities and life at Oxford House. For example:

We are also reminded of some high points for pop culture.

In addition to the above collage, there’s an US Weekly issue from April 2003 and a Barometer issue from June 6, 2003.

There are also three Bazooka Joe wrappers, which accessioning archivist Karl M has heard had meaning beyond being wrappers with comics…

So I ask you readers some simple questions. What would you put in a time capsule? What reflects the lives you live today and what would the things you collect show people 11 years from now? And because archivists love to document change over time, how have things changed on campus since 2003?