When one of our student workers, Megan, shared the story of “The Order of the Spoon” with me, uncovered as she was writing a finding aid for the collection, I knew it had to be shared with the blogoverse!

Order of the spoon ticket for George W. Peavy

The Order of the Spoon, or Ordo Cochlearis, was an organization founded to foster sound scholarship and promote graduate study, including teaching, writing, and research, among doctoral degree holders on the faculty of Oregon Agricultural College (then known as OAC).

Established by the Triad Club in 1927, the organization became a separate and independent entity in May of 1929 and the majority of the PhD faculty were members. The Order took its name from the history of scholarship; it was derived from the custom of medieval scholars to wear a wooden spoon as the insignia of their calling. The group’s committee officers held titles of Chief Spoon Bearer, Assistant Spoon Bearer, and Ladler.

On the day of an Order meeting, members often met at one campus location, dressed in hoods and gowns (academic regalia), each carrying a spoon that was their totem. The group then paraded with much fanfare and frivolity to their location of their meeting, at which members took part in a banquet while speakers gave presentations on the state of scholarship at the College. New members – new Doctors residing within the “realm” of Oregon Agricultural College – were inducted into the Order at these meetings.

This 0.35 cubic foot (2 boxes) collection contains materials pertaining to the establishment, organization, and proceedings of the group; membership eligibility and lists; and meetings and banquets held by the Order. Of special note is a large spoon, the presumed emblem of the Order.

Additional materials pertaining to the Order of the Spoon are part of the Mathematics Department Records (RG 136) and the M. Ellwood Smith Papers. The Special Collections & Archives Research Center holds the personal papers of many of the members of the Order of the Spoon, including Othniel R. Chambers, George W. Peavy, William Edmund Milne, Francois A. Gilfillan, Willibald Weniger, and Clair V. Langton, as well as the Triad Club Records.

What’s not to love about a photo collection that has photographs, contact prints, and negatives?

Collections archivist Karl McCreary shared a new box of goodies (that’s a “new accession” to archival-types), photographs taken by alumnus and Beaver Yearbook contributor John L. Robbins while he was at OSU. Included are pictures of football games, concerts by musicians and comedians, oceanographic research, a  speech by a civil rights activist Julian Bond, the Turtle Derby, basketball games, track and field events, carnival rides at night, classroom shots, and views of campus. Among the performers featured include Pat Paulsen, Carlos Santana, Donovan, The 5th Dimension, Mason Williams, Jonathan Winters, and the Rascals.

This latest addition will join the rest of the 700+ we already have from Robbins’ time at OSU in the John L. Robbins Photographs Collection (1968-1971). However, for those anxious to take a look, hold tight a bit longer because Karl is still in those final stages of the accessioning process and these new items aren’t quite ready for prime time.

Last Friday students from days of yore descended on campus to celebrate their students days at OSU — okay, all but one class is likely to still remember it as OSC…

June 7th and 8th the classes 1963, 1958, 1953, 1948, & 1943 came to campus to relive their student experience, as well as learn what’s going on at OSU today. They took tours, listened to panel discussions about contemporary campus life and research, and they looked at old stuff!

Collections Archivist Karl McCreary has been providing archival materials to enrich their reunion experience since he started in 2000. Mostly, he provides publications like the Fusser Guide, student handbooks, club pubs (Annual Cruise from the College of Forestry), and the campus paper the Barometer. But this year he decided to check out the event himself — and he invited his archival friends!

Tiah & Karl in the class of 1958 alumni gift cart!

We were especially interested in a “Then & Now” panel session with current students and alumni comparing and contrasting their campus experiences. We heard about the cost of college, thoughts on what makes this a special place, thoughts on drinking and the bad behavior of football fans, and future plans of soon-to-be grads.

So what was happening when they were here?

• In 1963 the “new” Kerr Library building was completed and McNary Hall (a residence hall) opened.
• In 1958 the School of Forestry, in conjunction with the Swedish Royal College of Forestry, sponsored a Swedish-American Forestry Conference in Stockholm. There were 207 international students from 36 different countries.
• In 1953 the new football facility, Parker Stadium, (now Reser Stadium) was dedicated on October 24; after its grandstands were removed, Bell Field was used for track & field. Azalea House (women’s co-operative housing) opened in September. It was named for Azalea Sager, a former State Home Economics Leader with the Extension Service, who was “instrumental in promoting interest and obtaining the necessary funds for building and furnishing the house.”
• In 1948 Sackett Hall (residence hall) was completed and the Adair Tract (6200 acres) was acquired for research and teaching by the Schools of Forestry and Agriculture (this later became known as the Dunn Forest).
• Finally, in 1943 the school celebrated its 75th year after dedication as a state college. Enrollment was 4,743 (summer-660), there were 611 degrees conferred, and the library collection tallied up to 193,479 volumes!

It was a party!

Oregon Agricultural College alumni who graduated in 1904-1907 returned to campus in June, 1926. The objects of interest at this reunion tent are “old time pictures and mementos” — sound familiar?

Last week we opened a new exhibit on the 5th floor, a wonderful selection of reproductions of the glass plate negatives in the Benjamin Gifford collection. This week we’re pleased to announce the release of a new digital collection with photographs from the whole Gifford family!

New digital collection: photographs taken by four Gifford Family photographers

The Gifford Photographic Collection consists primarily of photographs taken by the four Gifford Family photographers: Ralph I. Gifford; his father, Benjamin A. Gifford; his wife, Wanda Gifford; and their son, Ben L. Gifford.

The Gifford Family’s photographic work began around 1890, when Benjamin A. Gifford moved to Portland, and continued into the 1950s. The collection documents Oregon landmarks and scenic views on the Oregon coast and in the Cascade Mountains, Willamette Valley, and central and eastern Oregon; agriculture in Oregon; and Native Americans, especially of the Columbia Plateau.

The tourism film The New Oregon Trail in the Ralph I. Gifford Motion Pictures (SG 3) section is one of my favorites. The production was supervised and edited by Harold Bradley Say, photographed by Ralph I. Gifford, and distributed by Castle Films. The 16 mm Kodachrome color film, with soundtrack, is approximately 22 minutes long (800 feet) and is also available for viewing online. It consists of footage of scenic and recreational attractions in Oregon and strongly emphasizes the moderate climate (read: not rainy climate) we enjoy in the Pacific Northwest, strongly promoting sport and commercial fishing on the Oregon Coast and in Oregon rivers, streams, and lakes. Of special note are scenes of Native Americans fishing at Celilo Falls, state parks throughout Oregon, highways and bridges (especially on the Oregon Coast), Mount Hood and Timberline Lodge, and the Pendleton Round-Up. Much of the footage in this film is similar to still photographs taken by Ralph I. Gifford.

Just in the nick of time, on a sunny Friday afternoon, on the last day of May, we finished the last touches on our newest exhibit in the 5th floor gallery foyer.

“Benjamin A. Gifford: Chronicler of Oregon’s Natural Beauty” celebrates the works of Benjamin Gifford, one of Oregon’s most talented and prolific photographers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Full of artifacts and fabulous photos, this is an exhibit sure to please!

From the time he opened his first studio in Portland in 1891 until he retired from photography in August 1919, Gifford took more than 10,000 photographs of Oregon landscapes – and likely took thousands of studio portraits as well. In addition to his picture taking talent, he was also a pioneer in the use of photographic technology and was widely published.

This exhibit includes some well-known photographs, such as the iconic “Sunset on the Columbia,” but the focus is on items that very few – beyond Gifford himself – have ever seen. Drawn from the more than 600 glass negatives the Gifford Family retained when the bulk of Benjamin Gifford’s work was sold to Sawyer’s Scenic Photos, these items show his range and skill, but also reveal a gift for capturing a kind of distinctive beauty in the people and places he photographed.

The Sawyer’s Scenic Photos are now part of the Oregon History Society’s collection, but in 1986 Gifford’s grandson Ben L. and his wife Beth donated the 600 glass negatives retained by the family  to OSU’s Horner Museum. That donation was accompanied by an extensive collection of photographs taken by Gifford’s son Ralph, his wife Wanda, and Ben L. After the museum closed in 1995, the Gifford Collection was transferred to the University Archives, now a component of the OSU Libraries’ Special Collections & Archives Research Center.

The OSU Libraries recently scanned the glass negatives, revealing an astonishing collection of scenic views, studio portraits, and images of Gifford Family members. We are happy to share a selection of those images with you.

The exhibit is open Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the entrance foyer of the Special Collections & Archives Research Center on the 5th floor of the Valley Library. The exhibit runs from June 3rd through September 30th — you can also see exhibit photos the Flickr set if you can’t make it.

Let this exhibit take you on a trip through our beautiful state!

The OSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives Research Center is pleased to announce the release of a complete finding aid for the papers of Charter Heslep, a newsman and member of the Atomic Energy Commission.

Charter Heslep, in profession and personality, is best examined through his complex and sometimes contradictory relationship with information. As a broadcast journalist, censor, ghostwriter, and government employee–Heslep was a conduit through which information flowed and, in some cases, was dammed. He began his career as a newsman in 1929 at the Washington Daily News and in 1941 was appointed night news editor for NBC. During World War II, Heslep served as chief radio censor for the Broadcasting Division of the Office of Censorship where he oversaw the filtering of wartime news as it passed to the public. After the war’s end, Heslep returned to commercial broadcasting, this time at the Mutual Broadcasting Company. In 1949, he joined the Atomic Energy Commission as Assistant to the Director where was asked to apply his talents to the problem of nuclear energy. In his position at the AEC, Charter facilitated information sharing among research and policy organizations, wrote speeches for public officials including Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and assisted in communicating the role of atomic energy—both peaceful and military—to the American public.

Among his many duties at the AEC, Heslep was charged with overseeing the broadcasting of several nuclear weapons tests. Many of the materials in the Heslep Papers—including correspondence, photographs, and ephemera—date from these assignments. Most notably, a series of letters between Heslep and his wife between 1950 and 1957 describe his participation in Operations Tumbler-Snapper, Upshot-Knothole, and Redwing—early nuclear tests staged at the Nevada Test Site and the Pacific Proving Grounds.

It is in this correspondence that Heslep’s talents as a storyteller shine through. His letters, written in a tone approaching wonderment, detail the almost unsettling cleanliness of Camp Mercury, the strange sites of the Marshall Islands, the complexities of broadcasting across the Nevada desert, and the tenseness of a nuclear bomb test. Letters to his children express a similar exuberance at an impromptu military airshow seen from the USS McKinley or the hermit crab races held by bored sailors on Kwajalein. Moreover, his accounts of life and work among scientists and military brass are punctuated by moments of real excitement. In May 1956, he began a series of letters chronicling the USS McKinley’s search for the pilot of a lost observer plane. He wrote,

Tonight, as never before in my life, I have an idea how big an ocean is, especially the Pacific Ocean. Because, somewhere in the thousands of square miles of dark blue water, a man may be fighting for his life.

Only days later, he witnessed the first airdrop of a thermonuclear weapon, describing it “as if a red hot Washington Monument was being thrust upward into an already fiery sky.”

The personal nature of his family correspondence is complimented by examples of Heslep’s professional interactions with the public. Included in the collection are speeches he authored on behalf of the AEC such as “Radio’s Role in Defense” and “Some Aspects of the Impact of the Nuclear Age in the United States.”  Others like “Ghosting: A Necessity, Not a Sin” defend Heslep’s own work and the sometimes circuitous route information takes.

The Charter Heslep Papers are an incredible resource for scholars interested in nuclear history and policy, history of journalism, the work of the Atomic Energy Commission, and the history of information sharing between the U.S. government and the American public.

Additional related materials can be found on our web site  in the History of Atomic Energy Collection, the Barton C. Hacker Papers, the Barton C. and Sally L. Hacker Nuclear Affairs Collection, and the Linus and Ava Helen Pauling Papers.

Planning your weekend? Join us for walking tour of campus on Mothers Day (May 12) at 2 p.m!

As a historic district, with more than 80 contributing structures and the only Oregon Campus listed in the National Register of Historic Places, it’s the perfect place for a Sunday stroll. Larry Landis, the Director of OSU’s Special Collections & Archives, will share the history of campus structures, as well as early Olmsted and Taylor campus plans, quads, and view sheds. The group will meet on the east side of Benton Hall, 14th St near Monroe. The tour limited to 20 persons, so please call (541) 737-0540 for reservations.

Can’t make it on Sunday but still interested in touring campus? Use BeaverTracks, our interactive mobile guide and walking tour of OSU’s historical locations.

You can also explore campus through several Flickr sets — from ghost tours to historic buildings… There’s something below for everyone.

• Historic Building Tour (2008)
• Bennes Buildings
• Boo! Ghost Tour 2008
• 2008 Library In-service