It’s a drizzly day in the mid-Willamette Valley. Fortunately, being an archivist who loves to take pictures means that I get to spend some time scrolling through the recent past and enjoy the remembering!
And yes, we’d be out of business if people didn’t do exactly what I do…
Come by the 5th floor alcove to see our new exhibit “Manuscripts to Molecules: Signature Areas of SCARC.”
Enjoy this visual tour highlighting our signature areas (natural resources, the history of science, University history, and Oregon’s multicultural communities). Exhibited are a selection of books, artifacts and documents designed to give viewers an entrée into the wide variety of materials held in each of our signature collections.
As the repository for and steward of the Libraries’ rare and unique materials, this exhibit explores the many ways that the Special Collections & Archives Research Center stimulates and enriches research and teaching endeavors through the use and preservation of historical collections and unique materials. Our collections include manuscripts, archives, rare books, oral histories, photographs, ephemera, audio/visual materials, and digital records.
Make sure we’re open when you stop by! Our reading room hours are Monday – Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
Christy Turner rode off into the archival sunset this week, ending a great 3+ year tenure at Special Collections (and then in the merged SCARC).
Christy Turner
She served the department in a variety of roles and on several notable projects before and after her graduation last spring, most recently as a temporary full-time staff member helping us navigate the new waters of our merger. Her last few months have been dedicated to mounting the new “Molecules to Monographs” exhibit currently on the 5th floor. Stop by and see it — you’ll be delighted and impressed!
Before she graduated we were lucky to have Christy serve as the Lead Student Worker for two years. She prepared student staffing schedules for both the 3rd floor and 5th floor public service desks, an uneviable and complicated task; prepared monthly statistics reports for both desks, again, not an easy thing; and served as a member of the SCARC Public Service Point Merger Group, the only student employee serving on any of our numerous working groups.
As Lead Student, Christy also served as a positive example to the rest of the student staff, and this she does unfailingly well, but she has also been a great asset to our combined department. Her knowledge of the 5th floor collections combined with her excellent customer service skills have been a tremendous boon to the effectiveness of the 5th floor public service desk and have served to lessen the reference burden that the full-time staff faces on a daily basis. She was also instrumental in guiding our students through the new reference processes and statistics tracking activities that have been implemented within the student workflow since our departmental merger was initiated.
While her organizational skill is formidable, Christy, who was a Fine Arts major, has also been integral to the aesthetics of our public side. She created, largely on her own, the major display “Linus Pauling: World Traveler.” She also did a smaller refresh of the Linus Pauling Office permanent exhibit in the 5th floor reading room and mounted framed photographs and text panels for display in our collections storage area.
Christy’s skill as a photographer has been enlisted on many occasions — which means we have very few pictures of her for this tribute! She photographed nearly all of the hundreds of images on the “Treasures of the McDonald Collection” and “Roger Hayward: Renaissance Man” sites. In addition, she photographed a number of events hosted by the department, including all five of the 2011 Resident Scholar presentations, as well as the Special Collections/University Archives anniversary celebration in November 2011.
Finally, while a fine artist by training, Christy assumed the role of “ad hoc graphic designer” for SCARC and did an astonishing job of teaching herself the skills necessary. Her portfolio includes unique graphics developed for both the web (“Treasures of the McDonald Collection,” Resident Scholar videos, numerous images for the forthcoming SCARC department website) and in print (the graphic identity for the 2012 Pauling Legacy Award event, SCARC rack cards).
She was been an integral component of whatever successes we have garnered in recent years — including the smooth merger of two units with long and unique histories of their own — and she is, without doubt, hugely deserving of our gratitude and highest praise. She is a credit to this library and will be missed.
It’s hard to believe this month is over… We had a film fest, tours, historical goody treats, and some crawling (not in that order). Read on and read more!
Starting off the month on October 4th, in honor of the OSU athlete extraordinaire and Heisman Trophy winner Terry Baker we showed the 1963 TV documentary produced by KATU-TV, “A Day in the Life of Terry Baker.”
Once upon a time history-loving folks crawled around Portland talking to archivists. These archivists had brought information goodies from far and wide to share with the masses. Nope, this no fairy tale! On October 6th, SCARC staff and student workers journeyed to the far north end of our state (Portland) to join other culture and historic organizations for the Oregon Archives Crawl. To quote the Crawl website, there were “over 25 archives and heritage organizations in getting in touch with history and having fun doing it!” There were four host locations: Portland Archives and Records Center, Portland State University Library, Multnomah County Central Library and the Oregon Historical Society and at each site visitors met with “archivists, historians and other representatives from organizations that devote their time to preserving the past so that it will be available for you and future generations to use.” And yes, there is a Flickr set.
Chris Petersen led visitors on a tour of the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers on October 10th, highlighting the diverse and fascinating components of the Paulings’ Collection.
On October 26th Special Collections and Archives staff Anne Bahde and Trevor Sandgathe offered a fascinating glimpse into OSU’s oldest and rarest volumes that include cuneiform tablets, fine bindings, and incunabula. Check out the Flickr set and rare books site.
Fall in all its fiery hues and cold winds makes for good cooking when we look to the old standards to fill us up and keep us cozy. So it is in this spirit, that we hosted the annual Taste of the ‘Chives Recipe Showcase on October 29th — and took a bunch of pictures! This year we added an element of competition to the event and asked people to vote for the tastiest dish with pocket change (which was donated to the Linn Benton Food Share to keep other bellies filled). Fish pie won! Want to explore the many online offerings we have for recipes from days of yore? Check in ScholarsArchive.
Remember the Friday Feature “Ten Little Lessons on Vitamins“? Well these 10 Little Baking Club Lessons offer another view of cooking and health!
Brought to you from the Oregon Agricultural College Extension Service and Boys & Girls Industrial Clubs in 1916, these delicious little bulletins provide wonderful lessons for kids learning to cook.
Get inspired and get cooking! To find the full text of each, visit ScholarsArchive and search for “Baking Club Lessons.”
And don’t forget to Taste those ‘Chives Monday at noon.
We’ve rocketed into cold, wet, wintry feeling weather in the mid-Willamette Valley… Which brings to mind cozy kitchens, warm ovens, and bellies full of sweet treats and big loaves of bread! Following the food focus of the week, I wanted to offer up some more yummy recipes for you to consider for next week’s Taste of the ‘Chives (October 29 for those who may have missed it).
With our annual recipe event “Taste of the ‘Chives” happening next week, I’m sure you are ready for some ideas for what you’ll bring to share, so today I share with you another gem from the Gerald Williams Collection, “The Lookout cookbook : Region one.”
The Lookout cookbook : Region one
What do I suggest? Try “Sweet Potato Biscuits” on page 11, “Cream of Corn Soup” on page 18, and “Salmon Wiggle” on page 21. But please, please, please, someone has to make “Shipwreck” on page 26!
In case you aren’t up for exploring on your own, here are the recipes…
Some may have heard that we’ll be celebrating the 100 year anniversary of women’s voting in Oregon in a few weeks. Some may also know that we have some great neighbors in this neck of the archives woods!
Edith Green Collection — all boxed up
Last week I picked up 5 boxes at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library from the Edith Green Collection so students in Dr. Marisa Chappell’s Women in Politics class could get their hands on the real stuff of history.
In case you don’t know about Edith Green, I recommend taking some time to get to know her history. For more, I turned to The Oregon Encyclopedia site.
Democrat Edith Starrett Green represented Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District from 1955 through 1974. During her twenty years in the U.S. House of Representatives, she gained a national reputation for her leadership in shaping federal education policy and her advocacy for equal rights for women. She was known for her independence, tenacity, and ability.
Want to know even more about Green? You’ll find some good information and external sources by perusing the Wikipedia article on Green and by reading the Women in Congress article on Green.
Want to know more about the collection? Check out the Guide to the Edith Green Papers (1955-1975) on NWDA.
It should come as no surprise that archivists just really love old stuff… SCARC staff are really quite lucky to have such fabulous opportunities to see, read, add, and work with great collections and great people.
For the Friday Feature this week I want to share a few of my favorite things!
From 2009 Cheese & Pimiento Salad: “Stuff canned pimientos with cream cheese, cut into slices, and serve one or two slices to each person on lettuce leaves with French dressing.”
This is the sixth version of Benny Beaver, and the fifth version of Benny’s costume (used 1984-1998).
From the Eta Sigma Gamma, OSU Alpha Tau chapter (Health Science Honorary) Collection…
Bike trip? Flickr folks pose
“Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Hardin meet Woodsy Owl. Woodsy is the newest environmental symbol of the United States,” from the Gerald Williams Collection circa 1970.
What are some of your favorite things? Let me know at tiah.edmunson-morton@oregonstate.edu!
Terry Baker.
We’re celebrating homecoming by hosting an open house this Saturday, October 20th, from 10:00am to 2:00pm. Come see us on the 5th floor of the Valley Library in the Special Collections & Archives Research Center reading room.
During your visit you’ll be able to learn about OSU’s unique and historical collections, including the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers; view materials from past OSU Homecoming celebrations; and watch historic football films featuring Terry Baker, OSU’s 1962 Heisman Trophy winner.
We’ll also have a full complement of Beaver yearbooks and Daily Barometers available for those wishing to take a trip down memory lane.
This is the first of three football Saturday open houses that we will be hosting. The others will be held on Saturday, November 3rd (OSU vs. ASU/Dad’s Weekend) and Saturday, November 24th (Civil War Weekend). As with this coming Saturday, each of the November events will be held from 10:00-2:00.
For additional information, please contact us at 541-737-2075 or scarc[at]oregonstate[dot]edu
Go Beavs!