Teaching Hands to War: How Oregon State College Supported the War Effort Through Education

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During winter term 2025 Dr. Kara Ritzheimer’s History 310 (Historian’s Craft) students researched and wrote blog posts about OSU during WWII. The sources they consulted are listed at the end of each post. Students wrote on a variety of topics and we hope you appreciate their contributions as much as the staff at SCARC does!

Blog post written by Tanner Maynard.

Portrait of Dr. F. A. Gilfillan, acting president of Oregon State College during America's entry into World War II, from The Oregon Stater, March 1942.

The December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy forced the American people to recognize that the war raging across the globe was coming to them, whether they wanted it or not. Men stood in recruitment lines, women signed up for the Red Cross, and assembly lines transitioned from producing cars to producing tanks. The attacks galvanized the nation’s fighting spirt and Americans were once again willing to enter the fray. However, the war overseas would not be won through spirit alone. It had been more than two decades since the United States’ foray into World War One and Americans were not accustomed to, nor prepared for, the rigors of war. Technicians needed training, communities needed organizing, and those on the home front needed more practical knowledge to support the war abroad. Land-grant universities like Oregon State College (OSC) answered the nation’s call to arms by addressing the country’s educational needs.

America faced a critical shortage of engineers, doctors, and scientists for wartime needs at the onset of the United States’ entry into World War Two. In recognition of this shortage, the OSC campus almost immediately began to transition from traditional campus life towards a wartime curriculum. A headline from the March 1942 issue of The Oregon Stater, the campus’s monthly magazine, reads: “Wartime Demands Anticipated…Defense Activities at Oregon State College Meet and Exceed Suggestions of Wartime Commission.”[1] The article states that, earlier that month, under the direction of acting president Dr. F.A. Gilfillan, OSC had committed to accelerate academic schedules. College administrators planned summer classes for the upcoming term that would offer up to a maximum of 18 credits for the session and allow undergraduates in critical sectors, such as engineering and physics, to graduate earlier. OSC also contributed to the war effort by creating nutritional programs, pre-nursing courses, first aid, fire prevention training, and additional ROTC work.[2] While many of these courses were educational, the newly established physical program, for example, offered dancing classes, field games, and swimming courses, all under the supervision of OSC physical education staff.[3]

OSC was one of the first campuses in the nation to offer physical conditioning courses aimed at national defense for women.[4] While these courses were not designed to prepare women for physical combat, they were intended to condition who would go on to work in canneries, field labor, or at aid stations through the course of the war, as the Oregon State Barometer explains.[5]

By 1943, the accelerated wartime curriculum began to accommodate incoming undergraduates who participated in the similar high school Victory Corps program. The program was designed to provide some basic military training to male and female high school students. Undergraduates would be eligible to transfer their Victory Corps experience over in the form of degree credits to further accelerate their graduation date and meet the expertise required of the war.[6] Summer classes and Victory Corps workshops could give freshmen a head start on their graduation date. The wartime curriculum prepared students for their future trials. However, OSC did not just offer curriculum for its own students.

The military quickly realized its direct need for technical expertise beyond the home front. In 1943, the Army and Navy collaborated to create the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) under the Ninth Service Command. The Service Command’s intent was to train officers in subjects such as advanced engineering and other sciences. Qualified civilians, such as campus faculty, would conduct this training on a contract basis. OSC was the first institution on the West Coast to secure one of these contracts.[7] Oregon newspapers quickly praised OSC for accepting 500 soldiers in the coming spring term of 1943.[8] The ASTP required the soldier students to adhere to rigorous military and professional standards. An ASTP manual sent to the OSC President details the contracted curriculum the campus would provide, as well as the advanced expectations of those who participate in the program.[9] The program would not survive the end of the war due to more pressing manpower requirements, such a need for riflemen in late 1943 and early 1944. However, OSC continued to support the program, with contracts extending as far as July 1945.[10] Wartime curricula and the ASTP, while significant presences on the campus, were not the only educational programs offered by OSC in support of the war.

President Roosevelt’s administration confronted a monumental task in mobilizing the American people and the economy for war. In his historical analysis Wartime America, historian Dr. John Jeffries describes the complexities of mobilization and how the executive branch created various organizations to assist in that endeavor. “America’s entry into the war in December 1941 galvanized mobilization agencies, the production of war goods, and the management of the economy, but largely along lines already established. In January 1942, FDR created the War Production Board (WPB)…Designed to exercise general responsibility over the economy in order to effect conversion to war production, restrict nonessential economic activity, and coordinate materials and production priorities.”[11] By themselves, these programs would mean relatively little if the public did not know how to help support them in their day-to-day lives. You may ask an individual to do their part to control inflation, but it will not amount to much if people don’t know what that is or how they can make an impact. Luckily, OSC was well-equipped for educational outreach.

A page from an OSC Extension Services handbook detailing strategies for neighborhood leaders to combat inflation during wartime, including economic measures like tax regulation and price stabilization.

Extension Services offered by land-grant universities and colleges like OSC had a long tradition of educational outreach long before, and long after, the entry to the war. Dr. Wayne Rasmussen, former chief historian for the United States Department of Agriculture, remarked in his historical account Taking the University to the People, “Extension has been a force for sustained, rational change that improves the quality of American life. It has taken the university to the people. Indeed, it is the university of the people.”[12] He adds, “the Extension Services played pivotal roles in the nation’s survival through three major emergencies – World War I, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and World War II.”[13]

While OSC’s wartime curriculum met the educational needs of the nation on campus, its Extension Service stood ready to address them off grounds. Extension Services outreach ranged from providing practical information to local communities in support of national programs, such as the effort to control inflation, to indirect support through comprehensive diet plans and fire prevention training.

Handbooks were particularly useful to this end. One such example is the Victory Begins at Home program booklet in which OSC’s Extension Services developed a guide to assist local leaders in supporting national goals.[14] The manual emphasized the need for community leaders to keep their neighborhood informed about wartime problems as well as activities that local communities could engage in, such as the collection of scrap iron and rubber or the establishment of Victory Gardens. Nutrition became a major focus of the war effort during 1942 and 1943. Establishing home food supplies and maintaining proper nutrition would allow families to be more resilient in the face of wartime shortages. In response, Extension Services distributed material to assist families in developing easy to follow diet plans.[15] Families received detailed instructions via guidebooks and workshops on how to keep and properly manage livestock, even in confined environments.[16] The potential threat of fire sabotage by enemy forces spurred the creation of the Emergency Farm Fire Protection program in support of the national Victory Garden initiative.[17] OSC’s Extension Services not only developed these types of programs, but ensured community access via the distribution of handbooks to local communities through meetings, workshops, or mailing lists.[18] OSC’s fire prevention and training programs were so successful that in 1942, the state organized the Keeping Oregon Green association. A 1942 thesis presented to the School of Forestry noted that the recent expansion of fire patrols in rural Oregon were directly attributable to the Oregon State College Extension Service.[19] These extra patrols would surely come in handy later that year when Japan attempted to drop incendiary bombs on the Oregon coast. However, not all programs were as tangible. In 1942, the President of the United States offered a plan to control inflation. Through workshops and booklets, Extension Services offered rural communities a comprehensive understanding of the causes of inflation, as well as tips for how individuals could assist their government in their attempts to control it.[20]

Cover of a wartime handbook titled 'Planning Your Family's Food Supply,' prepared by Mable C. Mack, designed to assist families in maintaining healthy diets during wartime scarcity, featuring patriotic imagery and a decorative border.

Educational institutions did not stand idly by while the rest of the nation went to war. Distributing a handbook or taking a course is not as flashy as raising a flag on a foreign island. However, that does not mean that the services offered by institutions were not valuable. Institutions like Oregon State College worked tirelessly to address the educational needs of a nation at war. Through wartime curriculum and the outreach of Extension Service, land-grant colleges directly supported the national efforts by ensuring America had the technical and practical knowledge to win the war.

[1] “Wartime Demands Anticipated…Defense Activities at Oregon State College meet and Exceed Suggestions of Wartime Commission,” The Oregon Stater, March 1942, 2, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/fx71bk75g

[2] “Wartime Demands Anticipated,” The Oregon Stater, March 1942, 3,16, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/fx71bk75g

[3] “Physical program Open to All OSC Women,” Oregon State Barometer, March 24, 1942: 1, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71p720p#metadata

[4] “OSC Health Program Among Nation’s First,” Oregon State Barometer, March 24, 1942: 1, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71p720p#metadata

[5] Eva Seen, “Physical education Department Offers Conditioning Activities,” Oregon State Barometer, March 24,1942: 1, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71p720p#metadata

[6] “Fourth Quarter Summer Session Plans at OSC Announced by Dean Smith,” The Oregon Stater, February-March, 1943, 5, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/fx71bk89t?locale=en

[7] John Burtner, “Army Specialized training Program Set Up on Oregon State Campus,” The Oregon Stater,” (February-March, 1943), 3, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/fx71bk89t?locale=en

[8] “Oregon State Is Ready to Proceed on War Basis,” The Springfield News, March 11, 1943: 3, Historic Oregon Newspapers, https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn97071003/1943-03-11/ed-1/seq-3/#words=college+Oregon+Oregon%27s+State+war

[9]“Army Specialized Training Program,” April 3, 1944, Oregon State University’s Special Collections and Archives Research Center (hereafter SCARC), President’s Office General Subject File, Army Specialized Training Program – Curricula, Contract manuals and curriculum material, 1943-1945,” Subgroup 6, Series 8, Sub-Series 41, Reel-Folder 34.79a, 215-238. Also available through, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/4m90dw941

[10] “Army Specialized Training Program” (April 1944), 7, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/4m90dw941

[11] John Jeffries. Wartime America: The World War II Home Front (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), 17.

[12] Wayne Rasmussen, Taking the University to the People: Seventy-Five Years of Cooperative Extension (Iowa State University Press, 1989), 14.

[13] Rasmussen, Taking the University to the People, viii.

[14] Voluntary Community and Neighborhood Leadership in Oregon (Corvallis, Or. Federal Cooperative Extension Service, Oregon State College, 1942), 1-4, ScholarsArchive@OSU, https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/administrative_report_or_publications/41687k07k

[15] Mable Mack. Planning Your Family’s Food Supply (Corvallis, Or. Federal Cooperative Extension Service, Oregon State College, 1943), 1-5, ScholarsArchive@OSU, https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/administrative_report_or_publications/0g354k11p?locale=en

[16] James A. Harper and Clyde Walker, The Home Unit Poultry House. (Corvallis, Or. Federal Cooperative Extension Service, Oregon State College, 1943), 1-12, ScholarsArchive@OSU, https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/administrative_report_or_publications/5712mb02r

[17] A. S King, and R. H Sterling, Organizing for Farm Fire Protection in Oregon (Corvallis, Or. Federal Cooperative Extension Service, Oregon State College, 1942), 2. https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/administrative_report_or_publications/jd473122h

[18] A. S King, and R. H Sterling, Organizing for Farm Fire Protection in Oregon (April 1942), 3, ScholarsArchive@OSU, https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/administrative_report_or_publications/jd473122h?locale=en

[19] Eugene McNulty, Keeping Oregon Green: Handbook for Field Men of the Keep Oregon Green Association (June 1942), 5, ScholarsArchive@OSU, https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/undergraduate_thesis_or_projects/hq37vt27x?locale=en

[20] The Nation’s Program to Control Inflation (Corvallis, Or. Federal Cooperative Extension Service, Oregon State College, July 1942), 3-8, ScholarsArchive@OSU, https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/administrative_report_or_publications/fx719r33t

Foodie Friday: Liver Spoon Cakes

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It wouldn’t be the Spooky Season without an equal mix of tricks and treats. In that spirit (pun very much intended), for Taste of the ‘Chives this year I chose the September 1945 recipe from our Rationing Calendar: Liver Spoon Cakes. I’ve always enjoyed offal – what’s not to like about menudo, especially in the fall and winter months? – and thought this recipe had the potential to be unexpectedly tasty. TLDR: I was mostly wrong.

Liver Spoon Cakes

1 pound sliced liver
Warm water
2 tablespoons milk
1 onion
2 eggs
6 crackers*
¼ cup lard or bacon drippings
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Simmer liver in water for 5 minutes; drain. Put through food chopper with onion and crackers. Add seasonings, milk, and beaten egg. Mix thoroughly. Drop by tablespoonfuls into hot drippings. Brown on one side. Turn and brown on second side until crisp.
*We used Ritz, but Saltines would work. Both were available and widely sold in 1945 (we checked).

Reggie, our Quality Control Manager, stood ready (above) to taste most parts of the recipe to ensure freshness. While he refused to try the onions, he was very excited about the livers (below).

The recipe doesn’t call for garnishes of any kind, though it does suggest buttered noodles with mushrooms, green beans, and coleslaw to round out the plate. Basil leaf added for a bit of color (see finished product below).

Surprisingly, my Mom liked the finished product more than I did, though serving the cakes on a Ritz cracker did wonders for me. I can’t say I’d recommend making this recipe, but if you really enjoy the smell, flavor, and texture of liver, and want to give it a try, we made the following adjustments:

We cooked just half a recipe; even so we ended up with so much extra cake “batter.” If you made these as hors d’oeuvres, I would recommend a quarter recipe for 4-6 people. Also, be ready to air out your house before your guests arrive (the smell is truly awful).
We also added more crackers; for a half recipe, we ended up using a half sleeve of Ritz crackers (8-10). The batter just didn’t seem thick enough to hold together otherwise. Part of the problem could be the use of a food processor versus a “food chopper.” If the ingredients had been more roughly chopped, the batter may have been closer to meatball consistency (as opposed to pancake batter).
These cakes were likely eaten with a bite of noodles or green beans, not alone. If you decide to make them as hors d’oeuvres, consider putting them on crackers and topping with a small dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche and chives.

Overall, I’d give this recipe a two-and-a-half stars out of a possible five – despite the smell, it managed to be edible. When the chefs were polled, however, the decision was unanimous: it’s not worth making again. Our QC Manager abstained out of a conflict of interest.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Foodie Fridays: Spiced Waffles!

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The recipe below is derived from a 1945 wall calendar from Portland’s own First Federal Savings Bank that featured scads of recipes from their “Cooking Club.” We prepared some of these for our 2015 “Taste of the ‘Chives” recipe showcase and at that time, I opted to prepare Bombay Salad for our public sampling event (requiring that I secure and a break open a fresh coconut-a first for me!). This time, I went for a less adventuresome route and decided to make the spiced waffle recipe.

Spiced Waffles

2.5 cups of cake flour                                                       3 eggs
3 teaspoons of baking powder                                    3 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon                                                      3 tablespoons of butter/oil
.5 teaspoon cloves                                                            1.5 cups of milk
.5 teaspoon salt

Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Beat the egg-yolks
and add sugar and the butter or oil. Add milk and dry ingredients alternately to the egg-yolk mixture and fold in the egg-whites, beaten stiff. Measure the batter in a deep ladle or shallow cup. Pour on sections of well-greased waffle iron and bake approximately 20 seconds on the first side; turn and bake 40 seconds on the other side.

Pretty straightforward, though the egg yolk separation threw me a bit as this is something I’ve done maybe only once or twice before. But I managed the yolk situation well and got everything mixed just fine.

I added a dash of allspice to the mix to provide a little more depth. Otherwise, I followed the recipe to the letter (or so I thought…….). After the waffle iron heated up,
I poured the mix and eventually formed maybe 14 waffles in total. And the easiest part was serving them up with maple syrup from Vermont and chowing down!

Tasty stuff, with a nice hint of spice. As my friend Susan and I devoured these, we both noticed that the consistency was a bit thick and not as fluffy as they could have been. Throughout the process, I had wondered about the separation of the egg yolks and whites, assuming that the whites were not to be used. Wrong! When I typed up the recipe for this post, I finally read the recipe thoroughly enough to understand that the whites were to be added after everything else was mixed (and not to be used to make an extra dish of scrambled eggs to accompany the waffles!) The waffles were still toothsome and worth making again, and hopefully will be even better next time when the recipe is faithfully followed!

Susan is planning to make these waffles this upcoming weekend to see how the inclusion of the egg whites changes the taste. Either way, I’m down to try them again!

Karl McCreary – OSU SCARC

Foodie Friday: Tea shortbreads

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Every year, SCARC hosts the “Taste of the ‘Chives” event, historically held in October during Archives Month. This event features recipes from our collections, some tasty and some not so much. The event is being moved to Winter Term to coincide with the OSU Food Drive.

But, in honor of Archives Month and as a teaser for the Taste of the ‘Chives event, we are making recipes that were featured during the 10th annual Taste of the ‘Chives in 2015.

Tea shortbreads

1 ½ cups butter

1 ⅓ cups confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups pastry flour

Cream butter, gradually add sifted confectioners’ sugar and cream thoroughly. Add vanilla and sifted pastry flour. Mix well and roll out on slightly floured board to about three-eighths inch in thickness. Cut in fancy shapes with a floured cookie cutter. The dough has a tendency to fall apart and must be handled gently and quickly. Prick each shortbread with a fork, decorate with bits of candied fruits and with grains of puffed rice. Lift onto a greased cookie sheet with a pancake turner and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or about thirty-five minutes. Serve with tea.

I personally love shortbread, or other not-overly-sweet cookies, with a cup of tea. Like Walker’s Shortbread or Anna’s Ginger Swedish Thins. So this recipe really appealed to me. Plus, I liked that it did not include specialized ingredients I don’t already have in my pantry or could easily substitute. I do not have pastry flour, but you can substitute two tablespoons of cornstarch and the rest with flour for each cup.

The most challenging part of this recipe was rolling the dough out to the right thickness and choosing which cutters to use. The dough was a little crumbly when I first took it out of the bowl, but it was easily mashed together before rolling. I decided to try three different cookie cutters: 1.5-inch round, cat, and bear. The recipe mentions topping with candied fruits and puffed rice. I did not have either, so I put a few sprinkles on a couple to try. I do not feel that it added much to the overall taste and texture.

The first sheet I baked for the full 35 minutes, which was a little too long. The shortbreads were brown and had, not a burned taste, but certainly a taste of being more cooked. The second sheet, I baked for about 25 minutes before checking. These came out the more golden-blond color I was wanting. Using cookie cutters that had smaller sections (tail and ears for cat, and head and legs for bear) meant those sections got a little more cooked. This wasn’t a problem, but something to be aware of in selecting shapes.

These shortbreads were delicious with a cup of tea! Whether they were hot out of the oven or room temperature, they were a nice compliment.

For those who did the math, yes we will be celebrating the 20th Taste of the ‘Chives in February 2026. We hope to see you there!

Add Glitter to the Archives! A Crafternoon with the OSU Queer Archives and the OSU Pride Center

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The OSU Queer Archives was delighted to collaborate with the OSU Pride Center for the Center to host the event “Add Glitter to the Archives”!

The crafternoon event “Glitter in the Archives” began in 2016 as part of Oregon Archives Month and OSU’s Queer History Month celebrations to feature copies of materials from the OSU Queer Archives to use for craft-making. It was hosted in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center’s 5th Floor Reading Room in the Valley Library from 2016-2019, and in 2023-2024, we collaborated with the Libraries’ Crafternoon series and the event was hosted in the main lobby of the Library — hence the new name “Add Glitter to the Archives.”

Hosting the event at the Pride Center was extra special because the event was an opportunity for many new students to come to the Pride Center for the first time as part of the start to the academic year. It was an event by and for the community in a safe community space. And, it was a great opportunity to get to know the Pride Center staff!

For information and photos from past events, see the blog posts for Glitter in the Archives, 2016-2019 as well as Add Glitter to the Archives 2023.

Below is the crafternoon setup featuring lots of glittery collaging supplies and copies of OSQA archival materials ~ about 12 students, plus Pride Center student staff, joined us for the event!

Event Space Set Up

Crafting supplies, including button-makers!

Copies of archival materials available for craft-making

Event space set up – supplies and crafting materials

New for this year: posters the Pride Center is not retaining, and OSQA documented via photographs, were made available for crafting

Event Participants

Photos of some of the beautiful crafts!

A collage made by the same artist who crafted the buttons

Be sure to visit the Pride Center!

OSU Pride Center, located at 1553 SW A Ave, Corvallis, OR 97333

The OMA at the National REFORMA Conference 2025

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SCARC’s anti-racist descriptive activities were represented by Oregon Multicultural Archives curator Natalia Fernández at the National REFORMA Conference with a poster presentation titled “Moving from Words to Actions: Anti-Racist Description Projects of Archival Materials Pertaining to Oregon’s Latinx Community History.”

About the Conference

The National REFORMA Conference is the premier training and networking event for those dedicated to library services for Latinos and Spanish-speaking communities. It is hosted by REFORMA, established in 1971 as an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA), as a national association to promote library and information services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. The conference theme for this year was “Moving Forward Together: Empowering the Latino Community” and the conference took place September 18-21, 2025, in Long Beach, CA.

Poster Abstract

Archivists are actively engaging in anti-racist work, especially regarding how we describe the materials and collections we steward. This poster shares the Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center’s collaborative process for developing and completing anti-racist description projects. As examples, two projects pertaining to Oregon’s Latinx community history are featured: highlighting materials pertaining to Indigenous communities from Mexico present in the Erlinda Gonzales-Berry Papers and remediating the description for our online Braceros in Oregon Photographs collection.

Fernández spoke to 12 attendees during the 1 hour poster session to share SCARC’s work. Many attendees were not members of the special collections and archives community and were delighted and inspired that repositories across the county are engaging in anti-racist descriptive activities.

Digital Access to the Poster via ScholarsArchive@OSU: Moving from words to actions : anti-racist description projects of archival materials pertaining to Oregon’s Latinx community history

Poster as presented at the National REFORMA Conference poster session on September 20, 2025

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Highlights from the National REFORMA Conference 2025

Keynote Speaker: Maria Hinojosa

In 1992, Hinojosa launched Latino USA, “the longest-running public radio Latino news and cultural program,” and in 2010, she founded Futuro Media Group which “creates multimedia content for and about the new American mainstream in the service of empowering people to navigate the complexities of an increasingly diverse and connected world.” (from Latino USA and Future Media Group about pages)

Tour! Chicano History & REFORMA Archives

Description: Explore the REFORMA Archives and uncover Chicano history in Los Angeles. Begin at the REFORMA archives at California State University, Los Angeles, to learn about the organization’s role in preserving and advocating for Latino library services. Then, visit the Chicano Resource Center at the East Los Angeles Library, a vital hub for research on Chicano heritage and activism.

REFORMA archives at California State University, Los Angeles

California State University, Los Angeles, Special Collections and Archives

REFORMA newsletters from 2001-2002 featuring information about the need for mentorship within the profession and advocating for language rights nation-wide

Reports from the 1980s on topics still relevant to this day: the lack of representation of people of color in the library profession

The Chicano Resource Center at the East Los Angeles Library

The Chicano Resource Center, external view

The Chicano Resource Center, internal view

Resources Featured During Conference Sessions

Bibliopolítica: A Digital History of the Chicano Studies Library ~ at the intersection of Chicana/o/x Studies, Digital Humanities, and Library History, this online exhibit chronicles the history of one of the first Chicana/o/x collections, the Chicano Studies Library (CSL) at the University of California, Berkeley. Viewers are invited to explore the digital exhibit, listen to recorded oral histories, browse digitized archival items, or explore on their own path.

Cinco Books ~ making available the classic and also the newest from the Spanish speaking world / acceso a las obras clásicas de la literatura del mundo hispano hablante.

Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves ~ a session partially inspired by this article which defines vocational awe as “the set of ideas, values, and assumptions librarians have about themselves and the profession that result in notions that libraries as institutions are inherently good, sacred notions, and therefore beyond critique.” The author states: “I argue that the concept of vocational awe directly correlates to problems within librarianship like burnout and low salary. This article aims to describe the phenomenon and its effects on library philosophies and practices so that they may be recognized and deconstructed.”

Celebrating 2025 Latiné Heritage Month!

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The Oregon Multicultural Archives participated in 4 events this month to celebrate 2025 Latino/a/x/é Heritage Month!

To kick off the month, we were invited to feature the Colegio César Chávez exhibit as part of two Latinx community celebration events, the Festival Latino in Albany and the PODER Hispanic Heritage Month Summit, Salem.

On October 8th, we were invited to introduce the OPB film The Living Legacy of the Colegio César Chávez at Portland State University for a film screening and panel discussion. To close out the month, on October 12th we were invited to host a table at the 2nd annual OSU Latina Luncheon.

Festival Latino, Albany, OR on September 14th at Monteith Riverpark

The event included musical acts, art and history exhibits (including Colegio!), activities for children, and plenty of food vendors. It was hosted by the Linn-Benton Hispanic Advisory Committee.

Event Photos of the Exhibit and Information Table

About 150 people viewed the exhibit and about 75 event attendees stopped by the information table to ask questions and learn more during the 5 hour event!

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PODER Hispanic Heritage Month Summit, Salem, OR on September 15th

PODER, Oregon’s Latino Leadership Network is a nonprofit organization made up of over 3,200 Latino leaders, organizations, businesses, public employees, community members, and allies across Oregon. Oregon’s premier Hispanic Heritage Month Breakfast & Summit brought together hundreds of leaders, executives, and changemakers to celebrate and lead.

This is the 3rd year the Summit has featured the exhibit! About 50 event attendees viewed the exhibit during the pre-breakfast 1-hour resource fair.

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Film Screening and Panel Discussion of the OPB film The Living Legacy of the Colegio César Chávez at Portland State University, Lincoln Hall, on October 8th

The event featured a panel of speakers which included Alicia Avila, a multilingual journalist and documentary producer based in Portland, Oregon, who produced the film; Sonny Montes and José Romero, the co-founders of the Colegio César Chávez; and Anthony Veliz, the founder of PODER: Oregon’s Latino Leadership Network. There were about 25 attendees.

While the event was not recorded, it was similar to the January 2025 film screening and panel discussion that took place at the Oregon Historical Society; this event was recorded: “The Living Legacy of Colegio César Chávez” Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion

This event was organized and hosted by PSU’s Global Diversity and Inclusion office which “offers robust diversity programming that serves and empowers student populations whose success, retention, and academic success are most challenged by historical factors and contemporary inequity” (GDI website). PSU was designated as an “emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution” (HSI), a distinction provided to institutions in which Hispanic students make up between 15 and 24 percent of full-time undergraduates and was awarded the 2024 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from Insight Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. In the summer of 2025, is was announced that GDI was being dismantled as part of a broader university restructuring process and this was the office’s final HSI event.

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2nd Annual OSU Latina Luncheon at Oregon State University, Corvallis, on October 12th

The OSU Foundation and Alumni Association hosted the 2nd Annual OSU Latina Luncheon to honor the resilience and fortitude of the Latine/Hispanic community while offering a stage for distinguished Oregon State and community Latina leaders to share their remarkable journeys of overcoming challenges and achieving success.

Of the two hour event with over 100 visitors, there was about 45 minutes of mingle time before the formal program began. We had the opportunity to talk with about 15 event attendees to share information about the Oregon Multicultural Archives, specifically, our Latino/Latina community archival materials.

The space was decorated beautifully and the event concluded with a couple lively rounds of Lotería.

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Exhibit on Exhibits! “Looking Back, Looking Ahead: A Retrospective of Exhibits in the Special Collections & Archives Research Center”

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SCARC is delighted to share a behind-the-scenes look at the how and why of exhibit curation through the lens of the 18 exhibits we have hosted since 2012!

When: The 2025-2026 academic year (Fall 2025 – Summer 2026)

Where: The Valley Library 5th Floor SCARC Exhibit Cases (open during SCARC’s open hours, Monday – Friday 10am-4pm)

Bonus! Across the avenue, in the exhibit alcove is a complimentary exhibit featuring the title posters.

Exhibit Curation: Tiah Edmunson-Morton & Natalia Fernández

Graphic Design: Amber Taylor

Introductory panel to the exhibit “Looking Back, Looking Ahead: A Retrospective of Exhibits in the Special Collections & Archives Research Center”

A Look Behind the Curtain!

Throughout the exhibit we answers many common questions about the exhibit curation process:

Who Creates an Exhibit?
How Is an Exhibit Organized?
Where Do Exhibit Ideas Come From?
How Do We Choose Exhibit Titles?
Who Designs SCARC’s Exhibits?
How Do We Design for Different Audiences?
What Makes It Into an Exhibit (and What Doesn’t)?
How Has the Exhibit Space Changed Over Time?
Do you have exhibit spaces beyond the cases in this foyer?
How Do We Promote Exhibits?
Do You Ever Reuse or Reinterpret Past Exhibits?

More Images of the Exhibit!

Exhibit Posters!

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As a complimentary exhibit to “Looking Back, Looking Ahead: A Retrospective of Exhibits in the Special Collections & Archives Research Center” featured in the SCARC Exhibit Gallery, the exhibit alcove features the title posters of the 18 exhibits we have hosted since 2012.

When: The 2025-2026 academic year (Fall 2025 – Summer 2026)

Where: The Valley Library 5th Floor SCARC Exhibit Alcove (across from the SCARC Reading Room and open during The Valley Library’s open hours)

SCARC’s Exhibits, 2012-2025

Manuscripts to Molecules: The Four Signature Collecting Areas of SCARC (2012-2013)
Benjamin A. Gifford: Chronicler of Oregon’s Natural Beauty (2013)
Activism in Action: Voices from the Collection (2013-2014)
Applause! An Exhibit Showcasing Two Performing Arts Organizations in Oregon (2014)
The Rural World: For the Farmer, Orchardist, Gardener, Poultryman, Dairyman, Apiculturist, Brewer, Housewife, and the Children (2014-2015)
The Art of Beer: What’s on the Outside (2015)
The Nuclear Age: Seventy Years of Peril and Hope (2015)
Heartwood: Inquiry and Engagement with Pacific Northwest Forests (2016)
Catching Stories: The Oral History Tradition at OSU (2016)
Beautiful Science, Useful Art: Data Visualization through History (2017)
Uprooted: Japanese American Farm Labor Camps during World War II (2017)
Community – Collaboration – Craft: A Glimpse of Art at OSU (2018)
Women’s Words / Women’s Work: Spaces of Community, Change, Tradition, Resistance at Oregon State University (2018)
Catching Birds With a Camera: Finley, Bohlman, and the Photographs That Launched Oregon’s Conservation Movement (2019)
Piles to Files: Behind the Scenes at the Archives (2019)
Legacy of an Oregonian Photographer: the Chuck Williams Photographic Collection (2020-2023)
Colegio César Chávez: The Legacy Lives On / El legado sigue vivo (2023-2024)
Anti-Racist Description: Activities in the OSU Special Collections and Archives Research Center (2024-2025)

Photos of the Exhibit!

SCARC’s Anti-Racist Description Work Featured in Archival Outlook

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SCARC’s anti-racist description work, specifically our 2024-2025 exhibit “Anti-Racist Description Activities in OSU’s Special Collections and Archives Research Center”, was featured in the July/September 2025 issue of the Society of American Archivists’ bimonthly magazine Archival Outlook!

The article includes information about the exhibit, the exhibit curation process as well as its promotion and community response, and plans for next steps.

View the digital issue online: Archival Outlook July/September 2025

The issue was featured in the September 17, 2025 “In the Loop” digital newsletter mailed to members of the Society of American Archivists (the image below is a screenshot from the digital newsletter):

Be sure to check out all of SCARC’s anti-racist activities via the blog posts tagged “Reparative Description” and the SCARC anti-racist actions website.