Daily Archives: December 30, 2014

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;
  • 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