The Students Offering is the first known OSU publication, published in 1869 the first year of OSU. It is hand written by multiple students, and is over 30 pages long. Many of the students who wrote in it used pseudonyms.

It has a wide range of material in it, some of it more serious reflections on the time, however with close observation it becomes apparent that much of it is meant to be comedic. Each ‘section’ has a title and is usually 1-2 pages long.

One of the more serious sections is titled  “Finley and the Electric Telegraph.” It documents Hugh McNary Finley, the editor of The Students Offering’s fascination with electricity, and his hopes to better understand it through looking at the telegraph.

On page 13 there is an entertaining three-page story about a ‘young man’ attempting to marry a young lady named Betsy. Unfortunately Betsy’s mom is not as enthusiastic about the arrangement and ends up beating and chasing him, so he hides in a barrel of soap in the laundry room of Betsy and her parent’s house. After being found by Betsy and her mom, he has one last embrace with Betsy and in his words: “was torn from the arms of my Betsy never to see her again.” The writer signs off as “Sur Livingood.”

Throughout the publication, when a piece ends and there is space at the end of the page there are short poems or jokes such as “Why is Bachelor Square like Central Park New York? Because it is well supplied with fountains.”  In one such longer page break, there is a charming rhyming paragraph entitled “The Ten Commandments to the young ladies of Corvallis College” with some advice.

“The Ten Commandments, to the young ladies of Corvallis College.
Though shalt have no thoughts of the boys, cast no sheep eyes to such human boys; Abstain from rough hair; dress unclean, lest to the world uncomely you seem, take not of the pretty boys names in vain, nor dare be absent Wednesday again, be not jealous of thy neighbor, nor spend thine time in useless labor, take heed no heart to break asunder, or the faculty will give you thunder.” ~ Aunt Hannah

Looking at this publication was incredibly entertaining and offered a fun look into some of the thoughts and humor of the time when OSU first began. I’d highly recommend taking the time to look at it, I think it is one of the hidden treasures that this internship helped resurface.

Part of what makes history come alive in the archives is when you find a personal connection to it. This happened to me while looking at of all things the Fusser’s guide. The Fusser’s Guide served as the OSU phone directory, and for the last few years was called the OSU Phone Directory.

An interesting fact about the term ‘Fussers’ is that it refers to dating! Some of the covers of the Fussers Guide are very suggestive to this. It is fun to remember that at the time phones (land lines!) would have been a new exciting way to keep in contact with people. The Fusser’s Guide served as a directory for students to find each other. Along with phone numbers, it also included residence information (address or residence hall), class standing, and major affiliation.

My grandmother, Helen Jones (Ossiander) went to OSU when it was called Oregon State College in the mid 1940s, and unusual for her time and gender she got a degree in Chemistry. While it isn’t much to look at it was neat to find her name in a couple of the directories. I also found my grandfather Frank Ossiander, who at that time would have been her future husband, and his older brother Homer Ossiander.

When I told my grandmother all of this, she laughed. She hadn’t even known (or she just doesn’t remember!) that the Fussers Guide existed; she said she didn’t think she ever got one. That being said, she is 89 now, so that is the sort of thing that she easily may have forgotten about!

One guess who I am named after!

This year Helena Egbert is working as an intern in SCARC, focusing on the OSU publications in our collections. She’s written this post to talk about her work, but I’m the one who chose this photo because it was just too great.

Women refiling deed books at the Marion County Courthouse, circa 1950. Recorder’s office staff in the vault. From left to right: Romona Evans, Salem; Virginia Gritton, Salem; and Irene Johnson, Salem. P218 SG4 Series II

Inevitably, when I tell friends or family that I am the OSU Publications Intern at the campus library, their first follow up question is “What do you do?”

My simple answer is that I help organize, catalog, and describe OSU Publications in the Valley Library, this blog is my long answer. Ultimately, all of this makes these publications accessible to the wider OSU community or anyone interested in OSU publications.

My first project as the OSU PUBS intern was to compile an enormous list of over 500 different publication groups, or PUBS, into an Excel spreadsheet. Each PUBS group contains a collection of related material published by OSU. Along with the title of each PUBS group, if possible I also listed the location of the material. It quickly became apparent that OSU PUBS are scattered across numerous different locations, from the Valley main collection to archival collections of the History of OSU and the PCNW. With all of this information consolidated into one place, it is easier to retrieve and review each PUBS group.

Retrieving the PUBS group to look at is always exciting. Most PUBS I have looked at have documents from the early 1900s to even the late 1800s. It is interesting to get to look at how even boring sounding publications such as the Corvallis Telephone Directory or the Oregon State Staff Directories can change over time. However, the publications are not only in their original paper form, most of them have copies saved onto microfilm. I go through each microfilm reel attached to their respective PUBS group and compare them to the physical copies we have and track any differences. If the content on the microfilm is the same as the physical copies, we get rid of the microfilm.

Once I have a comprehensive list of everything in the PUBS group, I enter it onto Archon with a description of the material. By publishing all of this on Archon, these previously poorly described publications, are now easily accessible to the public.

Cigarettes in books? Not okay!

This past week was a fascinating one. The nutrition tab for the LibGuide was already pretty fleshed out thanks to Anne Bahde, so it was easy to dedicate one day to just formatting it, tinkering with some things, and overall making it polished (and matching the rest of the tabs.) The second full day for my internship, Tiah and I spent the day looking at documents relating to labor here in Oregon, and we found many fun things.

In one of the first boxes that we looked through, it held several old notebooks from the late 1800’s early 1900’s. Inside of one, Tiah actually found an old cigarette butt between the pages! 

We also found some documents about food supplies for community during World War II, as well as potential forms for counties to use to identify their needs. On one of the film reels, it detailed a lot about child labor here in Oregon in 1943-1944, which was really fascinating. 

Minimal information was found (in our brief day of searching) about immigrant or POW labor, but we’re confident it’s out there! 

One of our library colleagues got curious when doing his work in ScholarsArchive after coming across this 1996 issue of The Messenger.

Because we work in a library we want to share, so he posted “Wondering who Alice Kathryn Kidder” was? Wish you had some of her persimmon jam right now? Check out page 10” on our All Library Slack channel and one of my archives colleagues replied with by pointing to the small collection we have of her photographs.

• You can see the guide here.

We put all sorts of helpful things in our guides, including “Biographical / Historical Notes.”

Born in Portland, Oregon in 1902, Alice Kathryn Kidder attended Oregon Agricultural College in 1920. Graduating in 1924, she taught elementary school in Ashland for a year before moving to California, where she continued to teach until 1952.

Active in alumni affairs, Kidder was a member of the OSU President’s Club and the Council of Regents until the 1990’s.

Andrew Kidder attended OAC from 1893 to 1896 and worked with the Department of Botany and Horticulture in the College greenhouses from 1891 to 1897. In addition to Alice, Andrew also had a son, who graduated from OAC in 1923.

Her legacy to the University has been recognized in the establishment of the Alice Kathryn Kidder Grand Foyer in the Valley Library.

And then I got curious and looked in the yearbook, which is how I found the picture above, and then I looked at the Alumni Magazine and got way too sucked in.

That’s how it works when you work with an archivist. You pull out a little thread and we can’t stop pulling the rest!

A farm labor sign at one of the highway entrances to Medford, Oregon, was asking for farm laborers.

The idea of labor supply is a fascinating one that is heavily connected with food supply. During WWII, you were serving your country whether you were on the front lines of the war, or back home working on a farm. All hands were on deck, and it’s fascinating to see especially here in Oregon. There were several farm labor camps in the surrounding area, and in the image you can see that they weren’t too picky about who was working. 

Fun fact (for myself): There were several farm labor camps in Coburg, Oregon – a place I drive through regularly to visit family in Eugene. After seeing the images, the layout of the town made absolute sense to me. There are several farms surrounding Coburg, and even more between Coburg and Corvallis. 

I plan on looking further into more local labor forces and seeing where laborers came from and the types of work they were used for. It will be exciting to see!Y

You can find this 1944 Medford farm labor sign picture online. Keep watching this blog for the March debut of the Food and Farming history guide.  

Victory Farm Volunteers were made up of youth 11 to 17 years of age and was one of the largest groups in the Emergency Farm Labor Service work force. 26 X 18.5 inch poster seeking volunteers for the Victory Farm Volunteer program of the U.S. Crop Corps. Poster was printed by the U.S. Government printing office in 1945.

As I’ve written in other blog posts, I knew that OSU was an agricultural college, yet it seems I continue to learn more and more about how deeply ingrained farming is in the university. When working on collecting information for the Farming and Agricultural tab for the LibGuide, there were A LOT of resources, from personal documents, to Extension Services pamphlets, and then to science surrounding farming (and all that entails.)

• Listen to some stories in the Oregon State University Extension Service Faculty and Staff Oral History Collection, 2007-2009

It’s also incredible to see the titles of the rare books we have that span centuries, detailing different farming techniques and plenty more related to agriculture. So far, this has been a great term looking into all things food related, and it makes me appreciate even more the land in Oregon, as well as the incredible research done (and has been done) here at OSU!

Be watching this blog for Alexys Gibson’s completed Food and Farm history guide to learn all about the treasures you can find in our collections to support all your research. 

Caricature of Linus Pauling created by Eleanor Mill and published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, May 1992.

“People are not dying from too much fatty food, they’re dying from too little vitamin C.” Linus Pauling, Vitamin C and Heart Disease, 1977

Health-conscious readers of a certain age have likely experienced a frustrating back and forth in food trends over the past several decades, and especially in the 1980s and 1990s. First eggs were said to be bad for you because they are high in cholesterol, then it was learned that they didn’t increase cholesterol in the blood. Likewise, butter was believed to be a health risk because of its high levels of saturated fats, however, butter (especially from grass fed animals, and especially as opposed to margarine) is now argued to be a valuable source of vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids. Chocolate and red meat, too, were decried for being too fatty or, in the case of chocolate, also too sugary. Yet today, both are viewed as useful and even valuable sources of nutrition, so long as they are consumed in moderation.

Read the whole post on the Pauling Blog. 

In mid January I braved the winter snow to travel to Bend to give a talk on the history of hops in America, this post is the text of my talk.

I was part of a history session, sandwiched in between Dr. Al Haunold, who released the Cascade hop and talked about his work in the USDA/OSU public breeding program, and 4 hop growers, some with roots reaching back 6 generations. So there’s some pressure to be correct when you are talking to farmers about their history!

Read the whole talk on the Brewstorian blog.