Category Archives: Exhibit

WGSS 50th Anniversary Exhibit

Celebrating 50 Years of the Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies / Queer Studies Program at Oregon State University

In 2022, Susan Shaw, Professor and former Director of OSU’s Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) program asked librarian, Jane Nichols, if The Valley Library would create and host a display of materials celebrating the program’s history. As the librarian for WGSS, she was well-positioned to bring together a team to work on this project. Drawing on OSU’s Special Collections and Archives Research Center holdings, they pieced together WGSS’ history through this exhibit.

For PDFs of the exhibit panels see “50 Years of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Oregon State University” by Chris Snyder and Jane Nichols via ScholarsArchive@OSU.

The WGSS 50th Anniversary exhibit celebrates and documents the growth of the Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies / Queer Studies program from its 1972 beginnings as a feminist reading group to its current success as an academic program with a thriving activist-scholar community. Detailing how the history of WS/WGSS/QS bleeds through to the present, this display highlights activism, community organizing, intersectionality, and the collaborative ethos which has guided the program, the faculty, and the students in their work both inside and outside of the classroom. Interviews, scholarship, zines, and art express the academic vigor and creativity of WGSS/QS faculty, alumni, and students across the years. Reflecting on WGSS/QS’ journey as a burgeoning discipline at OSU, the posters and accompanying book display explore the program’s ongoing commitment to tackling multifaceted societal injustices and look forward to the ways in which the program will continue to expand on and nuance the revolutionary energy of the early program leaders.

All are welcome to view the exhibit and check out books from the accompanying display, both located on the 5th Floor Alcove across from the Special Collections Special Collections and Archives Research Center.

Our work and this display take place on the Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon campus, which is located in the traditional territory of the Chepenefa (“Mary’s River”) band of the Kalapuya. Through this display we wish to create space for us the contributors and you the readers to interrogate understandings of this location’s history where after the Kalapuya Treaty (Treaty of Dayton) in 1855, Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to what are now the Grand Ronde and Siletz reservations. The Kalapuya are now members of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

We extend our appreciation to all who contributed to this project including OSU’s Special Collections and Archives Research Center staff Rachel Lilley and Anna Dvorak; OSULP librarian Jane Nichols and graphic designers Rox Beecher and Robin Weis; and interviewees Dr. Qwo-Li Driskill, Dr. Susan Shaw, Kryn Freehling-Burton, and Sujittra Avery Carr. Extra gratitude goes to Chris Snyder, School of Writing, Literature, and Film Graduate Teaching Assistant who authored much of the writing of the exhibit. This exhibit would not be possible without their collective contributions.

“Catching Birds with a Camera” ~ the OHS exhibit comes to OSU

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We are so excited to be hosting the Oregon Historical Society (OHS) exhibit “Catching Birds with a Camera: Finley, Bohlman and the Photographs That Launched Oregon’s Conservation Movement” from February – July 2019!

OHS curated and hosted the exhibit in 2018 as an extension of a joint grant project between OHS and SCARC. During 2016-2017, both institutions collaborated on the project “Reuniting Finley and Bohlman” to make more than 40 years of photographs, manuscripts, publications, correspondence, and other materials created by William Finley, Irene Finley, and Herman Bohlman available online. The digitization effort allows the collection, which is physically divided between the OHS and SCARC to be united in its entirety for researchers and conservationists to access online. Included in the project are nearly 7,000 images and over 8,000 pages of manuscript materials that are available at digitalcollections.ohs.org and oregondigital.org/sets/finley-bohlman

William L. Finley’s interest in wildlife conservation began when he and his boyhood friend, Herman T. Bohlman, began photographing birds around Oregon at the turn of the twentieth century. Photos and manuscripts by noted conservationist William L. Finley, his wife Irene, and Herman T. Bohlman helped in establishing wildlife refuges in Oregon. The photographs include Finley and Bohlman’s trips to Malheur Lake, the Klamath Lakes, and Three Arch Rocks on the Oregon coast – and, these photographs played a key role in President Theodore Roosevelt’s decision to create wildlife refuges at those locations. A fourth wildlife refuge in Corvallis was named in honor of William Finley. More information about Finley can be found on The Oregon Encyclopedia

In addition, the project included a public lecture tour, “On the Road with Finley and Bohlman,” in which the exhibit curator and OHS’s digital services librarian, Laura Cray, gave a lecture series in various locations across the state. A recording of one of the lectures, along with a panel discussion and Q&A featuring Bob Sallinger, Tom McAllister, and Worth Mathewson, can be found online via OHS’s website “On the Road with Finley and Bohlman: Portland” In addition, Cray wrote an article for the Oregon Historical Quarterly “Finding Finley: Reuniting the Works of Naturalist William L. Finley through Digital Collaboration”

If you stop by SCARC and have interest in checking out our collections, be sure to review:

Also, we’ve blogged quite a bit about Finley’s work, so be sure to peruse our many Speaking of History blog posts about Finley

And now, photos of the exhibit!

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The “Getting Our Goat” video is available online – a very well spent 15 minutes of your time if you ask us.

Plus, we have a mini-display just outside the main exhibit cases…

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We hope you stop by in the coming months to view the exhibit!

New Exhibit! “Manuscripts to Molecules: the 4 signature collecting areas of SCARC”

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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.

ART 494 illuminated manuscripts display

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Illuminated Manuscripts display

Priscilla West’s ART 494 class visited the Special Collections & Archives Research Center during spring term to see the illuminated manuscript Gradual in our collections. Seeing and experiencing a real manuscript, bound in leather and metal and written with ink on parchment, inspired many students for their final projects.

Alexis Brown

The goal of their final project was to incorporate paleographic analysis into the production of their own illuminated manuscript. The assignment required a text of 2000 words produced in a medieval or Renaissance style. Each student selected their own stylistic approach. Several students composed their texts, and others chose especially meaningful excerpts from favorite authors.

Martha Baker

The students’ final projects are boundlessly creative, using a variety of media in both traditional and new ways. Many used gold leaf or gold ink in their works to mimic the intricate gold detailing of many illuminated manuscripts. They found a multitude of ways to give an “old” look to paper and to duplicate the aged parchment of the Gradual and other manuscripts they saw: some stained the paper with tea, some burned the edges of the paper, some crumpled then flattened the sheets, some used a vellum-like paper. One student used actual sheep parchment! Several students were impressed at the metal studs used in the binding of the Gradual, and reproduced the look with upholstery tacks and gold thumb tacks. And though students were not required to bind their manuscripts, many chose to, and used an exciting spectrum of durable materials: denim, leather, faux leather, even rabbit fur!

Kjersti Ostner

Through this fantastic project, students got a glimpse of the immense artistry and intense effort of medieval monks and scribes, and created their own lasting illuminated wonders.

Karen Ceboll

The display of the students’ projects will be available for viewing during normal library hours during September and October, just outside of the Special Collections & Archives Research Center on the 5th floor of the Library, near the elevators. You can also find a set on Flickr with more images for your viewing pleasure.

If you have any questions, contact History of Science Collections Librarian Anne Bahde at anne.bahde@oregonstate.edu.

Treasures of the McDonald Collection: an online exhibit

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Loose leaf from a Gregorian chant book, 1400s.

Take a break this weekend and peruse one of OSU’s oldest and most intriguing resources with the OSU Libraries’ Special Collections & Archives Research Center’s newest exhibit “Treasures of the McDonald Collection.”

The Mary McDonald Rare Book and Manuscript Collection provides the Oregon State University community with access to a wide range of rare and valuable manuscripts, books, and prints. The McDonald Collection contains items from both the sciences and humanities collected by Mary McDonald and Oregon State University for their historical significance and craftsmanship. This exhibit makes available the collection’s most striking items through a narrative history of the evolution of text production from approximately 3000 BCE to the 20^th century and features examples from many of the world’s most important intellectual and technological advances in printing.

Want to know more? Click through and read up!

A Whole Month to Celebrate Archives!

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OSU Archives 50th Anniversary Display

Celebrate Oregon Archives Month and the OSU Archives 50th Anniversary!

Check out our latest display for a look into the behind-the-scenes past of the Archives – you’ll find out 50 years worth of fun facts like who the first OSU archivist was and which campus buildings have housed the archives, plus you’ll get to see images of previous decades archives fashions and technologies.

Come see the display in the 3^rd Floor Archives Reading Room and check out the Digital Collection in Flickr

And as an added bonus, we have another Flickr Set for you…

Over the past year, two archives student workers have been curating displays almost every month – find out how they do it by browsing through their Flickr Set Under Glass and In PowerPoint

Want to learn more? Contact Oregon Multicultural Librarian Natalia Fernández at natalia.fernandez@oregonstate.edu

Exhibit Co-Curated by OSU University Archives Student Workers Kelsey Ockert and Ingrid Ockert with special thanks to Archivist Karl McCreary

Happy 100th Birthday to OSU Extension Service!

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New Online Exhibit celebrates the 100 year anniversary of Oregon State University Extension Services

Have you heard? OSU Extension turns 100 on July 24! And you know we love to celebrate with pictures, right?

In honor of their birthday, the OSU Archives invites you to view our newly launched on-line exhibit: Oregon State University Extension Service: 100 Years of Putting Knowledge to Work. The exhibit compliments the Extension Tour of Oregon collection in OSU Flickr Commons. We’ll continue to launch new sets each Wednesday through the end of August. So if you aren’t already waiting with baited breath — or if you are behind in your viewing — you can still mark your calendars to catch more new additions.

The Oregon Extension Service was established July 24, 1911 to extend the knowledge of Oregon’s Land Grant University to the rest of the state. Over the past century, hundreds of Extension agents have worked tirelessly to support that mission by engaging even the most rural of Oregon’s citizens to improve their lives at work, in the field, and at home. This exhibit is a look back at Oregon’s Extension Service and the people who have made it the program it is today. Learn more about the centennial on the Extension site.

The exhibit is curated by Laura Cray a graduate student in History of Science at OSU.

For more information, contact Tiah Edmunson-Morton, the Archives Public Services and Instruction Coordinator.

Hats off to OSU!

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Check out our latest display in which we celebrate OSU! In our summer display “Hats off to OSU!” you’ll see hats, of course, along with patches, ear muffs, and even an OSU doll!

Come see the display in the 3^rd Floor Archives Reading Room and check out the Digital Collection in Flickr!

Want to learn more? Contact Oregon Multicultural Librarian Natalia Fernández at natalia.fernandez@oregonstate.edu

Exhibit Co-Curated by OSU University Archives Student Workers Kelsey Ockert and Ingrid Ockert

Shots from the Past: Early Benton County Photographers

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Emile F Pernot, circa 1890

The OSU Archives and Benton County Museum have joined forces to present an exhibition of historical photographs from the OSU, Horner Museum, and BCHS collections. Intrigued? The show is at the Moreland Auditorium (1101 Main Street in Philomath) and runs from June 10 to July 30. You’ll find works from nearly 100 photographs, plus biographical highlights of more than two dozen Oregon photographers or photo studios that date prior to World War I. Many of these rare, original, photographs have never been publicly exhibited.

Enjoy a visit to Oregon’s past AND present! Located six miles west of Corvallis on Hwy 20/34, at 1101 Main Street, Philomath, Oregon, the Benton County Historical Society operates the Museum facilities for the preservation of history and culture. Its goal is to preserve the material culture of Benton County, Oregon. It strives to enrich people’s lives through interesting exhibitions and educational programs.

The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 – 4:30. Admission is always free! Please call (541) 929-6230 for more information or visit www.bentoncountymuseum.org.

And, in case you are ready to do a little pre-research, photographers represented in the exhibit include Albert Abendroth, W.M. Ball, Chester M. Coffey,Conn and Underwood, Henry De Groot,Lottie Ebbert, William Emery, John Fulton,W.S. Gardner, L. Goldson, S.B. Graham, S.E. Gray & Co, E. Heslop, Robert M. Howells,George Leeper, C. Morris, Mrs. R. Morrison,R.C. Moseley, T.H. Mulkey, Pernot Brothers, E.W. Philips, David Stryker,Sydney Emmet Trask, Maggie Weigand,George Weister and the Woodruff Gallery.

Pride at OSU!

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Pride Month Display

Have you heard of Pride Week, Coming Out Day, and the Lavender Graduation? These are all OSU’s Rainbow Continuum traditions. The organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, and intersex (LGBTQQI) students, and allies meets in the OSU Pride Center. Although the Pride Center opened in 2004, its history and the Rainbow Continuum’s history date back to 1976 when the Barometer ran a small announcement, calling for people to meet at the Women’s Resource Center to discuss “the needs of gay people.”

Want to know more? Come see the display in the 3^rd Floor Archives Reading Room and check out the Digital Collection in Flickr!

Want to learn more? Contact Oregon Multicultural Librarian Natalia Fernández at natalia.fernandez@oregonstate.edu

Exhibit curated by OSU University Archives student worker Kelsey Ockert.