The University Archives is the repository for official and unofficial records that document OSU’s history. Our collections include historical records of enduring value generated by faculty, academic departments, administrative offices, students, and campus organizations.

Archival Collections: What Will I Find There?

• Diaries and Journals
• Letters/Correspondence
• Institutional and Business Records
• Photographs and other Visual Images
• Maps, Blueprints, and Plans
• Transcripts and Recordings of Oral History Interviews or Oral Traditions
• Sound and Video Recordings
• Physical Artifacts

So How Do I Find Archives?

• National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections: This is an online catalog containing descriptions of archival collections from all over the nation.
• National Archives and Records Administration – Pacific Alaska Region: the National Archives keeps documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government; this site includes finding aids for records held at the Pacific Alaska Region facility.
• Primary Resource Repositories: This site contains links to the Web pages of archives and special collections throughout the U.S., Canada and the world. It is organized by state and then alphabetical by repository.
• Library of Congress American Memory: American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.
• Northwest Digital Archives site: The site’s database includes finding aids (more than 1,800 currently) from 16 archival repositories in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. The search page includes options for searching or browsing with terms for several ethnic and cultural groups.

What Can I Find in the OSU Archives?

The primary mission of the University Archives is to collect, maintain, preserve and make available to researchers the historical records of Oregon State University. Within this large body of documentation are sources for the study of ethnic communities that have shaped OSU and Oregon. The collections listed here are but a few containing information about the many communities that make up our university.

• OSU Archives
• Braceros in Oregon Photograph Collection
• Student Affairs Records (Record Group 102)
• Budgets and Planning Records (Record Group 125)
• Gifford Photograph Collection (P 218)
• E. E. Wilson Photograph Collection (P 101)
• Basques in Harney County Oral History Collection (OH 4)
• Oregon Multicultural Archives

Oregon Multicultural Archives (OMA)

• What is the Oregon Multicultural Archives? The OSU Libraries’ Oregon Multicultural Archives acquires, preserves, and makes available collections that document the lives and activities of African American, Asian American, Latino and Native American communities of Oregon.
• What Will I Find There?
• What Will I Find in the OMA Digital Collection? The Oregon Multicultural Archives Digital Collection consists of images that document the lives and activities of ethnic minorities in Oregon. The images are drawn from the archival collections that form the Oregon Multicultural Archives.
• Where Can I Find Out More About the OMA?
• Where Can I Find More Sources?

Where can I find more? Links to other online archival collections

• Columbia River Basin Ethnic History Archive: The CRBEHA brings together selected highlights of the ethnic collections from leading repositories in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. In addition to the digital archive, CRBEHA provides tutorials on how to research and interpret library and museum resources, and encourages public dialogue about ethnic history sources and issues in its online discussion forum.
• Black Oral History Interviews: This collection, developed by Washington State University, consists of interviews conducted by Quintard Taylor and his associates, Charles Ramsay and John Dawkins. They interviewed African American pioneers and their descendents throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, from 1972-1974.
• First Nations Tribal Collection: This collection developed at Southern Oregon University consists of documents, books, and articles relating to the indigenous peoples of this bioregion, including the Klamath, Modoc, Takelma, Shasta, Cow Creek Band of Umpqua, and Yahooskin nations.
• American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Digital Collection: This site provides an extensive digital collection of original photographs and documents about the Northwest Coast and Plateau Indian cultures, complemented by essays written by anthropologists, historians, and teachers about both particular tribes and cross-cultural topics. These cultures have occupied, and in some cases still live in parts of Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. This collection is also available via the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress.
• Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive (JARDA): JARDA is a digital “thematic collection” within the OAC documenting the experience of Japanese Americans in World War II internment camps, including Japanese Americans from Oregon. Curators, archivists, and librarians from ten participating OAC contributing institutions selected a broad range of primary sources to be digitized, including photographs, documents, manuscripts, paintings, drawings, letters, and oral histories. Over 10,000 digital images have been created complemented by 20,000 pages of electronic transcriptions of documents and oral histories. These materials are described and inventoried in 28 different online guides or “finding aids.”