Fraternities: The Unsung Housing Heroes of World War Two

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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 Kyle Knott

When researching college campuses during World War Two, many historians look at the student populations or faculty. Some might even look at religious groups or specific areas of study. However, compared to the previous topics, the history of fraternities during World War Two is an understudied topic. This brings up the topic of what happened to fraternities when there were minimal civilian men on college campuses.

On October 15, 1943, the Oregon State Barometer reported that campus fraternities were pausing rush that term.[i] The year before, fraternities pledged over 300 members, to make the total number over eleven hundred within 34 fraternities.[ii] This begs the question, how did fraternities go from pledging so any members, to suspending multiple chapters on campus due to low membership? The answer would be because of the war. Barometer editor Jack Bolter wrote the article, telling the reading audience, who would most likely consist of students and faculty, that the inter fraternity council had decided to pause rush for all fraternities. The decision came after Jim Leedy, president of the inter fraternity council, led a meeting between the Inter Fraternity Council and additional members of the 13 fraternities on campus to discuss the current state of fraternities on campus. Regarding the war effort, all members concluded that they should pause rush so all aims of the men would be towards the war. The pause came for multiple reasons, such as that most fraternities had very low member numbers and could not do their full rush rituals as well as the men who would rush, would eventually be taken into selective service once they became 18 years old. The individual article about the fraternities itself is part of a larger daily newspaper called the Oregon State Barometer. The document remained in good condition, printed in black and white, and has minimal damage to the edge of the paper. Looking from the perspective of a student during the time it was released to the public, I would see that the number of men enrolled in the college was dropping dramatically as the largest active fraternity only had 13 members.

With fewer civilian male students and growing military presence on campus, the college had to adapt to the wartime demands of housing. In 1943, Oregon State College president Strand announced that the university would be transitioning Waldo Hall and Snell Hall from women’s dormitories to military use only. Because the university lost these buildings as dormitories and fraternities were losing so many members due to the draft and enlistment, the school began to lease fraternity houses and placed female students to live in them.[iii] The university allocated twelve houses to be specifically used for women.[iv] Along with Oregon State College, the University of Illinois was another university that used fraternities as makeshift housing, however, in their case, they would temporarily house soldiers while they were training.[v] In 1944, houses such as Kappa Sigma transitioned from a men’s fraternity the year prior, to an all-women’s group occupying the house.[vi] On December 10^th, the Inter Fraternity Council cancelled all formal fraternity dances as diminishing numbers did not bring in enough revenue for the events to take place.[vii] Fraternities, such as Kappa Sigma, demonstrate how the university repurposed unoccupied houses to house women. Others, including Alpha Gamma Rho, housed athletes or other men due to limited space of the university’s dormitories.[viii] Later in March 1944, the Inter Fraternity Council met together to discuss whether the organization should continue as most men at that time had been sent off to the war.[ix] (Insert Figure 1 below)

Figure 1 The Theta Chi Fraternity House at Oregon State College, used to house female students during WWII[x]

During the years of World War Two, many fraternities on campus had to suspend activities due to members being shipped off to the military and some shut down for good. In total, during the 1943-44 school year, fifteen men were living in fraternity houses. This was a drastic change from the year prior with that number being at 1,156 men.[xi] With the school being very active with training military troops, especially engineers and the development of the Army Specialized Training Program bringing in 1300 students, the dorms had become overcrowded, and the school had to look elsewhere to house its students.[xii] Along with Oregon State College, other universities’ enrollment took a massive hit. At the University of Washington, in the 1942/1943 school year, the school had a total of 6,521 stud ents [xiii] enrolled in the winter term, losing 1,341 students from the previous term.[xiv] Going into spring, at Oregon State College, the college’s enrollment dropped a staggering 23% compared to the previous year’s spring term.[xv] During the 1943/1944 school year, the number of civilian men enrolled in classes dropped as low as 258. The number of women outnumbered men by roughly 4 times with that number being 1,319.[xvi] (Insert Figure 2 Below)

Figure 2 The chart shows the number of students enrolled at Oregon State College from 1888 to 1943, demonstrating the drop in enrollment during World War 2.[xvii]

With most able-bodied men being drafted or volunteering to join the military, many universities saw a great decrease in the number of men enrolling in college. To deal with the issues of low enrollment of men, many universities had an increase in women registering for classes and began programs that brought in uniformed soldiers to take classes while preparing for war. [xviii] With the increase in students on campus, that being civilian and soldiers, the dorms on campus began to fill up. To keep up with the need of housing for students, many schools looked elsewhere for makeshift dormitories. Towards the end of the war, the number of civilian men enrolled dropped to 27% of the prewar enrollment numbers.[xix] With less civilian men enrolled in universities, the ratio of men to women enrolled in college dropped to a number that hadn’t been seen for 2 decades prior. Furthermore, the graph above shows a dramatically large increase in the ratio right after the war with the introduction of the G.I. bill. While the bill did make college free for all veterans, it also puts into perspective just how many men could have been enrolled in college during the time versus how many were.[xx] (Insert Figure 3 to right of paragraph)

Figure 3 The figure shows the Ratio of Men to Women throughout 1900 to 2000, with a decrease in the ratio during the period of World War 2 and a sharp increase right after.[xxi]

Looking at Oregon State College during World War Two, while fraternities were not able to operate, they still made a great contribution to the university. They leased their properties to the university to house female students so the college could bring in military troops to train and help the United States in the war effort. Without the use of the houses, the university would not have been able to bring in as many students or soldiers to train, lowering enrollment numbers even more than they already were.

[i] “No Rushing for OSC Men”, Oregon State Barometer, October 15, 1943, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk05g

[ii] “Inter-Fraternity Council,” The Beaver 1943, 290, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/fx719t41x

[iii]U. G. Dubach, Biennial Report for Years 1942-1943 and 1943-1944, May 5, 1944, 5, Oregon State University Special Collections & Archives Research Center (hereafter SCARC) SCARC RG 013-SG 12 Annual & Biennial Reports Box 6 Folder 4, Department of Dormitories.

[iv] “President’s Office General Subject File, Oregon State College, Living Organizations – War-time housing, 1943-1946,” 1, Oregon State University President’s Office Records, Oregon State University, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/qn59q5195#citations

[v] Thomas Hendrickson, “World War II and University Housing,” University of Illinois Student Life and Culture Archives, December 9, 2015, https://www.library.illinois.edu/slc/2015/12/09/wwiihousing/

[vi]“Wartime Guests of Kappa Sigma,” The Beaver 1944, 244, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/zk51vh18n

[vii] “Ticket Refund for Frat Dance Set Today,” The Daily Barometer, 1, December 10, 1943, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk21v

[viii] “Wartime Guests of Alpha Gamma Rho,” The Beaver 1944, 262, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/zk51vh18n

[ix] “Inter-frat to Meet,” The Daily Barometer, March 21, 1944, 1, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk445

[x] “From the Archives: ‘Mother of Five Theta Chis’ Pays Tribute to Fraternity,” Theta Chi Fraternity, https://www.thetachi.org/from-the-archives-mother-of-five-theta-chis-pays-tribute-to-fraternity

[xi] U. G. Dubach, Biennial Report for Years 1942-1943 and 1943-1944, 2, SCARC RG 013-SG 12 Annual & Biennial Reports Box 6 Folder 4, Dean of Men.

[xii] “Army Specialized Training Program Records, 1943-1946,” Archives West ORBIS Cascade Alliance, https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark%3A80444/xv04125?utm_source=chatgpt.com

[xiv] “Scouting the Campuses,” The Daily Barometer, January 16, 1943, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj28k

[xv] “OSC Enrollment Records Drop Of 23 Percent,” Oregon State Barometer, March 24, 1943, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj62w

[xvi] “College Enrollment Hits Bottom”, Oregon State Barometer, April 18, 1944, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk470

[xvii] “Presidents Biennial Report for 1943-1944,” SCARC, Annual and Binomial Reports, Box 6 Folder 4, 1944.

[xviii] Roger L. Geiger, The American University: A History (Princeton University Press, 1990): xix.

[xix] Geiger, The American University, xx.

[xx] Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz, Ilyana Kuziemko, “The Homecoming of American Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20, no. 4 (Fall 2006): 139.

[xxi] Goldin et al, “The Homecoming of American Women,” 139.

Kappa Delta and the Contribution of the Greek Community at OSC During World War Two

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Blog post written by Allyson English.

Like many people in the United States, sorority women around the nation were involved in contributing to the war effort to beat the Axis powers. In the case of Kappa Delta at Oregon State University, previously called Oregon State College (OSC), this sorority did their part during WWII to contribute to the war effort. One example would be a letter written to Kappa Delta from an organization supporting children impacted by the war in Europe. The letter itself is in excellent condition and contains creases where the paper has been folded to fit inside an envelope. The letter also contains pencil marks emphasizing paragraphs of Kappa Delta’s specific involvement with the organization. This letter shows Kappa Delta’s involvement towards the war effort on OSC’s campus. This blog post aims to articulate not only the efforts made by OSC’s Kappa Delta, but the organized effort among the Greek community on OSC’s campus and nationwide.

This image shows the contents of the letter written to Kappa Delta sorority from Jane Chase Rogers, the Educational Chairman of the Foster Parents’ Plan for War Children. Jane Chase Rogers to Kappa Delta, September 11, 1944, Foster Parents’ Plan for War Children, Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta Personal Records at OSU

Jane Chase Rogers, the Educational Chairman for the organization Foster Parents’ Plan for War Children, Inc., wrote this letter to the Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta. This organization was founded during the Spanish Civil War in 1937 by British war journalist Langdon-Davies and refugee worker Eric Muggeridge to protect children by evacuating them to safe countries.[1] Written on September 11, 1944, Rogers wrote this letter to thank the Kappa Delta chapter of OSC for their sponsorship of two foster children named Barbara Reader and Melvyn Jones. OSC’s Kappa Delta was assigned Barbara and Melvyn in September of 1944 by the organization.[2] The money that Kappa Delta raised and donated went to the provision of Barbara and Melvyn. The means of provision would go towards clothing and other necessities the children would need that they would not be able attain themselves. The letter continues to express the continuation for the provision of the children as well as asking some of the sorority members to write letters to Barbara as she is old enough to read and was asking for letters from her foster parents because she sees other children getting letters according to Rogers.[3]

While some sororities organized their own contributions to the war effort, Panhellenic sororities and other campus organizations across OSC banded together to do their part to aid wartime contributions. In result of the ongoing war, sororities faced the direct effects. These direct effects are expressed through the Oregon State Barometer, OSC’s student newspaper. In the fall rush season of 1943, one article reported: “Panhellenic [had] just recently deferred the first fall rushing period of three weeks” due to “Oregon State’s accelerated war setup”, according to the Oregon State Barometer. [4] Within the same issue of the newspaper, the reason for the deferment of the fall rushing period is because “Panhellenic council thought it inadvisable to take women away from their summer jobs which would probably be associated with war work.”[5] In 1943, Panhellenic approached the war head on. In their response to OSC engaging in war initiatives, “Panhellenic revised many of its policies to program with national defense.”[6] To align with the nation’s efforts to support the war, sororities within Panhellenic, along with other living organizations on OSC’s campus, participated in a coat hanger drive in response to Camp Adair’s request for hangers. Camp Adair was built during 1940 through 1942 to train men for the war.[7] The coat hanger drive required the living organizations who participated “to collect a minimum of two hangers from each Oregon Stater.”[8] During World War Two, metal was reserved for the war effort, resulting in a shortage nationwide among citizens. At Camp Adair, the men stationed there only had access to cardboard hangers which couldn’t support the weight of their coats, so “wire and wooden hangers [were] specifically needed.”[9]

Panhellenic sororities, along with contributions of OSC’s Interfraternity Council (IFC), contributed to the war effort by buying war savings stamps. During World War Two, the United States Treasury Department issued war savings stamps that “allowed everyone in the country, rich or poor, young or old to save and contribute to the war effort.”[10] Sororities and fraternities at OSC pledged an amount of how many war savings stamps they purchased. In the early 1940’s, war savings defense stamps were priced ten cents, twenty-five cents, fifty cents, one dollar, and five dollars, the color of each stamp reflecting a different price.[11] Many of the sororities and the fraternities went over the initial pledge of stamps they originally made to buy. Lambda Chi Alpha took first, exceeding their original pledge of stamps by ninety-one thousand, eight hundred and fifty-one percent and taking second, Kappa Alpha Theta exceeding five thousand, nine hundred and seventy-one.[12] These percentages represent the percent of stamps exceeded by sororities and fraternities’ initial amount the pledged to buy.

This image shows the announcement of National Kappa Delta’s War Service project written by the National President. Clementine Newman Milizter “Announcing Kappa Delta’s War Service Project” in *The Angelos of Kappa Delta,* November 1942, 2.

On a national level, Kappa Delta supported the war effort. Every Kappa Delta member has a subscription to the Kappa Delta magazine called The Angelos. The Angelos is a quarterly magazine with the purpose of informing Kappa Delta’s about other Kappa Deltas and their respective chapters around the nation on other college campuses. In the November 1942 edition of the magazine, National Kappa Delta announced its War Service Project written by the National President Clementine Newman Militzer. Headed by Helen Bunting Brown as the War Service Chairman and Julia Fuqua Ober and the Honorary Chairman, the purpose of Kappa Delta’s War Service Project would be “devoted to the purpose of supplying recreational equipment of all types for [the] armed forces.”[13] This excerpt is an excellent condition and there is no evidence of damage whatsoever. The announcement of National Kappa Delta initiating a War Service project shows that they are acknowledging the war and requesting aid in the war effort by recruiting as many Kappa Delta chapters on college campuses as possible to provide for the armed forces of the United States. While National Kappa Delta is initiating chapters around the nation to contribute their part to Kappa Delta’s War Service Project, National Kappa Delta addresses the war through letters to individual chapters. Addressed to Kappa Delta on September 1, 1944, Militzer the National President, opened the letter by noting that the “country is nearing the close of its third year at war,” acknowledging the impact of the war on the chapter, and emphasizing that the chapter “continue for high scholarship, undertake projects of worthwhile service for [the] campus and [the] country, and to take full advantages of the opportunities offered by sorority relationships.”[14] With the persistent attitude of contribution through National Kappa Delta’s War Service Project and a letter acknowledging the impact of the war shows the nature of importance made by Kappa Delta to contribute to the war effort during World War Two.

This image depicts a letter addressed to OSC’s Kappa Delta from the National President of Kappa Delta pertaining to the ongoing war. Mrs. Walter E. Militzer to Kappa Delta, September 1, 1944, Kappa Delta National Council, Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta Personal Records.

Much like other groups around the nation, college sorority women were no exception in contributing to the war effort to defeat the Axis powers. With the perspectives of Kappa Delta at Oregon State College and on a national level with National Kappa Delta, the devoted actions are shown from both, highlighting the importance what can be done on the home front to support the war overseas. If anyone is researching this topic, I would like to highlight the difficulty on finding scholarly writings on Greek life as a whole during World War Two.

Endnotes

[1] “History,” Plan International USA, https://www.planusa.org/about-us/history/.

2 Jane Chase Rogers to Kappa Delta, September 11, 1944, Foster Parents’ Plan for War Children, Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta Personal Records at OSU.

3 Jane Chase Rogers to Kappa Delta.

4 “Panhellenic Adopts Rushing”, Oregon State Barometer, May 21, 1943, 2, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk01c.

5 “Open Rushing to Continue This Summer.” Oregon State Barometer, May 21, 1943, 1, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk01c.

6 “Panhellenic” in 1943 Beaver (Corvallis, OR: Oregon State College, 1943), 292.

7 National Park Service, Preserving the Historic Military Landscape at Camp Adair, U.S. National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/preserving-the-historic-military-landscape-at-camp-adair.htm.

8 “Campus Begins Drive for Coat Hangers,” Oregon State Barometer, January 26, 1943, 3, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj33f.

9 “Campus Begins Drive for Coat Hangers”, January 26, 1943, 3.

10 Harry K. Charles, Jr, Postal and Treasury Savings Stamp Systems: The War Years (paper presented at the National Postal Museum Symposium, Washington DC, September 26, 2015), 1 https://postalmuseum.si.edu/sites/default/files/charles-blount_symposium_paper.pdf.

11 Postal and Treasury Savings Stamp Systems, September 26, 2015, 34.

12 “Savings Pledges Led by Chi Alpha,” Oregon State Barometer, January 19, 1943, 1, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj29v.

13 Clementine Newman Milizter “Announcing Kappa Delta’s War Service Project,” The Angelos of Kappa Delta, November 1942, 2.

14 Mrs. Walter E. Militzer to Kappa Delta, September 1, 1944, Kappa Delta National Council, Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta Personal Records at OSU.

[1] “History,” Plan International USA, https://www.planusa.org/about-us/history/.

[2] Jane Chase Rogers to Kappa Delta, September 11, 1944, Foster Parents’ Plan for War Children, Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta Personal Records at OSU.

[3] Jane Chase Rogers to Kappa Delta, September 11, 1944, Foster Parents’ Plan for War Children, Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta Personal Records at OSU.

[4] “Panhellenic Adopts Rushing”, Oregon State Barometer, May 21, 1943, 2, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk01c

[5] “Open Rushing to Continue This Summer.” Oregon State Barometer, May 21, 1943, 1, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk01c

[6] “Panhellenic” in 1943 Beaver (Corvallis, OR: Oregon State College, 1943), 292.

[7] National Park Service, Preserving the Historic Military Landscape at Camp Adair, U.S. National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/preserving-the-historic-military-landscape-at-camp-adair.htm

[8] “Campus Begins Drive for Coat Hangers,” Oregon State Barometer, January 26, 1943, 3, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj33f

[9] “Campus Begins Drive for Coat Hangers”

[10] Harry K. Charles, Jr, Postal and Treasury Savings Stamp Systems: The War Years (paper presented at the National Postal Museum Symposium, Washington DC, September 26, 2015), 1 https://postalmuseum.si.edu/sites/default/files/charles-blount_symposium_paper.pdf

[11] Postal and Treasury Savings Stamp Systems, September 26, 2015, 34.

[12] “Savings Pledges Led by Chi Alpha,” Oregon State Barometer, January 19, 1943, 1, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj29v

[13] Clementine Newman Milizter “Announcing Kappa Delta’s War Service Project,” The Angelos of Kappa Delta, November 1942, 2.

[14] Mrs. Walter E. Militzer to Kappa Delta, September 1, 1944, Kappa Delta National Council, Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta Personal Records at OSU.

SPAN 399 “Bilingüismo local y personal” Winter 2025

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*Aqui se habla*, May 2025 Book Launch Flyer

During winter 2025, the Oregon Multicultural Archives (OMA) collaborated with OSU Professor Adam Schwartz to gather materials from his course SPAN 399 “Bilingüismo local y personal” as an addition to the Oregon Multicultural Communities Research Collection. The set of materials includes course materials, documents pertaining to a book launch, an OSU Today article, and a sample of student projects.

About SPAN 399 “Bilingüismo local y personal”

“This course explores Spanish language education as a deeply personal, local (as opposed to foreign), and lifelong practice. Distinct from a survey course that introduces that thesis through published and multimodal texts, this class challenges students to realize their own bilingualisms as lived, dynamic experiences, and in ways that do not organize neatly into academic categorizations. Students will individually and collectively write, share, reflect, interview, sit in conversation, and present Spanish-English bilingualisms as lifelong relationships with and through teaching and learning.

Our work will be guided by the contents of Aquí Se Habla: Centering the Local and Personal in Spanish Language Education, a co-edited volume to be published this term. One of the co-editors of this text is the course instructor, and the other three will visit our classroom to invite students in as additional contributors. Over the course of ten weeks, students will read the text and learn about its foundational theoretical framework: The tension point. Aquí Se Habla raises awareness about long-standing points of tension that organize as ideological binaries (e.g. “home” vs. “abroad”) which relegate local and personal Spanish to marginalized status in academic spaces. Students will make the case for a tension point of their choosing, one that concerns not just themselves, but their families, friends and bilingual communities. In so doing, their own voices and testimonios will warrant inclusion alongside Aquí Se Habla’s diverse set of contributors, whose perspectives help to deconstruct disciplinary boundaries and elevate the knowledge and lived experiences of U.S. Spanish speakers. Final work in this course will prepare students to showcase how their local and personal bilingualisms may double as calls to linguistic justice. As such, students are invited to co-present with Aquí Se Habla’s co-editors at the volume’s official book launch at OSU in May.”

~ SPAN 399 “Bilingüismo local y personal” Syllabus

About the OMA and SPAN 399 Collaboration

Professor Schwartz shared the tension point the class selected to explore was “self-identity / imposed identity” — a tension point that resonated greatly with archival materials. As part of the students’ first of three visits to the archives, we talked about how archives can be a place in which people choose how their stories are represented on their terms as a form of empowerment and how archives can also be a place in which materials about but not by a community or individual can sometimes cause a great deal of harm. During their second visit, the students engaged with a curated set of materials that showcased the variety of ways in which communities and individuals have represented their identities — examples included diaries, songbooks, collective works of art, scrapbooks, and zines. On the third visit, we discussed the students’ ideas and questions for them to determine if they planned to donate their final projects to the archives. We discussed the importance of choice, representation, and consent, not only from them but for those who they interviewed for their projects. Of about a dozen students, five decided to share their final projects. At the end of the term, the students gave presentations of their findings and reflections, and many again shared their work as part of the Aquí Se Habla book launch on May 21, 2025.

*Aqui se habla*, May 2025 Book Launch Participants

TIL (Today I Learned): By Researchers, For Researchers

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I’m by no means an expert, but I do refer to myself as SCARC’s resident “map nut.” Maps are like onions (or parfaits, if you will): each layer peels back a little piece of the historical narrative. Place names can provide insight into the way people of the past saw their world. The features highlighted or absent from a map can tell you the value placed on aspects of the physical environment. Items like Sanborn maps can tell you how cities grew and developed, and what features of the land and society affected that growth.

In my work as the Public Services Unit Supervisor in SCARC, I help researchers of all kinds, from Corvallis and around the world, access our materials, and introduce them to the tricks, tips, and tools to navigate our research portals. I always feel honored and humbled to be invited into their research processes, and whenever I can I try to highlight the products of their work.

Cases en pointe are the four digital databases in this post. They all – to the surprise of no one who knows me – map aspects of the built and natural environment, from the vantage point of the past and the present.

One quick item of note: one of the guiding principles of the archival profession is to protect all users’ right to privacy by maintaining the confidentiality of their research. To that end, the names of researchers have been omitted from this post in all except one case; only information about their research outcome is included.

OSU Campus Arboretum Web Map

Dan Blanchard, Horticulture Instructor and Curator of Living Plant Collections for OSU Campus Arboretum, began work on OSU’s Arboretum Web Map as a graduate student in 2022. As a result of his work, OSU was granted ArbNet Level II Arboretum Accreditation in 2023.

Since then, Dan and a number of dedicated student assistants have continued to document additional trees, and more are added to the web map frequently. To date, 630 trees have been mapped on OSU’s main campus in Corvallis, including two blue atlas cedars planted in 1892, the giant sequoias in the Memorial Union quad, and OSU’s very own “moon tree” (located on the east side of the Peavy Forest Science Center).

On the left side of the main landing page of the Arboretum Web Map, visitors will find instructions for using various features of the map, and definitions of terminology and acronyms used. Drop-downs on the right side of the map can be used to identify individual trees by Common Name (e.g. American Elm, Bur Oak, Red Maple), Genus (e.g. Carpinus, Styrax), and Common Family Name (e.g. Beech family, Birch family). The scroll wheel can be used to Zoom in and out, and clicking on any individual orange pin will open a window with more information about that individual tree (e.g. height, diameter, and date of last measurement).

Atlas of Drowned Towns

The Atlas of Drowned Towns is a “public history project that explores the histories of the communities that were displaced or disappeared to make way for the reservoirs for…‘river development projects’ — aka large dams.”

From the interactive map (linked at the top of the landing page), users can click on the compass icon on the left to apply filters and overlaps to the map (e.g. aerial photographs and historical maps), view “artifacts” associated with each community (e.g. photographs, documents, oral histories), and read historical research about displaced communities. Clicking on the lightbulb icon on the right side of the interactive map shows aggregated data for the number of displaced communities, the people displaced, and total cost of displacement. Alternatively, users can view a list of all displaced communities documented as part of the project from the Directory page.

Please note that this project is still in development, and most content and functionality are currently focused on Detroit, Oregon.

Mapping Inequality

The University of Richmond’s Mapping Inequality Project, an “open access project [focusing] on red-lining, the practice of denying financial services to residents based on race or ethnicity,” includes maps of a wide variety of U.S. urban centers. While the heaviest concentration of maps are of East Coast and Midwestern cities (e.g. Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Boston) cities in Oregon and Washington are also featured, including Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, and Portland. From the map view, clicking the “Select City” box will show a list of all cities and counties featured on the map, arranged alphabetically by state.

For each map, information is included that documents how areas were categorized (e.g. Best, Still Desirable, Definitely Declining, and Hazardous), and populated (i.e. with regards to race). Clicking on any of the defined areas of individual city maps provides additional information on that area’s inhabitants and characteristics.

Please note: Some of the language used in the historical documents and maps on this site may be disturbing or activating. In several instances, map authors use racist, derogatory, and harmful language. Specifically, the use of slurs against Asian and Pacific Island people, and toward African Americans, is prevalent, as is anti-semitic language.

Living New Deal

What began in California in 2005, has since become a nationwide effort to inventory, map, and interpret New Deal public works. This interactive website allows users to access photographs, site information, historic documents, and personal accounts, and New Deal site maps can be browsed by city, state, artist name (arranged by first name), agency (e.g. Bureau of Public Roads), and category (e.g. Art Works, Civic Facilities).
The interactive state map for Oregon alone includes historical information for over 300 New Deal sites. For each site, the following information is included as applicable and known: City, Site Type (e.g. Parks and Recreation, Dam), New Deal Agencies involved, when construction began and was completed, a brief description / historical narrative, and photographs (both present and historical). The Advanced Search feature – accessed by hovering over the word “Maps” in the blue banner at the top of each page – can be used to search across the nearly 19,000 sites documented to date.

Rachel Lilley (she/they) is the Public Services Unit Supervisor at the Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC), and has worked as a reference archivist for over a decade (eight years of which has been at OSU). She holds an M.A. in History with a concurrent certificate in Archives and Records Management from Western Washington University.

A Baby, Floodwater, and the Christensen River Farm

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In historical and archival work, students are constantly reminded not to underestimate the power of a single historical artifact and the stories it can tell. Even an unsuspecting image of farmland can spur historical intrigue with just a bit of curiosity and detective work.

One such example came about while working with the Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin Illustrations, 1925-1941. This collection is a part of SCARC’s ongoing “Photo Collection Tidying” project, wherein we work to ensure that all boxes and folders in photographic collections are clearly described in their finding aids. To do so, we ensure that the images represented in a collection’s finding aid match the images physically present in collection folders.

While working with the Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin Illustrations to organize and compare the physical photos present against the collection’s finding aid, I came across “Item SB 318: Cost and efficiency in dairy farming in Oregon, September 1933”, which is actually a series of 34 photographs and 46 diagrams. The preexisting description for this series of images reads, “Cows at pasture; types of pasture; alfalfa crop; kale and corn silage; R.H. Christensen Coos River Farm; loafing sheds”.

*Photos of the R.H. Christensen farm in the Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin Illustrations.*

At this point, my interest was piqued. I am from Coos Bay, Oregon, and more specifically, grew up on Coos River (and still call this place home). Myself and my parents, my grandparents, and my great-grandparents have lived on Coos River at different periods since the early 1960s. Upon discovering this piece of Coos River history, I thought it likely that if I found where the farm had been located, I would recognize the land. Thus, I set out to find where this “R. H. Christensen Coos River Farm” had been located.

Before going to maps collections, I quickly searched the name in SCARC’s holdings. A search for “R.H. Christensen” resulted in images from Laverne, Oregon, located on the Coquille River about a 40 minute drive south of Coos River. For example, the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Photographs, 1925-1979, contains “Item 3-G-101: Homemade power plant, Laverne, farm of R. H. Christensen, June 1932,” as well as “Item 1-D-125: Irrigated pasture, Levern, farm of R.H. Christensen, June 1932”. As far as I am aware, there is no Levern in Oregon, but it seems reasonable to assume that this is a misspelling of Laverne. I thought it possible that R.H. Christensen owned several pieces of land in Coos County, and took note of this discovery to refer back to later.

Next, I searched maps collections that might reveal land ownership, including Metsker’s Atlases of Oregon Counties, 1929-1988. Unfortunately, the three atlases of Coos County in this collection were dated 1941, 1958, and 1975. Because the initial item was dated 1933, I feared that these atlases were created a bit later than I hoped and may not contain the information I sought if Christensen hadn’t owned the farm into the 1940s. I still went ahead with my search and parsed through the 1941 atlas. Maps of Coos River did not show any land belonging to R.H. Christensen. I was disappointed, but given my earlier findings, went on to maps of Coquille River and to my surprise, found separate plots of land along the Coquille River to “R. H. and G. L. Christensen” on page 52 of the 1941 atlas. To practice due diligence, I also checked the 1958 atlas and found the same plots of land to be owned by “Gladys L. Christensen” 16 years later on page 53 of the 1958 atlas. By 1975, the land had changed hands.

*1941 atlas showing plots belonging to “R.H. and G. L. Christensen”.*

*1958 atlas showing the same plots belonging to “Gladys L. Christensen”.*

The spelling of the last name “Christensen” seemed unique enough to me that I thought this not a coincidence. After many searches of “R.H. Christensen” and “Gladys Christensen” in obituary and newspaper databases, I finally found an obituary for a “Ralph H. Christensen” dated May 7, 1948. This obituary confirmed that Ralph Christensen had lived in Coos County and married Gladys Abbott in 1914. His primary residence was in Bandon, Oregon.

I thought it reasonable to assume that the Ralph and Gladys Christensen discussed in this obituary are, in fact, the leading characters in the story I have constructed so far. At this point, I believed that the evidence I had gathered pointed to two options: either the original photo of the Christensen farm in the Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin collection was mislabelled and instead of being a Coos River farm, it was a Coquille River farm, or that Ralph Christensen (or his family) owned multiple pieces of property in Coos County.

Now, understanding that Bandon was a place of interest, I still sought to learn more about the land that Ralph and Gladys owned, and whether there truly was a Coos River farm attached to their name. This time, I turned to Google and searched for “‘Ralph Christensen’ Bandon”, and when that did not yield useful results, “‘R.H. Christensen’ Bandon”.

The latter search resulted in an unexpected find. I came across a Bandon Historical Society newsletter from 2017 that featured an article titled, “Miraculous Rescue Story…”. While not what I thought I was looking for, it was here that I got a look into what Christensen’s character may have been.

According to the newsletter, a man named Richard Howell visited the Bandon Historical Society Museum in August 2016, where he sought out the museum director. With her, he shared a Bandon Western World newspaper article titled “Infant Lost in Flood Found Alive”, dated February 4, 1937. The article explained that the Howell family had lived in a house built near the Christensen farm on Lowe Creek (a tributary of Coquille River, located between Coquille and Bandon, Oregon). The house was built in a canyon, the article reports, and below a 20-foot-tall dirt dam. The dam was used for irrigation purposes on the Christensen farm.

In 1937, a heavy downpour resulted in a flood that destroyed the dam and swept away the Howells’ home in the middle of the night. In their journey to the main road through the flooded canyon, they lost hold of their three-month-old son. Fearing the worst, the family searched for the child, but to no avail.

The remaining Howell family members (both parents and two children) arrived at the Christensen farm for help. The article reports that Ralph Christensen built a fire for the family before hurrying to the home of Maurice Ray, who was the superintendent of the Moore Mill and Lumber Company logging operations and the employer of Mr. Howell. The pair then ventured into the canyon, where they rather heroically found the baby trapped in an alder sapling. The child was still alive despite being lost for an hour in the flood.

Richard Howell, the museum visitor, revealed to the museum director that he was the infant in that story. He shared that after his rescue, he was taken back to the Christensen home. Howell and his wife had visited the museum with hopes of obtaining a better copy of the Western World article and to see if they might learn any more on the 1937 flood.

Howell’s story did not inform me of whether the Christensens owned property on Coos River, but it did confirm that they owned and resided on a farm along the Coquille River. Given that there is a record of their land ownership along the Coquille River but not on the Coos River in the 1940s, I am inclined to believe that the original item was mislabelled. Alternatively, the Christensens may have owned property on Coos River in the 1930s that was sold before the 1941 atlas was created.

Although my initial question remains unanswered, this search was not fruitless. I discovered where the Christensen family lived in the early twentieth century, but more than that, a riveting tale involving Ralph Christensen and Richard Howell. If this work has taught me anything, it is that while factual information (like addresses and land ownership) are important, the human stories that these facts inform are the true gems of the historical record.

This post was written by Grace Knutsen. Grace is a student archivist at Special Collections and Archives Research Center. She is an Oregon State alumna and Master of Library and Information Science student.

New Finding Aids: January – March 2025

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SCARC completed 2 new finding aids January – March 2025; as of the end of March, SCARC has 1153 finding aids in Archives West.

These finding aids are available through the Archives West finding aids database, the SCARC website, and the OSU Library discovery system a.k.a. “the catalog.” The links below are to the guides in Archon, SCARC’s finding aids website.

2 new (big!) collection guides were created this quarter:

Roy Haber Hanford Nuclear Reservation Downwinders Case Collection, 1942-1997

The Roy Haber Hanford Nuclear Reservation Downwinders Case Collection contains research materials used by the law office of Roy Haber, in litigation regarding radiation exposure suffered by individuals living close to (or ‘downwind’ from) Hanford from 1945 to the mid 1990s.

Dean of Students Office Records, 1943-1999

The Dean of Students Office was established in 1962 as part of a major administrative re-organization of the university to provide “a more efficient line of communication from the students to the university president.” The office ceased to exist as a separate unit of Student Affairs on August 1, 1997. The Dean of Students Office records document the programs and activities of the office, especially pertaining to student organizations, student living groups, student retention, non-traditional and commuter students, and services to students offered by the Dean of Students staff.

“The Living Legacy of Colegio César Chávez” Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion

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Oregon Experience documentary *The Living Legacy of Colegio César Chávez*

On Wednesday, January 22, 2025, the Oregon Historical Society hosted the event “The Living Legacy of Colegio César Chávez Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion” as an accompaniment to the “Colegio César Chávez: The Legacy Lives On / El legado sigue vivo” exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society.

Over 230+ community members attended the event! And, the event was recorded and is available online for free via the Oregon Historical Society: video recording of “The Living Legacy of Colegio César Chávez” Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion (1 hour and 13 minutes)

The event invited the general public to join us for a screening of OPB’s new Oregon Experience documentary The Living Legacy of Colegio César Chávez. The event included a panel discussion led by documentary producer Alicia Avila, Colegio César Chávez co-founders Sonny Montes and José Romero, and PODER: Oregon’s Latino Leadership Network President, Anthony Veliz. Colegio César Chávez: The Legacy Lives On / El legado sigue vivo exhibition curator, Natalia Fernández, gave an introduction. The panelists shared their thoughts on the history and legacy of the Colegio César Chávez, ideas for the future of a Colegio 2.0, and then opened the conversation to the audience for questions. Prior to the film screening, attendees enjoyed live music from the Forest Grove High School Mariachi band and viewed the exhibition Colegio César Chávez: The Legacy Lives On / El legado sigue vivo.

Event Panelists:

Alicia Avila is a multilingual journalist and documentary producer based in Portland, Oregon. A common theme of her work is advocating for underrepresented communities, language justice, and accessibility. She is a champion of collaborative and community-led storytelling and leads her video production work through trauma informed practices and a bilingual, bicultural reporting lens. Her most recent work led Pacific Northwest based nonprofit, Oregon Food Bank, to transition into fully bilingual English-Spanish content. Avila is a proud first-generation Chicana born and raised in southeast Los Angeles.

Sonny Montes was one of the founders of the Colegio César Chávez, co-founded the César E. Chávez Student Leadership Conference in 1990, and was a member of the César E. Chávez Boulevard Committee in Portland, Oregon, that was successful in renaming 39th Avenue in honor of César Chávez. In 2010, he received the Distinguished Latino Educator Award from the Oregon Association of Latino Administrators.

José Romero was one of the founders of the Colegio César Chávez and co-founded the César E. Chávez Student Leadership Conference in 1990. He is a retired educator, administrator, and community activist for social justice and equality, and he is a life-long advocate for the well-being of the Chicano/Latino community. Romero taught Chicano Studies at Lane Community College and at Colegio César Chávez where he also served as Director of Academic Affairs and was Co-President.

Anthony Veliz is the founder of PODER: Oregon’s Latino Leadership Network, a nonprofit organization and collective movement of over 100 Latino-led and serving community-based organizations and private-sector businesses, plus thousands of Latinos across Oregon. Veliz is also the owner of IZO Public Relations & Marketing, a multicultural agency specializing in the Latino community; it is a People Focused, Purpose Driven agency. The son of farmworkers, Veliz is involved in the community where he lives and works, and he has a passion for public service. In August of 2023, PODER organized and sponsored a 50th anniversary community commemoration event to celebrate the history and legacy of the Colegio César Chávez.

Natalia Fernández is an Associate Professor and the Curator of the Oregon Multicultural Archives (OMA) and the OSU Queer Archives (OSQA) at the Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center. Fernández’s mission for directing the OMA and the OSQA is to work in collaboration with Oregon’s African American, Asian American, Latinx, Native American, and OSU’s LGBTIAQ+ communities to support them in preserving their histories and sharing their stories. In collaboration with Montes and Romero, she curated the exhibition Colegio César Chávez: The Legacy Lives On / El legado sigue vivo.

Event Photos:

PODER: Oregon’s Latino Leadership Network

Forest Grove High School Mariachi band performed.

Standing room only for the event attendees!

My first year (and change) at SCARC

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I began working at SCARC in October 2023, during my first term at OSU. Now that I have spent a little over a year as a Student Archivist, I am able to look back and reflect on my experiences so far. When I applied to work at SCARC, I didn’t really know what an archive was, but I was excited about working in a library. My grandma was a school librarian, and I’ve always been passionate about history, so it just felt right. I don’t really remember what I expected my work to look like, but the first few months were a whirlwind. There were so many procedures and tasks to keep in mind as I began to learn how to assist researchers. My first attempt at paging books took me over an hour! But even as I needed to stop and ask for help at every turn, I was already having a lot of fun. Every day, I interact with deeply interesting historical materials, even when my task is something simple like reshelving a book. Experiencing this for the first time made me feel certain that being a student archivist was a good fit.

My first project was re-foldering Student Academic Records (SARs). I found the work almost meditative, and it was a great fit because I was new to campus and trying to find my place. Seeing the faces and stories of thousands of students who came before me was a meaningful experience and helped me feel more connected to OSU. When I held each person’s paperwork in my hands, it was like I was sitting there with them. As I transferred documents and copied name after name, I got a brief look into their aspirations, interests, and challenges. It was particularly interesting to see women who pursued non-traditional professions, the few Black students, and people who struggled academically but managed to stick it out and get their degrees. Through these individuals’ triumphs and losses, I was able to put my college experiences into perspective, and think about how much has changed in the last 70 years. Working with SARs was greatly moving, and I was a little sad to pass the project on to our newest Student Archivist. Despite this, it’s exciting to move on to more complex projects using the skills I have developed.

Another big project last year was updating the OSU Buildings LibGuide, which also helped me familiarize myself with campus and OSU history. I contributed to pages for over a hundred buildings. Now I feel that I could give an overly in-depth historical tour! I discovered that once I have a project, I tend to laser focus on getting it done, and it can be hard to balance projects with day-to-day collection management tasks. Being able to redirect my attention and keep all the different plates spinning is something I have made a lot of progress on this year.

I’ve also been able to utilize SCARC materials in my coursework. Last term, I took SOC 360: Population Trends and Policy. For my final paper, I examined publications from Zero Population Growth (ZPG), an organization that was founded in the late 1960s and advocated for controlling population growth. I identified several articles that discussed suburban sprawl, and used them to frame land use planning discourse in the 1970s. ZPG had lots of praise for Oregon’s Senate Bill 100, which established a land use planning scheme for Oregon with 19 goals, such as protecting agricultural lands and ensuring affordable housing. Both the ZPG articles and debates around S.B. 100 show a desire to maintain the status quo and protect the “character” of neighborhoods. I argue this helps explain why S.B. 100 has been far less effective at addressing housing affordability than its other goals. The historical sources I accessed through SCARC contributed significantly to my paper. Very little information about ZPG is available online, and I was able to bring a unique perspective and story to the project through archival research. It was an interesting experience to switch roles and do research myself instead of facilitating research for others!

When I first started at SCARC, I couldn’t imagine ever managing to remember all the protocols, or even what areas we collect materials in. A little over a year in, I feel confident in my understanding, and I am more comfortable in my interactions with patrons. I’m excited to continue learning in this supportive environment. My new project, processing photographs from News and Communication Services, is definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone, and I’m learning a lot. I anticipate this being a time-consuming project, but even though the finish line is far away, I’m feeling motivated to get there and see what comes next!

This post is contributed by Margot Pullen. She is a student archivist at the Special Collections and Archives Research Center. She studies public policy and history.

Learning About Margaret Krug Palen

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As a student archivist, one of my primary projects is writing biographies for the more than one thousand individuals listed in the News and Communication Services Records. These individuals are primarily faculty and staff who were associated with Oregon State between 1940 and 2004. Oftentimes, the collection only holds an administrative document related to the individual. If I’m lucky, there might also be a CV or an article related to their professional work. While I do perform additional research to fill out a brief biography meant to communicate their birthdate, academic and professional history, and association with Oregon State, as well as to differentiate individuals with the same name, I’m still often left with only a snapshot of their life. I wish I could write detailed life stories for each individual in this collection, but alas, I am limited by time.

Margaret Palen is an example of the many individuals I wish to learn more about. The News and Communication Services Records hold two newspaper clippings related to her suspension and eventual termination from Oregon State in the 1970s. Reading these, I wished to understand her life beyond these events as well as share her professional accomplishments. As much as this blog post is about Palen, it is also about the privilege of doing the research and filling in the historical record.

Who was Margaret Krug Palen, and what more can we learn about her life?

Margaret L. Palen (née Krug) was born on May 14, 1931, in Iowa. She attended Iowa State College (now Iowa State University), where she earned a bachelor’s degree in home economics in 1952. After graduating, Palen was a textile chemist for one year before becoming a home extension agent in Iowa from 1953 until 1955. That year, she joined the Oregon State staff as a county extension agent for 4-H. She resigned in 1957 after her marriage to become a homemaker, working temporarily from 1958 to 1959 to aid Marion County as an extension agent. According to Palen’s employment records, her supervisors found her work to be effective and of quality. Palen returned to Oregon State in 1966, becoming a home economics extension agent in Tillamook County. She also became a master’s student at Oregon State in the early 1970s.

Despite her tenured status, Palen was suspended, then terminated, from her job in 1972 due to ten charges filed by Lee Kolmer, head of the Cooperative Extension Service. From August-September 1972, a five-person committee conducted hearings to evaluate Kolmer’s complaints, although the members of that committee are unknown.

During these hearings, several witnesses appeared before the committee. Among them were a number of Tillamook County residents who spoke in favor of Palen’s work in their community. Even so, the committee found four of the charges to be proven and just cause for dismissal.

In October 1972, the faculty committee recommended that the matter would be best resolved by termination. Upon hearing this decision, OSU President Robert MacVicar fired Palen. This decision is included in the article, “Tenured Assistant Terminated” published by the Corvallis Gazette Times on December 21, 1972.

This is where the story ends in SCARC’s holdings. However, Oregon court records indicate that Palen did not succeed in protesting her suspension before the faculty hearing committee. In 1974, she appealed via the Oregon Court of Appeals, where the Board maintained that the university had just cause for dismissal. While we do not know the original seven charges, we do know these four because they were discussed in this case. They include that:

Palen reportedly made unsupported claims of improper and sometimes criminal conduct on the part of University administrators
Palen reportedly was unwilling to cooperate with 4-H and Youth staff and leaders (that is to say, failing to adequately perform her responsibilities to the Tillamook County 4-H program)
Palen reportedly was unwilling to live in Tillamook County, and while the Extension Service did not present evidence of a formal written policy regarding place of residence, “Mrs. Palen had been informed of the desirability and necessity of living near her place of employment”
Palen reportedly refused to respond to direction from and provide a schedule of her activities to her County Chairman, claiming that she was on special assignment and not required to report to the Chairman

The Oregon Court of Appeals found the first and last charges and last “could properly conclude that petitioner’s conduct constituted cause for termination”. In the second, the Oregon Board of Education was found erred. In the third, the charge could not be sustained “because it was not proven to be one of the petitioner’s responsibilities to do so”. Therefore, the OSU president’s decision to fire Palen was upheld.

While only listed as a staff member in Oregon State General Catalogs until the 1972-73 academic year, Palen’s name is listed in the 1974 Oregon State commencement program as a Master of Science in Education recipient (she likely graduated in Fall 1973, causing her to be listed in the 1974 program, because other documents in Oregon Digital list her graduating class as the Class of ‘73). That is to say, it appears that she still graduated from Oregon State after her termination.

It’s difficult to trace the next decade of Palen’s life. She likely continued her career in community-oriented work outside of Oregon State. She also likely continued to raise and support her family. It’s possible that she spent some time traveling with her husband, Kenneth Palen, as his obituary states that the couple traveled to every continent and seventy-five countries of the world – an endeavor that would certainly take time to complete.

A simple internet search of Palen’s name reveals that in the 1980s, she began her writing career. Inspired by her German family and her husband’s Scottish family’s immigration to Iowa, she authored Genealogical Research Guide to Germany in 1988, a guide for those individuals interested in tracing their ancestry. She would go on to write three related works: German Settlers of Iowa: Their Descendants and European Ancestors in 1994, Genealogical Guide to Tracing Ancestors in Germany in 1995, and Germany and Scotland Immigrants to Iowa in 2019.

Searches in Oregon Digital reveal that Palen also continued her extension work as a volunteer executive with the International Executive Services Corporation. In 1996, she returned from a trip to Ghana, where she designed a clothing construction course for the African Women Entrepreneurial Training Centre. An image from this trip was even featured in the Oregon Stater in 1996.

In 1999, she worked with the US Agency for International Development in Mozambique, featured in that year’s Oregon Stater.

In both editions, Palen is referred to by her graduating class of 1973 and without reference to her prior employment with the university. She also continued international extension work to improve food production, textiles, and clothing, through travel to countries including Ghana, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Belarus, Bolivia, and Jamaica, described in her 2018 book A Different World: My Life and Making a Difference in the World.

When I first stumbled upon Palen’s name, I feared that she would only be remembered incompletely. Her story illustrates how important it is to paint full pictures of individuals in history, and how sometimes, preservation can be biased. Simply because the News and Communication Services Records only contains materials related to her termination, an individual utilizing these records might have a partial view of Palen. Further research shows that her dismissal from Oregon State did not stop her from continuing her career in extension work. Palen continued home economics work internationally for several decades, even earning recognition for this work from her alma mater and previous employer. It also shows other career-oriented pursuits, writing four books on the topic of genealogy and a fifth on her own life and work.

~ Grace Knutsen

Grace Knutsen is a student archivist at Special Collections and Archives Research Center. She is an Oregon State alumna and Master of Library and Information Science student.

The “Colegio César Chávez: The Legacy Lives On / El legado sigue vivo” exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society and Beyond!

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The Colegio César Chávez: The Legacy Lives On / El legado sigue vivo has been hosted by various organizations and featured at numerous events! Below are images from when the exhibit was hosted at the Oregon Historical Society.

Digital Copies of the Exhibit Panels are available online via Oregon Digital

We have numerous blog posts related to the Colegio César Chávez exhibit and related events – be sure to check them out!

Colegio César Chávez, Oregon Historical Society Exhibit Website

The Oregon Historical Society is hosting the Colegio César Chávez: The Legacy Lives On / El legado sigue vivo exhibit!

Dates: January 10 – April 27, 2025
Location: Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave, Portland, Oregon 97205
Audience(s): Free for Members, Family-Friendly, Researchers, Teachers
Description: Located in Mt. Angel, Oregon, and in operation from 1973 to 1983, Colegio César Chávez was the first independent, four-year accredited Chicano/a college in the United States. Rooted in the Chicano/a notion of “familia,” the college offered a unique and innovative educational philosophy that incorporated a holistic, integrated, community-based approach for students whose needs were not being met by traditional educational institutions. This bilingual exhibition highlights Colegio César Chávez’s significance and legacy by exploring the national and local context for its establishment, its educational philosophy and structure, as well as and the challenges it faced and how it overcame them.
Credits and Online Access: Colegio César Chávez: The Legacy Lives On / El legado sigue vivo was curated by Natalia Fernández, Associate Professor and Curator of the Oregon Multicultural Archives and OSU Queer Archives within the Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center. Digital copies of the exhibition panels are available via Oregon State University’s digital asset management system Oregon Digital.
More Information: Oregon Historical Society Colegio César Chávez: The Legacy Lives On / El legado sigue vivo exhibit website (note: this link will not be active once the exhibit closes)

Radio Interview via The Jefferson Exchange

On February 3, 2025, Jefferson Public Radio interviewed Natalia Fernández for a 15 minute segment about the exhibit! In the interview, Fernández discusses her work as an archivist as well as the exhibition. She shared that the college‘s primary goal was to provide equal education opportunities for Chicano/a and minority students through a bilingual, bicultural curriculum and experiential learning. With the exhibition, Fernández hopes to honor and share this significant history, to highlight the “incredible foundation of social justice advocacy for us to learn from,“ and that people take away the “inspiring legacy for us to continue.”

Exhibit Photos