Home Demonstration staff, 1935

All summer we’ve traveled through the state celebrating the activities, events, and education OSU Extension Services supports.

In this final set of the OSU Extension Service Centennial collection, called Faces of Extension, we want to celebrate another great things about Extension – or should I say the great thing about Extension – the people.

Enjoy.

Extension Agent Oris Rudd, 1972

4-H flower identification contest, circa 1975

Eating watermelon, examining alfalfa fields, certifying oats? Building a flume, holding a flower, finding some fruit? Must be another set of images from Extension Services! It’s an amusingly mixed bag of shots that didn’t link directly to a specific county set, so we’ve culled them all together in a big set with a statewide focus.

Mobile Kitchen, 1938

Full of what can only be called “Extension magic,” you’ll find images of turkey and beef exhibits at the state fair, a corn show, and people talking about tuna.

Dan Panshin and Bob Jacobson talk to an albacore tuna fisherman, 1965

Apart from being full of fabulous photos, this set is also a gem historically. I love the demonstration trains and traveling instruction sessions, which allowed agents to visit communities throughout the state, teaching people skills in canning, provide information about the cost of electricity, give stump burning and dairy demonstrations, demonstrate poultry culling, display the “mobile kitchen,” or provide lectures on wool production and marketing. There are also pictures of traditional “brick & mortar classes,” such as flower identification or “Furnishing the Modern House.”

Furnishing the Modern House course announcement, 1930

You’ll also find a man with a beaver, woman with a cow, man with a fish, and a boy with a sunflower — I told you it was eclectic!

Wasco County display at the Oregon State Fair

It’s fair time! And we have a new Flickr Commons set to celebrate the prizes, pies, smiles, and good times had by all at the Oregon State Fair. It has also been the place for county community members to show off their goods, so you’ll find 4-H projects, dog shows, fashion parades, and farm fresh produce.

Boys & Girls Club barn

Much has been written about the history of the fair, including a fabulous book by Steven Robert Heine, aptly named “The Oregon State Fair,” which uses some of our collections (including many images you’ll find here). He says that

Since the first Oregon State Fair was held on four acres along the Clackamas River in the Gladstone/Oregon City area in 1861, the fair has been the focal point of Oregon culture—a place to see and be seen and to compete against the best in the state. It has been a place of victory and a place of discovery for nearly 150 years. For many generations of Oregonians, the fair was a chance for families and friends to reunite and share the excitement of this grand, uniquely Oregon event. Today the fair’s popularity continues and, for 12 days each year, transforms the fairgrounds in Salem into the fifth largest city in the state.

If you want a quick read about the history, the Oregon State Fair site has a Fair History page. Wikipedia also has a short article, Oregon State Fair, which long on links to other pages related to fair history.

Gwen Guthrie of Prineville, 1959

So grab a ticket, a horse, or a wand o’ cotton candy and enjoy!

4-H club members doing a presentation on depth of seeding grass, 1961

Oregon’s geography isn’t limited to just green valleys and wet coasts. This week we explore the 50 year history of extension in the high desert, home to the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

4-H leader doing beadwork at the Warms Springs Indian Reservation, circa 1955

The confederation was formed in 1938 and consists of three tribes: the Wasco, Warm Springs and Paiute. The reservation upon which they currently reside was created, by treaty, in 1855 and as of 2003 is home to over 4000 tribal members. It encompasses 1,019 square miles (640,000 acres) bounded by Mt. Jefferson and the Deschutes River from west to east and the Mutton Mountains and the Metolius River, from north to south. The reservation lies primarily in parts of Wasco and Jefferson County but small parts fall into six other counties.

Breaking wild horses at the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, circa 1950

The Warm Springs Extension Service has always placed a large emphasis on education, with numerous outreach programs aimed at both adult and youth audiences. Many of the photos included in this set showcase these programs in action with training in: Family and Community Health Development, Agriculture Resources and 4-H. With current tribal unemployment rates at 40% the goal of these programs is to “increase job/income opportunities from natural resources and agriculture and supporting Reservation youth to be productive contributing members.” OSU Extension is working closely with Tribal Council committees and Education and Natural Resource branchs to achieve these goals.

Mary Anne Crocker measures the hem of a skirt for a young homemaker on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, circa 1955

My thanks go to Daniel Pearson, one of our fabulous student workers in the OSU Archives for writing this post! And thanks to my daughter for picking the pictures! A budding historian, a budding archivist, both Flickr fans.