WGSS Oral Histories ~ a SCARC & WGSS 521 Feminist Leadership Collaboration

In spring term 2023, SCARC collaborated with the course WGSS 521 Feminist Leadership, taught by Dr. Kali Furman. The class consisted of 8 graduate students, most of whom, but not all, were students within the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. The collaboration consisted of a term-long oral history project, with the interviews added to the OSU Queer Archives Oral History Collection due to the Queer Studies Program’s development as part of the WGSS Program, as well as for the content and perspectives shared within the interviews. The WGSS focus of the class project was in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the WGSS Program’s establishment.

Below is a description of the course and the collaboration:

Over the course of the term, we will work collaboratively with Natalia Fernández in the Special Collections & Archives Research Center (SCARC) on an oral history project that focuses on the legacies of feminist leadership in our community. In honor of the 50-year anniversary of the WGSS program at Oregon State, we will conduct oral histories with members of our WGSS community. We will spend time in the archives learning about histories of feminist leadership, activism, and resistance on our campus, work with Natalia on the purpose and processes of oral histories, and by the end of term, contribute oral histories to SCARC’s collection. We will work collaboratively to determine the structure and process of our oral history project, create an interview guide, and to support each other throughout the process. At the end of the term, we will have an open celebration with SCARC, our interviewees, and the broader WGSS community where we share highlights from our oral histories. 

Engaging with the archives and conducting oral histories through this project allows us to engage with feminist leadership in multiple ways:

– To engage in a feminist leadership praxis, it is important to know the history of the communities we are a part of, what legacies we are leading from, and who we are leading with. This project offers the opportunity to learn about the history of our community and individuals within it, and to think about our own feminist leadership praxis from an informed place-based perspective.

– Conducting oral histories gives us the opportunity to explore the relationship between living a feminist life and praxis-informed feminist leadership for leaders within our community. This process will also allow us to learn things about ourselves too!

– Engaging with the archives and conducting oral histories also allows us to develop a specific skill set that will be useful in your current and future leadership endeavors and is a particular kind of research method that can be applicable to your studies more broadly. 

At the end of the term, the students submitted a total of 7 interviews featuring 9 interviewees! The interviews provide a range of perspectives on the OSU WGSS Program and what feminist leadership means to the interviewees.

Below are the oral history interviews, organized in chronological order, with the bio notes and summaries written by the students:

Ron Mize Oral History, interviewed by Jakki Mattson on May 10, 2023

Link to the Ron Mize Oral History Interview

Bio: Ron Mize is an associate professor in the School of Language, Culture, and Society and former coordinator of Ethnic Studies (2020-2021). He previously taught International Relations, Sociology, Latino Studies, and Ethnic Studies at ITAM (Mexico City), Humboldt State University, Cornell University, University of Saint Francis-Fort Wayne, California State University-San Marcos, University of California San Diego, Southwestern College, Colorado State University and University of Wisconsin Rock County.  He was trained as a journalist at the University of Colorado Boulder and went on to study Sociology at Colorado State University (MA) and University of Wisconsin-Madison (PhD). In 2016, he was the Fulbright-Garcia Robles Chair in U.S. Studies at el Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México.  In 2020-2021, he was the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. His scholarly research focuses on the historical origins of racial, class, and gender oppression in the lives of Mexicano/as and Latina/os residing in the United States. Due to the reliance on Mexican labor in the rural industries of agriculture, mining, and railroad construction, his historical research explores the class, gender, and race formations of Anglo-Chicano relations as they relate to these sectors of rural spaces and the economy. He investigates the degree to which contemporary immigrant labor is informed by the history of Mexican incorporation into the rural United States. He is also committed to building Latinx studies within a comparative ethnic studies framework. He seeks to understand the underlying assumptions about nation, race, identity, gender and class in how the public forms our opinions about immigration and part of his effort is to carve out a new paradigm for understanding both the political economy and culture of immigration as well as their interconnections. Dr. Mize is the author of over 50 scholarly publications, including LATINA/O STUDIES (2019, Polity Books),  THE INVISIBLE WORKERS OF THE U.S.-MEXICO BRACERO PROGRAM: OBREROS OLVIDADOS (2016, Lexington Books), CONSUMING MEXICAN LABOR: FROM THE BRACERO PROGRAM TO NAFTA (2010, University of Toronto Press, with Alicia Swords), and LATINO IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES (2012, Polity Books, with Grace Peña Delgado).

Summary: In this oral history with Dr. Ron Mize, the conversation begins by Dr. Mize describing a small insight into his homelife before he decided to pursue higher education. He describes how he was the second person in his family to attend college and what the alternative would have been if he didn’t (working full time for his family’s carpet cleaning and chemical business). After he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder, he worked in radio for a few years before deciding to pursue additional higher education. He earned his Master’s in sociology from Colorado State University then continued on to get his PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Once he received his doctorate, he entered the job market in institutions of higher education. He talked about his experiences trying to get tenure at Cornell University and the challenges he faced in the process, which ultimately led to his tenure being denied and him leaving the university. Throughout the approximately dozen institutions of higher education at which he has worked, he finally settled at Oregon State University within Ethnic Studies. He talks about the institutional changes that were in progress and continued once he arrived, including the institutional movement from departments to programs and colleges to schools (to encourage more interdisciplinary work). Throughout the conversation, Dr. Mize details the challenges he and others faced doing critical pedagogical and research work. He details the institution systematically working against the advancements he and other colleagues in the ethnic studies and women, gender, and sexualities studies programs were doing to advance critical feminist and race studies at Oregon State University. Throughout the conversation, Dr. Mize speaks to how women, feminist principles, and feminist leadership impacted the work he has done and continues to do. He intertwines narratives and experiences from growing up with how those moments impact the work he continues to do now. He strives to embody feminist practices and principles in every classroom he is a part of without necessarily labeling himself or his actions in that way. Dr. Mize acknowledges and honors the work and legacy others did within the WGSS program here at Oregon State before he arrived and the work that others continue to do now. While not chronological in narrative, this oral history of how Dr. Mize became affiliated with the WGSS program at Oregon State and is unique in detailing the institutional barriers and successes this program has experienced.

Qwo-Li Driskill Oral History, interviewed by a WGSS Student on May 22, 2023

Interview Available Upon Request

Bio: Dr. Qwo-Li Driskill is an unenrolled Cherokee and Two-Spirit scholar, activist, and artist. Qwo-Li Driskill is an Associate Professor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at Oregon State University. They are also the Director of Graduate Studies and Coordinator for Queer Studies in WGSS at OSU. They earned their Ph.D. from Michigan State University in Rhetoric and Writing with a concentration in Cultural Rhetorics. They also hold an M.A. from Antioch University in Whole Systems Design with concentrations in Native Writing, Theater, Story, and Resistance, and a B.A. from University of Northern Colorado in Social Transformation and the Arts. They are the author of two books, Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory, and Walking With Ghosts. They are also the co-editor for Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature and the editor of Queer Indigenous Studies: Critical Interventions in Theory, Politics, and Literature.

Summary: Dr. Qwo-Li Driskill begins the conversation by providing background information about how they came into their own feminist praxis and the formation of their own feminist ideologies, stemming from their mother, growing up in rural Colorado, queer, and trans organizing, and being influenced by Indigenous feminisms, Black feminisms and Womanisms, Crip and Disability feminisms and Transfeminisms. Dr. Driskill continues the conversation by talking about the importance of looking to queer and trans ancestors who cleared the way for the work they do in WGSS to be possible and to look to their work for answers to current political issues. They talk through the development of Queer Studies at Oregon State University, creating the largest number of course offerings in Trans Studies for graduate education, and the many strengths of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, including that the WGSS graduate program at Oregon State is mostly comprised of queer and trans identifying students.

Mehra Shirazi Oral History, interviewed by Md Tanveer Hossain Anoy on May 22, 2023

Link to the Mehra Shirazi Oral History Interview

Bio: Dr. Mehra Shirazi is a bicultural, bilingual community-engaged scholar with a broad background in health behavior. Their work is grounded in postcolonial feminist scholarship that focuses on health in the global context of race, gender, immigration, and environment. Their particular focus is on health inequities among immigrant/refugee women, specifically on the socio-cultural barriers limiting access to breast health and lifesaving prevention and care through the utilization of Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). Shirazi’s scholarship also addresses transnational praxis and pedagogy through critical studies of culture, lived experience, and narratives of decolonization with publications on Muslim mothering, family relationships in Iranian film, anti-racist pedagogy, and gendered Islamophobia. Dr. Shirazi joined the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies faculty in the School of Language, Culture, and Society in 2011.  She was a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. Some courses they teach include: Global Perspectives on Women’s Health, Violence Against Women, Feminist Research Methods, and Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Health Justice.  In 2017, Dr. Shirazi was awarded Oregon State University’s Frances Dancy Hooks Award, for building bridges across cultures and modeling transformative action.

Summary: A Bonding of Transnational Feminists ~ Oral history has an immense power to uphold the intersectional history of narrative and experience – an unstructured decolonized talk with one of the prominent professors of the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Oregon State University – Dr. Mehra Shirazi is no stranger to anyone. Their postcolonial approach to working broke and created conversations in academia. Migrating from Iran and earning a Ph.D. wasn’t a smooth journey for Dr. Mehra Shirazi. No matter how qualified they showed to the world, the white power structure always struck her down with questions like – “How women like you, Muslim women like you- who wear a Hijab can contribute to the feminist world?” Who’s the feminist world white people are talking about? The narrative they have created? Who gave the power to say a person can wear this or that- how can ideology be this much segregated? Throughout the interview, Dr. Mehra Shirazi shared how lived experiences helped her to get into her own feminist journey. Dr. Mehra’s decision to migrate wasn’t an easy one; it was more like a forced one. She spoke about her positionality in academia, shared a couple of triggering stories for being targeted as traditional Muslim women, and spoke highly about her stance with antiracist, anticapitalist, and anti-imperialist- although being vocal also comes with a price. Dr. Mehra Shirazi being in the department is a political statement; it gives a very strong intersectional and transnational to the white-dominated culture. Unfortunately, the number of people like her is so low that the journey can be very tough and lonely. As a South Asian, brown, Queer, international student- voices like Dr. Mehra give me strength and hope for greater intersectionality in movement and leadership building. This oral history is a monument of the change, the diversity we have been craving for a long time.

Patti Duncan and Patti Sakurai Oral History, interviewed by Trung Nguyen on May 23, 2023

Link to the Patti Duncan and Patti Sakurai Oral History Interview

Bios: Patti Duncan is a Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Oregon State University, specializing in women of color feminisms and transnational feminisms. She is the author of Tell This Silence: Asian American Women Writers and the Politics of Speech and numerous articles and essays. She is also the editor of the scholarly journal, Feminist Formations, as well as co-editor of the anthology, Mothering in East Asian Communities: Politics and Practices, co-editor of the textbook, Women Worldwide: Transnational Feminist Perspectives, 2nd edition, and co-editor of the four-volume encyclopedia, Women’s Lives Around the World.  Patti Sakurai is an Associate Professor in Ethnic Studies with teaching and research in critical ethnic studies and Asian American studies. She received her Ph.D. in English from SUNY at Stony Brook and taught at UC Santa Barbara, Colorado College, and Emory University, where she held a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship prior to arriving at OSU. Also a filmmaker, her short films engage issues of race and Asian American experiences and have screened at various film festivals in Portland, Seattle, New York City, Hong Kong, and Macau. She was a founding member of the production collective for APA Compass, a monthly public affairs program on KBOO 90.7 FM Portland.

Summary: “Asian/Asian American Feminisms on the OSU Campus” ~ Starting the interview, Nguyen introduces the purpose of this specific issue of OSU Oral History Interview project focusing on the celebration of 50 years anniversary of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) program at OSU. Duncan and Sakurai then each introduce themselves before delving into stories of how they first met at Emory University where Sakurai was doing her postdoc while Duncan was working on her doctoral degree. The two continue to share their favorite memories of each other including another graduate student that they had previously co-mentored. Duncan, Sakurai, and Trung then reflects on what it means to be an interdisciplinary or anti-disciplinary programs like WGSS and Ethnic Studies (ES). Duncan and Sakurai next describe what feminism means to each of them. They continue by sharing the roots of their feminisms which stem from their mothers and the feminist authors and books that they read. Both Duncan and Sakurai agree that their feminisms are unapologetically inspired by women of color and Asian/Asian American feminisms. After sharing briefly about their feminist journey at OSU, Duncan and Sakurai expressed both hope and critiques for the status quo of Asian/Asian American Studies at OSU. They move on by sharing the complexity and muddled grouping of Asian American and Pacific Islander in recent political contexts. Nguyen briefly mentions the hope for future interview with Patricia Fifita, a new Ethnic Studies and Indigenous Studies Assistant Professor at OSU, in order to discuss more in depth this identity politics topic. Duncan and Sakurai sum up the significance of feminist leadership that is elevated by Asian & Asian American feminisms on OSU campus. They reflect on how their feminist leadership has changed over time in support of students on campus who need their guidance and feminist practices. Their practice of women of color feminist leadership can at times conflict with institutional barriers that they themselves find creative resistant methods to challenge these obstacles while managing to offer the best support they could for their students. The three, Nguyen included, conclude by staking their hopes for the future of women of color feminist practices and its presence on OSU campus so that Asian, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and other students of color could feel represented and supported for a better and more diverse campus environment.

Whitney Archer and Kali Furman Oral History, interviewed by Elizabeth Kennedy on May 25, 2023

Link to the Whitney Archer and Kali Furman Oral History Interview

Bios: Kali Furman is an Instructor for the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program at Oregon State University. Dr. Furman is a social justice educator with over ten years of experience in higher education providing education, programming, and training for students, staff, and faculty. Research interests in social justice education, feminist pedagogies, faculty development, institutional change, and student activism. Whitney Archer  holds an Ed.M in College Student Services Administration, an M.A. in Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies, and is a current PhD Candidate in Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies at Oregon State University. As the Associate Director of Diversity & Cultural Engagement and Director of the Women’s Center at Oregon State University, Whitney provides leadership for the Women’s Center and support for all seven of Cultural Resource Centers. Whitney’s research interests include gender identity and expression, feminist leadership, feminist pedagogy and student activism.

Summary: Using a Story Corp Model, Kennedy poses questions to Whitney Archer and Dr. Kali Furman about feminist leadership and the relationship between the Women, Gender, & Sexualities Studies program and the Women & Gender Center at Oregon State University. Within this interview, they share their thoughts on what feminism means to Archer and Furman, how they each came to find feminism, and in turn how feminism informs their work. In addition to how feminism informs their work now, they discuss how their approach has changed overtime and how that change has been reflected in the relationship between the Women & Gender Center and the Women, Gender & Sexualities Studies program.  Both Archer and Furman discuss what brought them to Oregon State University and some of the experiences they have had in their time at the institution, including challenges they have faced and ways in which they have been strategic in their work.  Archer and Furman speak to how they grappled with the reality of trying to do feminist work in an inherently hierarchical system of higher education and how they have built accountability with each other to strive for congruence between their values and the work they do. As a follow up to their conversation about finding congruence, Archer and Furman discuss how we can move from performative tropes of feminism or social justice in the institution to making meaningful institutional change. They focus on ways they have seen push back against a White liberal feminist leadership framework that positions feminist leadership as the GirlBoss aesthetic. Archer and Furman conclude their conversation by sharing how they hope to see the partnership between the Women & Gender Center and the Women, Gender & Sexualities Studies program grow in the future.

Nana Osei-Kofi Oral History, interviewed by Keara Rodela on May 30, 2023

Link to the Nana Osei-Kofi Oral History Interview

Bio: Nana Osei-Kofi is Director of the Difference, Power, & Discrimination Program/ Associate Professor of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. Prior to her appointment at Oregon State University in 2013, Osei-Kofi was Associate Professor and Director of the Social Justice Studies Graduate Certificate Program in the School of Education at Iowa State University. Her areas of scholarly focus include critical and feminist teaching and learning, the politics of American higher education, Black Nordic studies, and visual cultural studies. Journals in which her work has appeared include, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, Feminist Formations, Equity & Excellence in Education, Latino Studies, and The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies. Her current work includes a book project titled Cultural Production and the Construction of an Afro-Swedish Identity, and several articles on the notion of “ally as identity” within social justice work in higher education. Osei-Kofi serves on the editorial board of Feminist Formations and The Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis, and is the incoming Vice-President of the National Women’s Studies Association.

Summary: In this oral history with Dr. Nana Osei-Kofi, the conversation begins with Dr. Osei-Kofi sharing about her cultural background, being raised by her Swedish mother and Ghanaian father, living between Ghana and Sweden, and moving to the U.S. when she was in her 20’s. She comes from a family of educators but ended up doing work in non-profits around diversity, equity, and inclusion for many years. She decided she loved education and pursued her Ph.D. in educational studies. During her graduate programs, she found herself in a couple of women’s studies classes, discovered that women’s studies focus on race, class, and sexism, and completed an M.A. in applied women’s studies alongside her Ph.D. Dr. Osei-Kofi worked at Iowa State University before joining OSU as the Director of Difference, Power, & Discrimination. After briefly discussing her background, we discussed how feminism found her. She decided it was best to have her tenure housed in WGSS, where the work she was interested in was happening at OSU. Dr. Osei-Kofi discusses how feminism found her and the feminist authors that informed her practice. Her interest is, and she is invested, in a radical feminist praxis. She is not interested in liberal feminism. She speaks on how feminism is a way of life, and a feminist praxis is part of your life, not just scholarship, “the personal is political.” Next, Dr. Osei-Kofi speaks on how she has engaged with activism and teaching and how feminism gave her language and tools to describe, understand, and make meaning. She speaks about other feminists of color who have influenced her scholarship. As well as mentioned how some of her colleagues and students work, which is equally important. She is intentional and appreciates and cites the work of activities, especially youth. We discuss not limiting your intellectual learning and engagement to the canon because it keeps us in rigidity and does not allow for movement within the community. Speaking of her time at OSU, she shared of her experiences as an administrator and faculty in WGSS. She is describing how her department is unique in how WGSS colleagues engage and each other. She feels that the diversity in disciplines and interests contributes to the lack of direct competition with other colleagues and the support they provide each other in this space. Dr. Osei-Kofi also touches on the challenges of making true institutional change and the resources and policies needed to make the actual changes identified. She felt it was important to talk about how institutions know what to do and they should put their resources where the work needs to be done. We then discuss the status of students of color within WGSS and student and faculty retention. She mentions how the student body in undergraduate mirrors the institution, and it is better in graduate programs, but still not many Black students in either area. Student and faculty retention is impacted by finances as well as the interest of students in social justice activities and activism over the past decade; in addition, by the time graduate students come to WGSS, most folks have an idea of what they want to do within WGSS. We then discuss how her feminist leadership has changed over time. An example she gave was her choosing when she would engage in activities or projects—balancing time and effort as a way to redress burnout in her field and career and recognizing whom we can do the work with, in solidarity, and when it is not possible. Within WGSS, it has played out in how she decides not to take on student defense or independent work outside of her 9-month contract and is transparent with students about why. This connects to taking a stance on doing the work they compensated, not taking on free labor as an institutional issue, and making it clear that it is. Dr. Osei-Kofi discusses an instance where the institution challenged feminist leadership. Then we move into conversations around the institution’s engagement in DEI work surrounding the Gorge Floyd murder and how that engagement did not go as far as hoped. As well as the need for sufficient financial support and power to the DEI leadership team, who is doing good work. Regarding our conversation around DEI, Dr. Osei-Kofi can be heard saying, “We know what to do.” We moved into a conversation about BIPOC faculty experiences within WGSS, the institution, the classroom, and living in Corvallis. This segwayed us into talking about the Difference, Power, & Discrimination (DPD) program in that she is the current director. DPD is a faculty-wide professional development project started based on student activism. It was Black student activism’s push to address racism on campus and, as part of anonymous students’ demands to the institution, curriculum to address racism, bias, and discrimination. It is now part of the general education requirements. It is about introducing scholarships about DPD issues and supporting faculty and graduate teaching assistants to create courses within their schools that address DPD through workshops and extended cohort support. We wrap up with what she was most proud of during her time at OSU, which includes the book published about the DPD program and what she hopes for the program’s future. We discuss Dr. Osei-Kofi’s upcoming retirement as director of DPD and tenure faculty, her future work, and why she chose to do intellectual activism within the academy with like-minded folks. 

Luhui Whitebear Oral History, interviewed by Gabriela Esquivel on May 31, 2023

Link to the Luhui Whitebear Oral History Interview

Bio: Dr. Luhui Whitebear is an enrolled member of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation with Huestec and Cochimi ancestry. She is an assistant professor in the School of Language, Culture, and Society (Indigenous Studies) and has served as the Center Director of the Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws at Oregon State University. Institutionally Luhui serves on the core leadership of the President’s Commission on Indigenous Affairs, the Bias Response Team, and on the Faculty Senate representing the College of Liberal Arts. In the community, she serves as the co-chair of the Corvallis School Board, as the Vice President of the OSBA Caucus of Color, on the MMIW USA board, and on the Oregon Women’s Foundation board. Luhui is a mother, poet, and activist engaged in community-based work. Dr. Whitebear received her Ph.D. from Oregon State University (OSU) in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; her MA from OSU in Interdisciplinary Studies; BS degrees from OSU in Anthropology and Ethnic Studies. Her research focuses on California Indigenous studies, Indigenous feminisms, Indigenous rhetorics, Indigenous activism, MMIW, national law & policy, and Indigenous land & water rights.

Summary: “The Intersection of Motherhood, Feminism, and Culture” ~ Dr. Luhui Whitebear describes her journey and experiences with indigenous feminism and how it has shaped her way of life through her indigenous culture, community, and motherhood. She describes the different ways she has experienced feminism in her life and within her motherhood, coming from a long line of resistance and activism it has always been part of who she is and as a mother. Being able to use her voice and carry on her traditions has transcended into her motherhood, passing those cultural values and resiliency to her children. Dr. Luhui Whitebear describes her journey as a single mother while also being a Ph.D. student at Oregon State University and how it has shaped her feminist experiences, her story is a story of resilience, activism, and determination. Giving hope to OSU students who may be in similar situations to never give up. An ice-breaker moment in one of her classes in the Women’s Gender and Sexual Studies Program (WGSS) is when she discovered her dream job which allowed her to dream big. Dr. Luhui Whitebear’s academic scholarship and leadership are shown through the various roles she’s had throughout her journey as an indigenous Ph.D. student, mother, and advisor, she is grateful to her community and WGSS program for providing the support she needed to reach her goals.

A Peek in the Box: Dance Cards

Chances are, if your campus experience here was characterized by a social whirlwind of activity where you went to nickel hops, picked up “paw paws,” saw a stunt show, or joined your fellow students in a serpentine formation at a football game, then, you are familiar with dance cards!

Dance cards were a longtime fixture of campus life that reflected an era where social interaction between women and men was much more regulated than today. Handed out at the beginning of events where live music and dancing were the primary attraction, these cards were often little booklets that contained blank spaces to jot down names with a tiny pencil that was usually attached. These names were to correspond with dance partners that the attendees would sign up for in advance.  

During the mad scramble to sign up prospective dates on the card (and possible future spouses), this ritual offered an opportunity for women and men to mix socially in a world where this activity was, more often than not, officially discouraged by the college.       

To put this practice in perspective, during the dance card golden age (roughly 1910 to 1960), student housing was segregated by gender, women living in cooperative houses often needed permission to leave their residence after hours, and physical education courses were held in separate buildings that did not mix men and women together.   

It is little surprise then, that dance cards became such a treasured memento among students. These little souvenirs of the good times on campus (dating, bands, and breaks from homework) occupy a lot of scrapbook space in collections that have found their way into the OSU Special Collections and Archives Research Center!    


Post contributed by Karl McCreary, SCARC Collections Archivist.

New Finding Aids: January – March 2023

SCARC completed four new finding aids from January – March 2023! 

These finding aids are available through the Archives West finding aids database, 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.

New collection guides created this quarter:

Gwil Evans Papers (MSS Evans)

The Gwil Evans Papers primarily consist of photographic negatives documenting the Oregon State University Black Student Union rallies and walkout of February 1969, as well as events surrounding the OSU Centennial Lecture series, including presentations by Linus Pauling. Also included are negatives depicting OSU marine sciences and Seafood Laboratory activities; images of a U.S. bicentennial parade held in Corvallis; a report written by Evans titled “A Position of Analysis: Editor of the Oregon State Daily Barometer”; and a printing block of the Daily Barometer masthead. A graduate of Oregon State College, Gwil Evans enjoyed a long and varied career at OSU as a communications officer and administrator.

George H. Taylor Papers (MSS TaylorGeorge)

The George H. Taylor Papers are made up of materials documenting the research and writings of Oregon State University climatologist George H. Taylor. Primarily consisting of reference materials on Oregon weather history assembled by Taylor, this collection also contains drafts of book chapters and newspaper articles. Taylor worked from 1989 until 2008 for the OSU College of Oceanic and Atmopsheric Sciences serving as the Director of the Oregon Climate Service.

Edward and Donna Caldwell Collection (MSS EDCaldwell)

The Edward and Donna Caldwell Collection consists of materials generated and assembled by alumni Edward Caldwell and Donna Drinkard Caldwell documenting their receipt of awards for student scholarship at Oregon State University, and their careers as pharmacists in the Portland area. Edward received his undergraduate degree in pharmacy in 1960, becoming the first African-American to graduate from the OSU School of Pharmacy. Donna graduated in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and later returned to earn a master’s degree in 1968.

Chuck Williams Photograph Collection (P345)

The Chuck Williams Photographic Collection documents the life and work of Oregon photographer Charles Otis “Chuck” Williams. Throughout his decades-long career, predominately between the 1970s-2000s in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, Williams photographed a variety of events, locations, and communities. His photographic record includes images of Native American communities as well as events related to environmental activism, cultural celebrations, Pride celebrations, food and agriculture, and the arts. His collection also includes documentation of Oregon’s scenery and recreational activities as well as national parks across the United States. The majority of the collection is comprised of slides, but also includes prints, contact sheets, and negatives. A sampling of Williams’ photography of cultural celebrations is available online via Oregon Digital.

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.

New exhibit on display!

Our newest mini exhibit, “The Beaver 1923: Oregon State’s Campus 100 Years Ago“ is on display in the alcove outside our Reading Room on the fifth floor of the Valley Library.  In this new exhibit put together by Public Services Assistant Anna Dvorak, she shares a glimpse of what campus was like a hundred years ago.  Inspired by the surprise she experienced when she found a photo of the tennis courts in the Memorial Union quad, the new exhibit is centered on a map of campus.  Anna selected images that show things that no longer exist on campus and photos that show how campus has changed over the years.


When walking around campus, much of what we see on the Oregon State campus today seems like it has been a part of campus for a long time, but what wasn’t on campus in 1923?

  • The Memorial Union (would be completed in 1929)
  • The gates at the east edge of campus (construction began 1939)
  • The Valley Library 
  • Weatherford Hall (completed in 1928)
  • Gill Coliseum (completed in 1949)
  • Plageman Student Health Center (completed in 1936)
  • Even the Pharmacy Building wasn’t completed until 1924!

Campus is always changing and evolving.  What has changed in your own time as a student?  What will campus look like in another 100 years?


All information in creation of this exhibit was found in SCARC portals, including:

New Finding Aids: October – December 2022

SCARC did not complete any new finding aids October – December 2022. However, we do have two new LibGuides!


Oral History Interviewing Methods & Project Management 

The Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) at Oregon State University Libraries is home to an active and well-established oral history program that is populated by collections from long ago, collections that SCARC faculty have created, and collections built by external partners. This guide is meant to serve as a resource for individuals who are interested in working with SCARC as an external partner. It assumes that the reader is already enthusiastic about collecting oral history interviews, but needs help with one or more aspects of the process. Importantly, the guide also details some of the specifics that we ask of our external partners if they wish to deposit their content with SCARC.

Home Economics at Oregon State 

This guide is not meant to be the definitive history of the study of Home Economics on Oregon State’s campus.  Instead, it serves as a starting place to explore this history on your own through the information contained in this guide and links to other resources, both in SCARC collections and outside Oregon State University.

It’s Oregon Archives Month!

We’ve got some big fun planned to celebrate Archives Month this year.

Oregon Mementos Open House: Archives house many things! Come by to check out buttons, beanies, and maybe a postcard or two.

  • Wednesday October 12th
  • 11:00am-1:00pm
  • 5th Floor of the Library

Beer Zines Crafternoon: We’ve got too many duplicate magazines in the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives! Stop by and make a beer themed zine or collage (what’s a zine??)

  • Thursday October 13th
  • 4:00pm-5:30pm
  • Lobby, Main Floor of the Library

Film Fest: Watch some historic films from the 1920s and 1930s — and yes, you can bring your lunch or just eat popcorn.

  • Friday October 27th
  • 12:00pm-1:00pm
  • West Classroom, Main Floor of the Library

New Finding Aids: July – September 2022

SCARC completed three new finding aids from July – September 2022! 

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


New collection guides created this quarter:

Widmer Brothers Brewing Company Records, 1984-2013 (MSS Widmer)

The Widmer Brothers Brewing Company Records includes brewing records, photographs, marketing materials, office files, ephemera, and audio video content.

Widmer Brothers Brewing Company was founded in 1984 in Portland, Oregon by Kurt and Rob Widmer. Kurt Widmer retired in 2016, the Gasthaus closed in 2019, and Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired the company in 2020.

Rock Bottom Brewery Records, 1994-2010 (MSS RockBottom)

The Rock Bottom Brewery Records document the brewing operations at the SW Morrison Street, Portland, Oregon facility. Rock Bottom Brewery is a Denver-based chain of brewpubs. They opened the Portland pub in 1994 at 206 SW Morrison Street.

Oregon Trail Brewery Records, 1951-2020 (MSS OregonTrail)

The Oregon Trail Brewery Records document the brewing and company operations, finances and shareholder involvement, transitions to new ownership, marketing and promotion, and reporting about the brewery in the press.

The Oregon Trail Brewery Company was incorporated as Brewing Northwest, Ltd. on March 20, 1985 in Corvallis, Oregon and began beer production on July 15, 1987. When Oregon Trail Brewery opened in 1987, it was the first new brewery in the Willamette Valley outside of Portland since Prohibition was repealed.

A new LibGuide is up and ready for research! 

The Regional Politics and Policies in SCARC LibGuide is your guide to all things local politics in the archives. The guide is substantial, providing information and resources in five categories: politicians and public servants, civic engagement groups, legislation and ballot measures, clubs and organizations, and the Oregon Legislature and political process.

Dawn Marges, Helen Berg and Atta Akyeampong, recipients of the Women of Achievement Award

Thirty-two politicians – with public service dating from 1849 to the present day – are included in the guide, complete with abbreviated biographies, details of their career, and documentation of their political pursuits. Where more information exists about their career (often in the form of political papers) at another institution, links to finding aids are provided. Links are also provided for any substantive information that exists for each politician outside of SCARC’s various portals and collections, whether that be an online exhibit (in the case of particularly influential historical politicians) or current campaign websites for those politicians who are still active. 

Considering that SCARC doesn’t consider politics one of its collection areas, the sheer amount of information available within our holdings was admittedly a bit of a surprise to me. Many of the collections featured are not explicitly political in nature, but politics appear nonetheless – alongside a subject’s interests, passions, and expertise. Clearly, politics are bound up in nearly every aspect of our lives. In exploring collections that are not explicitly political, the nuances of public service, the importance of a rich civic engagement, and the entanglement of politics with nearly every feature of life in the Pacific Northwest come to the fore. Perhaps it will inspire you to think more about the indivisibility of politics from your life, much like it did for me.

Urban League of Portland staff

The activities and activism of several civic engagement groups are included in the guide as well, accompanied by short histories and information about each of the organizations. While some organizations, like Colleges for Oregon’s Future, no longer exist, most of the organizations are still active and influential around the state. 

A number of laws, ballot measures, and initiatives are included in the “legislation and ballot measures” section. The bulk of the legislation included in this section is environmental policy and legislation introduced and passed at both the federal and state levels in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s and was influenced by the struggle between environmentalists’ interest in preserving spotted owl habitat in the Pacific Northwest, the interests of timber companies, and the role of the U.S. Forest Service in the mediation of these interests. In addition, the struggle for LGBTQIA+ rights in Oregon in the 1990s and early 2000s is documented in this guide and throughout SCARC collections in discussion of ballot measures eightnine, and thirty-six, activism in opposition to the Oregon Citizens Alliance, and the legal battle over the legalization of same-sex marriage. 

The activities and political passions of OSU’s student body and the Corvallis community are well documented in SCARC’s collections – 54 politically-inclined student groups and community organizations are represented in the research guide. 

State Capitol Building

The guide also includes a wealth of resources and information surrounding the Oregon legislature – its establishment and evolution, as well as the proceedings and happenings of 33 assemblies of the Oregon Legislature, are documented in our rare books collections. The general history of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, legislative procedure, and information about the legislative membership is also documented in the guide, as is the history and proceedings of the Oregon Constitutional Convention.

I hope you enjoy using this guide as much as I enjoyed researching, writing, and organizing it! 


This post is contributed by Carlee Baker, designer and author of The Regional Politics and Policies in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center Guide. Baker is a graduate student in the School of Writing, Literature and Film at Oregon State University (2022).

New Finding Aids: April – June 2022

SCARC completed eight new finding aids from April to June 2022!

  • Wigrich Ranche Photographic Album (P352): The Wigrich Ranche (sic) was a hops farm located in Buena Vista, Oregon, approximately 3 miles southeast of Independence in an area that was called the “Hop Center of the World” between 1900 and 1940. The Wigrich Ranche (sic) Album documents the operational and worker activities of the farm.
  • Corvallis Lesbian Avengers (MSS CorvallisLesbianAvengers): The Corvallis Lesbian Avengers Collection documents the activities of the Corvallis chapter of the Lesbian Avengers throughout the 1990s. The Corvallis Lesbian Avengers were a local chapter of the national Lesbian Avengers organization. Originally formed in 1992 in New York City, the Lesbian Avengers were a direct-action group focused on issues vital to lesbian survival and visibility. The bulk of the collection is made up of photo albums and scrapbooks containing photographs, news clippings, flyers, artwork, poetry, and other paper material. The collection also includes a small collection of artifacts, an annotated calendar, and 3 issues of the Necessary Friction zine produced by the Corvallis Lesbian Avengers. The entire collection is digital and fully available upon patron request or for use in the SCARC reading room.
  • Fred Milton Papers (MSS Milton): The Fred Milton Papers cover a wide range of topics related to the life of Fred Milton. Fred Milton was an up-and-coming football star at Oregon State University (OSU) in the 1960s. He later left OSU and professional athletics, and led a long career in public service. Topics addressed in this collection include the “Beard Incident” at OSU, where he clashed with his football coach over facial hair rules, the 1969 Black Student Union Walkout, his athletic career, his public service career, and his family. The bulk of the material consists of newspaper clippings and scrapbooks. The entire collection is digital and fully available upon patron request or for use in the SCARC reading room.
  • The History of Atomic Energy Collection (MSS Atomic): The History of Atomic Energy Collection is the largest collection related to nuclear history in SCARC. All topics related to the nuclear era appear in this collection across a range of material types.
  • Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine Records (MSS LPISM): The Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine Records detail the research and administrative activities of LPISM from the time of its founding in 1973 to its move to Oregon State University and rebranding as the Linus Pauling Institute in 1996, and later dissolution as a formal legal entity. Based in Palo Alto or the surrounding area for its entire history, the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine was primarily dedicated to the study of orthomolecular medicine and, in particular, the potential therapeutic use of vitamin C in the treatment of conditions ranging from the common cold to cancer. The Institute’s scientific pursuits are documented through research notebooks, laboratory data, scientific photographs, patent files, grant applications and more. LPISM’s administrative work is likewise chronicled through, among other material types, board meeting minutes, correspondence, legal records, donor files, annual reports, audiocassette recordings and biographical data.
  • President’s Office Subject and Correspondence Files (RG 013 – SG 11): The President’s Office General Subject and Correspondence Files consist of microfilmed records documenting the administration and functioning of Oregon State University — primarily during the 1950s and 1960s.
  • President’s Office General Subject File (RG 013 – SG 06): The President’s Office General Subject File consists of microfilmed records documenting the administration and functioning of Oregon State University – primarily during the 1920s through 1940s, and including materials pertaining to World War II.