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A Photographic History of Oregon State University

Oregon State Housemothers, ca. 1950

Oregon State Housemothers, ca. 1950. Greek houses and housing co-operatives employed housemothers, who served “in loco parentis” for those living groups, acting as administrator, supervisor, social coordinator, and sometime confidante. One of the most famous housemothers affiliated with Oregon State was Florence Kincaid Naismith, widow of James Naismith, who is credited with inventing the game of basketball in 1892. She served as housemother for the Delta Delta Delta sorority from 1941 to 1947. Housemothers also had their own organization – the Resident Hostess Club of Oregon State College. It was created in 1948, and the members met monthly to discuss common issues and problems at the living groups, and to plan social events for the residents. The club had a close connection with the Dean of Women. The club disbanded about 1968. (P25:2715)

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1. Literary Societies Picnic, May 30, 1910
2. Class reunion attendees, June 1926 Class reunion attendees, June 1926. Class reunions became popular in the 1920s, and were often planned to be close to commencement. This reunion tent hosted members of graduating classes from 1904 through 1907. They were viewing “old time pictures and mementoes.” The alumni included (from left) A.G. Bouquet, Anne Ewing Wayson, Harry Auld, Minette Phillips Espy, Phillip Gearhart, Madeline Nichold, Sam Graf, Fred Roth, Floyd Rowland, Harold G. Rumbraugh, Letha Rickard Porter, and Fred Ewing. The Golden Jubilee Reunion, the Alumni Association’s primary reunion, brings together members of the graduating class from fifty years ago. (HC 1102)
3. Theta Sigma Phi Members Performing a Stunt in Front of the Memorial Union, 1938 Theta Sigma Phi members performing a stunt in front of the Memorial Union, 1938. Theta Sigma Phi is a national professional society for women in journalism and communications. It was created in 1909 by female journalism students at the University of Washington. Oregon State’s Alpha Eta chapter was established in 1924, replacing a predecessor organization called The Scribe. The national organization, now known as the Association for Women in Communications, allowed men to become members in 1972. (HC 1182)
4. Delta Zeta Sorority Members on a Jeep, 1943
5. Oregon State Housemothers, ca. 1950 Oregon State Housemothers, ca. 1950. Greek houses and housing co-operatives employed housemothers, who served “in loco parentis” for those living groups, acting as administrator, supervisor, social coordinator, and sometime confidante. One of the most famous housemothers affiliated with Oregon State was Florence Kincaid Naismith, widow of James Naismith, who is credited with inventing the game of basketball in 1892. She served as housemother for the Delta Delta Delta sorority from 1941 to 1947. Housemothers also had their own organization – the Resident Hostess Club of Oregon State College. It was created in 1948, and the members met monthly to discuss common issues and problems at the living groups, and to plan social events for the residents. The club had a close connection with the Dean of Women. The club disbanded about 1968. (P25:2715)
6. “Beaver Machine” Homecoming Display, 1951
7. Oregon Governor Tom McCall confers with OSU symphony conductor Bernard Gilmore, Feb. 12, 1969
8. “Beemer for B&T Senator” campaign sign, ca. 1972
9. Delta Upsilon fraternity’s 60th anniversary celebration invitation, January 1982
10. Wilma Mankiller with the Officers of the OSU Native American Student Association, Fall 1988 Wilma Mankiller with the officers of the OSU Native American Student Association, Fall 1988. The Native American Student Association sponsors the OSU Powwow. Mankiller, third from the right, was the chief of the Cherokee Nation, a position she held from 1985 to 1995. She was on campus in the Fall of 1988 to lecture and attend the OSU Powwow. She returned to lecture again at OSU in April 2007. (P94, Accession 97:100)

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1. Dearborn Hall, ca. 1950
2. Dean of Forestry Paul M. Dunn Observing a Pinecone, 1950 Dean of Forestry Paul M. Dunn observing a pinecone, November 1950. Dunn (1898-1988) was OSC’s dean of forestry from 1942 to 1955. He was instrumental in OSC obtaining the 6,200 acre Adair Tract from the federal government after World War II. A large portion of this tract became the Paul M. Dunn Research Forest. Prior to coming to OSC, he had been dean of forestry at Utah State College from 1931 to 1938. After leaving Oregon State, Dunn worked for the St. Regis Paper Company until 1968. He was a 1975 recipient of the Society of American Foresters’ Gifford Pinchot Award. (HC 200)
3. Chemical Engineering Building, February 1957
4. College Playhouse, ca. 1951 College Playhouse, ca. 1951. The old armory and gymnasium building was converted to a playhouse for Oregon State’s excellent theatre program in 1950. It was renamed Mitchell Playhouse in 1961, in memory of C.B. Mitchell, longtime chair of the Speech Dept. and director of the theatre program. The building was used as the playhouse until 1990, when fire safety concerns closed it for that purpose. In 1992 it was restored with gift funds from the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation, and reopened as the Gladys Valley Gymnastics Center. (P16:814)
5. Teaching in the New Wing of the Home Economics Building, January 1954
6. Oregon State Housemothers, ca. 1950 Oregon State Housemothers, ca. 1950. Greek houses and housing co-operatives employed housemothers, who served “in loco parentis” for those living groups, acting as administrator, supervisor, social coordinator, and sometime confidante. One of the most famous housemothers affiliated with Oregon State was Florence Kincaid Naismith, widow of James Naismith, who is credited with inventing the game of basketball in 1892. She served as housemother for the Delta Delta Delta sorority from 1941 to 1947. Housemothers also had their own organization – the Resident Hostess Club of Oregon State College. It was created in 1948, and the members met monthly to discuss common issues and problems at the living groups, and to plan social events for the residents. The club had a close connection with the Dean of Women. The club disbanded about 1968. (P25:2715)
7. Freshman co-ed with new campus street signs, fall 1953
8. Marian Stebbinger Playing the Chimes, 1947 Marian Stebbinger playing the chimes, 1947. The chimes, located in Benton Hall, were a gift of the alumni association and could be heard twice daily. In 1957 Oregon State raised funds for a carillon, which was installed in the Memorial Union. For many years the carillon has chimed out the Fight Song and the Alma Mater at 5:00 p.m. each day. The carillon was automated in the 1990s with a digital sound system. (HC 726)
9. “Beaver Machine” Homecoming Display, 1951
10. Participants in the Oregon Dairy Industries Meeting at Oregon State College Judging Ice Cream, February 1953
11. Physics Professors David Nicodemus and Richard R. Dempster Work with OSC’s Cyclotron, ca. 1954 Physics Professors David Nicodemus and Richard R. Dempster work with OSC’s cyclotron, ca. 1954. Nicodemus joined the Oregon State faculty in 1950 after receiving his doctorate at Stanford, where he worked on establishing its cyclotron. During World War II he worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, and participated in the detonation of the first nuclear device at the Trinity site in 1945. Dempster came to Oregon State in 1944 after earning his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1942. While at Cal, Dempster worked in Ernest O. Lawrence’s Radiation Lab. Lawrence developed the first cyclotron at the University of California in 1932. (P25:2888)