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A Photographic History of Oregon State University

OSU People

Contents of this tag:

Portrait of Sarah Latimer Finley, ca. 1874. Finley was the daughter of a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Despite her health concerns that precipitated the Finleys’ return to California in 1872, she lived to be 89 years old, passing away in 1937. Finley was a leader of the suffrage movement in Sonoma County, California. Thomas Houseworth & Co. was one of the leading photography studios in San Francisco in the 1870s and 1880s. (HC 225)
Judy Spoelstra in action against Montana State, 1982. Spoelstra played at OSU for two seasons, 1982 and 1983, earning Kodak All-American second team honors in 1983. She led the team to the 1982 Women’s NIT title and an appearance in the 1983 NCAA tournament. Spoelstra returned to OSU in 1995 to inherit basketball head coaching duties from her former coach, Aki Hill. She coached the team for ten seasons, compiling an overall record of 133 wins and 158 losses. Her teams played in the 1996 NCAA tournament and in the WNIT from 2001 to 2004. Spoelstra received the John R. Wooden Pac-10 conference coach of the year in 2000, and was named to the OSU Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. (P57:6979)
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)
Shirley Lagastee drives around a defender to the basket, winter 1975. Lagastee was OSU’s leading scorer that season. OSU split its two game series with the Oregon Ducks, winning the second contest in 97-32 blowout. Basketball became an intercollegiate sport for women at OSU in 1972. Lagastee was a four-sport athlete at OSU – she also played field hockey and softball, and was on the track and field team. (P57:4937)
Jenna Leavitt dribbles the ball against an opponent, ca. 1993. Leavitt led the Beavers in goals and total points in 1992 and 1993. She holds the OSU record for points (nine) in one game, scoring nine against Gonzaga on Sept. 27, 1993. In that game she scored four goals, an OSU record she shares with Val Wiliams. She also holds the OSU record for career assists with twenty-three. Leavitt garnered first team All-NCSC honors in 1990 and 1992. She was also first team Pac-10 All-Academic in 1994. (Photo by Mike Shields, courtesy of OSU Athletic Communications)
Helen Gilkey and assistants in the Herbarium, ca. 1945. Gilkey, who received her bachelor's and master's degrees from OAC (1907 and 1911), was curator of the herbarium from 1918 to 1951. In 1915 she was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in botany from the University of California, Berkeley. She also served as professor of botany at Oregon State and was an accomplished botanical illustrator and author, best known for her research on truffles. OSU’s Herbarium was established in the early 1880s. At the time of this photo, the Herbarium was located on the third floor of what is now Strand Agriculture Hall. Today it is located in Cordley Hall, contains more than 405,000 vascular plant, bryophyte, algal and fungal specimens, and is comprised of collections from OSU, the University of Oregon, and Willamette University. (HC 1252)
Coach Paul Schissler (left) and football team member Howard Maple receiving a trophy from Portland Mayor George Baker, celebrating OSC's victory over New York University, 1928. Oregon State concluded an up-and-down season in 1928 by traveling 3,000 miles to play the much heralded New York University Violets in Yankee Stadium on Thanksgiving Day, November 29. The 25-13 Beaver victory, considered one of college football's biggest upsets of the season, was called "one of the prettiest games of the year to watch" by a New York sportswriter. On the team's return trip, crowds at LaGrande, Pendleton, The Dalles, Portland and Corvallis greeted the victors. The trophy awarded by Mayor Baker was inscribed, "To Oregon State College by the citizens of Portland presented in commemoration of the football victory, Oregon State College over New York University Yankee Stadum, New York O.S.C. 25 - N.Y.U. 13 November 29, 1928 (HC 918)
Married students at Adair Village housing for veterans, ca. 1946. The large number of returning veterans after World War II created a severe shortage of student housing at OSC. As a temporary measure to alleviate part of the shortage, the college utilized part of the former Camp Adair military training cantonment to house returning veterans, many of whom were married. The Adair Village housing, which consisted of 326 units, opened in the fall of 1946. (HC 816 #13)
John H. Hall, ca. 1949. Hall (1899-1970) graduated from OAC in 1923 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He later graduated from law school and entered politics with his 1932 election to the Oregon House of Representatives. He became speaker of the house in 1947. After the death of Governor Earl Snell and two other officials in a plane crash in 1947, Hall was next in line in succession, and took the oath of office of governor on October 30, 1947. He was challenged in the 1948 Republican primary by another Oregon Stater, Douglas McKay, who had been a close friend of Snell. McKay defeated Hall and went on to win the general election in fall 1948. He later served as a district court judge. (HC 527)
William Arthur Jensen, ca. 1930. Jensen (1881 -1945) served as executive secretary for presidents Kerr and Peavy and was a member of the college’s administrative council. He came to OAC in 1907. After President Kerr was in an auto accident and needed nearly a year to recover, Jensen served as the de facto president of OAC during Kerr’s hiatus. The campus gates were dedicated to Jensen for his strong support of WPA art projects on campus during the 1930s. (HC 258)
Political scientist Bill Lunch, spring 1996. Lunch was well known for his political commentaries and analysis on Oregon Public Broadcasting, which began in 1988. He was often heard on OPB’s Oregon Considered radio program and the Seven Days television program. He was a faculty member in OSU’s Political Science Department from 1984 to 2011, and served as department chair his last eight years. (P57, Accession 2006:046)
OAC Professor of Bacteriology Theodore Beckwith in his lab, ca. 1913. The Bacteriology Department worked closely with other departments, such as Dairy Husbandry and Poultry Husbandry, on Experiment Station research projects. Beckwith was a member of the OAC faculty and chair of the Bacteriology Department from 1912 to 1919. He authored several Extension and Experiment Station publications. He later served as chair of UCLA’s Department of Bacteriology. (HC 949)
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)
State Agricultural College student body, ca. 1888. This image shows many of the students posed on the side of the college building – probably one of the last photos taken prior to the college moving to its new location on the college farm. The photo was made by Corvallis photographer Winfield S. Gardner, who took many photos of OAC students during the twenty-seven years he operated his studio in the city (1886 to 1913). (HC 1344)
Brent Barry in action against the Ducks, 1995. Barry played at OSU from 1991 to 1995. He was an All Pac-10 selection in 1995, and was second in scoring in the conference that year at 21 points per game. He is on nine of OSU’s top 10 career lists. Barry played professionally from 1995 to 2009, including stints with the Los Angeles Clippers, Seattle Supersonics and the San Antonio Spurs. (P3, Accession 96:005)
Fred Burgess at the Corvallis wastewater treatment plant, ca. 1960. Burgess came to OSU in 1953 as an instructor, and served as department chair of civil engineering from 1966 to 1971 and dean of engineering from 1970 to 1989. He specialized in environmental engineering, waste treatment and water pollution control. Burgess was instrumental in securing funding for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building (Owens Hall), the last building constructed at OSU entirely with state funds. He became a member of the OSU Engineering Hall of Fame in 1998. (P82:510)
OSU administration, 1973. OSU’s top administrators gathered by this Rolls Royce outside of Education Hall (now Furman Hall). From left: Milosh Popovich, Dean of Administration; Robert W. Chick, Dean of Students; Robert W. MacVicar, President; Stuart E. Knapp, Dean of Undergraduate Studies; David B. Nicodemus, Dean of Faculty; and Roy A. Young, Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies. The car may have belonged to G. Burton Wood, director of the Agricultural Experiment Station and a collector of classic cars. (HC 1496)
Dean Ava Milam and graduate student Caroline Chen, ca. 1927. Chen, who was from Peking (now Beijing), was one of the first home economics graduate students from China to attend Oregon State. Milam developed strong relationships with many Pacific Rim countries, including China, Korea, and Japan, and many students came to Oregon State because of her work in those countries. (MSS – Ava Milam Clark Papers)
Bernard Malamud at home with his cat, 1960. Novelist Bernard Malamud was an English professor at Oregon State College from 1949 to 1961. During this time he wrote three novels: The Natural (1952), The Assistant (1957), and A New Life (1961) as well as a collection of short stories, The Magic Barrel (1959) for which he received the National Book Award. He was presented OSU's Distinguished Service Award in 1969. (P222:8)
Karl Van Calcar running against Washington State, ca. 1985. Van Calcar, who ran at OSU from 1984-1988, was a five time All-American for Oregon State – three times in track and twice in cross-country. The 1500 and 5000 meter runs and the 3000 meter steeplechase were his specialties. He won the steeplechase at the 1988 NCAA Championships – the last Beaver to win an individual national title before track and field was eliminated. (Photo by Mike Shields, courtesy of OSU Athletic Communications)
Professor John Letcher and calculus students, ca. 1892. Letcher (1853-1938, front row center) came to OAC in 1888 and taught mathematics, engineering and military science and tactics. He graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1873 with a degree in civil engineering, and was the son of Virginia’s Confederate governor. Letcher served as acting president in 1892 after Benjamin Arnold’s sudden death and before John Bloss arrived later that year. Letcher was one of the candidates for the position of president, but Bloss had an edge because of his experience as an education administrator. Letcher left OAC in 1894 to teach mathematics at the University of Oregon. (P25:1554)
Professor Earl L. Packard examining a fossilized sea turtle skull, ca. 1935. Packard was a paleontologist who came to OSC from the University of Oregon in 1932 as a part of the consolidation of the School of Science at Oregon State. He served as the Dean of Science from 1932 to 1938, as chair of the geology department from 1932 to 1950, and as director of OSC’s Research Council from 1932 to 1946. (HC 1038)