A Photographic History of Oregon State University

OSU's Early Years, 1858 - 1889

"Let us flee from debt as from the grave," wrote President Arnold in his 1873 annual report to trustees, given at a meeting in which they sought to consolidate the college’s debts. Indebtedness continued as trustees placed a series of mortgages on the original thirty-five-acre college farm, and much of it was often leased out, leaving little room for agricultural experiments.  Despite periodic reports to the legislature that the college was free of debt, trustee minutes suggest that the college was in debt to Arnold and others throughout much of its period of church control.

This page has paths:

  1. A Photographic History of Oregon State University Keenan Ward

Contents of this path:

  1. Mary Graham, Rose Russell, Fannie Irwin, and Mattie Graham, ca. 1868
  2. Register of freshman and preparatory students for fall 1869
  3. Portrait of James K.P. Currin, ca. 1870
  4. Finley home in Corvallis, ca. 1870
  5. Portrait of George F. Burkhart, ca. 1871
  6. Class of 1872
  7. Portrait of Sarah Latimer Finley, ca. 1874
  8. Tuition receipt, December 1881
  9. State Agricultural College Student Body, ca. 1888
  10. Portrait of W. W. Bristow, ca. 1894