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Oregon State University
Special Collections and Archives
Research Center

Oral History Interviews, Personal Histories, and Sound Recordings Collection on Agriculture, Forestry, and Oregon History, 1908-2022View associated digital content.

Predominant Dates: 1957-1991
The Oral History Interviews, Personal Histories, and Sound Recordings Collection on Agriculture, Forestry, and Oregon History consists of various oral histories, personal and family histories, recollections, and sound recordings prepared by different individuals. The collection materials document forestry in Oregon and the Northwest, the history of Oregon State University, local Corvallis and Benton County history, and the activities of Oregon State alumni. Nearly all of the audiocassettes held in this collection have been digitized and are available upon patron request.
ID: OH 005
Extent: 0.8 cubic feet
More Extent Information
Scope and Content Notes
Biographical / Historical Notes
Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.
Statement on Description: Collection processed by Elizabeth Nielsen and Chris Petersen.
Arrangement
Preferred Citation: Oral History Interviews, Personal Histories, and Sound Recordings Collection on Agriculture, Forestry, and Oregon History (OH 005), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Acquisition Note: The materials were donated or transferred to the Archives in several accessions from the 1960s through 1997. Some of the sound recordings and copies of the transcripts were housed at the Horner Museum for a period of time and transferred back to the Archives from the Horner Museum collections in 1996.
Languages of Materials
Other

Container List

Series 1: Transcripts, Project Files and Sound Recordings, 1908-2001 Add to Shelf
Extent: 2 boxes; 12 folders
Box-Folder 1.1: Drake, George, November 10, 1958 Add to Shelf
Interview is titled "Oral History Interview with George Drake, consulting forester; formerly logging manager for Simpson Logging Company, Shelton, Washington; and forester, U.S. Forest Service." Interview transcript includes an index of subjects and personal names. Subjects discussed include the Forest Service, logging camps, Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen, Pacific Logging Congress, Western Forestry and Conservation Association, Spark Arrester Committee, George Cornwall, Ed Hirst, tractor logging, forest fire prevention. [Item OH05:01, interview conducted by Elwood R. Maunder, Forest History Foundation, Inc.]
Box-Folder 1.2: Matthews, Oliver V., June 1959 Add to Shelf
Interview is titled "The Work of Oliver Matthews, Dendrologist Extraordinary." Subjects discussed include dendrology, unusual Oregon trees, forest photography and the Johnson fir. [Item OH05:02, interview conducted by W.R. Randall.]
Box-Folder 1.3: Finley, Ross, 1949-1956 Add to Shelf
Interview is titled "History of OSU -- Prior 1890." Folder includes six SoundScriber discs annotated as having been used for dictation of Finley's interview between 1949 and 1956. Transcript was created in 1964 at the offices of Corvallis Sand and Gravel Co. Subjects discussed include the Gibson Mine, William A. Finley, Marianna Mines and Corvallis College. [Item OH05:03, interview conducted by J.H. Gallagher.]
Extent: Six SoundScriber discs
Box-Folder 1.4: Agricultural Information Trainee Program promotional recording, United States Department of Agriculture, 1958 Add to Shelf
Folder includes a form letter from R. Lyle Webster, Director of Information, describing the trainee program and the purpose of the recording. Subjects discussed in the recording include the USDA Office of Information in Washington DC and the Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland]. [Item OH05:04, narrated by George Loesing and Jerry Carlson.]
Extent: 1 reel-to-reel audiotape; 11:00
Box-Folder 1.5: MacKenzie, Donald, October 31, 1957 Add to Shelf
Subjects discussed include Tom Roach, Bill Brian, Kenneth Ross, Frank Mallory, Thomas F. Walsh, Anaconda Company, 1909-1957; logging, Ouray, Colorado; Camp Birdmine; horse sleigh logging; Potomac, Montana; Seely Lake; Red Cross; Osgood portable loader; lumberjacks; Paul Bunyan stories; tall tales; "ten-day men." [Item OH05:05, interview conducted by Elwood R. Maunder, Forest History Foundation, Inc. Gordon D. Marckworth, Dean of the College of Forestry at the University of Washington, also participated in the interview.]
Box-Folder 1.6: MacVicar, Robert, June 3, 1984 Add to Shelf
Interview is titled "MacVicar Reflects - Transcription of Interview just before Graduation," conducted in connection with MacVicar's retirement from Oregon State University. [Item OH05:06, interviewer unknown.]
Box-Folder 1.7: Snook, Paul, August - September, 1983 Add to Shelf
A personal and family history focusing primarily on Snook's work in constructing campus buildings and in highway construction. Transcript includes a partial list of construction projects carried out by the Snook family. [Item OH05:07; prepared by Susan M. Gaughan with interviews conducted in part by Alison Otis.]
Box-Folder 1.8: Pubols, Ben H., Sr., June 15, 1973 Add to Shelf
Transcript is titled "Ancestry and Early Life of Dr. Ben H. Pubols, Sr." Folder includes a Washington Post obituary of Pubols, "Ben H. Pubols, Ex-Economist for USDA Research Service," December 21, 1978. [Item OH05:08]
Box-Folder 1.9: Henkle, Jacob and Elizabeth Conger Henkle, 1908 Add to Shelf
Transcript is titled "A Traditional Sketch of the Henkle Ancestry" and includes recollections of the Henkle wagon train on the Oregon Trail in 1853 and the family's early years in Oregon. [Item OH05:09; dictated in 1908 to Charlotte Shipley Bonebrake. Copied by Edith Connor Grutze, historian, in 1919. Re-copied by Terry Evelyn Staines Lovell in 1965.]
Box-Folder 1.10: Purchase, Kathreen Kirkpatrick, August 24, 1994 Add to Shelf
Purchase graduated from Oregon Agricultural College in 1914 and, by 1996, was believed to be the oldest living OSU graduate. [Item OH05:10, interview by Martin "Skip" Haley and Dawn Hawkins of the OSU College of Home Economics, with the assistance of Purchase's daughter, Elnor Purchase Akio.]
Box-Folder 1.11: Moore, Harriet Forest, 1988-1990 Add to Shelf
Transcripts, notes and background materials pertaining chiefly to Moore's service as a physical therapist during World War I. Recordings were made by Moore in answer to questions posed by Lettie Gavin, a Seattle researcher. Gavin asked Moore questions by telephone, who then recorded her answers onto cassette tapes and sent the tapes to Gavin in Seattle. Folder includes a summary of the Moore cassette tapes as prepared by Mark Tolonen of the Benton County Historical Museum. [Item OH05:11]
Box-Folder 1.12: Haggard, Marko, 1996 Add to Shelf
Interview is titled "Marko Haggard: Recollections of a Professor in the Public Arena." File includes the finished interview as well as a vita, newspaper articles, photo reproductions and other background materials. [Item OH05:12, interview by Joella Werlin.]
Box-Folder 2.1: Hull, Ralph, February - May, 1992 Add to Shelf
Interview is titled "Ralph Hull: A Life in the Sawmill Business, Benton County, Oregon, 1908-1994." Interview is also itemized as OSU Research Forests Sawmill History Project Monograph #1. [Item OH05:16, interviews conducted by George Wisner on February 6, 1992; February 11, 1992; and May 6, 1992.]
Box-Folder 2.2: Project Files: OSU Research Forests Sawmill History Project, 1992-2001 Add to Shelf
Files includes summaries of interviews conducted with Harold Cooper, Leroy Cooper, and Gordon Davis, ca. 1992, as well as notes on regional sawmills, and permissions forms for use by the project.
Box-Folder 2.3: Monograph: "Walter F. McCulloch: Forestry and Education in Oregon, 1937-1966", 1968 Add to Shelf
Monograph consists of an introduction, table of contents, interview transcripts, index and appendix. Interviews conducted by Amelia R. Fry of the University of California Regional Oral History Office in Berkeley.
Box-Folder 2.4: Wakefield, Rex, 1994 Add to Shelf
Folder contains table of contents and partial introduction for 1989 Wakefield interviews, as well as a partial transcript for the January 29, 1989 session.
Digital Folder 1: Grant Troyer, Coy Lansbery and Paul Lansbery, 1976 Add to Shelf

Three audio recordings created by Portland journalist Grant Troyer in 1976. One is with Coy Lansbery (1885-1979), who was Troyer's uncle. Coy Lansbery's interview focuses on his experiences as a logger from 1907-1912. A second is with Paul Lansbery (1895-1991), brother of Coy Lansbery and also a logger – the topic of this interview is logging camp cookery. The final recording is a recitation of research that Troyer conducted on the Booth Kelly Lumber Company's activities from 1900-1930. Also included is a .pdf file containing a biography of Coy Lansbery as published in the Fall 1983 issue of the Lane County Historian.

These materials were migrated to digital format prior to their transfer to SCARC.

Extent: 3 .mp3 files; 1 .pdf
Series 2: Audiocassettes, 1983-1997 Add to Shelf
Nearly all of the audiocassettes described in this series have been migrated to digital format and are available upon patron request. Marko Haggard interview tapes #4 and #5 are damaged and have not been migrated to digital format.
Extent: 33 items
Box-Item 3.1: MacVicar, Robert, June 3, 1984 Add to Shelf
[Item OH05:06]
Extent: 1 cassette
Box-Item 3.2-3.6: Snook, Paul, August - September, 1983 Add to Shelf
[Item OH05:07]
Extent: 5 cassettes
Box-Item 3.7-3.15: Moore, Harriet Forest, 1988-1990 Add to Shelf
[Item OH05:11]
Extent: 9 cassettes
Box-Item 4.1-4.11: Wakefield, Rex, January - May, 1989 Add to Shelf
[Item OH05:13. Interviews conducted on January 11, 1989 and May 23, 1989.]
Extent: 11 cassettes
Box-Item 4.12: "Applegate Trail", May 25, 1991 Add to Shelf
[Item OH05:14. Recording made by Bob Zybach and consisting of commentary on the route taken by the Applegate Trail through the Willamette Valley.]
Extent: 1 cassette
Box-Item 4.13: Stephenson, Tom, October 3, 1991 Add to Shelf
[Item OH05:15]
Extent: 1 cassette
Box-Item 4.14-4.18: Haggard, Marko, June 1996 - January 1997 Add to Shelf
[Item OH05:12. Interviews conducted on June 25, 1996; June 26, 1996; July 2, 1996; July 30, 1996; August 14, 1996; August 15, 1996; and January 30, 1997. Tape 4 (July 30/August 14) and Tape 5 (August 15/January 30) are both damaged.]
Extent: 5 cassettes
Series 3: Born Digital, 2022 Add to Shelf
Extent: 1.18 GB
Digital Folder 2: Smith, Bill, November 30, 2022 Add to Shelf
In this, the first of two interviews, Oregon State College (OSC) alumnus Bill Smith discusses his upbringing in San Francisco, his stint in the Navy during World War II, his experiences at San Francisco City College, and his memories of studying Forestry at OSC. Smith graduated from Oregon State in 1951 with a degree in Forest Management. Interview conducted by Chris Petersen.
Extent: 1:39:24
Digital Folder 3: Smith, Bill, December 1, 2022 Add to Shelf
In his second, Bill Smith reflects on his career in the timber industry, commenting on jobs that he had as a choker setter, operator of a pole yard, and resource manager for Georgia Pacific - Northern Coastal California. Interview conducted by Chris Petersen.
Extent: 1:30:53