The OSU centennial was celebrated throughout the 1968-1969 school year in a number of ways. In the fall, several parades and a campus open house were held as were multiple concerts, a film series and the Centennial Charter Day Convocation, delivered by Fred Harvey Harrington on October 27, 1968. Centennial Day was also marked by the presentation of fifteen Centennial Awards, given to persons who had made "outstanding contributions to the university and to society" during the previous 100 years. Recipients of these awards were Frank L. Ballard, Wayne V. Burt, Vernon H. Cheldelin, Ava Milam Clark, Francois A. Gilfillan, George W. Gleeson, E. R. Jackman, William Jasper Kerr, E. B. Lemon, Clifford E. Maser, Walter F. McCulloch, Herman Oliver, Frederick E. Price, Margaret Comstock Snell and A. L. Strand.
Six additional centennial lectures were delivered in the winter, featuring speakers Linus Pauling, Barnaby C. Keeney, Charles Frankel, Philip Abelson, Edward David Jr. and Daniel G. Aldrich Jr.
In the spring, at the 1968-1969 school year commencement, sixteen OSU Alumni Centennial Awards were bestowed to E. B. Aldrich, Mercedes A. Bates, Renton K. Brodie, Irene B. Carl, Ralph O. Coleman, Amory T. "Slats" Gill, James D. McKay, Gladys G. Miller, Ursal C. Narver, Charles T. Parker, Dan W. Poling, H. F. Ramsey, Zelta F. Rodenwold, James K. Weatherford and Charles W. Fox.
In addition a publication titled The Making of a University, 1868-1968, written by James W. Groshong, was commissioned as part of the centennial celebration.
Notes included with the collection indicate that a centennial display - possibly the display for which these materials were compiled - was mounted at the Corvallis Public Library from October 21-29, 1968.
