The 4-H Photograph Collection provides extensive visual documentation of Oregon 4-H programs, projects, and participants from the founding in the 1910s through the 1980s. The collection consists of images of the 4-H Summer School on the Oregon State campus in Corvallis, including many group portaits of the participants by county; 4-H activities at the Oregon State Fair and the Pacific International Livestock Exposition; Oregon delegates to national 4-H congresses; a variety of 4-H projects including gardens, livestock and poultry, forestry, cooking and canning, sewing and needlework, and recreational activities; and participants in the International Farm Youth Exchange Program (IFYE) and the 4-H Japanese Exchange Program. The collection includes images of Extension Service staff for 4-H including Helen Cowgill, L.J. Allen, and H.C. Seymour. The collection includes several slide programs developed in the 1960s through 1980s highlighting 4-H programs and as instruction for 4-H projects. Two photograph albums include images of 4-H activities at the 1951 and 1957 Oregon State Fairs. Many of the photographs in the collection have detailed descriptions.
The collection includes a variety of formats; the bulk of the collection is black and and white prints. It also includes film negatives, nitrate negatives, slides, color prints, and photograph albums.
An addition to the 4-H Photographic Collection (Accession 2008:047) is made up of five slide presentations collected by the 4-H Wildlife Stewards Program that were produced by the 4-H in conjunction with the OSU Extension Service. In addition to an introduction to the Wildlife Stewards Program, the other presentations highlight urban 4-H programs with three specifically referring to programs in Multnomah County, Oregon. There are 437 slides and 3 cassette sound recordings in total.
A second addition to the 4-H Photographic Collection (Accession 2008:053) is made up of photographs taken by Extension Service staff that document participation in 4-H activities such as the annual National 4-H Congress, the "Know Your State Government" program, 4-H Ambassadors, and summer session conferences on the OSU Campus. Two of the photographs depicting the 4-H National congress are panoramic prints of the 1936 conference in Chicago. Other 4-H programs reflected in these images include workshops in food preparation, gardening, paper making, animal judging, and fashion review. There are also photos of 4-H events at the Oregon State Fair. Numbering 1982 images in all (1000 prints, 630 negatives, and 352 slides) some of the prints were mounted with foam core and velcro and used in exhibits and displays. In addition to program participants and ambassadors, some of these images also feature Extension Service faculty such as Ardis Koester, Mary Arnold, and Burton Hutton.
A third addition to the 4-H Photographic Collection (Accession 2009:044) consists of photographs taken by Extension Service staff that document participation in 4-H activities such as the annual National 4-H Congress, the "Know Your State Government" program, and various other programs throughout Oregon. Made up of 191 images in total (56 prints, 8 negatives, and 127 slides), about 23 of the photographs were drymounted for display and include captions. These images pertain to National 4-H Congresses and the "Know Your State Government" program. The remaining prints, negatives, and slides document participation in gardening (Wildlife Stewards?), animal management (chickens and rabbits), and arts/crafts programs.
A fourth addition to the 4-H Photographic Collection (Accession 2012:084) consists of two panoramic photos depicting 4-H Club Congress attendees at the 1935 and 1936 annual gatherings. One of the group shots was taken in the banquet room of the Stevens Hotel in Chicago while the other portrays attendees in front of a building (International Harvester plant?) in Iowa.
Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.
