The Vera Garrison Collection consists of student memorabilia assembled by Vera Garrison and John Olsen during their student years at Oregon State College in 1935-1939. The collection reflects their membership in the Delta Zeta sorority and Sigma Phi Sigma fraternity and attendance and participation in dances, concerts and performances, and athletic events.
Scope and Content Notes
The Vera Garrison Collection consists of student memorabilia assembled by Garrison and John Olsen during their student years at Oregon State College in 1935-1939. The collection includes correspondence and greetings cards, concert and game programs, dance cards, student handbooks, newsletters, newspaper clippings, broadsides, ticket stubs and ephemera, commencement programs, and a map with the locations of sorority and fraternity houses. The items document their student experience at Oregon State, especially involvement in a sorority and fraternity and attendance and participation in dances, concerts and performances, and athletic events on campus.
Biographical / Historical Notes
Vera Evelyn Garrison attended Oregon State College from 1935 to 1939 and earned a BS in Secretarial Science in 1939. She was a member of the Delta Zeta sorority and served as chapter president. Garrison was born in Nyssa, Oregon, on November 29, 1917 and died in Boise, Idaho, on September 10, 1971. John William Olsen also attended Oregon State from 1935 to 1939 and completed a BS in Chemical Engineering in 1939. He was a member of the Sigma Phi Sigma fraternity and was a diving champion for the Oregon State College swim team. Olsen was born January 19, 1917, in Baker, Oregon, and died November 27, 2008, in Nyssa, Oregon. Garrison and Olsen were married soon after graduation from Oregon State and lived in Nyssa, Oregon.
