College of Business Records, 1910-2010

Title: College of Business Records, 1910-2010

ID: RG 122

Primary Creator: Oregon State University. College of Business

Extent: 7.2 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: The College of Business Records are divided into six series: I. Dean Clifford E. Maser's Meetings and Speeches; II. Curriculum Materials; III. Reports and Briefs; IV. Handbooks; V. Awards Records; and VI. Special Event Records.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The first series consists of Clifford E. Maser's meetings and speeches that he presented while Dean of the college; series two includes curriculum materials used to initiate or continue courses in the college. Series three, Reports and Briefs, consist of annual, budget, and financial reports for the School of Commerce and its departments (including Political Science, Economics, and Sociology) for the period 1910 through 1925. Series three also includes briefs and reports regarding the duplication of courses between the University of Oregon and Oregon Agricultural College and transfer of the School of Commerce degree programs to the University of Oregon (1925-1932) and various reports (including self-studies) on the operation and functioning of the College from the late 1950s through the 1980s.

Series four consists of College of Business student handbooks and faculty handbooks; series five contains awards records pertaining to an award given to Ken and Joan Austin; and series six, Special Events Records, contains an announcement of a Product Testing Laboratory anniversary.

An addition to the College of Business Records (Accession 2001:100) is made up of publications, brochures, and flyers publicizing workshops and other events organized by the Austin Family Business Program. Among the events documented in these materials include the Family Business of the Year Awards and Family Business Day. There are also copies of the program's newsletter, Family Business Today, in this accession.

A second addition to the College of Business Records (Accession 2002:028) consists of publications generated by the Austin Family Business Program by College of Business faculty Patricia Frishkoff, Mark Fiegener, and Cynthia Chapman. In addition to annotated and unannotated versions of a bibliography of family business resources, topics addressed in these publications include: business contributions to community service, successor training, writing a business history, and understanding various taxes related to the management of a small business.

A third addition to the College of Business Records (Accession 2011:062) consists of materials generated by the Austin Family Business Program (AFBP) in the College of Business that document the program's organization of workshops/conferences, awarding of honors to regional family businesses, course instruction, and articles by AFBP Directors Patricia Frishkoff and Mark Green. Primarily focused upon the AFBP's education and outreach activities in the form of workshops and annual events such as the "Excellence in Family Business" awards, these materials are made up of correspondence, course materials, DVDs, handbooks, newsletters, newspaper clippings, photographs, and publications. The clippings are a combination of stories about the program, press releases, articles by AFBP Director Mark Green, and ads for AFBP events. Numbering 11 DVDs and 1 VHS tape in total, the moving images mostly document the proceedings of AFBP award ceremonies, conferences, and workshops. The photographic and digital still images reflect AFBP award ceremonies and include shots of the winning families consisting of 200 prints and five cds.

A fourth addition to the College of Business Records (Accession 2013:028) is made up of 42 sound recordings on cassette tape generated by the Austin Family Business Program (AFBP) in the College of Business. Documenting presentations and lectures from AFBP organized workshops and conferences such as "Family Business Week," these tapes address a number of topics relating to business management that include: succession in family business, marketing, leadership styles, strategic planning, mission statements, and tools. In addition to AFBP director Pat Frishkoff, other OSU faculty and guest speakers represented on these recordings include: Lynn Spruill, John Ward, Cynthia Chapman, Robert Ames, and David Bork.

A fifth addition to the College of Business records (Accession 2014:021) is made up of publications produced by OSU which feature research by College of Business faculty. The bulk of these publications are part of the series "Studies in Management and Accounting for the Forest Products Industry" and were written by various faculty from the Colleges of Business and Forestry as well as forestry companies. Among the topics documented in these publications include: computer modeling, strategic planning, trading lumber futures, pool log transfer system, accounting, log inventory control, and productivity improvement campaigns. The two other publications are: "The Oregon Ski Areas Study: 1967-1968 Winter Season" and "A Managerial Guide to USFS Analytical Decision Techniques."

Commerce instruction, as Business courses were called at the time, was offered at Oregon State University from the time of its founding in 1868, and the first Commerce professorship was established in 1880. In 1898 a two-year curriculum was established, which expanded to a four- year curriculum when the Department of Commerce was established at OSU in 1900, the 11th in the United States and the first in the Pacific Northwest. In 1908, the School of Commerce was established as a professional school with John Andrew Bexell, A.M., as Dean. Bexell Hall, constructed in 1922 as the new Commerce Hall, was named after him. Bexell served as Dean until 1932, when the School of Commerce was transferred to the University of Oregon. All that remained at Oregon State was the Secretarial Science curriculum which was reduced to a lower division, non-degree granting status.

By 1943, a degree curriculum of Business Administration was restored at Oregon State, and the Division of Business and Industry was established in 1945. The division was changed in 1947- 1948 to the School of Business and Technology with Clifford E. Maser as Dean. In 1960, the School of Business and Technology became a fully accredited member of the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business, and a Masters of Business Administration degree was authorized by the Oregon State Board of Higher Education in 1965. In 1983, the name was changed to the College of Business.

Clifford E. Maser served as Dean from 1947 to 1966. During that time period he became renown as an expert on the refugee situation in Europe, and the threat of communism in the world. He gave speeches extensively across the western part of the U.S. at high school programs, commencements, conferences, workshops and annual meetings on these subjects. Most of the records in the first reel relate to those speeches.

After Maser's retirement, Earl Goddard became Dean, a position he held until 1983. He was replaced by Lynn Spruill, who served as Dean from 1984 to 1990. The present dean, Donald F. Parker, has held that position since 1991.

More Extent Information: 11 boxes, including 1 oversize box; 3 microfilm reels

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: Reel three was originally part of the School of Commerce Records (RG 80) and transferred to this record group in 1999.

Related Materials:

Materials in Subgroup 7, Series 8, 10 and 11 of the President's Office Records (RG 013) provide information on the reorganization of the college in the 1930s. Other records of the Political Science, Economics, and Sociology Departments are in the Political Science Department Records (RG 075) and the College of Liberal Arts Records (RG 143).

The College of Business Photographs (P 194) and the College of Business and Videotapes (FV 194) include images of faculty and special events and a videotape of the award presented to Ken and Joan Austin. The Jean Mater Papers (MSS Mater) include College of Business Advisory Council materials.

College of Business publications include the Bexell Times (PUB 10-22z3); College of Business, (PUB 353), which includes MBA brochures; Commerce Bulletin, (PUB 411); and Northwest Business Management (PUB 5-31e).

Preferred Citation: College of Business Records (RG 122), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Other URL: A preliminary container list was created for this collection on or before November 19, 2015.

Oregon State University. College of Business

Business education--Oregon.
Maser, Clifford Elges, 1910-
Oregon Agricultural College. School of Commerce
Oregon State College. School of Business and Technology
Oregon State University. College of Business
Oregon State University. School of Business
Oregon State University. School of Business and Technology
Sullivan, David R.
University History

Born digital.