USDA Northwest Cannery Survey Collection, 1914-1915

Title: USDA Northwest Cannery Survey Collection, 1914-1915

ID: MSS Cannery

Primary Creator: United States. Office of Markets and Rural Organization.

Extent: 1.0 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: Collection is arranged alphabetically by city.

Date Acquired: 00/00/2001

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The collection includes correspondence, financial records (e.g. bookkeeping methods, salaries, etc.), photographs, historical notes and essays, equipment lists, blank forms used in timekeeping and production, and can labels. Roughly half of the information in these records is in the form of "outlines," using data supplied by the canneries or by Regional Fruit Growers Associations. The survey contains cannery information from the following cities and towns: Albany, Brownsville, Cottage Grove, Corvallis, Creswell, Eugene, Forest Grove, Junction City, Newberg, Springbrook, Woodburn, and Puyallup/Sumner in Washington.

In addition, there is a file containing a short report for “points south” of Eugene, including Creswell, Cottage Grove, Drain, Roseburg, Grants Pass, Talent, and Ashland; a survey for an unidentified cannery; and a report on rent costs, profit, and loss for Multnomah, Washington, Lane, Columbia, Coos, Willamette, Tillamook, Polk, Linn, Benton, Clatsop, and Marion counties.

Of special note are the can labels contained in the first folder for the Eugene Fruit Growers Association (Box 1, Folder 7), and a photograph of the exterior of the Creswell Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association plant (Box 1, Folder 6). Additionally, the financial "outlines" for several canneries call out the labor and salaries of women specifically, speaking to the gendered division of labor in cannery work.

The final report generated by this survey is not found in the collection. All materials are dated between 1914 and 1915.

In 1911, the 26^th legislative assembly created the office of the Oregon State Immigration Agent, appropriating $20,000 for immigration advertising work. An additional $5,000 was allocated for statistical research and collection work to be done by the Oregon Statistical Bureau (OSB), under the direction of Dean J. A. Bexell of Oregon Agricultural College’s Department of Commerce. The initial mandate of the OSB was completion of a general survey of statewide agricultural operations in order to “determine the opportunities in each locality for new settlers and, if possible, to find some of the difficulties in agricultural development.” Though the Oregon Statistical Bureau was not funded to continue its work after completing the survey, the resulting publication, The Oregon Farmer: What He has Accomplished in Every Part of the State, laid the foundation for subsequent agricultural surveys.

In his report for the School of Commerce in OAC’s 1912-1914 Biennial Report, Bexell suggests that it is the “aim of the department of Economics to be of the utmost possible service” to farmers’ organizations. Referencing Dr. Hector MacPherson’s recommendations in the Oregon Farmer, Bexel argued the OSB should be funded to continue its work under the umbrella of the proposed state Bureau of Markets, and that future efforts should “[attack] certain definite problems” of agricultural operations in the state. With regards to “Business Efficiency,” concerted efforts should be made to “work towards a uniform system of accounting for all farmers’ organizations,” and progress should be monitored more uniformly by providing organizations with standardized “forms for a series of reports from month to month, and from year to year.” Finally, in order to help streamline, standardize, and modernize methods and costs of production, Bexell argued that a “cannery survey covering the complete operations of the canneries of Oregon for the season of 1914” should be conducted.

The subsequent cannery survey, undertaken between 1914 and 1915, was commissioned by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Office of Markets and Rural Organization, and was done cooperatively between the USDA and the OSB, working out of Oregon Agricultural College’s School of Commerce under the continued direction of J. A. Bexell. The surveys were overseen and submitted by Certified Public Accountant J. W. Boies of New York, who reported to H. W. Kerr, Investigator of Business Practice at the Bureau of Markets and Rural Organization. Typical suggestions made by the Auditing Committee – comprised of J. A. Bexell, T. A. Logsden, and Harry Asbahr – included introducing “simple, labor saving methods under a practical, but concise, cost system,” a “modern…method of distributing the Pay Roll,” and the purchase of “modern” Cash and Sales Books.

More Extent Information: 2 oversize boxes

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The materials were transferred to the Archives by Oregon State University Libraries Special Collections in 2001, and processed after the merger of the two departments.

Related Materials: Other collections documenting cannery operations include the Experiment Station Communications Films, the Extension Bulletin Illustrations Photograph Collection, the Horticulture Department Photographs, the Extension and Experiment Station Communications Photograph Collection, and the Food Science and Technology Department Photographs. These collections document machinery and methods used in canning produce and, in some cases, the labor force of canning plants. The Food Science and Technology Department Photographs additionally document relief cannery work done during the Great Depression.

Preferred Citation: USDA Northwest Cannery Survey Collection (MSS Cannery), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Finding Aid Revision History: The preliminary stub record created in 2012 was expanded to a full, complete finding aid in 2017.

United States. Office of Markets and Rural Organization.
Bexell, J. A. (John Andrew), 1867-1938
Oregon Agricultural College. School of Commerce

Canneries--Oregon.
Canneries--United States--History--20th century.
Fruit--Harvesting.
Fruit--Marketing.
Fruit processing plants--Oregon.
Fruit processing plants--Washington (State)
Natural Resources
United States. Department of Agriculture
University History
Women employees--United States--History.