Civil Engineering Department Records, 1966-1990

Title: Civil Engineering Department Records, 1966-1990

ID: RG 030

Primary Creator: Oregon State University. Department of Civil Engineering

Extent: 4.65 cubic feet. More info below.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The collection includes faculty research proposals and research projects, department correspondence, various reports, and records from the Curriculum Review Commission. Also among these materials are articles, reports, and conference papers from Frank Schaumburg, who headed the Department of Civil Engineering from 1972 until his untimely death in 1990. Also included are studies by department faculty R. G. Hicks, Steve Loop, and R. D. Layton.

The reports held in this collection all pertain to transportation engineering topics such as: the use of sand asphalt in highway construction, the deisgn of bicycle path pavements, design practices for paved shoulders, forest roads, and a priority rating system for county highways.

Instruction in engineering at Oregon State dates back to the 1880s with the establishment of a Mechanical Department.  Additional academic departments for engineering were established in the 1890s-1900s.

In 1889, the first engineering building on campus, Mechanical Hall, was completed and a four-year curriculum was established.  That same year, Grant Adelbert Covell was appointed to the first professorship exclusively devoted to engineering.  Soon after, he formed the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the first recorded engineering classes.  In 1893, the first two graduates received degrees in mechanical engineering.

In the following years, the college established instructional departments in three other branches of engineering: Electrical (1897), Mining (1904), and Civil (1906).  In 1908, a School of Engineering was formed to bring the four engineering departments together under a single administrative umbrella with Covell serving as Dean.

More Extent Information: 6 cubic foot boxes

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation: Civil Engineering Department Records (RG 030), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Processing Information: This collection is not fully processed and a complete finding aid is not available at this time.

Other URL: A preliminary container list was created for this collection on or before November 14, 2014.

Oregon State University. Department of Civil Engineering
Oregon State University. Department of Construction Engineering
Oregon State University. Department of Environmental Engineering
Purdue University Library

History of Science
Oregon State University. Department of Civil Engineering
University History