Bill Reasons Photograph Collection, 1952-1974

Title: Bill Reasons Photograph Collection, 1952-1974

Predominant Dates: 1958-1973

ID: P 151

Primary Creator: Reasons, Bill

Extent: 1.5 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: All images are numbered (P151:1-2198). A few numbers, primarily portraits, include multiple images. Several images have corresponding prints or negatives elsewhere in the collection; these references are noted in the collection inventory. All 4x5 b/w negatives and color transparencies are stored separately in 4x5 negative boxes.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

This collection consists of photographs taken by Bill Reasons and other OSU Photo Service photographers between 1952 and 1974.

Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

The collection contains studio portraits of OSU faculty and administrators and images of faculty members and students in offices, labs, and classrooms; award recipients; campus buildings and events; aerial views of campus; McDonald Forest; and other research activities. A small portion of the collection consists of landscape views in Oregon and California, including the Oregon State Capitol, Multnomah Falls, Smith Rock, the Cascade Mountains, Yosemite National Park, and Mt. Shasta.

The collection primarily consists of approximately 1400 4x5 b/w negatives (indicated as negative on the inventory) and 1000 b/w prints. Also included are 96 b/w 120 film negatives, 1 8x10 b/w film negative, 20 color negatives (120 and 4x5), 18 color prints, 10 4x5 color transparencies, and 69 color slides. Many of the b/w negatives in the collection do not have accompanying prints.

Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

Photographic services have been provided at OSU since the 1890s. Emile Pernot was hired by Oregon Agricultural College in 1890 to teach photography and to take photographs for the Experiment Station. During the 1924/25 academic year, a formal photographic services unit was established within the Physics Department by John Garman, a Physics Department faculty member who taught photography classes and performed photography for other campus departments. This lab continued to operate as a separate photographic services unit (primarily for non-instructional uses) through at least the early 1970s, when the unit was made a part of the Instructional Resources and Materials Center (IRAM). The Photo Service is currently a unit within the Communication Media Center, the successor to IRAM.

Bill Reasons began working at the Oregon State College Photo Service in September 1953. Prior to his appointment, he had served in the U.S. Navy (1946-1948), attended the Northwest School of Photography (1948-1949) and Multnomah Jr. College (1949-1951) in Portland, and worked briefly at the Kennell Ellis Photography Studio in Portland. Reasons supervised the Photo Service until his death on July 20, 1976.

More Extent Information: approx. 1000 prints, 1400 negatives, and 79 color slides and transparencies

Related Materials: See the Media Services Photograph Collection (P 119) for other OSU Photo Service photographs, particularly portraits of faculty members. Other significant collections containing photographs of faculty and staff members include the Faculty and Staff Photograph Collection (P 046), News and Communication Services Photograph Collection (P 057), President's Office Photographs (P 092), Extension and Experiment Station Communications Photograph Collection (P 120), and Harriet's Photograph Collection (P HC). The OSU Memorabilia Collection (MSS MC) file "Photo Service" file contains a mockup of a services brochure from approximately 1967.

Preferred Citation: Bill Reasons Photograph Collection (P 151), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Other URL: A preliminary container list was a created for this collection on or before April 20, 2016.

Reasons, Bill
Oregon State College. Photo Service
Oregon State University. Photo Service

Cascade Range
College buildings--Oregon--Corvallis.
College environment--Oregon--Corvallis.
College students--Oregon--Corvallis.
Hops and Brewing
McDonald Forest (Or.)
Oregon State Capitol (Salem, Or. : 1938-)
Oregon State College
Oregon State College--Faculty.
Oregon State University
Oregon State University--Faculty.
Reasons, Bill
Shasta, Mount (Calif. : Mountain)
Universities and colleges--Oregon--Corvallis--Employees.
Universities and colleges--Research--Oregon--Corvallis.
University History
Yosemite National Park (Calif.)

Color transparencies.
Film negatives.
Photographic prints.
Slides (photographs).