Beverly J. Leach Papers, 1918-1949

Title: Beverly J. Leach Papers, 1918-1949

Predominant Dates: 1942-1948

ID: MSS Leach

Primary Creator: Leach, Beverly J.

Extent: 0.5 cubic feet. More info below.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The Beverly J. Leach Papers consist of materials created and collected by Leach, primarily during her student years at Oregon State College in the 1940s. The collection includes a scrapbook, correspondence, and ephemera. Two of the items were acquired by Beverly Leach's parents, Edward Leach and Lorena Stratton Leach, during their student years at Oregon Agricultural College in the 1910s.

Leach's scrapbook documents her student experiences at Oregon State College in 1943-1948 as well as her first year of college at the Southern Oregon College of Education in Ashland in 1942-1943. The scrapbook includes newspaper clippings, ephemeral items such as ticket stubs, and grade reports. Of special note is a document describing the wartime housing for women at Oregon State. Clippings about wartime activities on campus are also included. A brochure for the Westminster Foundation and a copy of the weekly Westminster Chimes newsletter are included, as is the program for the 1943 Charter Day Convocation commemorating the 75th anniversary of Oregon State College. Ticket stubs from 1949 Oregon State football games at Multnomah Stadium are part of the scrapbook. The scrapbook also includes 88 photographs, most of which are images of the Oregon State College campus and buildings and snapshots of Leach and other Oregon State College students. One snapshot shows the Whiteside Theater in downtown Corvallis. A few images of the Southern Oregon College of Education, in Ashland, and the University of Oregon Medical School, in Portland, are also included in the scrapbook.

The correspondence consists of letters that Leach wrote home to her parents from January 1943 through February 1945. Leach describes her classes as well as social activities. Several of her grade reports, which were mailed directly to her parents, are included with the letters.

The ephemeral materials include Leach's Oregon State College diploma; her membership certificate in the Gamma Chapter of Phrateres, a social and service organization for women students; and a commemorative plate produced in 1943 for the 75th anniversary of Oregon State College. Two items in the collection belonged to Leach's parents -- a dance card for the Class of 1919 Junior Prom, held on May 4, 1918, and an Oregon Agricultural College seal made of felt, probably wool felt.

Beverly Jean Leach enrolled at Oregon State College (OSC) in the fall of 1943 after completing her first year of college at the Southern Oregon College of Education in Ashland. Leach attended OSC through the winter term of 1945. In August 1945, she enlisted in the Navy and, after training in New York and Washington DC, served as a Pharmacist's Mate at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Bremerton, Washington until May 1947. Leach returned to OSC in the fall of 1947 and completed her BS in General Science in June 1948. Leach was born on February 10, 1925 and graduated from high school in Medford, Oregon.

Leach's parents, Edward James Leach and Lorena Alberta Stratton, also attended Oregon State. Lorena Alberta Stratton attended Oregon Agricultural College in 1917-1919 as a student in home economics. She was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on October 14, 1898 and graduated from Medford High School in 1917. Her father was an orchardist. Edward James Leach attended Oregon Agricultural College in 1918 as a participant in the Students' Army Training Corps (SATC), a World War I training program based on campus.

More Extent Information: 88 photographs; 3 boxes, including 2 oversize boxes

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The materials were donated to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2012 by Leach's niece, Noreen Peterson.

Related Materials: The Jaquelin F. Holland Papers (MSS Holland) and the Dona Dinsdale Papers (MSS Dinsdale) depict college life of other women students at Oregon State during the mid-late 1940s. The Students' Army Training Corps Records (RG 060) provide information about this World War I training program at Oregon Agricultural College.

Preferred Citation: Beverly J. Leach Papers (MSS Leach), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Leach, Beverly J.

College environment--Oregon--Corvallis.
College students--Oregon--Ashland.
College students--Oregon--Corvallis.
Leach, Beverly J.
Oregon State College--Anniversaries, etc.
Oregon State College--Students.
Southern Oregon College of Education--Students.
Student activities--Oregon--Corvallis.
University History
University of Oregon. Medical School
Women--Education (Higher)--Oregon--Corvallis.
World War, 1939-1945--War work--Schools.

Ephemera (general object genre)
Photographic prints.
Scrapbooks.