Subgroups 1-5 exist in both paper and microfilm formats. Most records for subgroups 6-11 are on microfilm; a few are in paper format. Subgroup 11 consists of records of both the university president and the dean of administration. Considerable duplication exists among the 4 additions that comprise this subgroup. Subgroups 13-17 are paper records only.
The President's Office records reflect the centralized nature of the university's administration that existed into the early 1970s (MacVicar administration). Most academic programs, research centers, and administrative and student support offices sent copies of substantive correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, publications, and other items to the President's Office. Consequently, nearly all university activities are documented to some extent by this record group.
President MacVicar began decentralization of the top administration of the university by adding a number of vice-presidents; separate record groups exist for those offices. The records beginning with his administration reflect the functions of the President's Office and the activities of the president, especially policies and procedures implemented and issues addressed by the president.
An addition to the President's Office Records (Accession 2010:054) consists of materials generated and collected by the President's Office that primarily document the NCAA division I athletics certification process. In addition to self-study reports, these records include correspondence, handbooks, meeting minutes, organizational charts, and policy/procedure statements. The minutes reflect meetings of the Athletic Advisory Committee, the Postsecondary Quality Education Commission (State of Oregon) and the Oregon State Board of Higher Education. These records were originally organized into groupings by "operating principle" and this series order has been retained and is reflected in the inventory. Contains confidential information-access subject to review by a Reference Archivist.
A second addition to the President's Office Records (Accession 2011:056) consists of materials documenting OSU staff research and relations with the federal government and is made up of congressional bills, correspondence, reports, meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, and press releases. The core of this transfer are Federal Agenda reports issued annually which list proposed projects that would be funded by federal government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, Dept. of Energy, NASA, etc. Included in the correspondence are a number of letters from Presidents Ray, Risser, and other OSU staff to Oregon's senators and congressional delegates regarding specific pieces of legislation and visits by those representatives to campus. Particular projects described in detail in these files include endophyte research, the hosting of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, and the Sun Grant Initiative. There are also records relating to the transfer of Horner Museum collections once administered by OSU to the Benton County Historical Society.
The publications were issued in 1968-1990 and consist of the following items: A New Century Begins, the 1968 report of the Oregon State University president; The MacVicar Years, a tribute to Robert W. MacVicar at the time of his retirement as Oregon State president in 1984; published materials pertaining to the 1985 inauguration of John V. Byrne; and Creating the Future: A Plan for Beginning the ‘90s, a 1990 publication of strategic goals for Oregon State University.
Items from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.
