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Hanson Leghorn Farm Records, 1917-1967

Collection Overview

Title: Hanson Leghorn Farm Records, 1917-1967

ID: MSS HansonLeghorn

Primary Creator: Hanson Leghorn Farm

Extent: 14.0 cubic feet. More info below.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Abstract

The Hanson Leghorn Farm Records contain materials documenting the Hanson Leghorn Farm, a nationally significant poultry breeding business located in Corvallis, Oregon. The records include correspondence, breeding and production records, financial records, incubation and banding reports, advertisements and other promotional literature, honors and awards, poultry industry trade magazines, and photographs and artwork.

Scope and Content Notes

This collection has been minimally processed and is organized into several general series. These include correspondence, breeding and production records, financial records, incubation and banding reports, advertisements and other promotional literature, honors and awards, poultry industry trade magazines, and photographs and artwork. Almost all of the materials document the Hanson Leghorn Farm, a nationally significant poultry breeding business located in Corvallis, Oregon.

Photographs include views of various aspects of the Hanson Farm operation -- pens, brooder houses, other outbuildings, and prize chickens; homes on the Hanson estate; deliveries of chicks to the Corvallis train station for delivery around the world. Also included are portraits of Jesse A. Hanson, images of other family members, and views of hunting and fishing activities. Prints have been made of most of the nitrate film negatives.

Of particular note in the collection are the National Poultry Improvement Plan, U.S. Record of Performance reports, and correspondence between Richard Hanson and his wife during World War II.

Biographical / Historical Notes

Jess A. Hanson was born on October 21, 1887 in Warren, Ohio. While studying agriculture at the University of Missouri, he became interested in the poultry industry. Hanson moved to Oregon in 1911 to work with James A. Dryden of the Oregon Agricultural College Poultry Husbandry Department.

In 1913 he began his own poultry breeding business on a 30-acre farm close to the OAC campus. The operation was very successful, consisting of 350 acres by the time Hanson retired in 1966. Hanson's Leghorn chickens won many egg laying contests over the years. His pen at the Storrs (Connecticut) contest in 1928/29 set a new world's record and established Hanson as a pre-eminent breeder of chickens for egg production. During his fifty year career, Hanson's Leghorns won over 100 contest awards and set at least 21 world records.

Hanson married Lora Milam, sister of OAC Home Economics Dean Ava Milam, in 1914. They had two children, Elinor and Richard M. After Lora Hanson's death in 1961, Jess married Florence Satchwell. In 1936 Hanson received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Oregon State College, later established the J.A. Hanson Scholarship in poultry science at OSU, and was elected to the Oregon Poultry Hall of Fame in 1971. He died in 1978.

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 28 containers, including 1 oversize folder, 5 oversize boxes, and 300 photographs

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Related Materials: Related materials can be found in the Poultry Science Department Records (RG 182), Poultry Science Department Photograph Collection (P 111), Harriet's Photograph Collection (P HC) HC0181 and HC2320, and the OSU Memorabilia Collection (MSS MC) file MC - Hanson, Jesse A. The Special Collections and Archives Research Center also contains records of several Oregon poultry industry associations.

Preferred Citation: The Hanson Leghorn Farm Records (MSS HansonLeghorn), 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.

Creators

Hanson Leghorn Farm
Hanson, Jess Allen (1887-1978)

People, Places, and Topics

Hanson Leghorn Farm
Local History
Natural Resources
University History


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.