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Blue Key Fraternity Records, 1934-2003

By Finding aid prepared by Elizabeth Nielsen.

Collection Overview

Title: Blue Key Fraternity Records, 1934-2003

Predominant Dates: 1940-1990

ID: MSS BlueKey

Primary Creator: Blue Key (Fraternity). Oregon State University Chapter

Extent: 2.0 cubic feet. More info below.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Abstract

The Blue Key Fraternity Records document the membership and activities of this honor society for Oregon State University students. In addition to constitutions, reports, minutes, correspondence, and financial materials, the records include clippings and ephemera, a scrapbook, photograph album, and individual photographs. Blue Key was established at Oregon State in 1934 for male students. Women student became eligible for membership in 1977.

Scope and Content Notes

The Blue Key Fraternity Records document the membership and activities of this honor society for Oregon State University students. The collection includes administrative records for the organization, project files, publications, and photographs. The administrative records include constitutions, meeting minutes, financial reports, policies and procedures, correspondence, membership lists, and materials pertaining to regional and national conventions. The administrative records document changes in the mid-late 1970s allowing membership of women. Ephemeral items include certificates, clippings, and patches.

The project files pertain to a variety of activities and programs of the organization including leadership clinics and workshops, creeds in living groups, a cheating study, school spirit, social functions in living organizations, a peer advising program, service projects, and the chapter's position statements on campus matters. The records also include a scrapbook documenting to the Donald Wilson MacKenzie Award and materials pertaining to the Dubach Award.

The publications include materials published by the national Blue Key organization including codes and policies and promotional materials as well as local chapter brochures.

The photographs include a photograph album of MacKenzie Award winners as well as images of groups of chapter members, members honored in a ceremony, and a book sale in the Memorial Union quadrangle.

Biographical / Historical Notes

The Blue Key Honor Society was founded at the University of Florida in 1924. The Oregon State chapter was established in 1934 to recognize male students with a strong academic background and a who demonstrated "superior leadership and unselfish commitment to others". Women became eligible for membership in 1977; prior to that time, Mortar Board was the comparable organization at Oregon State for women students.

The Donald Wilson MacKenzie Blue Key Memorial Award was established in memory of MacKenzie, a 1953 graduate of Oregon State in forestry who died soon after graduation, in the summer of 1953, in a logging accident near Brightwood, Oregon. The scholarship was made annually to a male Oregon State College student who best exhibited the characteristics for which Don MacKenzie was known.

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 72 photographs; 2 boxes

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The materials were transferred to the Archives in two accessions in 1982 and 2008.

Related Materials:

Additional materials pertaining to Blue Key are available in the Dean of Men Records (RG 134) and the Student Affairs Records (RG 102).

The Special Collections and Archives Research Center has records from several other academic honor societies at Oregon State. Holdings include the Alpha Epsilon Oregon Upsilon Chapter Records (MSS Alpha Epsilon) (biological and agricultural engineering); Alpha Phi Omega - OSU Chapter Records (MSS AlphaPhiOmega); Epsilon Pi Tau Records (MSS EpsilonPiTau) (industrial arts and vocational education); Eta Sigma Gamma Alpha Tau Chapter Records (MSS EtaSigma) (health education); Omicron Nu Records (MSS OmicronNu) (home economics); Phi Kappa Phi - OSU Chapter Records (MSS PhiKappaPhi); Sigma Delta Chi Oregon State Chapter Records (MSS SigmaDeltaChi) (journalism); Theta Sigma Phi Records (MSS ThetaSigmaPhi) (women in journalism); and Xi Sigma Pi Records (forestry).

Preferred Citation: Blue Key Fraternity Records (MSS BlueKey), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Processing Information: This collection is not fully processed; this guide is preliminary.

Creators

Blue Key (Fraternity). Oregon State University Chapter
Blue Key (Fraternity)

People, Places, and Topics

Blue Key (Fraternity)
Blue Key (Fraternity). Oregon State University Chapter
Clubs--Oregon--Corvallis.
College students--Oregon--Corvallis.
Oregon State College--Societies, etc.
Oregon State College--Students.
Oregon State University--Societies, etc.
Oregon State University--Students.
Scholarships--Oregon--Corvallis.
Student activities--Oregon--Corvallis.
University History
Women--Oregon--Corvallis--Societies and clubs.

Forms of Material

Photograph albums.
Photographic prints.
Scrapbooks.


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