Leif D. Espenas Papers, 1938-1970

Title: Leif D. Espenas Papers, 1938-1970

Predominant Dates: 1948-1967

ID: MSS Espenas

Primary Creator: Espenas, Leif D.

Extent: 5.5 cubic feet. More info below.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The Leif D. Espenas Papers document Espenas' work as a forest products researcher and administrator with the Oregon Forest Products Laboratory and the Oregon State University Forest Research Laboratory. The papers include Espenas' research records as well as laboratory administrative records.

Espenas' research records include project files, proposals, reports and publications, reference materials, data and graphs, and monthly progress reports pertaining to a variety of research projects. Research topics include kiln drying, air drying of tanoak, grain doors (for railroad cars transporting grain), drying of madrone, moisture diffusion in red cedar and redwoods, drying stress analysis, end coating, and solvent seasoning. The papers also include reports by Espenas completed in the 1940s while he was working with the University of Wisconsin.

The administrative records include extensive records of the Forest Products Research Advisory Committee meetings, annual reports to the Advisory Committee, lists of research projects underway at the Laboratory, file indexes, procedures and policies, budgets, and correspondence documenting research administration at the Laboratory. These are primarily from the time period when Espenas was Head of Forest Products Research.

Leif Dedrick Espenas became a Wood Technologist at the Oregon Forest Products Laboratory in 1947 and Head of Forest Products Research from 1959 until 1965, when he returned to full-time research until his death in 1973. His research specialities were kiln drying of wood and wood-moisture relations. Espenas earned a BS degree from the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University in 1938 and his MS degree in 1940 from the University of California at Berkeley. Espenas was a technologist with the U.S. Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, from 1942 until 1947.

Espenas was born in Cazenovia, New York in 1915 and died in Corvallis, Oregon, in 1973.

More Extent Information: 6 boxes

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The Espenas Papers were transferred to the Archives by the Forest Products Department in 1999.

Related Materials: The Forest Products Department Records (RG 003) include extensive documentation of forest products research and teaching at Oregon State. The Special Collections and Archives Research Center collections include the papers of several other forest products faculty, including George H. Atherton Papers (MSS Atherton), Stanley E. Corder Papers (MSS Corder), Douglas W. Glennie Papers (MSS Glennie), Robert D. Graham Papers (MSS GrahamRD), and James W. Johnson Papers (MSS JohnsonJW). The August Rauch Collection (MSS Rauch) documents Rauch's wood products research. Additional materials pertaining to the Forest Research Laboratory are held in the College of Forestry Records (RG 139) and the College of Forestry Photograph Collection (P 061) as well as the College of Agricultural Sciences Records (RG 158). Biographical information for Espenas is available in the College of Forestry Records (RG 139). Several reports written by Espenas are available online in ScholarsArchive@OSU.

Preferred Citation: Leif D. Espenas Papers (MSS Espenas), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

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

Other URL: A preliminary container list was created for this collection on or before November 14, 2014.

Espenas, Leif D.
Oregon Forest Products Laboratory
Oregon State University. Forest Research Laboratory

Espenas, Leif D.
Forest products--Research--Oregon.
Forestry laboratories--Oregon--Corvallis.
Lumber--Drying.
Natural Resources
Oregon State University--Research.
Tanoak--Drying.
University History
Wood--Moisture.