This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Title: Alva Aitken Photograph Collection, 1908-1914
ID: P 116
Primary Creator: Aitken, Alva
Extent: 0.1 cubic feet. More info below.
Languages of Materials: English [eng]
The Alva Aitken Photograph Collection consists of photographs and postcards depicting OAC campus scenes and individuals - mostly students - from the early 20th century.
Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.
Certain of the postcards held in this collection were annotated and sent to Alva Aitken, usually at an address in Salem, Oregon. Most of these notes were written by "Frank," perhaps the Frank Boulan depicted in one of the collection's photographs. Other photographs and postcards are annotated to describe the individuals or scenes shown on the obverse side.
Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.
Frances Alva Aitken, who went always by Alva, was born to Alvord and Carrie Aitken September 29, 1889 in Portland, Oregon. <span class="note-content readmore expanded"><span class="less">Carrie Aitken (1860–1947) was born Carrie Johnson in Butteville, Oregon. From 1876 to 1879 she attended Mills Seminary in Benicia, California, and in 1880 she went with her mother to Arizona and taught in mining camps. In 1886 she married Alvord Aitken, a businessman in Prescott, Arizona. Alvord died in 1890 while the family, including Alva's sister Geraldine, was visiting Carrie's mother in Portland, Oregon.</span><span class="more"> </span></span>
Alva graduated from Portand High School, and enrolled at Oregon Agricultural College in 1908; she graduated with the class of 1910 with a B.S. in Domestic Science and Art. While enrolled at OAC, Aitken was a member of the Pierians Literary Society, and the Portland High School Alumni Association. She was a close friend of classmate Emily Rodgers, and Emily is featured in a number of the photographs in this collection.
<span class="note-content readmore expanded"><span class="more">After graduation, Alva taught home economics in junior high and grade schools in Salem, Oregon until 1917, and taught at Woodmere Elementary School in Portland, Oregon until 1918. </span></span>She eventually left teaching to work with the Army Corps of Engineers, retiring in 1961. Frances Alva Aitken passed away March 18, 1970 in Portland, Oregon.
More Extent Information: 37 photographs
Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.
Related Materials:
Non-photographic materials related to Alva Aitken's OAC experience are held in the Frances Alva Aitken Collection (MSS Aitken).
Additional collections documenting the student experience in the early 1900s include the: Irwin Betzel Papers, William C. Bryant Collection, A. Isabella Downs Scrapbook, Frank E. Hall Collection, and the Ellis Samuel Dement Photograph Collection.
Preferred Citation: Alva Aitken Photograph Collection (P 116), 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 December 3, 2015.
Aitken, Alva
Aitken, Frances Alva, 1889-1970
College students--Oregon--Corvallis--Social life and customs.
Oregon Agricultural College
Albumen prints.
Cyanotypes (photographic prints).
Photographic postcards.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.