Alumni Magazine, 1912-2022

Title: Alumni Magazine, 1912-2022

ID: PUB 003-11a

Primary Creator: Oregon State University. Alumni Association

Extent: 3.65 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: The Alumni Magazine is arranged in 4 series: 1.  OAC Alumnus, 1912-1927; 2. Oregon State Monthly, 1930-1936; 3. Weekly Alumni News Section in the Barometer, 1937-1940; and 4. Oregon Stater, 1941-2022.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The Alumni Magazine is published by the Alumni Association for distribution to alumni and friends of Oregon State University.  The magazine provides information  on campus activities, research and teaching, athletics, and news of the lives and activities of alumni.  Regular publication began with the first issue of the OAC Alumnus in 1915.

All issues of the Alumni Magazine are available online in Oregon Digital.

The Alumni Magazine is published by the Alumni Association for distribution to alumni and friends of Oregon State University.  It contains information on campus activities, research and teaching, athletics, and news of the lives and activities of alumni.  The magazine has been published under several titles:  OAC Alumnus (1915-1929); Oregon State Monthly (1929-1937); and the Oregon Stater (beginning in 1940).

The collection also includes the Alumni Annual, a 4-page news-sheet issued in the summer or fall of 1912.  This one-time publication preceded the initial issue of the OAC Alumnus by 3 years.

The alumni magazine has been published at least several times per year since its inception and for a period was issued monthly during the academic year (10 issues per year).  From 1972 through the September 1999 issue, the Oregon Stater was published 4-6 times per year as a tabloid-type publication.  Beginning with the December 1999 issue, the Stater has been published 3-4 times per year as a 4-color magazine.

From the fall of 1937 through the summer of 1940, alumni news was published as a weekly news supplement to the Barometer campus newspaper.  These 1937-1940 issues are available as part of the Barometer.  Photocopies of all issues and a bound volume of issues from October 1939 through May 1940 are part of this collection.

An annual report of giving to the OSU Foundation was published regularly as part of the Oregon Stater in the 1960s-1970s.

Issues are also available in the History of Oregon State University (HistOSU) Collection and online in the Alumni Magazine digital collection in Oregon Digital.

The Alumni Association was founded in February 1873 and the first permananent officers were chosen in June of that year: Hugh M. Finley, President; George F. Burkhart, Vice President; W.F. Herrin, Secretary; and Oscar L. Ison, Treasurer. A list of "Alumni et Alumnae" and current addresses was included in each edition of the college catalogue. In 1914 a formal constitution was adopted that provided for a five-member board. E.B. Lemon became the first regular alumni secretary in 1915 and started the alumni magazine, the OAC Alumnus. In 1929, the alumni magazine became the Oregon State Monthly; it was renamed the Oregon Stater in 1940 and has retained that title since.

In 1929, the alumni office was moved from the Commerce Building to the newly completed Memorial Union. The CH2M Hill Alumni Center was completed on campus in 1997; it was built as a conference and meeting center and as the home of OSU Alumni Association events and administrative offices.

The magazine is currrently published three times per year in spring, fall, and winter.

More Extent Information: 9 boxes, including 5 oversize boxes

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The alumni magazine was received on distribution by the University Archives and the Special Collections and Archives Research Center beginning in the 1960s.

Related Materials: Editorial records of the alumni magazine are part of the Alumni Relations Records (RG 035) and photographs (both published and unpublished) taken or assembled by the magazine staff are in the Oregon Stater Photograph Collection (P 195) and the Alumni Relations Photographs (P 017).  Collections of the professional papers of two former editors --  Chuck Boice (1969-1986) and  George Edmonston, Jr. (1986-2005) and are also held by the Special Collections and Archives Research Center.

Preferred Citation: Alumni Magazine (PUB 03-11a), Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon.

Oregon State University. Alumni Association
Boice, Charles Allan
Edmonston, George P.

Class reunions--Oregon--Corvallis.
College environment--Oregon--Corvallis.
College sports--Oregon--Corvallis.
College students--Oregon--Corvallis.
Fund raising--Oregon.
Oregon Agricultural College--Alumni and alumnae.
Oregon Agricultural College--Faculty.
Oregon State College--Alumni and alumnae.
Oregon State College--Faculty.
Oregon State University--Alumni and alumnae.
Oregon State University--Faculty.
Oregon State University--History.
Oregon State University. Alumni Association
Student activities--Oregon--Corvallis.
Universities and colleges--Alumni and alumnae--Oregon--Corvallis.
Universities and colleges--Public relations--Oregon--Corvallis.
University History