The Lester M. Leland Papers are comprised of materials created or collected during Leland's student years at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) including memorabilia, correspondence, reports, and materials related to his coursework.
The correspondence in the collection is comprised of three complete letters and part of a fourth. All the letters are addressed to Eunice Courtwright in the Alumni Office. All four pieces of correspondence detail Leland’s recollections of OAC during his tenure as a student. Subjects discussed in the correspondence include: the social aspects of being a student, including football games, the cost of meals on campus, and mandatory attendance at chapel; professors, including Emile Pernot, George Coote, Moses Craig, and Frederick Berchtold; and anecdotes about assorted on-campus antics. Three items are included with the correspondence: a news clipping of a piece Leland wrote for the Oregon City Enterprise, “Agricultural College Notes;” a note signed by President John Bloss excusing Leland from classes; and a copy of the 1895 Senior Class song. The news clipping, dated 1894, includes a description of a football match between the “Oregon Agricultural College and the State University teams.” The clipping also notes that Leland was chosen as president of the Ciceronian Literary Society.
The memorabilia in the collection includes a blank Ciceronian Literary Society meeting form, with spaces to document the names of each of the Readers, Essayists, Declaimers, and Debaters performing at each meeting. Also included among the memorabilia are a piece of State Agricultural College Printing Department letterhead, listing Lester M. Leland as Printer and dating from the 1890s, and a booklet published in celebration of the Silver Jubilee Reunion for the Class of 1899. Leland’s diploma – for a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture – is also included among the memorabilia (Box 02).
The course work in the collection includes three copies of a report – “Laboratory Studies: State Agricultural College, Zoology,” – written by F.L. Washburn on “work done in the Zoological Department during the Fall and Winter terms of 1894-5.” The report details student research completed in Physiology, Ornithology, and Zoology classes, and includes copies of drawings done by the students. A drawing of the magnified intestine of a fish – drawn by Leland – is included on page 9. Class-related materials also include notes taken by Leland for an Organic Chemistry course taught by professor G. W. Shaw in spring 1894. A sketchbook, which includes sketches of bones (e.g. lumbar vertebrae, ribs, scapula, tibia, sacrum) and samples of various substances under magnification (e.g. bone, skin, and blood) is also included.
