By Finding aid prepared by Elizabeth Nielsen.
Title: Orange Owl, 1920-1928
ID: PUB 010-13c
Primary Creator: Hammer and Coffin National Honorary Society. Orange Owl Chapter
Extent: 0.35 cubic feet. More info below.
Languages of Materials: English [eng]
The Orange Owl was a college humor magazine published by the Orange Owl Chapter of the Hammer and Coffin National Honorary Society at Oregon Agricultural College during the 1920s. The magazine included humorous and satirical pieces as well as cartoons and pen sketches created by students.
Items from this collection have been digitized and are available online.
The Orange Owl was a college humor magazine published by the Orange Owl Chapter of the Hammer and Coffin National Honorary Society at Oregon Agricultural College during the 1920s. The magazine included humorous and satirical pieces as well as cartoons and pen sketches created by students. Five or six issues were published per academic year beginning with volume 3 in 1921-1922. Most issues are 32 pages; as many as 3000 copies were printed and distributed on campus and in the Corvallis community.
The purpose of the magazine was to promote creative talent among students in humorous writing as well as cartooning and sketching. The magazines include poems, jokes, short humorous stories, satire, plays, limericks, cartoons, sketches, and colorful covers. All issues include local and national advertisements. Some material was reprinted by Orange Owl also reprinted exchanges from college comic magazines published by other chapters of the Hammer and Coffin Society.
In 1923 and 1927, women students had full responsibility for publishing one issue of the magazine.
This collection includes 43 issues of the magazine, all of which are available online. The collection includes duplicate copies of many issues; however, one issue (volume 2, no. 3 for May 1921) is only available on microfilm and online.
The first issue of the Orange Owl promoted creative talents among students in wit, humor, cartooning, and sketching. A broad representation of OAC students were involved in writing, editing, and publishing of the magazine. In the 1926-1927 academic year, more than 40 students contributed materials and more than 35 worked on the managerial and circulation staffs. The magazine was funded by advertising as well as subscriptions.
M. Ellwood Smith and Edwin T. Reed served as faculty advisors for the publication and were referred to in some issues as the "Shock Absorbers".
According to the 1928 Beaver yearbook, "... the Orange Owl represents the fun and frolic of the students and shows that college life is more than a wearisome grind. It might be called the carnival representative of Oregon State".
The Hammer and Coffin Society originated at Stanford University to promote literary and artistic talents of students as expressed in wit and humor. In the mid 1910s, the Society transformed into a national collegiate humor organization with 25 chapters.
More Extent Information: 1 box; 1 microfilm reel
Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.
Acquisition Note: Issues of the Orange Owl were received by the Library as they were published in the 1920s; copies held in the Special Collections Vault Collection were transferred to the University Archives in 2010 and combined with paper and microfilmed copies to form one collection which is now held in the Special Collections & Archives Research Center.
Related Materials:
Photographs of members of the Orange Owl Chapter of the Hammer and Coffin Society are available in the News and Communication Services Photograph Collection (P 057) and Harriet's Photograph Collection (P HC). The Special Collections and Archives Research Center's collections include other humor and parody publications including the Beaver Dam, published in the 1950s-1960s; and the Civil War Football Game Newspapers (PUB 399).
See also: The Orange Owl Digital Collection, keyword searchable and available in full.
Preferred Citation: Orange Owl (PUB 010-13c), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Hammer and Coffin National Honorary Society. Orange Owl Chapter
Orange Owl Club (Oregon Agricultural College)
College students--Oregon--Corvallis.
College wit and humor
Hammer and Coffin National Honorary Society. Orange Owl Chapter
Local History
Orange Owl Club (Oregon Agricultural College)
Oregon Agricultural College--Periodicals.
Oregon State Agricultural College--Periodicals.
Student publications--Oregon--Corvallis.
University History