Peter Copek Papers, 1966-2001

The Peter Copek Papers consist of a wide variety of materials that document specific components of Copek's life and work at Oregon State University. It is important to note that essentially all of the records held by the Special Collections & Archives Research Center that directly relate to Copek's leadership of the OSU Center for the Humanities have been arranged into the Center for the Humanities Records (RG 221).

In the main, the Copek Papers focus on Copek's scholarly interests in literature and film, his contacts with numerous colleagues, his instructional endeavors, and his contributions to departmental and committee affairs at OSU.

The collection, in Series 1, also holds a thorough record of Copek's employment by Oregon State University, including documents indicating advancement in his pay and rank; reviews of his performance in instruction, scholarship and administration; and more than a decade's worth of daily planners that outline his meetings and other obligations over time. Examples of Copek's scholarship and, especially, his teaching are arranged into Series 2 and III. His participation in OSU committee work, in the day-to-day affairs of the OSU English department, and in the deliberations of the university's College of Liberal Arts are likewise held in Series 4.

A strength of the collection is its assemblage of three series worth of subject files, one each devoted to colleagues (Series 5), film studies (Series 6) and literary figures (Series 7). Generally speaking, the subject files may include correspondence, typescripts, notes, and published articles, and document Copek's engagement with his peers, his exploration of topics in literature (mostly 19th and 20th century British authors) and film, and the weekly offerings of OSU's International Film Series. Series 6 also includes a handful of film stills of Charlie Chaplin and other actors in numerous films. Series 7 holds a sampling of Copek's writing contemporary to his graduate school years at Northwestern University.

The papers are rounded out, in Series 8, by a grouping of audio-visual materials, including reel-to-reel tapes, audiocassettes and one VHS tape. A highlight of this Series 1s a recording, on seven reel-to-reel tapes, of a symposium hosted by OSU in 1974 that focused on the idea of community in Oregon. The event featured a number of notable speakers, including Mark Hatfield, Ken Kesey, Studs Terkel and William Appleman Williams, who served as moderator.

Digital materials described in this collection, including floppy disks and tape reels, are not immediately available for patron use. Please see SCARC's "Accessing Audio-Visual Content" policy for more information.

Biographical / Historical Notes

Peter J. Copek was born in 1945 in Chicago, Illinois, where he was also raised and educated. He completed his primary schooling at St. Ignatius Prep before moving on to Loyola University of Chicago, where he majored in English, completing his B.S. in 1967. That same year, Copek won first place in the National Jesuit Intercollegiate Essay Contest for his piece "Herzog: A Modern Synthesis."

Copek continued his schooling at Northwestern University, receiving two degrees in English - an M.A. in 1969 and a Ph.D. in 1973. Copek earned several awards and fellowships during his graduate years, including an International Summer Scholarship, which allowed him to study at the University of London for three months. His doctoral dissertation, "The 'Five Towns' Novels of Arnold Bennett: A Response to Industrial Society," was indicative of a research topic that would interest him for the remainder of his career: British literary figures of the industrial age.

Copek was hired by Oregon State University in 1972 - one year prior to his completion of his Northwestern doctorate - as an Assistant Professor of English. From the outset, his teaching and scholarship were reflective of his doctoral studies in British literature, but very quickly also came to subsume his interest in film studies. In 1977 he co-founded the OSU International Film Series which, over a period of more than two decades, screened independent and foreign films for the public every weekend during the academic term. He likewise developed new courses focusing on various aspects of the cinema, including a popular class on film comedy and another on Charlie Chaplin.

Copek was also broadly interested in the advancement of the humanities, and it is in this capacity that he found his niche at Oregon State. In 1977 Copek helped to write a successful five-year National Endowment for the Humanities grant, from which was born the Humanities Development Program. The initiative, which was administered by Copek, focused primarily upon interdisciplinary instructional development. The 1977 grant also led to the creation of three certificate programs - including the Twentieth Century Studies curriculum, coordinated by Copek - and to the purchase of nearly 10,000 books for circulation by the OSU Libraries.

In 1984 Copek co-authored a second NEH proposal, this time a challenge grant seeking $700,000 in federal funds to be awarded on the condition that OSU raise a private match of $2.1 million. The university accomplished this task and a key outcome of the new inflow of funds was the endowment of a permanent OSU Center for the Humanities, which took the place of the Humanities Development Program. Peter Copek served as the first director of OSU's Center for the Humanities and remained in that role until his death in 2001. Though he remained a member of the English department and continued to carry a full teaching load, administration and fund raising for the center so came to dominate Copek's professional time that he often referred to himself, with tongue in cheek, as a "businessman of letters."

Under Copek's leadership, the primary mission of the Center for the Humanities was to nurture research through the provision of support for an annual collection of both internal fellows - selected from a pool of OSU applicants - as well as external fellows who would travel to Corvallis from posts all around the world. The center - which received a permanent home on the OSU campus, the Autzen House, in 1990 - supported research productivity by funding leave time for internal fellows as well as travel and lodging for visiting scholars. The center also served as a hub for the exchange of ideas through the presentation of working papers required of its fellows. The center likewise used its endowment earnings to sponsor a variety of campus events, including a conference marking the bicentennial of the U.S. constitution, a Mozart festival, and a visit to Corvallis from the San Francisco Mime Troupe.

As the OSU Center for the Humanities advanced, Copek's reputation grew; he was frequently asked to consult on similar projects around the country and to speak on the development of humanities centers as they became more popular within academia. So too was Copek's insight regularly sought internally; throughout his OSU career he served on a number of committees within the College of Liberal Arts and elsewhere. Copek also continually proved himself to be an able fundraiser, leading or contributing to efforts that raised over $4.1 million combined in grants and donations, mostly in support of the Center for the Humanities.

Copek suffered from a series of health problems for much of his life and on June 13, 2001, he died of a heart attack that struck in the immediate aftermath of gall bladder surgery. He was 56 years old. In his honor, the Center for the Humanities renamed its reception space the Peter J. Copek Room and also created a Peter J. Copek Fund, meant to support future cultural offerings on the OSU campus.

Author: Chris Petersen

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 112 photographs, 11 reel-to-reel sound recordings, 6 audiocassette sound recordings and 1 VHS video recording; 9 boxes

Statement on Access: Access to letters of recommendation in Series 3 is restricted due to the presence of confidential information. All other materials in this collection are open for research. For more information about access to restricted materials, please see our Guide to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center.

Acquisition Note: Collection materials were transferred to the University Archives in 2001 by the Oregon State University Center for the Humanities.

Related Materials:

Any thorough study of Peter Copek's life and work must include a review of the materials held in the Center for the Humanities Records (RG 221). Virtually all documentation of Copek's seventeen-year association with the center has been arranged into RG 221.

The Oregon State University Sesquicentennial Oral History Collection (OH 026) holds an oral history interview with former OSU President John Byrne in which he discusses the formation of the Center for the Humanities and the securing of a physical space for the center. Materials related to the center are also contained in the OSU Memorabilia Collection (MSS MC).

Researchers interested in Copek may also wish to consult the College of Liberal Arts Records (RG 143), College of Liberal Arts Photographs (P 186), and the College of Liberal Arts Videotapes (FV 186). Other manuscript collections of OSU English faculty held by SCARC include the Bernard Malamud Papers (MSS Malamud), Elizabeth Henley Collection (MSS Henley), Ray S. Hewitt Collection (MSS Hewitt), Sigurd Peterson Collection (MSS PetersonS), M. Ellwood Smith Papers (SmithME), Roger Weaver Papers (MSS Weaver), and the Richard Dankleff Sound Record (MSS Dankleff).

Preferred Citation: Peter Copek Papers (MSS Copek), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Peter Copek Papers, 1966-2001

Collection Overview

Abstract

Scope and Content Notes

Biographical / Historical Notes

Administrative Information

Creators

People, Places, and Topics

Forms of Material

Box and Folder Listing