By Rachel Lilley and Sabrina Gorney
Title: Henry C. Gilbert Photograph Collection, 1905-1917
Predominant Dates: 1913-1916
ID: P 158
Primary Creator: Gilbert, Henry C. (Henry Clark) (1891-1981)
Extent: 0.1 cubic feet. More info below.
Arrangement: The Henry C. Gilbert Photograph Collection is comprised of one series: 1. Photographs, 1905-1917. The photographs are arranged numerically by image number (P158:1-60).
Languages of Materials: English [eng]
The Henry C. Gilbert Photograph Collection consists of scenic postcards and photographs from around the Pacific Northwest and Canada, as well as images of activities taking place on the Oregon Agricultural College campus. The membership and functions of the Oxford Club at OAC are a particular focus of the collection's campus images. Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.
Gilbert graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture in 1915, and a Master of Science degree in 1917, both from Oregon Agricultural College (OAC).
The bulk of the Henry C. Gilbert Photograph Collection consists of postcards - in both color and black and white - depicting scenery, landmarks and agricultural practices throughout the Pacific Northwest and Canada. The collection also includes postcards and prints documenting scenes and activities from around Corvallis and the OAC campus. Many of the postcards are annotated and some were used to send messages - both by and to Gilbert - delivered through the post.
Of particular note are several images, many of them humorous, focusing on the membership, lodging and functions of the college's Oxford Club, predecessor to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. Gilbert was a member of the Oxford Club and appears to have taken many of the photographs organized into this component of the collection. Also of interest is a group photograph of Gilbert and other student guides at the Oregon Building during the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California in 1915. Gilbert was one of 38 OAC students selected to serve as guides in the Oregon Building during the Expo.
Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.
Henry Clark Gilbert was born December 1, 1891 in White Bear Lake, Minnesota – a community just north of St. Paul – to Philip G. Gilbert and Alcetta Tinkham Gilbert. Gilbert matriculated at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) in 1912 with a major in Agriculture. While at OAC, Gilbert served in Company L of the OAC Cadet Corps and was a member of the Rifle Club, a recognized student chapter of the National Rifle Association. He was also a member of the Shakopean Society, and served as the Managerial Staff member in charge of subscriptions for the Oregon Countryman, a scientific magazine issued by the Agricultural and Home Economics students at OAC. He was a member-resident of the Oxford Club, which was formally organized as the Oregon Alpha chapter of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity in February 1918. By his senior year, Gilbert had been promoted to Captain of Company C in the OAC Cadet Corps, and was selected to serve as Secretary of the OAC Rifle Club. He was also one of 38 students from OAC selected to serve as “guides” in the Oregon Building at the Panama-Pacific Exhibition in San Francisco.
Gilbert was active in faith-based students groups during his time at OAC. He was a member of OAC’s student chapter of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), and served as chair of the group’s Religious Meetings Committee, whose activities included bringing speakers to campus, and holding religious meetings, Bible classes, and “uplifting social gatherings.” Gilbert was also a member of YMCA’s Student Volunteer Band, the purpose of which was to develop an “active interest in missions among the students…and [secure] recruits for service in the foreign mission field.”
After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture in 1915, Gilbert stayed on at OAC to pursue a Master’s degree in Botany. While pursuing this degree, Gilbert worked as an Instructor in Botany and Plant Pathology, and served as the Faculty Advisor for the Oxford Club. Gilbert graduated in 1917, completing a Master’s thesis entitled Notes on Some of the Weeds of the Willamette Valley.That same year, Gilbert moved to Hilo, Hawaii, where he worked as a teacher of Agriculture and Military Science at the Hilo Boarding School.
From 1918 to 1921, Gilbert worked in South Dakota on the Barberry Eradication campaign out of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Cereal Investigations Office, first as the Assistant State Leader (1918-1919) and then as the State Leader of the project (1919-1920). Sometime prior to 1920, Gilbert married Katherine Mayo Asbahr, herself an OAC graduate in Commerce (Class of 1920). Her brothers Harry (Agriculture, 1910) and Albert Allen (Agriculture, 1911), and sisters Margaret Mary (Domestic Science and Art, 1913) and Estella Marie (Home Economics), also attended OAC.
In 1921, the Gilberts relocated to Minnesota, where both Henry and Katherine began work on advanced degrees at the University of Minnesota (UM). Henry worked as a Botany instructor in the School of Agriculture while pursuing his PhD in Agricultural Botany, with a special focus on “lettuce diseases.” By November 1924, the Gilberts had returned to Oregon, where Gilbert took up farming near Salem, Oregon. The Gilberts had moved south to Liberty, Oregon by 1930; Henry continued his agricultural pursuits as an orchardist, while Katherine taught public school. In September 1931, Henry left for Iowa City, Iowa to teach Botany at the Iowa State University (ISU); Katherine joined him there in 1932. Henry completed his PhD in Plant Pathology in 1933 while teaching at ISU.
The Gilberts returned to Oregon in late 1942, settling in the Hillsboro area. Henry Clark Gilbert died March 30, 1981 in Hillsboro, Oregon. Upon his death, Gilbert’s botanical specimens were donated to the Oregon State University Herbarium; as of January 2021, they are still there.
More Extent Information: 1 box containing 60 photographs
Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.
Acquisition Note: This collection was received by the former University Archives in the 1960s or 1970s.
Related Materials:
The OSU Special Collections and Archives Researcher Center's holdings contain numerous collections documenting the student experience at Oregon Agricultural College in the 1910s, including the Irwin Betzel Papers (MSS Betzel), the May Oviatt Collection (MSS Oviatt), the Ellis Samuel Dement Photograph Collection (P 224), and the Student Handbooks (PUB 010-23a). Collections documenting the Oxford Club more specifically including the Charles Leon Robinson Photograph Album (P 215) and the J. Llewellyn Spriggs Photograph Album (P 285), in addition to the aforementioned Irwin Betzel Papers (MSS Betzel).
Collections which document OSU's connections to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California in 1915 include the E. E. Wilson Photographic Collection (P 101) and the Margaret Alden Biddle Scrapbook (MSS Biddle).
Additional materials relating to the first World War can be found in the Cooke Family Letters (MSS CookeFamily), the Ulysses Grant McAlexander Collection (MSS McAlexander), the Roy Philippi and Beth Miller Philippi Scrapbooks (MSS Philippi), and the Gerald W. Williams Collection on the Army Spruce Production Division (MSS Spruce).
Preferred Citation: Henry C. Gilbert Photograph Collection (P 158), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Finding Aid Revision History: This finding aid replaces information about the collection that was placed online in 2012.
Gilbert, Henry C. (Henry Clark) (1891-1981)
College students--Oregon--Corvallis--Social life and customs.
Ferries--Oregon.
Gilbert, Henry C. (Henry Clark), 1891-1981
Marys Peak (Or.)
Men--Oregon--Corvallis--Societies and clubs.
Oxford Club (Oregon Agricultural College)
Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)
University History
World War, 1914-1918.
Aerial photographs.
Photographic postcards.
Photographic prints.