Alexander K. Chapman Photograph Collection, 1908-1910

Title: Alexander K. Chapman Photograph Collection, 1908-1910

ID: P 235

Primary Creator: Chapman, Alexander Kesterson

Extent: 0.3 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: The Alexander K. Chapman Photograph Collection is comprised of one series: Photographs, 1908-1910.

Date Acquired: 00/00/1999

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The Alexander K. Chapman Photograph Collection is comprised of photographs assembled by Alexander Kesterson Chapman between 1905 and 1909, when he was a student at Oregon Agricultural College. The collection includes photographs of student groups on campus, but is primarily comprised of individual portraits, both identified and not identified. Chapman graduated in 1909 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering.

Select images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

The Alexander K. Chapman Photograph Collection consists of mounted photographic prints assembled by Chapman as a student at Oregon Agricultural College. Most of the images are individual portraits of OAC students of the Classes of 1909 and 1910, many of which were published in the 1909 or 1910 Orange yearbook. The majority of the portrait subjects are unidentified. Chapman’s fellow Sphinx Society members are also subjects of the collection. Many of the photographs were made by W.S. Gardner of Corvallis.

The collection also includes several images of buildings on campus, including Waldo Hall, Education Hall (now Furman Hall), Benton Hall (now Community Hall), and Apperson Hall (now Kearney Hall). Campus buildings are identified below by the building name used at the time the photograph was taken. In instances where the building name has changed, the name used at the time of the finding aid's publication appears in brackets.

Of particular note are several images of the OAC Cadets taken in 1909 and 1910. One image, P235:05, shows the cadets marching down Main Street (now Second Street) in Corvallis in 1910. The view is to the north, and includes Second Street from Jefferson to Madison Avenues. Several businesses are in the foreground and mid-ground, including B.L. Van Hoosen: Watchmaker and Jeweler, The Bazaar, Kline’s, Beals Brothers, and the Elite Millinery. The second image, P235:06, shows the cadets in a field camp on the University of Washington (UW) campus while visiting the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, a world’s fair held in Seattle in 1909. Denny Hall, the oldest building on UW’s campus, can be seen in the background.

Select images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

Alexander Kesterson (alternately written as Kester, Kesterton, or Kesterin) Chapman was born December 21, 1884 in Mayview, Washington.  His father, Zenas Haines Chapman, served as a private in the Union army (Company K, 147^th Regiment Illinois), and received a commendation for Distinguished Service. In February 1884, Zenas married Martha Jane Mark Chapman in Pomeroy, Washington.

By 1900, the Chapman family was living in Grants Pass, Oregon, where Zenas had found work as a carpenter. Zenas passed away two years later, when Alexander was just 18. Martha would never remarry, and raised the couple’s five children – Alexander, Zena, Electa, Susie May, and William – alone. For her husband’s military service she received an “Army widow’s” pension which, in 1908, amounted to $12 per month, with an additional $2 per minor residing in the household.

Alexander began his studies at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) in 1905. He studied electrical engineering and was very involved on campus as a student. Among other things, he was the treasurer of his senior class, track team captain, a member of the Zetegathian Literary Society and, by his senior year, had risen to the rank of Captain of the First battalion, Company C of the OAC Cadets. Of particular note is his status as a charter member of the Sphinx Society, a somewhat enigmatic honor society for select men of the senior class. Of Chapman, the Sphinx membership yearbook states: “He was always sincere in his convictions and lived up to them to the best of his ability…He was a worker and always ready.” Interestingly, his sister Zena also attended classes at OAC in 1905 as a “special,” non-degree-seeking student.

Chapman graduated from OAC in 1909. He moved back in with his mother and siblings still living in Grants Pass, and began work in the Plant Department of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company. On November 9, 1913, Alexander married Jeritza Margaret Turk, an emigre from what is now Slovenia. Jeritza, who went by Margaret, had one child, Alphonse, from a previous marriage; the couple have one child, Lena Margaret, together.

By 1920, Alexander, Margaret, their children, and Alexander’s mother Martha had moved to Portland, Oregon, where Alexander worked as an electrical engineer for the telephone company, and Margaret as a cook in a delicatessen. In 1939 Margaret passed away; four years later, on September 25, 1943, Alexander married Arlie Belle Dorathy. Alexander K. Chapman died July 16, 1968 in Santa Clara, California.

More Extent Information: 1 box, including 48 photographs

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The photographs were donated to the Archives in 1999 by Chapman's daughter, Evelyn Chapman Back.

Related Materials:

The Special Collections and Archives Research Center holdings contain numerous photograph collections documenting the student experience at Oregon Agricultural College during the early 1900s including the W.J. Gilstrap Papers (MSS Gilstrap), the Bertha Herse Collection (MSS Herse), and the Walter R. Baker Photographs (P 018).

Collections relating to Chapman's specific student experience include the Sphinx Society Records (MSS Sphinx), and the Oregon State University Military Photographs Collection (P 002).

Additional collections relating to the study of electrical engineering at OSU include the College of Engineering Photograph Collection (P 069), the Electrical Engineering Department Records (RG 121), and the Oregon State University Memorabilia Collection (MSS MC).

Preferred Citation: Alexander K. Chapman Photograph Collection (P 235), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Finding Aid Revision History: The original finding aid (created in 1999) has been updated to reflect current descriptive practice and standards, include more contextual information for the colleciton, assign item numbers, and provide links to items that are available online.

Chapman, Alexander Kesterson
Gardner, W. S. (Winfield S.) (1863-1933)

Chapman, Alexander Kesterson
College students--Oregon--Corvallis.
Corvallis (Or.)
Local History
Military education--Oregon--Corvallis.
Oregon Agricultural College--Students.
Oregon Agricultural College. Class of 1910
University History

Photographic prints.