Farm Crops Department Photographs, 1919-1961

By Finding aid prepared by Karl McCreary; Revisions by Trevor Sandgathe and Sydney Klupar

Collection Overview

Title: Farm Crops Department Photographs, 1919-1961

ID: P 130

Primary Creator: Oregon State College. Department of Farm Crops

Extent: 0.05 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: The Farm Crops Department Photographs are comprised of one series: Photographs, 1919-1961. The photographs are arranged in the order assigned during the collection's preliminary processing.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Abstract

The Farm Crops Department Photographs illustrate the research activities of the Farm Crops Department. The photographs in this collection include images of crop production, the use of agricultural machinery, and department faculty between 1919 and 1961.

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

Scope and Content Notes

The Farm Crops Department Photographs are comprised of 46 unique images (44 prints, including 1 duplicate, and 3 negatives) documenting planting, care, harvesting, and transportation of farm crops, especially grasses; use of farming tools and machinery; and Farm Crops Department faculty members.

Images in the collection primarily depict plants such as barnyard grass seedlings, phormium, and fescue and land under cultivation by both horse drawn and mechanical farm equipment at the Oregon Experiment Station. Department faculty, such as Ritchie Cowan, Harry A. Schoth and Rod Frakes, are also pictured in these photographs.

The photographs in this collection have been assigned numbers P130:01-P130:47 (P130:10 and P130:11 are not extant). Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

Biographical / Historical Notes

First organized and recognized as a department in 1916, the Farm Crops Department was established to coordinate research efforts in crop experimentation at the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station. Prior to 1916, Experiment Station research had been directed by the Department of Agronomy, which was established in 1907.

Among the projects undertaken by the Farm Crops Department was the management of the Seed Testing Laboratory, cereal investigation, cooperative extension work with farmers, and research in chemical weed control. Many of these projects were joint cooperative arrangements with the USDA. In 1971, the Department was renamed Agronomic Crop Science and again, in 1977, to Crop Sciences. In 1990, the Crop Science and Soil Science Departments merged to form the Department of Crop and Soil Science.

A history of the department, written by Farm Crops professors Donald W. Hedrick and Robert E. Fore in 1967, has been digitized and is available in Oregon Digital.

Author: Karl McCreary

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 1 box; 44 photographic prints and 3 photographic negatives

Statement on Access: This collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The Farm Crops Department Photographs were accessioned by the Oregon State University Archives in the 1960s. The collection is now housed in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center. P130:010 and P130:011 are not extant.

Related Materials:

Materials documenting the history and evolution of the Farm Crops Department can be found in the Crop Science Department Records (RG 095), the Crop Science Department Photographic Collection (P 134), and the Oregon State University Memorabilia Collection (MSS MC).

Other materials relating to OSU's role in agricultural research include the Te May Ching Papers (MSS Ching), the Agricultural Experiment Station Records (RG 025), the Agricultural Experiment Station Photographic Collection (P 029), the College of Agricultural Sciences Records (RG 158), the College of Agricultural Sciences Photographs (P 036), the Bioresource Engineering Department Records (RG 001), and the Bioresource Engineering Department Photograph Collection (P 106).

Preferred Citation: Farm Crops Department Photographs (P 130), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Processing Information: The finding aid for this collection was originally published in 2000. It has been updated to reflect current arrangement and description best practices.

Creators

People, Places, and Topics

Agricultural machinery--Oregon.
Cowan, J. Ritchie (John Ritchie)
Crops--Research--Oregon.
Frakes, Rodney Vance, 1930-
Grasses--Oregon.
Natural Resources
Oregon Agricultural College. Department of Farm Crops
Oregon Agricultural College. Experiment Station
Oregon State College. Department of Farm Crops
Schoth, H. A. (Harry August), 1891-
University History

Box and Folder Listing

Series 1: Photographs, 1919-1961

Series 1 is comprised of 44 photographic prints and 3 negatives documenting the efforts of the Farm Crops Department from 1919-1961. These photographs include images of the various stages of crop production, equipment and machinery, and department faculty.

Item P130:01: Barnyard grass seedlings, circa 1955

Item P130:02: Barnyard grass seedlings, circa 1955

Item P130:03: Phormium plants, circa 1960

Article "Fiber Crop Adapted to Oregon Coast" attached to back of photograph.

Same image as P130:04.

Item P130:04: Phormium plants, circa 1960

Same image as P130:03.

Item P130:05: Barn and hay loading, circa 1960

Item P130:06: Grass seed plants, circa 1960

Item P130:07: Harvesting grass seed, circa 1960

Item P130:08: Irrigation sprinklers at work, circa 1960

Item P130:09: Grass seed packaged, circa 1960

Item P130:12: Field with grass seedling, circa 1960

Item P130:13: Bull eating alta fescue, circa 1960

Image caption: "That is a lot of bull"

Item P130:14: Apparatus used for exposure of seedlings to EPTC vapors, circa 1955

Image caption: "Apparatus used for exposure of seedlings to EPTC vapors consisting of a ring jelly mold, a 1 qt oil can and a plastic bag."

Item P130:15: Barnyard grass seedlings, circa 1955

Image caption: "Barnyard grass seedlings germinated on the surface of firmly packed soil under sealed plastic bag."

Item P130:16: Representative seven day old seedlings, circa 1955

Image caption: "Representative 1-day old seedlings germinated in rolled paper towels moised [sic] with water containing the indicated p.p.m. EPTC."

Item P130:17: Seventeen day old barnyard grass seedlings, circa 1955

Image caption: "Seventeen-day-old barnyard grass seedlings which emerged from soil having 3-6 p.p.m. of EPTC."

Item P130:18: Set-up used to germinate barnyard grass seeds in solution containing EPTC, circa 1955

Item P130:19: Twin flat fan spray and single flat fan spray illustration, circa 1955

Item P130:20: Farm Crops faculty group portrait, circa 1960

Includes: Back row, left to right: Quentin Zielenskie, Bob Storm, Tex Fraser, Huger Kruger, Wilson Foote; Bottom row: Ernst Dornfeld, Jerry Li, J.R. Cowan, Paul Bernier, Ralph Bogart.

2 photographic prints.

Item P130:21a: Farm Crops faculty with visiting Russian scientists in Klamath Falls at Tulana Farms office, 1961

Includes: Front row, left to right: Eugene Varenitsa [?], Dick Henzel, Irene Trofemova [?], Ivan Uchenko; Back row, left to right: J.R. Cowan, John Martin, Alex Beck

Item P130:21b: Field scales, Oregon Experiment Station, 1923

Item P130:22a: Harry Schoth standing on the original plot of alta tall fescue, 1950