By Karl McCreary
Title: Memorial Union Program Council Records, 1964-2016
Predominant Dates: 2006-2015
ID: RG 275
Primary Creator: Oregon State University. Memorial Union
Extent: 8.0 cubic feet. More info below.
Arrangement: The Memorial Union Program Council Records consist of 10 series. 1. Reports, 1985-2013; 2. Committees, 1989-2015; 3. Staff Meetings, 1964-2013; 4. Handbooks, 1977-2013; 5. Event Planning, 1985-2015; 6. Publications, 1970-2016; 7. Photographs, 2004-2012; 8. Scrapbooks, 1971-2011; 9. Moving Images, 1995-2013; and 10. Artifacts, 2012-2013.
Languages of Materials: English [eng]
The Memorial Union Program Council (MUPC) Records document the administration of this organization and its role in programming campus events. Primarily reflecting activities related to event coordination and publicity, this collection includes artifacts, budgetary documents, contracts, correspondence, digital files, flyers, handbooks, meeting minutes, photographs, posters, publications, reports, and scrapbooks. The MUPC was established in 1948.
Reference access to the born-digital materials in this collection is available upon request.
The Memorial Union Program Council (MUPC) Records document the administration of this organization and its role in programming campus events. These records were generated and assembled by the MUPC and include: artifacts, budgetary documents, contracts, correspondence, digital files, handbooks, flyers, meeting minutes, photographs, posters, publications, reports, scrapbooks, and a VHS videotape.
The primary focus of this collection is the coordination of events by the MUPC and the various processes involved in planning them-committee recommendations, budgetary management, staging logistics, publicity, and post event review. Materials illustrating these processes include correspondence, contracts, flyers, meeting minutes, posters, surveys, tickets, artifacts, and evaluation reports. Documentation of some of the events are depicted in photographs, moving images, and scrapbooks.
Administrative activities reflected in these records include program and budget assessment, the publication of event planning guidelines, and policy reviews/updates in staff meetings. These are featured in reports, handbooks, meeting minutes, and publications.
Reference access to the born-digital materials in this collection is available upon request.
Formed in 1948 as the Memorial Union Activity Council, the Memorial Union Program Council (MUPC) has served as the university's primary body in the coordination of student programming and campus wide events. The organization is managed by a combination of student officers elected at large and volunteers. These members serve on committees that are responsible in planning the combination of ongoing and one time MUPC events that occur on campus every year.
Among the annual events coordinated by the MUPC have included Mom's Weekend, Dad's Weekend, Student Leadership Conferences, the Children's Holiday Party, and the Battle of the Bands.
In 2016, the administration of the MUPC was transferred from the Memorial Union to the Office of Student Leadership and Involvement. While the change did not alter the core function of the organization, the council had to be renamed and is now known as the OSU Program Council. Another change that year was the renaming of the OSU Mom's and Dad's Weekends to the OSU Fall and Spring Family Weekends. As a part of this change, the organization of these two annual events has become a collaborative effort between the OSU Program Council and the Office of New Student Programs and Family Outreach.
More Extent Information: 51 photographic prints and 2843 digital photographs; 1 VHS videotape; 9 boxes, including 3 oversize. 8.38 Gbytes and 3228 files.
Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.
Acquisition Note: The bulk of these materials were transferred to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center in 2017. Records received earlier were originally described as a part of the Memorial Union Records (RG 099).
Related Materials:
Other collections in the OSU Special Collections and Archives Research Center that document the work of the Memorial Union Program Council include the Memorial Union Records (RG 099), the Memorial Union Photograph Collection (P 198), and the KBVR TV Moving Images Collection (F/V 170).
Documentation of the major annual events organized by the MUPC, Mom's Weekend, Dad's Weekend, and the Children's Holiday (Christmas) Party, can also be found in the Office of New Student Programs Records (RG 279), News and Communications Photograph Collection (P 057); the Beaver Yearbook Photograph Collection (P 003), Harriet's Photographic Collection (P HC), and the Memorial Union Videotapes (FV 198).
The personal papers of MUPC administrator Leone S. Johnson are also available.
Preferred Citation: Memorial Union Program Council Records (RG 275), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Processing Information:
We acknowledge that materials in SCARC collections and the language that describes them may be harmful. We are actively working to address our descriptive practices; for more information please see our SCARC Anti-Racist Actions Statement online.
The archivist-prepared description of this collection uses the phrase “Civil War” to refer to the long-standing athletic rivalry between Oregon State University and the University of Oregon. A history of this athletic rivalry, and use of the phrase “Civil War” to describe it, is available online in The Origins of the "Civil War" Football Game blog post.
In June 2020, Oregon State University President Edward J. Ray announced that the term “Civil War” will no longer be used by either university because it “represents a connection to a war fought to perpetuate slavery.”
We acknowledge the racism represented by the use of this phrase and the harm it may cause our users. In order to provide historical context and to enable standardized searching and access across our collections, we have retained the use of this phrase in the collection description.
[Date of acknowledgement: November 2021]
Oregon State University. Memorial Union
College students--Oregon--Corvallis.
Concerts--Oregon--Corvallis.
Oregon State University. Memorial Union
Student activities--Oregon--Corvallis.
University History
Born digital.
Digital moving image formats.
Digital photographs.
Information artifacts.
Photographic prints.
Posters.
Scrapbooks.
Video recordings (physical artifacts)