This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
By Tiah Edmunson-Morton
Title: Fermentation Science Program Records, 1955-2017
Predominant Dates: 1985-2017
ID: RG 296
Primary Creator: Oregon State University. Department of Food Science & Technology
Extent: 3.0 cubic feet. More info below.
Arrangement: The Fermentation Science Program Records are arranged into 3 series: 1. Publications, 1955-2017; 2. Curriculum, 1970-2009; 3. Student Clubs, circa 2004.
Date Acquired: 09/17/2017
Languages of Materials: English [eng]
The Fermentation Science Program Records consists of publications collected to support program faculty and students in teaching and research.
Food science and studies on fermentation have long been a part of research at Oregon State University. In 1996, the Department of Food Science and Technology became home to the nation’s first endowed professorship in Fermentation Science. It was also one of the first colleges to initiate a Fermentation Science degree and quickly grew into an internationally renowned graduate brewing research program. The Fermentation Science program, one of just a handful in the nation, has always focused on “hands-on” applied science, including the use of microorganisms as processing agents in the production of wine and beer, as well as a variety of other fermented foods such as cheese, yogurt, soy sauce, pickles, breads and fermented vegetables.
Food science and studies on fermentation have long been a part of research at Oregon State University. In 1996, the Department of Food Science and Technology became home to the nation’s first endowed professorship in Fermentation Science. It was also one of the first colleges to initiate a Fermentation Science degree and quickly grew into an internationally renowned graduate brewing research program. The Fermentation Science program, one of just a handful in the nation, has always focused on “hands-on” applied science, including the use of microorganisms as processing agents in the production of wine and beer, as well as a variety of other fermented foods such as cheese, yogurt, soy sauce, pickles, breads and fermented vegetables.
In 1995, University of Oregon alum James Bernau, then president of Nor'Wester Brewing Company of Portland and Willamette Valley Vineyard, gave $500,000 of Nor'Wester stock to establish a professorship dedicated to fermentation science in the College of Agricultural Sciences. Combined with $500,000 from a state matching program, the “Nor’Wester Professorship in Fermentation Science” was created. The Fermentation Science option was added to the Food Science and Technology curriculum in 1996. Additionally, the Nor'Wester Brewing Company gave OSU a small pilot brewery for research; it was installed in Weigand Hall. In 1996, Dr. Mark Daeschel was named the first Nor’Wester professor of Fermentation Science Technology; in 2001, Dr. Thomas Shellhammer took over the position and focused on the chemical and sensory analysis of hops in beer. Funding, faculty, and research allowed the program to set up a research laboratory that has investigated beer flavor, flavor stability, beer foam, hop chemistry, hop bitterness and aroma chemistry, beer processing, and sour beer chemistry and microbiology. In 2015, the Gambrinus Company, a San Antonio-based company that owned BridgePort Brewing Company in Portland, donated $1 million dollars for a new research brewery.
Beyond beer brewing, alcohol fermentation research at OSU has included enology and viticulture. Important milestones include the creation of a campus enology lab in cooperation with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission in 1939 and formation of the Oregon Wine Research Institute in 2009; fermentation trials on wine grapes in the 1930s and test plantings of European varieties at branch stations in Aurora, Medford, and Corvallis by Agricultural Experiment Station researchers in the 1970s; and the establishment of the Richard and Betty O'Brien Professor of Extension Viticulture in 2017. In 2013, a $1.2 million grant from lawmakers enabled OSU to add a distilling program to its current research for wineries and breweries.
Also related to fermentation research at OSU is work on dairy and cheese. In 1957, the Dairy Products Industries manufacturing program of the Department of Animal Husbandry was incorporated to form the Department of Food and Dairy Technology. In 1963, a position Extension Dairy Manufacturing was created. A donation from Paul and Sandra Arbuthnot funded the Arbuthnot Dairy Center in 2012, which includes a classroom, a dairy technology laboratory, and a licensed commercial dairy pilot plant. In 2017, the Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA) announced a gift of $1.5 million to support construction of a new Food and Beverage Facility at Oregon State University.
More Extent Information: 3 boxes
Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.
Acquisition Note: Transferred by Food Science and Technology staff to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center in 2017.
Related Materials:
The Food Science and Technology Department Records document the instruction, research, and extension programs and include correspondence, research files, minutes, day files, travel reports, grants and awards information, Extension Station reports, and Seafoods Lab reports. The Food Science and Technology Department Photographs depict the department's food processing and canning laboratories and equipment; research and testing activities of the department; faculty and students; and commercial food packing and processing facilities and equipment throughout Oregon. Images from this photographic collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital. There are publications in Oregon Digital with information about the establishment, evolution, and growth of fermentation sciences at OSU; of special note are issues of the Oregon State University Alumni Magazine and Oregon's Agricultural Progress.
There are records for the Food and Fermentation Science Club in the Student Club and Organization Records; these include annual review forms, constitutions and by-laws, lists of officers and faculty advisors, and expense information.
A list of publications in Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives collections and The Valley Library circulating collection is available on the on the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives library research guide "Publications" tab. The collection of popular periodicals in the Brewing and Fermentation Collection, Olympia Brewery Library Collection, and Fred Eckhardt Papers is extensive.
Oral history interviews related to food research at OSU are included in the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives Oral History Collection, History of Science Oral History Collection, OSU Queer Archives Oral History Collection, History of Oregon State University Oral Histories and Sound Recordings, and Oregon State University Sesquicentennial Oral History Collection.
Preferred Citation: Fermentation Science Program Records (RG 296), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Oregon State University. Department of Food Science & Technology
Brewing--Periodicals.
Brewing.
Distillation
Hops and Brewing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.