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Robert Claude Wilson Papers, 1920-2004

Collection Overview

Title: Robert Claude Wilson Papers, 1920-2004

Predominant Dates: 1950-1980

ID: MSS WilsonR

Primary Creator: Wilson, Robert Claude

Extent: 1.6 cubic feet. More info below.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Abstract

The Robert Claude Wilson Papers include materials relating to Wilson's teaching career in the Manufacturing Engineering Department as well as photographs prepared for instructional use in Wilson's classes. Also included is a photograph album with images taken by Wilson of Mechanical Engineering department machinery, classes, and facilities in what are currently Graf and Batcheller Halls.

Scope and Content Notes

Accession 2002:089 includes course materials, films, newspaper clippings, photographs, and a self-published autobiography. The course materials were organized in packets by class and contain sylabi, quiz blanks, tool safety guidelines, and project plans. The photographs (207 black and white prints, 26 black and white negatives, 225 color slides, and two color transparencies) document Manufacturing Engineering Department faculty, students, and the various labs and other facilities where classes were held. Among the photos there is also a slide presentation prepared for a summer class in marquetry which features images of Wilson's own work in marquetry. The publication, "A Glimpse into the Past", includes stories of Wilson's experiences at OSU. There are also three films in this accession. Two of the three films are newsreels on the use of the Minimalic Building Construction method to build minitiature scale models of housing structures, the while the third is a panel discussion forum with four unidentified people from an undated program "Sunday Scope." There is also a two-volume catalog of decorative wood samples for use in marquetry in two cases (Hough's American Woods).

Accession 2002:098 includes slides depicting examples of finished craft projects and furniture in a variety of different forms-wood, metal, plastic, and fiber. Examples of lapidary, photography, leatherwork, and wood marquetry (Wilson's specialty) projects are included among these slides. Also included are images of tree fibers used in a presentation on the identification of various types of wood. Information regarding those who created the works portrayed in these slides was not found in this accession. Four lantern slides were also found in this accession.

Accession 2004:014 includes depictions of the tool room, the wood working laboratory, welding equipment, the iron foundry, and a boat building class. In addition to the scrapbook there is also biographical information collected from Wilson's funeral in 2004.

Biographical / Historical Notes

Starting his career at OSC as a student assistant in the Industrial Engineering and Industrial Arts Department in 1946, Robert Claude Wilson began to teach in the Manufacturing Engineering Department as an Instructor in 1949. The study of wood marquetry was one of Wilson's specialties. Later a faculty member in the Industrial Education Department within the School of Education, Wilson became Assistant Professor Emeritus in 1980. Soon after Wilson's retirement, the Manufacturing Engineering program was eliminated. He died in 2004.

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 1,023 photographs; 1 cubic foot box, 2 document boxes, 1 file folder and 1 film shipping box

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation: Robert Claude Wilson Papers (MSS WilsonR), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Processing Information: This collection is not fully processed and a complete finding aid is not available at this time.

Creators

Wilson, Robert Claude
Voll, Colene

People, Places, and Topics

History of Science
University History
Wilson, Robert Claude


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.