Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Motion Picture Films and Videotapes, 1954-1994

Title: Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Motion Picture Films and Videotapes, 1954-1994

Predominant Dates: 1961-1978

ID: FV 245

Primary Creator: Oregon State University. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics

Extent: 1.7 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: The Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Motion Picture Films and Videotapes are organized into two series: 1. Motion Picture Films, 1954-1980; and 2. VHS cassettes, 1994. Items are arranged chronologically within each series.

Date Acquired: 00/00/2002

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Motion Picture Films and Videotapes are comprised of 116 8-mm and 16-mm film reels, and nine VHS video cassettes.

The film reels contain footage of a wide array of agricultural practices specific to the tending, harvesting and processing of crops cultivated in the Pacific Northwest and along the west coast. Apples, cherries, peaches and pears stand out as crops that are heavily documented in the films, though the collection's reels also record activities associated with blueberries, filberts, green beans, olives, onions, peas, pistachios and strawberries. Footage related to the cultivation and processing of oysters, shrimp and turkeys, and to the packing of ice cream, is available as well.

Most of the films are minimally produced and appear to have been used for research and instruction as well as training. Container annotations also suggest that AREC faculty member R. Donald Langmo was involved with the creation of many of the items. Topically, the films cover a broad swath of activities including thinning and harvesting crops as well as receiving, weighing, washing, brining, freezing, packing and labeling agricultural products following their harvest. Individual films also appear to have been created to document the effectiveness of specific types of equipment and to examine the efficiency of particular workflows, especially those used to harvest fruit. Many of the films are set in Wenatchee, Washington, though other Oregon locations including Pendleton, Albany and Medford appear in the collection, as do Moro Bay and Tulare, California.

At least two finished productions are held among the collection's film reels: an item titled "Pea harvesting and brining" that was broadcast on television in June 1960, and a 1980 OSU Agricultural Experiment Station film titled "Strawberries for Tomorrow."

The collection's nine VHS cassettes document a series of lectures delivered by OSU professors and other regional experts during Winter term 1994 as part of the Agricultural and Resource Economics seminar course, "Economics and the Endangered Species Act" (AREC 407/507). Each lecture is presented by a different speaker and topics generally focus on the need to balance moral imperatives with economic considerations when developing policies related to the management of endangered species and their habitats.

Classes pertaining to agricultural economics were first taught at Oregon Agricultural College early in the 20th century as part of the Agronomy Department. In 1917 that department was divided into four separate ones; the Farm Management Department included the agricultural economics courses. Other classes in the subject area were also taught by Dr. Hector MacPherson in the School of Commerce. With the reorganization of higher education in Oregon in the early 1930s, the Oregon State College School of Agriculture in 1933 was divided into divisions, one of which was Agricultural Economics. E.L. Potter was appointed head of the division, as well as head of the Agricultural Economics Department formed within the division.

In 1949, the division system was abolished and the Farm Management Department was absorbed by the Agricultural Economics Department. Barton DeLoach served as the first chair of the combined department, but resigned shortly thereafter. Grant Blanch served as acting chair until 1951, when G. Burton Wood was appointed department chair. Wood served as department chair until 1966.

In 1974, the department name was changed to Agricultural and Resource Economics to reflect its broader role in research and teaching involving new technologies, rural population, income distribution, resource conservation and development, and international trade and development. In 2014 the department changed its name again, this time to Applied Economics, and began offering degrees in Agricultural Business Management and Environmental Economics and Policy.

Oregon native and OSC alum R. Donald Langmo began his teaching career at Oregon State College in 1948 as a member of the Industrial Engineering Department; a decade later, he switched his academic home to the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department. As a researcher, Langmo specialized in the study of industrial engineering as it applied to the harvest and processing of agricultural products. Langmo retired from OSU in 1994 and passed away in 2011 at the age of 92.

More Extent Information: 116 motion picture films and 9 videotapes; 3 boxes

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The materials were transferred to the University Archives by the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department in 2002 and the Hatfield Marine Science Center in 2006.

Related Materials:

The Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Records (RG 128) and the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Photographs (P 245) both document the history of the AREC department, as do the manuscript collections of numerous department faculty including Emery Castle, D. Curtis Mumford, Fred W. Obermiller and G. Burton Wood. Six sets of oral history interviews - including three sessions conducted with Emery Castle - held in the Oregon State University Sesquicentennial Oral History Collection (OH 26) also focus on agricultural economics as a major theme.

SCARC is home to several additional moving images collections that document agricultural processes and production, or that focus on endangered species. These collections include the Agricultural Engineering Department Motion Picture Films (FV 106), the Alderman Farms Films (FV 214), the Experiment Station Communications Films (FV 132), the Extension and Experiment Station Communications Moving Images (FV 120), and the Fisheries and Wildlife Department Films and Videotapes (FV 243).

Preferred Citation: Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Motion Picture Films and Videotapes (FV 245), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Processing Information: This finding aid replaces a stub record created in 2012.

Oregon State University. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Langmo, R. Donald

Agricultural processing--Oregon.
Endangered species--Northwest, Pacific.
Fruit--Harvesting.
Fruit processing plants--Oregon.
Fruit processing plants--Washington (State)
Harvesting machinery--Oregon.
Natural Resources
Orchards--Washington (State)--Wenatchee River Valley.
Oregon State University. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
University History
Vegetable processing plants--Oregon.
Wenatchee River Valley (Wash.)

Motion pictures (visual works)
Silent films.
Video recordings (physical artifacts)