Campus Club Alumni Collection, 1962-2009

Title: Campus Club Alumni Collection, 1962-2009

Predominant Dates: 1987-2009

ID: MSS CampusClub

Primary Creator: Campus Club (Oregon State University)

Extent: 0.53 cubic foot box. More info below.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The Campus Club Alumni Collection consists of materials created and assembled by alumnus Robert E. McDole that document the activities of Oregon State alumni who resided in the Campus Club men's cooperative during their student years as well as reunions of former residents. The collection includes lists of former residents ("alumni") of the Campus Club, newsletters, newspaper clippings, correspondence, essays, photographs, and publications. The materials include biographical information and updated details of former residents' activities since graduating from Oregon State.

The correspondence includes recollections and reminiscences written by the alumni of their student years at Oregon State College. The collection includes a chapter on the Campus Club written in 2003 by Donald L. Stettler as part of his life story, From the Mud of the Great Depression. Stettler lived at Campus Club in the mid-1950s. Notes about the connections between the Campus Club and the Kupono Cooperative House are also included.

Two books written by Campus Club alumni are part of the collection: A Manger in My Rabbit: Memoirs of an Oregon Veterinarian by Robert Whittaker and SuperParenting: Child Rearing for the New Millennium by William Maxwell and others.

The collection includes 4 photographic prints of alumni and reunion events as a well as a photograph album of 41 digital prints of group photographs of Campus Club and Avery Lodge members in 1962-1966. These were primarily taken at house dances and other social events. The album also includes copies of newspaper articles featuring Club residents and an itinerary for the 1966 Campus Club beach trip. Most of the individuals in the digital prints are not identified, with the exception of Ivan Harold Zimmerman and Mrs. Thornton (perhaps the Club's housemother).

An addtion to the Campus Club Alumni Collection (Accession 2011:012) is made up of a newsletter, essays, a membership list, and a CD. Mostly documenting activities at the club's reunion in Corvallis during the weekend of July 16–17, 2010, the CD features slideshows of digital images depicting tours of former Campus Club residences (currently the Farra House and Avery Lodge), a lunch gathering, a party, and historical views of the club residences and members. The two essays, written by alumni Robert McDole and Dean Still describe Campus Club history and the process of researching it. McDole and Del Bottens are credited on the CD for providing the images.

A second addition the the Campus Club Alumni Collection (Accession 2012:048) is made up of ledgers documenting Campus Club meetings from 1943 to 1952. Photocopied by alumnus Robert McDole from the originals currently residing at Avery Lodge, the ledgers contain minutes from meetings where a variety of club business and other topics were discussed, among them: the organization of dances, officer elections, the acceptance of exchange students into the club, cleaning routines, house finances, and the designation of a particular place to play musical instruments.

A third addition to the Campus Club Alumni Collection (Accession 2013:046) consists of correspondence, DVDs, essays, membership lists, nametags, newsletters, newspaper clippings, notes, photographs, questionnaires, and a sound recording. Documenting reunions of former residents of the Campus Club Cooperative House, these materials also reflect the compiling of Campus Club history from yearbooks and other sources, the tracking of Campus Club alumni, reunion organization, and the writing of narrative accounts about personal experiences and history at Campus Club. Numbering about 313 images in total (312 prints and 1 negative), the photographs consist of a combination of views from reunion gatherings and shots taken by Campus Club residents during their student years. The student views include group shots of the residents in front of the house, group excursions, and the scenes of everyday life inside the house. The sound recording is a cassette tape documenting the 1996 reunion gathering with attendees talking about their lives since college. The 3 DVDs contain slideshows of images which document Campus Club history and the 2010 reunion gathering.

A fourth addition to the Campus Club Alumni Collection (Accession 2014:042) is made up of meeting minutes, newsletters, and scrapbooks documenting various activities of the residents of the Campus Club cooperative house. In addition to photographs and newspaper clippings, the 3 scrapbooks contain dance cards, invitations, letters, and newsletters. Materials found loose inside the scrapbooks have been into file folders that reside in the box with the minutes. The minutes date from 1943 to 1961.

The Campus Club was established as a men's cooperative residence at Oregon State College in 1940; the cooperative was active through spring of 1966. In fall of 1966, the remaining 20 members of the Campus Club moved into the newly constructed Avery Lodge cooperative. Reunions of former residents of the Campus Club began in 1987.

Campus Club was on the only men's cooperative that remained open during World War II. The Kupono Cooperative House was established about the same time as Campus Club, but closed in the spring of 1943. Several former Kupono residents joined the Campus Club when they returned to Oregon State after the war.

Robert E. McDole lived in the Campus Club during his student years at Oregon State and graduated with a BS in soils in 1952. He has been instrumental in organizing reunions of former residents and served as editor of the Campus Club Alumni Newsletter.

More Extent Information: 358 photographs, 3 DVDs and 1 CD; 1 box

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The materials were donated to the Archives by Robert E. McDole in 2010.

Related Materials:

The Special Collections and Archives Research Center holds materials documenting several OSU cooperative houses including the Avery Lodge Records (MSS Avery), the Azalea House Records (MSS Azalea), the Dixon Lodge Records (MSS Dixon), the Kupono Cooperative House Scrapbook (MSS Kupono), the Oxford House Records (MSS Oxford), and the Maple Manor Cooperative House Records (MSS MapleManor).

The University Housing and Dining Services Records (RG 145) reflect the administration of cooperative housing at OSU and contain scrapbooks assembled by residents of Heckart Lodge and Reed Lodge cooperative residences.

Other collections that document men's housing clubs at Oregon State are the Associated Men's Halls Scrapbook (AssocMensHall) for 1934-1940; the Cauthorn Club Records (RG 101) for 1893-1940; and the Poling Hall Club Records (RG 036) for 1926-1971. The Robert E. McDole Papers (MSS McDole) document McDole's student experience at Oregon State College and career as an Extension soils specialist in Idaho.

Preferred Citation: Campus Club Alumni Collection (MSS CampusClub), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Campus Club (Oregon State University)
Campus Club (Oregon State College)
McDole, Robert E.

Campus 4-H Club (Oregon State College)
Campus Club (Oregon State College)
Campus Club (Oregon State University)
Clubs--Oregon--Corvallis.
College students--Oregon--Corvallis.
Housing, Cooperative--Oregon--Corvallis.
Oregon State College--Student housing.
Oregon State College--Students.
Oregon State University--Alumni and alumnae.
Oregon State University--Student housing.
Oregon State University--Students.
Student activities--Oregon--Corvallis.
Student housing--Oregon--Corvallis.
University History
Women--Oregon--Corvallis--Societies and clubs.

Digital prints.
Photograph albums.
Photographic prints.