By Finding aid prepared by Lawrence A. Landis; updated by Elizabeth Nielsen.
Collection Overview
Title: Alderman Farms Films, 1943-2001
Predominant Dates: 1943-1955
ID: FV 214
Primary Creator: Alderman Farms
Extent: 1.0 cubic feet. More info below.
Arrangement: The collection consists of three series: I. Films, 1943-1950; II. Videotapes, 1996-2001; and III. Paper Records, 1952-1996.
Languages of Materials: English [eng]
Abstract
The Alderman Farms Films document the farming operations of the Alderman Farms, located near Dayton, Oregon, during the 1940s and 1950s. Items from this collection have been migrated to digital format and are
available online.Scope and Content Notes
The Alderman Farm Films were made by Urie S. Alderman. The films are 16 mm, silent, Kodachrome color. Aspects of the farming operation filmed include planting, harvesting, and processing of corn, beans, strawberries, peaches, and potatoes; irrigation; barbecues and other social activities; logging and sawmill operations; political campaigning; and general farm views. Of special note is footage of Mexican migrant farm laborers. Duplicate videotapes in VHS and Betacam SP formats are part of the collection. Digitized versions of the films have also been made available online. (Part 1; Part 2)
The manuscript materials include copies of newspaper clippings pertaining to farming operations, Urie S. Alderman, and L. S. Alderman, 1952-1965; a film list; and a copy of Last Harvest: The Story of Alderman Farms, published by Carlton Plants in 1996.
Digital video duplication masters and DVD use copies are available for all the films.
Biographical / Historical Notes
Alderman Farms had its beginning in 1847, when Albert Alderman settled, cleared and began farming a tract of land in Yamhill County. In 1893 one of Albert's sons, Ennis (1870-1939), began farming a small piece of land given to him by his father. In the 1920s, Ennis and his son, Urie (1898-1964), began expanding the farming operation. Urie, who attended Oregon Agricultural College from 1919-1921, experimented with new crops, constructed an on-farm frozen food plant and sawmill, and maintained his own airborne spraying operation. Alderman Farms peaked in the late 1950s, with at least 3100 acres under cultivation, as one of the largest row crop farms in Oregon. In addition to the primary farm in Yamhill County, Alderman Farms cultivated land in Benton, Linn, Marion, and Klamath Counties. After Urie's death in 1964, much of the Yamhill County farm was sold to the Carlton Nursery Company in 1971.
Administrative Information
More Extent Information:
13 films and 11 videotapes; 1 box
Statement on Access:
Collection is open for research.
Acquisition Note:
The films were donated to the Archives in 1996 by Peggy Childs, Jack Shelburne, and Mary Ann Wiser (nieces and nephews of U.S. Alderman.)
Related Materials:
Other films and videotapes pertaining to agriculture are located in the Agricultural Experiment Station Motion Picture Films (FV 029), Agricultural Engineering Department Motion Picture Films (FV 106), Experiment Station Communications Films (FV 132), and Extension and Experiment Station Communications Moving Images (FV 120).
The memoirs of Lewis R. Alderman, a long-time 4-H program extension agent and brother of Ennis Alderman, are located in the Extension Service Records (RG 111), Subgroup 4.
Preferred Citation:
Alderman Farms Films (FV 214), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Creators
Alderman Farms
Alderman, Urie S.
Schmitz, John
People, Places, and Topics
Agriculture--Oregon.
Alderman Farms
Farm life--Oregon.
Field crops--Oregon.
Fruit--Harvesting--Oregon.
Last harvest.
Logging--Oregon.
Migrant agricultural laborers--Oregon.
Natural Resources
Oregon Multicultural Archives
Forms of Material
Silent films.
Video recordings (physical artifacts)
Box and Folder Listing
- Series 1: Films, 1943-1950
- Series I consists of 16 mm silent color film footage of farming operations at the Alderman Farms near Dayton, Oregon. The reels vary in length from 100 feet to 450 feet. All are stored on 3-inch cores; new leaders were applied in 2010. Digitized versions of the films have been made available online (Part 1; Part 2). Duplication masters available.
- Extent: 13 reels
- Reel 1.1: Potato harvest, undated
- Extent: 200 feet
- Reel 2.1: Cattle, travel, barbecue, 1943
- Extent: 175 feet
- Reel 3.1: Water tower, garden, cattle train, 1943
- Extent: 450 feet
- Reel 4.1: Barbecue, Mexican migrant workers show, Dean Johnson, 1944
- Extent: 350 feet
- Reel 5.1: Corn, beans, barbecue, pump, bus travel, undated
- Extent: 300 feet
- Reel 6.1: Corn, helicopter, politics, employee cafeteria, undated
- Extent: 375 feet
- Reel 7.1: Aerial views, farm, sawmill, peaches, silo, undated
- Extent: 375 feet
- Reel 8.1: Sawmill, pump, cake, logging, undated
- Extent: 350 feet
- Reel 9.1: Stearman plane, bean planting, corn, 1950
- Extent: 425 feet
- Reel 10.1: Strawberries, planting, harvesting, packaging (processing plant), 1950
- Extent: 250 feet
- Reel 11.1: Strawberries, water, hoeing, processing plant, undated
- Extent: 250 feet
- Reel 12.1: Beans, freezing (processing plant), garden, undated
- Extent: 100 feet
- Reel 13.1: Stearman plane, bean planting, corn, 1950
- Extent: 450 feet
- Series 2: Videotapes, 1996-2001
- Series II consists of videotape duplicates made from the original film reels. They include 9 VHS and 2 Betacam SP videotapes. One of the VHS videotapes includes all the reels; it was made in 1996. Seven videotapes include duplicates of individual reels (reels 1, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12); one VHS tapes includes reels 4 and 7. These 8 VHS videotapes were made in 1999. The Betacam SP videotapes include reels 1, 9-10, and 12. They were made in 2001.
- Extent: 11 videotapes
- Series 3: Paper Records, 1952-1996
- Includes newspaper clippings pertaining to Alderman Farms, U.S. Alderman, and L.S. Alderman from 1952-1965; a film list; and Last Harvest: The Story of Alderman Farms, written by John Schmitz and published by Carlton Plants in 1996.
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