Vance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig studied art at Oregon Agricultural College from 1911-1913. Colvig illustrated cartoons for the 1913 Beaver Yearbook and worked with silent films. Colvig was known for his performances as Bozo the Clown and Disney character voices, including Goofy, Grumpy and Sleeping from Snow White, and the munchkins of Wizard of Oz.
Margaret Comstock Snell, M.D., was appointed the first professor of Household Economy and Hygiene at Corvallis College in 1889. Snell came to begin the college's program in household economy and hygiene -- the first in the western U.S. She trained as a medical doctor at Boston University, graduating in 1886. At OAC she incorporated aspects of her medical training into the curriculum, teaching "people how to stay well, rather than treat them once they are sick." Snell retired in 1907 and died in 1923. Three buildings at OSU have been named for her.
Richard Jeffrey Nichols was the librarian at Oregon Agricultural College from 1902 to 1908. A native Oregonian, Nichols was the first librarian not educated at OAC, earning his degree from Willamette University.
Posed photo of OAC Cadet officer in portrait studio photograph. Posed with sabre in dress tunic. Rank epaulets of the circa 1900 era uniform. Cadet has OAC collar badges and early style campaign hat. Photograph is mounted in oval format with decoration around edge. Portrait was done at the Gardner Photography Studio in Corvallis, Oregon. This period print was probably made for OAC publication.
Greer succeeded Margaret Snell as head of the Department of Domestic Science and Art in 1908, and was named the first dean as a result of President Kerr’s academic reorganization of the college. She served until spring 1911. Greer was a graduate of Vassar College and spent ten years as an instructor at New York’s Pratt Institute prior to coming to OAC.
Helen Julia Cowgill was born 1 December 1881 in Springfield, Illinois. Cowgill came to Oregon in 1890 and graduated in 1913 from Oregon Agricultural College with a BS degree in Domestic Science and Art. After teaching Domestic Science and Art at Harney County (Oregon) High School at Burns for one year, she began her career at OAC in 1914 as Assistant State 4-H Club Leader with the Extension Service. In 1916, she earned a second BS degree in Home Economics from OAC. In charge of the girls' 4-H work, Cowgill wrote many of the 4-H Circulars used by girls in their 4-H Projects. She became known as the "Mother of Oregon 4-H." Cowgill took a year's leave of absence to complete her Masters Degree, which she received from the University of Washington in 1931. She was a member of Phi Kappa Chi and the Epsilon Sigma Phi, serving as treasurer of the latter organization in 1943. Cowgill retired from Oregon State College in 1947 and was awarded emeritus status. In 1954 Cowgill was selected as a "Woman of Achievement" by Theta Sigma Phi, and the 1957 4-H Summer School publication 4-H Absolutely was dedicated to her. Cowgill died in Corvallis on 15 May 1959. In 1965 a tree and bench on the university campus were dedicated to her memory.
Hoover, an OAC graduate in the Class of 1901, married Jay Bowerman, a future governor of Oregon, and was the mother of University of Oregon track coach and Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman. While at OAC, she played on the women’s basketball team. She returned to OAC to earn a second degree in home economics in 1916, and taught school for a number of years.
Cap Beard was the director of bands at OAC and OSC from 1897-1899 as a student and from 1905 to 1945 as a faculty member. He also taught English and math.
Bristow served on the college faculty from 1882 to 1894. He was principal of the preparatory department and also taught classes in bookkeeping and beekeeping.
Nathan Fasten was born in Austria on December 4, 1887. He grew up in New York City, and graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1910 with a bachelor of science in chemical biology. Fasten studied at the University of Wisconsin as a graduate student from 1911 to 1914, earning a Ph.D. in 1914. Fasten came to Oregon Agricultural College in 1920 as an associate professor of zoology and physiology. The next year he was promoted to professor and department head; he served in that capacity until his resignation from Oregon State College in 1944. He later worked as Chief Scientist for the Washington State Water Pollution Commission in Seattle. Fasten authored many journal articles and books. He was a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Fasten died in Seattle on September 19, 1953.
Portrait of Emile F. Pernot, ca. 1890. Photo by Pernot Bros., Corvallis. Pernot and his brother, Eugene, started a photography business in Corvallis about 1889. Emile Pernot taught photography and art classes at Oregon Agricultural College in the 1890s and in 1899 was the first faculty member to teach a course in bacteriology.
Hector MacPherson, Sr. (1875-1970) taught Economics and Sociology at OAC from 1911 to 1926. Later, as an Oregon legislator, he co-sponsored the School Moving Bill, a failed proposal that advocated for the consolidation of OAC and the University of Oregon, and the relocation of other state-funded schools. MacPherson was the father of Hector MacPherson, Jr., a farmer and state legislator known for his major impact on land use law in Oregon.
Linus Carl Pauling (1901-1994) graduated from Oregon Agricultural College in 1922 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. A giant of twentieth century science and a peace activist of international consequence, Pauling is Oregon State's most famous alumnus. He remains history's only recipient of two unshared Nobel Prizes (Chemistry, 1954; Peace, 1962).
Lucy M. Lewis was the University Librarian from 1920-1945. During her 25 years, Lewis established the Friends of the Library and helped Oregon State College's library become the second at a land grant institution in the nation to change classification systems from Dewey Decimal to Library of Congress.
Apperson served on the OAC board of regents from 1888-1917 and was president of the board from 1894 to 1901. Apperson (1834-1917) was also a steamboat captain, Clackamas County sheriff, and Oregon legislator who also served in the Oregon Cavalry during the Civil War. The second Mechanical Hall was named Apperson Hall in his honor in 1920.
Kinney was an important suffragist in Oregon who served as president of the Astoria Women's Suffrage Club in 1912, the year that women in Oregon were granted the vote. She later served in both the Oregon House and Senate, and was a member of the Oregon Agricultural College Board of Regents.
Sarah Finley was the daughter of a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Despite health concerns that precipitated the Finleys’ return to California in 1872, she lived to be 89 years old, passing away in 1937. Finley was a leader of the suffrage movement in Sonoma County, California. Thomas Houseworth & Co. was one of the leading photography studios in San Francisco in the 1870s and 1880s.
Only four years after leading the Chicago White Sox to the World Series championship, Fielder Jones was enlisted to coach the OAC baseball team. A salary dispute with Sox owner Charles Comiskey led to Jones' departure from the Windy City and he came to the Pacific Northwest to look after timber and land interests. Coach Jones traveled back and forth between Portland and Corvallis for team practices and games. Jones eventually went to St. Louis to coach the city's entry in the Federal League in 1914 and 1915. He was also coach of the American League St Louis Browns from 1916-1918
Amy Cyrus, born January 6th, 1883 in Crabtree, Oregon, attended OAC as a household science student during the 1904-1905, 1906-1907, and 1907-1908 academic years. She graduated as a Registered Nurse from the Good Samaritan Training School for Nurses in 1914. From 1914 to 1917, she worked as a private nurse in Corvallis. In February 1917, she was hired as the first nurse in the OAC's health service. During her employment at OAC, she completed two courses in radiology; both courses were held at the School of Radiology in Portland. This allowed her to work as both a general nurse and x-ray technician; these were positions she held until she left in 1930. Cyrus died in Benton County (Oregon) in 1968.
John Withycombe was a 1901 graduate of OAC and became a wheat rancher in eastern Oregon. James Withycombe, Experiment Station Director from 1908-1914 and Governor of Oregon from 1915-1919, was his uncle.
Knights Templar (Masonic order) - Bruce Commandery No. 17, Corvallis, 1916. Top Row (l to r): Raber, N. L.; Springer, Charles L.; Fulton, John; Wooster, L. F.; Strange, E. L.; Thatcher, B. J.; Allen, John F.; Savage, W. H.; Horner, J. B. Second Row (l to r): Yates, J. Fred; Harper, J. A.; Peavy, G. W.; Taylor, W. K.; Woodcock, M. S.; Gaskins, W. F.; Skelton, G. V.; Lowe, J. C.; Teeter, T. A. H.; Bell, J. R. N. Third Row (l to r): Hammel, J. C.; Horning, E. B.; Tillery, M.; Appelman, F. S.; Jensen, W. A.; Beaty, E. B.; Ressler, E. D.; Buxton, E.; Dobell, C. A.; Baker, C. L. Bottom Row (l to r): Woodcock, C. H.; Bauer, M. H.; McBurney, R. M.; Curtis, W. J.; Guthrie, H. M.; Ball, W. M.; McElheney, G.; Johnasen, C. V.; Mellon, Levi; Howard, C. E.
William Asa Finley served as the first president of Corvallis College from 1865 to 1872. He was appointed as president in 1865 by the Methodist Episcopal Church South and was president at the time the college was chosen as the agricultural college for Oregon under the provisions of the 1862 Morrill Act.
A successful Oregon businessman and politician, Henry B. Miller served as the fourth president of Oregon Agricultural College for only eleven months. The Board of Regents chose Miller, a member of the board since 1895, to succeed John M. Bloss.
Thomas M. Gatch was the fifth president of Oregon Agricultural College from 1897-1907. Gatch established a number of four year programs including electrical engineering, horticulture, and forestry. OAC experienced an increase in student enrollment during Gatch's years as president. Photo was used in the 1908 Orange, page 3.
Photo of John M. Bloss in the college greenhouse. John McKnight Bloss was the third president of Oregon Agricultural College from 1892-1896. Bloss was also the Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station and Professor of Mental and Moral Science. During his years of presidency, the school colors were changed from navy blue to orange and black and intercollegiate athletics were formed. Bloss was also the first president to encourage women to study agriculture. The first school annual, The Hayseed, was created.
Benjamin Lea Arnold was named the second president of Corvallis College in the summer of 1872 by the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and he arrived in Corvallis that September. During Arnold's twenty-year presidency, one of his greatest achievements was starting the State Agricultural Association with the intent to construct a suitable building for school purposes.
William Jasper Kerr was chosen as the sixth president of Oregon Agricultural College in 1907 and led the college through a twenty-five-year period of tremendous growth in numbers of students and faculty, academic and research programs, and physical facilities.
Bird Norman Hawley graduated with a degree in Agriculture in 1912. He was a member of the track, wrestling and football team. He was also captain of the football and track team. Photo was printed in the 1912 Orange Yearbook, page 82.
Photo was used in the 1915 Orange Yearbook, page 319. Dexter Smith graduated in 1914 from Oregon Agricultural College with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. Smith was an assistant professor until 1929. In 1929, Smith became involved with the Oregon State Highway Commission, spending the next nine years designing bridges. Smith helped design the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge and retired in 1957.
William Jasper Kerr was chosen as the sixth president of Oregon Agricultural College in 1907 and led the college through a twenty-five-year period of tremendous growth in numbers of students and faculty, academic and research programs, and physical facilities.
William Cullen Bryant, from Woodburn, Oregon, attended Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) from 1902 to 1905. Bryant studied mechanical engineering, but did not complete a degree. He lived in Cauthorn Hall, the first residence hall for men at OAC constructed in 1892. Bryant was an educator and lawyer and served as superintendent of schools in Sherman County, Oregon, for 3 years. He was born in Nebraska in 1875 and died in Moro, Oregon, in 1931.
George Herbert Root, of Wasco, Oregon, attended OAC from about 1902 to 1905 as a mechanical engineering and later agriculture student. He was captain of the 1905 football team. Root came from a family of wheat farmers in the Wasco, Oregon, area. His son, H. Floyd Root, attended OSC about 1931, and two grandsons attended OSU in the early 1960s.
Portrait of Richard H. Dearborn, head of the Electrical Engineering department at OSC from 1914-1934. After 1934, Dearborn served as the Dean of the School of Engineering for ten years.