This photograph was taken by J. A. Wilson, Photographer of New Albany, Indiana. Bloss was principal of the Female High School in New Albany from 1870 until 1875. 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.
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.
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.
Joseph Emery was a professor from 1867-1885 at Corvallis College. He taught mathematics, physics, geology, and physiology. He helped to raise the funds to purchase the original lands for the OSU campus. In 1885 Emery left Corvallis and became an agent for the U.S. Indian Agency at Klamath [Falls]. He died January 18, 1924 at Salinas, California.