Margaret Comstock Snell became the first professor of Household Economy and Hygiene in 1889. Snell was known as the "Apostle of fresh air", for her love of walks and open windows, and taught courses in sewing, cooking, entertaining, and conversation. Snell expanded the Home Economics department and retired in 1908.
Photograph of a married couple from behind; the view is through a doorway and the couple are in full view facing away. they are looking out a window with light shining through; wedding snapshot.
In addition to classroom and lab work, OAC students studying entomology in 1890 were required to do fieldwork during their third year. According to the 1890-91 college catalog, “each student will, under the instructor’s direction, learn how to work with insecticides, and will be required to carry on experiments to discover the best means of preventing insect ravages.”
Cauthorn served on the college’s board of regents from 1888 to 1891, and was chair of the board’s executive committee in 1890 and 1891. He also served in the Oregon Senate from 1883 to 1891. As a regent, he spoke before the Oregon legislature in order to secure appropriations for OAC, including $25,000 in funds for construction of the first men’s dormitory. After Cauthorn’s death in 1891, the dormitory was named Cauthorn Hall in his memory. Two subsequent dormitories have carried his name.
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.
The building was constructed in 1859 and expanded in 1876. It served as the primary bulding for what is now Oregon State University until 1888, when the new Administration Building (Benton Hall) was completed on the west edge of the original college farm.
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.
Top left to right: Tommie Jones '89; Robert J. Wilson '86; James H. Collins '88; Allen Addison '90; Laura Korthauer '87; Carrie Baldwin 1882/1883; Archie Horning 1882/1883; E. E. Wilson '89; Hattie Hanna '80; Ira E. Allen '88.
George Wilcox Peavy, Dean of Forestry, was appointed acting president of Oregon State College in 1932 when William J. Kerr was chosen as the first chancellor of the Oregon State System of Higher Education. Peavy became Oregon State College's seventh president in 1934, the first OSC faculty member to also serve as president of the institution. He remained dean of forestry during his presidency until his retirement in 1940, upon which he was appointed as dean emeritus and president emeritus of OSC.
Nettie Spencer was born near Corvallis in 1861 to Oregon pioneer parents. She graduated from Corvallis College in 1882, and spent the next several years teaching and studying at various places in the U.S. and abroad, including Portland, Davenport College (North Carolina), Berlin, Paris, London, and India. She returned to Oregon in 1916 and taught at Eugene and Roseburg High Schools. Spencer received a master's degree in sociology from Oregon State in 1928. She was a charter member of the Mazamas, a Portland mountain climbing club, and in 1935 was elected president of the Oregon State Women's Press Club. Spencer died in Portland in 1953.
View from southwest looking across the intersection of Main (2nd street) and Adams streets. The tower had two tanks, 30,000-gallon capacity each, filled from the Willamette River by the windmill and two steam pumps below the tower. Highest tank was 70 feet above ground. Buildings on street level: Left, implement shed attached to the brick store building J. C. Avery built in the 1850's. It was later occupied by Robnett's Hardware. Between the trees: Chinese laundry with drying sheds behind. Site was later occupied by Old World Center. Behind the telephone pole: blacksmith shop or carriage storage; it was used for both purposes. Right: behind picket fence was a private dwelling. Photo was from the Tom Warren collection.