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You searched for: Start Over Institution Oregon State University Remove constraint Institution: Oregon State University Topic Library employees Remove constraint Topic: Library employees Local Collection Name President's Office Photographs, 1923-1998 (P 092) Remove constraint Local Collection Name: President's Office Photographs, 1923-1998 (P 092)

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1. Bertha Herse
Bertha Herse
Description
Bertha Emma Herse was a reference librarian at Oregon State College off and on, from 1910-1912, 1916-1922, and from 1924-1957. Herse was born in 1891, in West Point, Nebraska. She received a bachelor’s degree in 1910 and another in 1928 from Oregon Agricultural College, which would later become Oregon State College. She also received a Bachelor of Liberal Studies from New York State Library School in 1924. She was brought on to work at Oregon Agricultural College in 1910 as a loan desk assistant, but in 1912, she had to resign due to a serious knee injury. She returned in 1916 as a half-time library assistant, where she was in charge of book binding. In 1922, she requested a leave of absence to obtain her degree from the New York State Library School. She returned in 1924 and was appointed a Reference Librarian with an annual salary of $2,000. Herse was offered a library position at Bellingham State Normal School in 1929 at a salary of $2,500, but declined the offer to stay at OSC. This prompted the Oregon State library to request a pay raise for Herse to keep her on their faculty. Herse’s salary rose to $2,500 by the end of 1929. Herse requested a leave of absence in 1944 due to more troubles with her knee. She returned to work in 1945. Toward the end of her career with the library, Herse became the focus of resentment for some of the library faculty due to her salary. An anonymous letter written to President A.L. Strand claimed Herse was one of the best paid staff members in the library, yet contributed very little and carried few responsibilities. However, this letter did not hurt her career, and she retired in 1957. Herse spoke to President Strand about her unhappiness in the library during the last years of her service, but she also spoke fondly of notable librarians Ida Kidder and Lucy Lewis, who she worked with throughout her career.
2. Lora F. Ives Kelts
Lora F. Ives Kelts
Description
Lora F. Kelts (nee Ives) was born in 1909. She worked at OSU from 1944 to 1973, beginning as a part-time Assistant Librarian in both the Serials and Reference departments. She eventually rose to the rank of Professor and Head Agriculture-Forestry Librarian, ending with a salary of $16,300 (roughly equivalent to $97,624, adjusted for inflation). She received her Bachelor of Arts from University of California, Los Angeles, in botany and zoology; and her librarianship certificate from University of California, Berkeley in 1942. Previously, she worked as a Junior Assistant in the reference department at U.C. College of Agriculture in Davis, California, but had to find other work when the college closed down due to the war. For a short time after, she was employed as a Junior Assistant in the reference department of Sacramento City Library, but felt her skills would be more useful in an agricultural college. She was highly respected for her work caliber and experience, so much so that the U.C. Davis Library offered her a posting and a salary increase after the war was over, which OSU was forced to match. She married Donald Kelts in 1957.
3. Caroline Martin
Caroline Martin
Description
Library, 1946-1948
4. K. Hughes Osborn
K. Hughes Osborn
Description
Katherine Hughes was a science librarian from 1939 to 1971. She was born in 1906 in Bellingham, Washington. She received a Bachelor of Science in Library Science from the University of Washington in 1928, and her Master of Arts from OSC in 1939. At the time an assistant science librarian, she took a leave of absence from October 1938 to June 1939 to study for her master’s degree in science at OSC. Before coming to OSC, she was an assistant at the Seattle Public Library for three years. She began at OSC as a reference assistant in 1929, and then was promoted to the Head of Science Reference Room, with the rank of assistant professor, in 1941. In 1965, she became the Chief Science and Technology Librarian, with associate professor rank, indefinite tenure, and a salary of $11,160 per year. She was promoted to the rank of full Professor in 1970, and then received Emeritus status after her retirement in 1972. After reaching the mandatory retirement age in 1971, Osborn requested an extension that enabled her to work up to her 70th birthday (5 years past mandatory retirement age). She only desired to work six more months, and submitted her resignation after that. She was hired at $1,500 per year, and resigned in 1971 at a salary of $12,675. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Phi Sigma. She was also a member of numerous associations, including the Pacific Northwest Library Association, the Oregon Library Association ,ad the Oregon Academy of Science. She was a member of the Presbyterian church. She married John L. Osborn, who was born in 1881. Their wedding took place on March 24, 1955, and she soon changed her name to Katherine Hughes Osborn.
5. Margaret Field
Margaret Field
Description
Margaret Muriel Field was an Engineering Reference Librarian at Oregon State College from 1942 to 1950. She was born in 1895, in Anoka, Minnesota. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Carleton College in 1919 and her Master of Arts from the University of California in 1933. She worked as an assistant librarian at Modesta Junior College and at the Lewiston Public Library in Idaho before coming to OSC. She was a member of the American Library Association and the Pacific Northwest Library Association. She developed an extensive knowledge of engineering literature while working at OSC, and also compiled a bibliography on the electrical heating of houses in 1946, which was published by the Bonneville Power Administration. She passed away in 1950 of a sudden stroke.
6. Margaret Simpson
Margaret Simpson
Description
Margaret Simpson was an assistant in the engineering and technology reference room from 1944 to 1945. She was born in 1910 in Rayton, Ohio. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English, with additional study in French and German, from Bowling Green State University in 1943. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Library Science from the Drexel Institute of Technology in 1946, where she studied reference methods. Before coming to OSC, she was employed for two years as a junior assistant in the Bowling Green Public library. She also worked as Chairman of Circulation in the Bowling Green State University. She was the recipient of a library scholarship at Bowling Green State University, where she was given $300 a year for two years, working 25 hours a week in the college library. She was hired at $1800 per year, and resigned in 1945, as she “did not adjust herself very well to work in our library.” Simpson accepted a position with the Clackamas County Library to oversee bookmobile services to rural areas.
7. Ethel Allen
Ethel Allen
Description
Ethel Allen worked as an assistant professor and assistant editor at Oregon State’s publications office from 1917 to 1948 and then from 1950 to 1955. She received her undergraduate education from Oregon Agricultural College in 1916. Initially, she worked in the library, but was promoted to Assistant in Office Publications in 1923 and in 1931 she was promoted to Assistant Editor of Publications. She was born in 1883, in Rickreall, Oregon. Before working at OSU, she was a rural school teacher, and taught in Independence, Oregon. Her annual salary was $2200. Before she retired, she made $2600. She was a member of the Business and Professional Women’s Club. After working at OSU for 20 years, she took sabbatical leave in 1937. Ethel Allen came to OSU because there was a shortage of staff in the library, as one of the employees was helping an ailing mother and was getting engaged, which meant she would not be working anymore. Allen was hired onto the library staff, working seven hours a day for $38 a month. She initially made about $600 a year. Ida Kidder wrote a letter to President Kerr in 1917 to ask for a rise in the wages of her library staff, pointing to the rise in living expenses, and recommended that Allen’s wages be raised to $720 a year. Kerr granted the salary increase. She retired in 1948, but came back in 1950 to work part time. Her previously held position was difficult to fill, as women often left to have babies, get married, or they found a better-paying job. Initially, she was only supposed to work for a year, but the rate of turnover for female staff was so great that she stayed on until 1955. Other faculty frequently said she was extremely skilled and experienced.
8. Lois Criswell
Lois Criswell
Description
Lois Criswell was a catalog assistant at the Oregon State College library from 1943 to 1953. Her annual pay was $2,160. She had previously worked as a librarian and cataloger at the University of California, the University of Idaho, and the Oregon College of Education. She worked at the Oregon College of Education for nearly twenty years before coming to OSC due to budget cuts to her salary. She was single with no children when she came to work at OSC. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington in 1921, and received some graduate education from the University of Illinois Library School. She was a member of the American Library Association and the Pacific Northwest Library Association. She was set to retire by the end of 1953, but fell ill and passed away in October, 1952. She was born in 1887, in Ottumwa, Iowa.
9. Dawn Shreve
Dawn Shreve
Description
Dawn Loraine Bates was a Serials Assistant in charge of binding in the library from 1946 to 1947. She was born in 1921 in Orange, California. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Library Work from Willamette University in 1943, and her Bachelor of Science in Library Science from the University of Denver in 1945. Before coming to OSC, she worked as circulation librarian in the Salem Public Library. She was hired at OSC for $2200 per year. She was married December 27, 1946, and took the surname “Shreve.” In 1947, she resigned to “devote her whole attentions to the duties of a housewife and mother.” She was a member of the American Library Association, the Pacific Northwest Library Association, and the Oregon Library Association.
10. Irene L. Craft
Irene L. Craft
Description
Irene L. Craft was a serials assistant at the Oregon State College Library from 1943 to 1970. She was born in 1904, in Wyne, Kansas. She made an annual salary of $3,000. She was single when she came to work at OSC. In 1944, she took a leave of absence, but returned in 1946. By 1949, she was promoted to assistant librarian with a salary raise to $4,000. In 1950, she became an assistant professor with no pay raise. By 1952, her salary rose to $5,000, due to increased responsibilities because of another staff member’s resignation. She resigned in 1970. Her final salary was $13,632. She was granted the status of Associate Professor Emeritus, which assured her life membership on the university faculty, and distinguished her as “one who has earned distinction and respect through many years of dedicated and effective service”.
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