Photography class, ca. 1895. The first photography class at Oregon Agricultural College was taught by Emile Pernot in 1891. One of Pernot's students, John Fulton (far left, standing), became an avid photographer and took many of the late 19th century photographs that now comprise the Archives' holdings. Also shown in this image are E.G. Emmett, standing next to Fulton; Horace Lilly, also standing; W. Frank Holman, seated second from right; and several other unidentified students. [OSU Archives P96:96.]
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For more information about how to contact the OSU Archives, please visit our Location, Hours, & Staff Information page.
Photographs
The Photographic Collections include more than 450,000 images taken by university staff, commercial photographers, and individuals. Photographs document campus buildings and development; instruction and research; faculty, staff, students, and alumni; Extension Service programs; and the state of Oregon, primarily the mid- Willamette Valley and rural areas of the state.
The collection includes a variety of forms representing 19th and early 20th century photographic processes, including albumen prints, cyanotypes, ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, and tintypes. However, the bulk of the collection is black and white prints and camera negatives (acetate/polyester and glass).
The Photographic Collections include many photograph albums assembled by individuals or organizations. Some collections consist exclusively of one or more albums; other collections include albums in addition to other formats.
Most of the images in the Archives' holdings are organized into about 230 Photograph Groups (a.k.a. "P" Groups) by office of origin, donor, subject, or photographer. A list of all Photographs Groups is available for researchers.
Summary descriptions and inventories for selected Photograph Groups are available as WWW files with hypertext links to the image-level inventory as well as descriptions of related materials. These descriptions include the datespan of the photographs; a summary of the scope of the collection and the predominant subjects; forms of the images (e.g. prints and/or negatives, size, and condition); and the volume (amount) of material.
Additional collection descriptions will be made available as they are formatted for the Web.
Now you can do an electronic search to search the Photograph Collections. The search will give you a listing of Finding Aids (collection descriptions, series outlines, inventories) relevant to the subject requested. Click on a link, and then do a search on that page. In Netscape, click on the "Edit" menu and then to "Find" in the pull-down menu; you will again need to type in the subject you are searching. Click on "Find Next," the cursor will stop at your subject if it is found in the document.
Another component (about 20%) of the Archives Photographic Collections is Harriet's Collection -- named for the first University Archivist, Harriet Moore. This collection is arranged into about 3400 subject files (people, events, campus buildings, etc.) -- each of which has been assigned a number.
Inventories for all Photograph Groups are available in the Archives. Subject access is provided through a card index, computer-searchable inventories and indexes, and the Index to Un-numbered Photographs.
Lists and Specialized Inventories:
- List of Photographic Collections (P Groups)
- List of Record Groups and Manuscript Collections Containing Photographs
- Harriet's Collection Inventory
- List of Collections with Lantern Slides
- Panoramic Photographs - Specialized Inventory
Digital Collections:
- The Best of Archives Collection
- The Gerald W. Williams Digital Collection
- Oregon State Baseball: 100 Years to a National Championship, 1907-2006
- Oregon Multicultural Archives Digital Collection
- Braceros in Oregon Photograph Collection
- OSU Archives' Sampler of Historical Images
- Willamette Basin Stream Survey
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