Archives West Finding Aid

The Beverly J. Leach Papers consist of materials created and collected by Leach, primarily during her student years at Oregon State College in the 1940s. The collection includes a scrapbook, correspondence, and ephemera. Two of the items were acquired by Beverly Leach's parents, Edward Leach and Lorena Stratton Leach, during their student years at Oregon Agricultural College in the 1910s.

Leach's scrapbook documents her student experiences at Oregon State College in 1943-1948 as well as her first year of college at the Southern Oregon College of Education in Ashland in 1942-1943. The scrapbook includes newspaper clippings, ephemeral items such as ticket stubs, and grade reports. Of special note is a document describing the wartime housing for women at Oregon State. Clippings about wartime activities on campus are also included. A brochure for the Westminster Foundation and a copy of the weekly Westminster Chimes newsletter are included, as is the program for the 1943 Charter Day Convocation commemorating the 75th anniversary of Oregon State College. Ticket stubs from 1949 Oregon State football games at Multnomah Stadium are part of the scrapbook. The scrapbook also includes 88 photographs, most of which are images of the Oregon State College campus and buildings and snapshots of Leach and other Oregon State College students. One snapshot shows the Whiteside Theater in downtown Corvallis. A few images of the Southern Oregon College of Education, in Ashland, and the University of Oregon Medical School, in Portland, are also included in the scrapbook.

The correspondence consists of letters that Leach wrote home to her parents from January 1943 through February 1945. Leach describes her classes as well as social activities. Several of her grade reports, which were mailed directly to her parents, are included with the letters.

The ephemeral materials include Leach's Oregon State College diploma; her membership certificate in the Gamma Chapter of Phrateres, a social and service organization for women students; and a commemorative plate produced in 1943 for the 75th anniversary of Oregon State College. Two items in the collection belonged to Leach's parents -- a dance card for the Class of 1919 Junior Prom, held on May 4, 1918, and an Oregon Agricultural College seal made of felt, probably wool felt.