Archives West Finding Aid

The Royal G. Jackson Papers consist of materials created or assembled by Jackson in the course of his research on forest history and nature-based tourism. The collection includes oral history sound recordings, edited and final transcripts, signed release forms; an interview log for the Costa Rica project, manuscripts, publications, research and documentary materials and photographs assembled by Jackson. The bulk of oral histories held are from 1978-1992, with the exception of the 1968 W.F. McCulloch interviews. Many of Jackson’s oral history projects were also deposited with the Horner Museum oral history collections, not all of those collections are represented in Jackson’s papers.

Notable Oregon State faculty and administrators with interviews in the collection are: W.F. McCulloch, Dean of Forestry from 1955 to 1966, Paul M. Dunn, Dean of Forestry 1942 to 1955, Alan B. Berg, Fred Decker, Harriet Moore, Rudy Kallander, Marvin Rowley, and William A. Davies and many forestry faculty and alumni.

The oral history sound recordings consist of 214 audiocassettes. The majority (105) are recordings of 58 interviews conducted in Costa Rica in 1992 of individuals involved in the environmental movement and nature-based ecotourism in Costa Rica. An interview log, with a brief description of the topics addressed in each interview, as well as transcripts for 11 interviews are part of the collection.

Recordings of interviews with College of Forestry faculty and students and Civilian Conservation Corps members stationed at Camp Arboretum are also included. These interviews were undertaken in 1978-1980. The collection includes transcripts and project files for these interviews and others, as well as 66 audiocassettes. The third component of the oral history sound recordings are 40 audiocassettes of interviews conducted in 1988-1989 with Bend and Redmond, Oregon, residents. The transcripts of 15 of these interviews were published as the 15 volume monograph series, Diversification of a resource-based community through the development of tourism, Deschutes County, Oregon. Draft transcripts or project files for this project are not included in the collection.

Royal Jackson interviewed the majority of the oral history subjects; some were conducted jointly with his wife, Jennifer A. Lee; and some solely by Lee. Transcribers included: Ardis Rudisill, Joyce O’Neel, Marta Krieg, Susan C. Wharton, and Karen Thomas.

The bulk of the paper records consist of informational and reference materials, maps, manuscripts, and publications pertaining to McDonald Forest; the College of Forestry; the Civilian Conservation Corps, especially Camp Arboretum; Peavy Arboretum; and forest history, especially in western Oregon. Of special note are two 1980 publications on the McDonald-Dunn Forests: McDonald-Dunn Forests – Ethnography, written by Sandy Snyder, and McDonald-Dunn Forests – Human Use and Occupation, written by Royal Jackson. A final report for the Custer Battlefield National Monument Oral History Program which included interviews of Northern Cheyenne descendants about the Battle of the Bighorn is also part of the collection.

The collection includes an extensive photographic component, primarily of images assembled by Jackson in the course of his research. Many of the images were part of the School of Forestry's photographic collections at one point and some of these were taken or assembled originally for use in the forestry student publication, the Annual Cruise. The photographs include images of forestry students, faculty, and notable alumni; field trips and work crews; Fernhopper Banquets and special events; and images of Peavy Arboretum and McDonald Forest. Several images of George Peavy, T.J. Starker, and Paul Dunn are part of the collection. The collection includes images of the CCC Camp Arboretum building and facilities, and the remnants of those structures as of the early 1980s, and an album documenting the activities of the CCC Camp Newport on the Oregon coast. Photographs of landscapes in central and eastern Oregon from the early 20th century as well as the 1970s or 1980s are included and may have been assembled as part of a study to document changing landscapes or land uses. Images assembled by Jackson for a research project on the Winema National Forest include photographs of Native Americans and the Klamath Agency. Also of note are a set of photos of Camp Arboreteum taken by a Corpsman when he was stationed at the Camp in 1935 and enclosed in a letter to the Dean. These and other select photos have been digitized. The bulk of the photographs in the collection are b/w prints; however, color prints, b/w negatives, and color slides are also included.