Archives West Finding Aid

The Oral History Interviews, Personal Histories, and Sound Recordings Collection on Agriculture, Forestry, and Oregon History consists of 12 oral history interviews, personal histories, and sound recordings; the components of the collection are individually numbered OH05:01 thru OH05:12. Sound recordings and transcripts are available for 6 of the collection components. For the remainder (6), only transcripts are available.

The collection includes interviews with George Drake, Ross Finley, Marko Haggard, Robert MacVicar, Oliver M. Matthews, Donald MacKenzie, Kathreen Kirkpatrick Purchase, and Paul Snook; personal or family histories by Ben H. Pubols, Sr. as well as Jacob Henkle and Elizabeth Conger Henkle; a promotional sound recording by the Agricultural Information Trainee Program; and recorded recollections by Harriet Forest Moore.

The interviews with George Drake (OH05:01) and Donald MacKenzie (OH05:05) were conducted by Elwood R. Maunder of the Forestry History Foundation in 1957-1958 and describe logging and forestry activities in Oregon and the Northwest. Gordon D. Marckworth, Dean of the College of Forestry at the University of Washington, also participated in the MacKenzie interview.

The interview of Oliver V. Matthews (OH05:02) was done in 1959 by W.R. Randall, a faculty member in the Oregon State College School of Forestry. The interview describes Matthews' work in identifying and photographing trees that are depicted in a series of images that Matthews donated to the School of Forestry.

Ross Finley (OH05:03) was interviewed by J.H. Gallagher; transcripts of the interviews were made in 1964 by Gallagher's office at the Corvallis Sand and Gravel Company. Recordings of the interviews on SoundScriber discs are part of the collection.

The Robert MacVicar (OH05:06) interview was recorded in 1984 at the end of his 14-year presidency at Oregon State University and includes his reflections on his years at Oregon State. The interviewer is not identified in the transcript.

The interview with Paul Snook (OH05:07) was conducted in 1983 by Susan M. Gaughan and Alison Otis. The transcript was prepared by Gaughan. It consists of personal and family history and includes information about the Snook family's role in the construction of several campus buildings and Paul Snook's later work in highway and bridge construction.

The Kathreen Kirkpatrick Purchase interview (OH05:10) was conducted by Martin (Skip) Haley of the Oregon State University College of Home Economics in 1994 and addresses a variety of topics including her experience as a a home economics student at Oregon Agricultural College in the 1910s and her youth in Pendleton.

Recollections of a Professor in the Public Arena is the oral history of Marko Haggard (OH05:12), conducted in 1996 by Joella Werlin. It includes transcripts of interviews; five cassette audiotapes; and a vita, newspaper articles, and other background materials. A gift from KATU television in Portland to the OSU Foundation funded the preparation of this oral history.

The collection includes a personal history for Oregon State alumnus Ben H. Pubols, Sr. (OH05:08), prepared in 1973, that describes his childhood and youth in Oregon, especially his farming experiences, and his attendance at Oregon Agricultural College in the 1920s. The family history of Jacob Henkle and Elizabeth Conger Henkle (OH05:09) was dictated in 1908 and includes recollections of the Henkle wagon train to Oregon in 1853 and the family's early years in Oregon.

The promotional sound recording for the Agricultural Information Trainee Program (OH05:04) was made in 1958. In addition to a reel-to-reel audiotape, a letter explaining the recording and a transcript prepared by the Oregon State University Archives are included. The 11-minute recording describes the summer Trainee Program for college students planning a career in agricultural journalism. The recording includes Jerry Carlson, a 1958 trainee, and George Loesing, a staff member in the USDA Radio Service and a 1956 trainee.

The Harriet Forest Moore materials (OH05:11) include sound recordings, transcripts, notes, and background materials pertaining to Moore's service as a physical therapist during World War I. The recordings were made by Moore in 1988-1990 to answer questions posed by Lettie Gavin, a researcher located in Seattle.