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Orange Owl , 1920-1928

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Hammer and Coffin National Honorary Society. Orange Owl Chapter.
Title
Orange Owl
Dates
1920-1928 (inclusive)
Quantity
0.35 cubic foot, (1 box)
1 microfilm reel
Collection Number
PUB 010-13c
Summary
The Orange Owl was a college humor magazine published by the Orange Owl Chapter of the Hammer and Coffin National Honorary Society at Oregon Agricultural College during the 1920s. The magazine included humorous and satirical pieces as well as cartoons and pen sketches created by students.
Repository
Oregon State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives Research Center
Special Collections and Archives Research Center
121 The Valley Library
Oregon State University
Corvallis OR
97331-4501
Telephone: 5417372075
Fax: 5417378674
scarc@oregonstate.edu
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English
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Historical Note

The first issue of the Orange Owl appeared for Junior Weekend in May 1920. In 1921-1922, the humor magazine was published by the Orange Owl Club, which became the Orange Owl Chapter of the Hammer and Coffin Society at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) in 1922. The Orange Owl promoted creative talents among students in wit, humor, cartooning, and sketching. A broad representation of OAC students were involved in writing, editing, and publishing of the magazine. In the 1926-1927 academic year, more than 40 students contributed materials and more than 35 worked on the managerial and circulation staffs. The magazine was funded by advertising as well as subscriptions.

M. Ellwood Smith and Edwin T. Reed served as faculty advisors for the publication and were referred to in some issues as the "Shock Absorbers".

According to the 1928 Beaver yearbook, "... the Orange Owl represents the fun and frolic of the students and shows that college life is more than a wearisome grind. It might be called the carnival representative of Oregon State".

The Hammer and Coffin Society originated at Stanford University to promote literary and artistic talents of students as expressed in wit and humor. In the mid 1910s, the Society transformed into a national collegiate humor organization with 25 chapters.

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Content Description

The Orange Owl was a college humor magazine published by the Orange Owl Chapter of the Hammer and Coffin National Honorary Society at Oregon Agricultural College during the 1920s. The magazine included humorous and satirical pieces as well as cartoons and pen sketches created by students. Five or six issues were published per academic year beginning with volume 3 in 1921-1922. Most issues are 32 pages; as many as 3000 copies were printed and distributed on campus and in the Corvallis community.

The purpose of the magazine was to promote creative talent among students in humorous writing as well as cartooning and sketching. The magazines include poems, jokes, short humorous stories, satire, plays, limericks, cartoons, sketches, and colorful covers. All issues include local and national advertisements. Some material was reprinted by College Humor and other college comic magazines around the country and the Orange Owl also reprinted exchanges from college comic magazines published by other chapters of the Hammer and Coffin Society.

In 1923 and 1927, women students had full responsibility for publishing one issue of the magazine.

This collection includes 43 issues of the magazine, all of which are available online. The collection includes duplicate copies of many issues; however, one issue (volume 2, no. 3 for May 1921) is only available on microfilm and online.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Orange Owl (PUB 010-13c), Oregon State University Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Issues of the Orange Owl were received by the Library as they were published in the 1920s; copies held in the Special Collections Vault Collection were transferred to the University Archives in 2010 and combined with paper and microfilmed copies to form one collection which is now held in the Special Collections & Archives Research Center.

Related Materials

Photographs of members of the Orange Owl Chapter of the Hammer and Coffin Society are available in the News and Communications Services Photograph Collection (P 057) and Harriet's Collection. The Special Collections & Archives Research Center's collections include other humor and parody publications including the Snuffer (PUB 010-22z14); Beaver Dam, published in the 1950s-1960s; and the Civil War Football Game Newspapers (PUB 399).

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • College students--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • College wit and humor.
  • Student publications--Oregon--Corvallis.

Corporate Names

  • Oregon Agricultural College--Periodicals.
  • Oregon State Agricultural College--Periodicals.

Other Creators

  • Corporate Names

    • Orange Owl Club (Oregon Agricultural College) (creator)

Finding aid prepared by Elizabeth Nielsen.
2014

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West

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