Archives West Finding Aid

The Maple Manor Cooperative House Records document the establishment, members, and activities of this men's cooperative at Oregon State College as well as the activities of the members during and following World War II. The materials were assembled by Jim Jackson. The collection consists of constitutions, correspondence, financial records, a guest book, meeting minutes, membership lists, newsletters, newspapers, photograph albums, photographs, printing blocks, a scrapbook, a flag, and a service banner. The records document the governance and management of Maple Manor and the daily lives of the residents from 1940 to 1943. A large component of the collection documents the war-time activities of the residents and their lives and families after the war through letters, cards, newsletters, and photographs. A newsletter published during the war years provides detailed information on the activities of former Maple Manor residents.

Correspondence regarding reunions of Maple Manor alumni in 1988 and 1994 as well as communications with cooperative associations at other universities are part of the collection. The scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, greeting cards, wedding announcements, letters, poems, event programs, and work schedules. An annotated copy of The Oozlefinch: Camp Callan's Pictorial Review, 3rd edition (1943) is part of the collection. Camp Callan, in La Jolla California, was a U.S. Army training base during World War II.

The collection includes loose photographs and two photograph albums in addition to a few photographs in the scrapbook. These images include formal portrait photographs and snapshots of residents during their student years; several images of the beloved housemother, "Cookie" Hyde; and war-time and post-war photographs of girlfriends, wives, children, and fellow servicemen.

The service banner includes 39 blue stars -- one for each member of Maple Manor who served in the military during World War II. The flag is a standard 48-star United States flag.