Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Isaac Burpee papers, circa 1932-1946
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Burpee, Isaac, 1875-1951
- Title
- Isaac Burpee papers
- Dates
- circa
1932-1946 (inclusive)19321946
- Quantity
- 5 linear feet (1 document case, 2 11x14 Over A folders, 1 30x42 Over C folder)
- Collection Number
- Mss 724
- Summary
- Papers of Isaac Burpee, a construction engineer, historian, and director of the Oregon Historical Society. Papers consist of accounting records of Coos Bay, South Umpqua, and Yaquina Bay Jetty construction projects, Burpee family genealogical information, correspondence pertaining to Burpee's Pacific Northwest Americana Library, and Memorials Committee correspondence and records during his service at the Oregon Historical Society. Also included are Burpee's research notes and correspondence on the Know Nothing (American) Party of Oregon.
- Repository
-
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org - Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open to the public.
- Languages
- English
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Historical NoteReturn to Top
Isaac Burpee (circa 1875-1951) was born in New Brunswick, Canada, and never married. He graduated from the University of New Brunswick and was active in the Alaska gold rush. By the early 1920s, he was operating the Miami Quarry in Lincoln County, Oregon. He was also a construction engineer for the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railway on the north bank of Columbia River and took part in the building of the Celilo Canal.
Burpee was a construction engineer at Kern & Kibbe on three major Oregon Coast jetty projects: Coos Bay, South Umpqua, and Yaquina Bay. He served as the Oregon Historical Society's director and was a member of the Memorials Committee that designated the memorial marker of the Applegate Trail. He also helped to establish George Himes Park in Portland.
An avid historian and book collector, Burpee bequeathed his Pacific Northwest Americana Library to the Oregon Historical Society and the University of New Brunswick. He researched his ancestors' history and probably composed a Burpee family genealogical chart.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
Papers consist of accounting records of Coos Bay, South Umpqua, and Yaquina Bay Jetty construction; and business correspondence, budgets, and architectural drawings relating to the projects. Other materials includes a Burpee family genealogical chart, correspondence, documents pertaining to book acquisitions for his Pacific Northwest Americana Library, correspondence relating to the Oregon Historical Society's Memorials Committee, and Burpee's research notes and correspondence about the Know Nothing (American) Party of Oregon.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Restrictions on Use
The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any publication use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Preferred Citation
Isaac Burpee papers, Mss 724, Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in the following series:
- Series A: Genealogical materials
- Series B: Jetty engineering materials
- Series C: Historical research materials and library
Acquisition Information
Gift of Isaac Burpee estate, circa 1952 (Accession number 9065).
Related Materials
John Work papers, 1823-1943, Mss 319, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Typescript copies of journals and correspondence of John Work, an employee and later Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company who explored the Pacific Northwest in the 1820s and 1830s. The materials were collected by Isaac Burpee in the 1940s for use in a publication of Work's journals. Also included are Burpee's research notes and a microfilm copy of John Work's original journal, 1823-1835.
There are typescript copies of letters, journals, diaries, reports, and other information in the following manuscript collections in the Oregon Historical Society Research Library:
- Joseph Warren Wood papers, Mss 621-B
- John S. Hall papers, Mss 54
- Robert Kennicott papes, Mss 52
- John Scouler papers, Mss 949
- J. O. Fry papers, Mss 427
- Charles Wilkes papers, Mss 56
- Meredith Gairdner papers, Mss 51
- Hurricane, clipper ship, records, Mss 42
- Oregon Iron Company records, Mss 333
- Article: Priscilla Knuth. "Oregon Know Nothing Pamphlet Illustrates Early Politics."
- Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 54, 1953, p. 40-53.
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Series A: Genealogical materialsReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Folder | ||
| 1 | Genealogical
materials
Working papers of family members listed on the Burpee Family
genealogical Chart which describes their lives, activities and family
remembrances. The genealogy traces the various branches of the Burpee Family,
starting with Thomas Burpee, emigrant from England, in 1630, and continues to
circa 1938.
|
circa 1938 |
| Oversize Flat File | Genealogical chart
(blueprint) |
circa 1938 |
Series B: Jetty engineering materialsReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
Coos Bay jetty account |
||
| Folder | ||
| 2 | Correspondence, cost
statements and trial balance
Relates to adjudication of Oregon Supreme Court re State
of Oregon excise tax imposed on corporate income on the Coos Bay Jetty
construction contract. Bidding Information for Road Contractors, Items and
Record of Bids Submitted for Coos County, North Jetty at Coos Bay.
|
1938; 1940 |
| Oversize Folder 1 | Bid
worksheets |
1938; 1940; undated |
| Oversize Flat File | Drawings
Drawings, War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army
K-3-129 "B": Coos Bay, Oregon, Repairs to North Jetty-1938, U.S. Engineer
Office, Portland, Oregon, District. This is one of the two drawings for repairs
to North-Jetty, Coos Bay, Oregon, specifications, {K-3-129 "B" and K-3-129
"D"}. Drawings, War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army K-3-129 "C": Coos
Bay, Oregon, Repairs to North Jetty-1938, U.S. Engineer Office, Portland,
Oregon, District. This is one of the two drawings for repairs to North-Jetty,
Coos Bay, Oregon. Change order "A" schematic drawings, War Department, Corps of
Engineers, U.S. Army K-3-129 "C": Coos Bay, Oregon, Repairs to North Jetty-U.S.
Engineer Office, Portland, Oregon, District. Change order "A" schematic
drawings, War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army K-3-129 "C": Coos Bay,
Oregon, Repairs to North Jetty-U.S. Engineer Office, Portland, Oregon,
District. Schedule for construction work with cost accounting on Coos Bay
Jetty.
|
|
South Umpqua jetty
account |
||
| Folder | ||
| 3 | General materials
Includes correspondence, notes, accounts, cost sheets,
"Invitation for bids no. 33-124, Construction Contract, War Department, United
States Engineer Office, First Portland District, Portland Oregon," "Submitted
Bid No. 698-37-132, repair and construction of the South Jetty at the mouth of
Umpqua River, Douglas County, Oregon."
|
1932-1941 |
| 4 | Schematic blueprints and
records
Includes: trail balance and cost data, summary of
distribution of accounts, daily record rock deliveries, pouring concrete
blocks, and cost breakdown facts and figures.
|
1933-1938 |
| Oversize flat file | Drawings
War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, Umpqua
River, Oregon, Reconstruction of North Jetty, Concrete Breakwater and Terminal,
U.S. Engineer Office, Portland, Oregon, District, UM-300-1/175-2. War
Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, Umpqua River, Oregon, Reconstruction
of North Jetty, superseding drawings UM-300-1-175.1. War Department, Corps of
Engineers, U.S. Army, Umpqua River, Oregon, Reconstruction of North Jetty,
Concrete Breakwater and Terminal, U.S. Engineer Office, Portland, Oregon,
District, UM-300-1/175.1. War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, Umpqua
River, Oregon, Reedsport to Jewett Island in 2 sheets--U.S. Engineer Office,
Portland Office District.
|
1933-1938 |
Yaquina Bay Jetty
Account |
||
| Folder | ||
| 5 | General materials
Includes correspondence, contracts, invitation to bid,
"Report of specific gravity test," cost sheets.
|
1933-1942 |
| Overisize folder 2 | Bid worksheets |
1933-1942 |
| Oversize flat file | Drawings
Western Steel & Equipment Inc., Portland, Oregon,
Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army Schematic, K-9-41-"A": Yaquina Bay and Harbor,
Oregon, North Jetty Extension, with insert of Pacific Ocean Oregon coastal
towns and Bays. Rock shipping schematics, Yaquina Bay, North Jetty. Cross
Sections of Barge, Bill of Material and Bill of Hardware. Kern & Kibbe,
Cross Section of Barge. War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, Change
Order "A" Chain Connection for Concrete Terminal, drawing K-9-41"A".
Arrangement of Joints for 30 Ft. Main Line Rails and Layout for Crossovers.
|
1933-1942 |
Series C: Historical research materials and libraryReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Folder | ||
| 6 | Correspondence, report and
notes--Oregon Historical Society and memorial marker for Applegate Trail,
Southern Route, Oregon Trail
Report of the Oregon Historical Society Naming of the
Southern Route of the Oregon Trail, with insert map. Citation references of
divergent "Southern Route" sites pioneers mentioned as turn offs taken from the
Applegate Trail. Draft of the chronological history of the route from the
Columbia River, Oregon to California, untitled. Proposal for Southern
Route--Applegate Trail and Oregon State Highway Commission acceptance.
|
1946; undated |
| 7 | Correspondence and
notes--Memorials Committee, Oregon Historical Society
Memorial markers: George Himes Park, Dr. Truman Bonney,
Uzapovage gift to Champoeg State Park, Lewis & Clark Salt Cairn gift,
Barlow Road at Laurel Hill, and Pacific Fur Company. Short narrative history of
John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company Trading Post at Astoria, Oregon.
|
1946; undated |
| 8 | Correspondence--Pacific
Northwest Americana Library
Book quotations, purchases and sales
|
1942-1943; undated |
| 9 | Correspondence and
notes--Pacific Northwest Americana Library
Book quotations, purchases and book dealers' inventory
lists. Notes on Oregon City's Grand Wigwam, Know Nothing (American) Party, and
its political positions.
|
1944-1946; undated |
| 10 | Ledger book--Pacific
Northwest Americana Library
Inventoried acquisitions of Isaac Burpee
|
circa 1942-1946 |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Coastal engineering.
- Genealogy.
- Historical markers.
- Jetties--Oregon--Pacific Coast.
Personal Names
- Burpee, Isaac, 1875-1951. (creator)
- Himes, George H., 1844-1940.
Corporate Names
- American Party.
- Kern & Kibbe.
- Oregon Historical Society.
- United States. Army. Corps of Engineers.
Family Names
- Burpee family.
Geographical Names
- Applegate Trail.
- Coos Bay (Or.)
- Umpqua River (Or.)
- Yaquina Bay (Or.)
Form or Genre Terms
- Architectural drawings.
- Business records.
- Correspondence.
Collection processed by Marilyn
Hunzeker, 2006 February
2006
