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G. Herbert Root Photograph Collection, circa 1891 - 1936

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Root, G. Herbert (George Herbert)
Title
G. Herbert Root Photograph Collection
Dates
circa 1891 - 1936 (inclusive)
circa 1902 - 1905 (bulk)
Quantity
0.20 cubic feet, including 71 photographs, (2 boxes, including 1 oversize box)
Collection Number
P 127
Summary
The G. Herbert Root Photograph Collection consists primarily of photographs of Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) students, athletes, and faculty. The images were acquired by Root, who attended OAC in the early 1900s and was captain of the 1905 football team. Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.
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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Biographical Note

George Herbert Root was born in Hydesville, California, October 28, 1878 to Henry George Root and Harriet Ann Goodyear. Henry Root, who grew up herding cattle near Tulare, California, was farming his own ranch near Hydesville, California by the time he turned 29 in 1871. In 1873, he married Harriet Ann Goodyear, a schoolteacher; three years later, their third child, George Herbert Root was born. In 1881, the Root family traveled to The Dalles to meet Henry’s father, William, and two uncles, Irvin and John, with whom they planned to scout land for homestead claims. Henry eventually filed two claims, at 160 acres each, for a plot of land near Locust Grove, a small community four miles west of Wasco, Oregon. Here he would farm wheat, potatoes, and barley.

George Root worked on his father’s farm until he was in his early twenties. He matriculated at OAC in 1902 as a student in Mechanical Engineering, but switched his major to Agriculture his sophomore year. As a student, Root was described as “prince of good fellows” and, as Captain of the 1905 football team, “fast, fierce…irresistible in a line buck, and very swift at end running.” Root graduated in 1907; in the winter of that same year he married Amelia Christina Kaseberg (1882–1966) at Walla Walla, Washington.

On September 27, 1909 their only child, Herbert Floyd Root, was born in Wasco. George and Amelia lived with George’s parent for a time after Herbert’s birth. By 1920, however, George had purchased his own plot of land in Locust Grove, where he too farmed wheat. In 1948, George retired from ranching, and he and Amelia relocated to The Dalles. George Herbert Root passed away on March 24, 1971.

George’s son, Herbert Floyd Root (1909–1984), also played football for OSC, graduating in 1932 with a degree in Commerce. True to his family’s wheat ranching roots, he was instrumental in the founding of the National Association of Wheat Growers, and from 1960 to 1962 was president of the Western Wheat Association, a group established to market Oregon wheat internationally. Herbert’s two sons – Robert Floyd Root (Agricultural Economics) and William Herbert Root (Food Technology) – graduated from OSU with Bachelor of Science degrees in Agriculture in 1960 and 1961, respectively.

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Content Description

The G. Herbert Root Photograph Collection consists of photographs acquired by George Herbert Root, who attended OAC in the early 1900s and was captain of the 1905 football team. The photos are primarily of students, athletes (football, men and women's basketball, track) and faculty members, taken between 1891 and 1936.

Of particular interest in the collection are twenty-six of what are likely cigarette cards, a type of card-mounted photograph – similar to cabinet cards and cartes de visite – popular in the mid-1880s to mid-1890s, and which again came into vogue in the first few decades of the 20th century. Only four of subjects featured in the cigarette cards are identified. All of the prints are black and white; most are mounted on grey paperboard.

A significant portion of the images in the collection center on athletics at OAC. Of note are images of the women’s basketball team of 1904 and 1905; the men’s basketball team of 1905; and of the 1902 football team, including Will Abraham, Bert Bower, Lyman Bundy, and team captain John Gault. Players and staff of the 1905 football team featured include Bert Pilkington, Floyd Williams, Rod Nash, and Percy Cupper, and Manager Fred C. Stimson. Another series of images features Bert Bower, Floyd Williams, Claude Swann, and Merrill Moores competing in track and field events in 1905.

Many of the photographs were taken by William G. Emery, a Corvallis studio photographer and 1883 Oregon State graduate. All of the prints are black and white; most are mounted on grey paperboard. Images from this collection have been digitized and are available in Oregon Digital.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

G. Herbert Root Photograph Collection (P 127), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The G. Herbert Root Photograph Collection is comprised of one series: 1. Photographs, 1891 - 1936. The photographs are arranged numerically by image number (P127:1-71).

Acquisition Information

Photographs P127:1-66 were donated to the Horner Museum in 1985 by Randi M. Root, great-granddaughter of G. Herbert Root. The photographs were transferred to the University Archives in August 1996 and combined with the existing G.H. Root Photograph Collection, which was received by the University Archives in the 1960s.

Related Materials

The OSU Special Collections and Archives Researcher Center holdings contain numerous collections documenting the student experience at Oregon Agricultural College in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including The William C. Bryant Collection (MSS Bryant),  Emile Pernot Photographs (P 230), the Frank E. Hall Collection (MSS Hall), the Leroy G. Mattley Papers (MSS Mattley), and the Walter R. Baker Photographs (P 018).

Additional collections relating to men's and women's sports at Oregon Agricultural College, including men's and women's basketball, football, and track and field, include the Harriet Moore Photograph Collection (P 150), the Intercollegiate Athletic Records (RG 007), the Jerry D. Belcher Collection of Oregon Agricultural College Track Photographs (P 128), the Football Photograph Collection (P 004), the Women's Recreation Association Photographic Collection (P 171), and the Women's Athletics Photographs Collection (P 009).

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Detailed Description of the Collection

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Subject Terms

  • Basketball for women--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • College sports--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • College students--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • Football--Oregon--Corvallis.

Corporate Names

  • Oregon Agricultural College--Basketball.
  • Oregon Agricultural College--Faculty.
  • Oregon Agricultural College--Students.

Form or Genre Terms

  • Cabinet photographs.
  • Photographic prints.

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Emery, W. G. (creator)

Finding Aid Authors: Rachel Lilley and Sydney Klupar.
2019

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

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