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The Lewis and Rachel Thayer Collection, 1860-2000

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Thayer Family
Title
The Lewis and Rachel Thayer Collection
Dates
1860-2000 (inclusive)
Quantity
11 cubic feet, (10 boxes)
Collection Number
OLPb133THA
Summary
This collection of Thayer/Crabb family materials document Minnie Crabb's and her husband Charles's experiences during the Civil War, as well as Minnie's work in the temperence movement and her life as a writer. The collection also documents the life of Minnie's daughter, Rachel, and her husband Lewis. Both were college educators who spent a large part of their careers (1947-1975) at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
Repository
Lewis & Clark College, Special Collections and Archives

Aubrey R. Watzek Library
615 S. Palatine Hill Rd.
Portland, OR
97219
Telephone: 5037687758
Fax: 5037687282
archives@lclark.edu
Access Restrictions

This collection has no restrictions and is open for research.

Languages
English
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Historical Note

The Lewis & Rachel Thayer Collection documents two generations of the Rowe/Crabb/Thayer family. The first part of the collection documents Minnie Rowe. Minnie was born in England in 1870 to Mary and Joseph Rowe, who moved to Nebraska in 1872 with Joseph’s two brothers and their families. She graduated from high school in 1886 and taught grade school, eventually becoming the assistant principal of a high school. In 1901 she married Charles Ellsworth Crabb. They lived in Missouri for two years, where they had two children, Rachel and Paul, the former who grew up to marry Lewis Thayer in 1928. Around 1905 moved to New Mexico, where their youngest daughter, Frances, was born. They lived in New Mexico for two or three years, and in Tuttle, Oklahoma for ten years, and in 1918 moved to Deer Lodge, Montana to live on the Willard-Crabb Farms, Co. ranch. In 1925, Charles and Minnie left Montana and moved to Los Gatos, California, where Minnie died in a car accident in 1940. Throughout her life, Minnie was an avid supporter of temperance, and an active member of the Women Christian’s Temperance Union. She wrote a series of children’s books, the Mrs. Gray Bunny books, which taught young children about the importance of good health and the dangers of alcohol. She also wrote a number of short stories, including a semiautobiographical series about Little Nebraska Annie, a girl living in Nebraska in the late 1800s, many poems, and a play. She kept a journal sporadically from the 1890s until 1918, and continued to write fiction and autobiographical stories until her death. In 1940, she was killed by a drunk driver. Her husband, Charles Crabb, continued to live in Los Gatos until he moved in with Frances in 1960, and died in 1965.

The second generation documented in the collection is Minnie's daughter Rachel and her husband Lewis A. Thayer. Rachel was born in Joplin, Missouri on August 15, 1902. She earned a BA at University of Montana and an MA from Stanford University. In 1929 she met and married Lewis A. Thayer at Stanford. Lewis was born on December 25, 1903 in Mercur, Utah. Lewis earned BA and MA degrees in science at Washington State University before enrolling at Stanford to study for a Ph.D. After their marriage, the Thayers lived in Monterey, California, Sacramento, California, and Shreveport, Louisiana, where Lewis worked at the Hopkins Marine Station, Sacramento State University, and Centenary College. In 1946, Lewis accepted a position teaching science at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Rachel also found employment at Lewis & Clark as a librarian. Both worked at Lewis & Clark for over thirty years. The Thayers had for sons: David, Philip, Doug, and Steve. Lewis died in 1993, and Rachel died in 2000.

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Content Description

Includes diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, artifacts, and publications, and documents.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Permission to publish, exhibit, broadcast, or quote from materials in the Watzek Library Archives & Special Collections requires written permission of the Head of Archives & Special Collections.

Preferred Citation

The Lewis & Rachel Thayer Collection (OLPb133THA), Lewis & Clark College Aubrey Watzek Library Archives & Special Collections, Portland, Oregon.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in a single series of boxes grouped by the family member responsible for creating the material.

Location of Collection

Special Collections

Acquisition Information

Donated to Lewis & Clark College by the Thayer family.

Processing Note

Processed in 2012.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Crabb, Charles Ellsworth
  • Crabb, Minnie Rowe
  • Thayer, Lewis A.
  • Thayer, Rachel

Corporate Names

  • Lewis & Clark College (Portland, Or.) (creator)
  • Woman's Christian Temperance Union

Family Names

  • Crabb family--Archives
  • Thayer family--Archives

Geographical Names

  • Deer Lodge (Mont.)
  • Kelly (N.M.)
  • Portland (Or.)
  • Stockham (Neb.)

Other Creators

  • Family Names

    • Crabb family--Archives
    • Thayer family--Archives

Zachariah Selley & Alice Whitaker
2012

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

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