Albert Roy Philippi (February 10, 1894-June 7, 1989) was born to Albert and Elizabeth (Wolverton) Philippi in Arlington, Oregon. Preferring to go by his middle name, Roy, Philippi attended The Dalles High School for three years before enrolling at Oregon Agricultural College in September 1912, majoring in agriculture. He married Myrtle Sneve (1894-1984) in 1917, and they had three children. Philippi owned a wheat farm in Blalock, Oregon and farmed that land until his death in 1989, at the age of 95. Both Albert Philippi Park and Philippi Canyon along the Columbia River are named after his father, who homesteaded in the area in the 1870s.
The only child of Jacob Blair and Helen Miller, Beth Allaire Miller (May 5, 1920-March 26, 2016) was born in Elmira, New York in 1920. During Beth’s youth, the Miller family moved to Jennings Lodge, Oregon, where her father worked as an electrician. She graduated from West Linn High School in 1938, and matriculated at Oregon State College in September of that year. During her freshman year at OSC, she lived in Waldo Hall and joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
Miller graduated from Oregon State College in 1942 with two Bachelor’s degrees, one in Home Economics and a second in Art. She married Roy "Bud" Philippi, Jr. - Albert Philippi's only son - on December 26, 1944, and raised two children. A 4-H and OSU Extension leader, Beth spent her life as a homemaker and artist, teaching many girls to sew. Roy and Beth were married for over seventy years before he died in September 2015. Beth followed six months and a day later, passing away in March 2016 at the age of 95.
The materials were transferred to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center in 2018 by Sandie Maki, granddaughter of Roy Philippi and daughter of Beth Philippi.
Collection is open for research.
The Beth Miller Philippi scrapbook is in fragile condition and a digital surrogate should be consulted as a primary source of access. This surrogate is available in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center Reading Room, or remotely upon request.
Roy Philippi and Beth Miller Philippi Scrapbooks (MSS Philippi), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
The Special Collections and Archives Research Center has many other scrapbooks documenting the student experience at Oregon State. Items contemporary to the Albert Roy Philippi scrapbook include the
Roy Philippi's scrapbook was constructed in chronological order and remains as such. The scrapbook is in very good condition; however, the photographs are not protected and the leather cover is no longer affixed to the book.
Many of the items in Miller Philippi's scrapbook are dated to indicate when they were taken; however, the scrapbook itself was not arranged in chronological order. Many loose items are contained inside the book, and a few photographs appear to have been removed by the creator.
Included in a separate folder with the scrapbooks is a bound report written by Miller Philippi for her Clothing Selection class, CT 211.
Miller Philippi's scrapbook is in fragile condition and a digital surrogate should be consulted as a primary source of access. This surrogate is available in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center Reading Room, or remotely upon request.
The Roy Philippi Scrapbook is neatly arranged and in good condition, containing over one hundred photographic prints and two newspaper clippings. The photographs are annotated, and document student life at Oregon Agricultural College in the 1910s. Many of the photographs are of Philippi’s friends, and they appear often throughout the volume. Philippi’s sister Leora (1896-1985), who attended OAC at the same time as her brother, also appears in numerous images. Photographs of the original Trysting Tree, the 1915 “Champion Dairy Maid,” and freshman rookesses, as well as students posing in front of the “Lady of the Fountain” statue, likewise appear in the scrapbook.
In addition to student activities, the Roy Philippi scrapbook also features numerous images of animals, including cattle, draft horses, a hog, and sheep. Supplementing these photographs are two animal husbandry-related newspaper clippings, one titled, “Teaching a Calf to Drink.” Also included are photographs of Governor James Withycombe riding his horse through campus in May 1915. Many of the Withycombe images are attributed to a “H. H. Trip.” Rounding out the scrapbook are photographs of the Marys River dam, an early photograph of Monroe Street, and images of the Drill Field by campus, as well as several OAC buildings.
During her time at Oregon State College, Beth Miller Philippi collected many small keepsakes, which she arranged into a scrapbook of her own. Material types found in the Beth Miller Philippi Scrapbook include photographs, wedding invitations, newspaper clippings, greeting cards, flower cards, sorority banquet invitations, programs, report cards, and more. Items of particular interest include a Kappa Kappa Gamma initiation key from 1939; football news clippings (including one about the 1942 Rose Bowl game, and another about a WWII attack on Fort Stevens, Oregon); Associated Student Body cards from all four of Miller's years at OSC; her high school and college graduation announcements; a program from commencement; and a full-size photograph of the 1942 members of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
Miller was well-known around campus for her fashion sense, and she collected many news clippings that document this interest. Also included with her scrapbook is an individual clothing plan that she completed as an assignment for a Clothing Selection class in Fall 1939. The plan includes an inventory of the clothing pieces in Miller’s closet, their cost, and sketches of several of the items.