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Gifford Collection Documentary Materials, 1897-1996

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Gifford family.
Title
Gifford Collection Documentary Materials
Dates
1897-1996 (inclusive)
1926-1957 (bulk)
Quantity
3.7 cubic feet, (8 boxes, including 3 oversize boxes)
Collection Number
P 218-SG 7
Summary
The Gifford Collection Documentary Materials consist of paper records, artifacts, and ephemera documenting the Gifford Family's activities as photographers in Oregon. The Gifford Family included four notable Oregon photographers spanning three generations: Benjamin A. Gifford; his son, Ralph, and Ralph's wife, Wanda; and Ralph and Wanda's son Ben L. Gifford.
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
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

The Gifford Family is considered Oregon's first family of photography. Beginning in 1888, when Benjamin A. Gifford emigrated to Portland from Kansas, they began a photographic tradition that lasted into the 1950s and spanned three generations. Benjamin A. Gifford worked as photographer in Portland and The Dalles, Oregon, from the late 1880s until about 1920, when his son Ralph took over his studio in Portland. In 1936, Ralph became the first photographer of the newly established Travel and Information Department of the Oregon State Highway Department, a position he held until his death in 1947. After her husband's death, Wanda Muir Gifford took over the family's photography business and continued to take and sell photographs through the mid-1950s. Ben L. Gifford, the son of Ralph I. and Wanda Gifford, joined his mother in the family's business in early 1950s and also worked for a Salem photography studio from 1951 until 1955. Three generations of Gifford photography began to come to a close when Ben took an engineering job with the State Highway Commission in 1955.

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Content Description

The Gifford Collection Documentary Materials consist of paper records, artifacts, and ephemera documenting the Gifford Family's activities as photographers in Oregon. The documentary materials include biographical information on each photographer and other family members, business records, publications that include Gifford photographs, technical manuals and catalogs for photographic and motion picture equipment, artifacts, and ephemeral materials created for the Giffords' photography business. The ephemeral items include envelopes, invoices and order forms, business cards, and labels. The bulk of the business records is correspondence with magazines, other publications, and stock houses regarding purchase and use of Gifford images. A descriptive booklet about the Fred Archer School of Photography in Los Angeles is also included.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Gifford Collection Documentary Materials (P 218-SG 7), Oregon State University Archives, Corvallis, Oregon.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Gifford Collection Documentary Materials are arranged in 9 series: I. Gifford Family Biographical Information, 1897-1996; II. Business Records, 1926-1957; III. Fred Archer School of Photography Information Booklet, circa 1950; IV. Publications with Gifford Photographs, 1902-1987; V. Technical Manuals and Equipment Catalogs, circa 1937 - circa 1953; VI. Signs, circa 1940; VII. Oil Portrait of Ralph I. Gifford, circa 1940; VIII. Ephemera, circa 1905 - 1964; and IX. Artifacts, circa 1936-1947.

Custodial History

The materials were donated to the Oregon State University Horner Museum in 1986 by Ben L. and Beth Gifford.

Acquisition Information

The materials were transferred from the Oregon State University Horner Museum to the University Archives in July 1996.

Related Materials

This is one component of the Gifford Photographic Collection (P 218) held by the OSU Archives. Other components are: Benjamin A. Gifford Photographs (P 218-SG 1); Ralph I. Gifford Photographs (P 218-SG 2); Ralph I. Gifford Motion Pictures (P 218-SG 3); Wanda Gifford Photographs (P 218-SG 4); Ben L. Gifford Photographs (P 218-SG 5); and Gifford Collection Photographs by Unknown or Other Photographers (P 218-SG 6).

The Archives holdings include several collections documenting photography instruction at Oregon State, including the Robert E. McDole Papers and the John Garman Photographic Collections (P 095).

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Landscape photography--Oregon.
  • Photographers--Oregon.
  • Photography--Equipment and supplies.
  • Photography--Oregon.
  • Photography--Processing.
  • Photography--Studios and dark rooms.
  • Photography--Study and teaching--California--Los Angeles.
  • Portrait photography--Oregon.
  • Selling--Photographs.

Geographical Names

  • Oregon--Description and travel.

Form or Genre Terms

  • Ephemera.
  • Oil paintings (visual works)

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Gifford, Benjamin A. (creator)
    • Gifford, Ben L. (creator)
    • Gifford, Ralph I. (creator)
    • Gifford, Wanda. (creator)

    Corporate Names

    • Fred Archer School of Photography (Los Angeles, Calif.) (creator)

Finding aid prepared by Lawrence A. Landis; updated by Elizabeth Nielsen
2011

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

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