Oregon's Pacific University is the oldest chartered university in the West. The Oregon Territorial Legislature granted its original charter as the Tualatin Academy on Sept. 26, 1849. The charter predates statehood by 10 years, and was the first formal act of the territorial government.
Pacific founders were also instrumental in the 1843 vote at Champoeg, which resulted in the formation of the Oregon Provisional Government, the first American government on the Pacific Coast.
The school traces its roots to a log cabin meeting house in Forest Grove where the Rev. Harvey Clark, a Congregationalist minister, and Tabitha Brown, a former teacher from Massachusetts, cared for and educated orphans of the Oregon Trail. The University issued the first baccalaureate degree in the region in 1863 to Harvey W. Scott, later the editor of
Today, Pacific is a comprehensive liberal arts and healthcare university with 3,200 graduate and undergraduate students attending classes at the original campus in Forest Grove, and campuses in Eugene, Hillsboro and Portland.
Source: Pacific University
Collection is open for research.
Pacific University owns the copyright to some, but not all, of the materials housed in its archives. Copyright for materials authored or otherwise produced as official business of Pacific University is retained by Pacific University and requires its permission for publication. Copyright status for other collection materials varies. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
[item identification], Origins and Founding Documents Collection, Pacific University Archives, Forest Grove, Oregon.
Accurals are not expected.
The collections includes a variety of materials pertaining to the origins and founding of Tualatin Academy and Pacific University, including charters issued by the Territorial Legislature, articles of incorporation, constitution, items related to acquisition of land, financial records, and writings on the early history of both institutions.
Original and photocopies of charters granted by the Territory of Oregon which established both Tualatin Academy and Pacific University. Also articles of incorporation and related documents.
Original and photocopies of the various Donation Land Claim documents showing the lands donated to Pacific University by the founders and other early gifts. Includes deeds and abstract of title documents.
Patent dates to 1859. One prepared by Forest Grove Abstract Co. and the other by Wilkes Abstract and Title Co.
Patent dates to 1874. Prepared by Willkes Abstract and Title Co.
Document filed 1873 but patent predates 1856. Prepared by Hillsboro Title Co.
Prepared by the President and Trustees of Tualatin Academy to "beg leave to commend this Institution to the patronage of the Friends of Education in the Atlantic States." One letter authorizes G. H. Atkinson as agent, the other S. H. Marsh.
Histories of Tualatin Academy and Pacific University written by early founders and others.