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Willibald Weniger Photographic Collection, 1870-1940

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Weniger, Willibald, 1884-
Title
Willibald Weniger Photographic Collection
Dates
1870-1940 (inclusive)
1901-1914 (bulk)
Quantity
0.60 cubic feet, including 689 photographs, (7 boxes, including 1 oversize box)
Collection Number
P 081
Summary
The Willibald Weniger Photographic Collection consists of a photograph album of images taken and/or collected by Willibald Weniger pertaining to the University of Wisconsin and Oregon Agricultural College and their vicinities between about 1904 and 1914. Also included are portraits of Weniger and a 19th century photograph album with images most likely of Weniger, his family and friends. Weniger was a professor of physics at Oregon Agricultural College from 1908 to 1914 and again from 1920 until his retirement in 1951.
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

Willibald Weniger was a professor of physics at Oregon Agricultural College from 1908 to 1914 and 1920 to 1951.

Weniger was born on 20 June 1884 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He spoke German at home and in the Milwaukee public schools he attended. Weniger received B.A. (1905), M.S. (1906), and Ph.D. (1908) degrees from the University of Wisconsin. In 1908, he came to Oregon Agricultural College to organize and head the Physics Department. Weniger left the College in 1914 to work as a physicist in the Nela Research Laboratories of General Electric in Cleveland. During World War I he studied the relative merits of monocular and binocular field glasses for all except field artillery purposes.

Weniger returned to OAC in 1920 as Physics Department head. During a 1929/1930 sabbatical at the Smithsonian Institution, including five months at Table Mountain Solar Observatory, he measured energy from the sun to correlate changes in the sun's emission of energy with the earth's weather. In 1933 he became Assistant Dean of the Graduate Division and later served as Associate Dean and Dean before his return to the Physics Department in 1949. During a 1938 summer sabbatical he visited universities, physical laboratories, and factories in Europe with other American physicists. After retiring from Oregon State College, he spent four years (1951-1955) as head of the Physics and Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Alaska.

Weniger married Myrtle Elizabeth Knepper, a librarian, in 1918; their son, George Edward, was born in 1919. Weniger invented a translucent blackboard and a typewriter attachment for typing Greek letters and mathematical symbols. He died on March 14, 1959 in Corvallis, Oregon. The Physics Building, completed that same year was named Weniger Hall in his honor.

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Content Description

This collection consists of photographs taken and/or collected by Willibald Weniger. The bulk of the collection is a photograph album documenting scenes, buildings and people at the University of Wisconsin and Oregon Agricultural College. The Oregon Agricultural College images are of campus and the vicinity around Corvallis, Oregon; physics laboratories and research; and Weniger and his family and friends. Of special note are photographs of the construction of Strand Agricultural Hall (1913) and McAlexander Fieldhouse (1911); the Willamette and Marys Rivers and forests on Marys Peak; floods; and railroads, including the Corvallis and Alsea River Railroad. The photographs of the University of Wisconsin campus and Madison as well as other locations, such as the Wisconsin Dells, document where Weniger took classes, worked and visited. Many of the images are not identified.

The collection also includes a late 19th century photograph album that likely includes photos of Weniger as a child, other Weniger family members, and family friends.There are also non-album portraits of Weniger and several unidentified people and places.

The bulk of the collection is the photograph album of black and white prints; most of the prints are 4x5 in. or smaller. The collection also includes some loose prints, including one mounted cyanotype; about 40 4x5 glass negatives; 1 color transparency in a lantern slide mount; and 41 nitrate negatives.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Willibald Weniger Photographic Collection (P 081), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in three series. Series one consists of portraits of Weniger, the family photograph album, and other unidentified photographs. Series two consists of photos of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and vicinity. These images are in an album and are numbered 1 through 134. Series three consists of images of Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis and vicinity and unidentified locations in the northwestern U.S. These images are in an album and are numbered 135-556.

Related Materials

The Willibald Weniger Papers (MSS Weniger) include Weniger's dissertation and reports of a 1938 trip to visit university, physical laboratories, and factories in Europe. Additional photographs of Weniger are located in Harriet's Collection (HC 1727).

Three individual images and one album page from the Willibald Weniger Photographic Collection can be found online in Oregon Digital's Historical Images of Oregon State University.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Boats and boating--Oregon.
  • Boats and boating--Wisconsin.
  • Coasts--Oregon.
  • Floods--Oregon--Willamette River.

Personal Names

  • Horner, John B., 1856-1933.
  • Peavy, George Wilcox, 1869-1951.
  • Weniger, Willibald, 1884-

Corporate Names

  • Corvallis & Alsea River Railway Company.
  • Oregon Agricultural College--Buildings.
  • Oregon Agricultural College--Faculty.
  • Oregon Agricultural College--Students.
  • University of Wisconsin--Madison.

Geographical Names

  • Corvallis (Or.)
  • Madison (Wis.)
  • Marys Peak (Or.)
  • Marys River (Or.)
  • Mendota, Lake (Wis.)
  • Monona, Lake (Wis.)
  • Willamette River (Or.)
  • Wisconsin Dells (Wis.)

Form or Genre Terms

  • Albumen prints.
  • Cyanotypes (photographic prints)
  • Glass plate negatives.
  • Lantern slides.
  • Nitrate negatives.
  • Photograph albums.
  • Photographic prints.

Finding Aid Authors: Lawrence A. Landis.
2017

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

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