Ruby Stafrin Irwin, born Ruby Ruth Stafrin, was born in Dallas, Oregon on July, 24 1904. Her parents were Colonel Conrad and Millie (Elliot) Stafrin, prominent members of the Dallas community. In addition to running the Wilson Drug Company of Dallas (later Stafrin Drug Store), Colonel Stafrin served as mayor of Dallas from 1925-1928 and Millie was the president of the Dallas Women’s Club.
In 1923, Ruby and her sister, Mildred, enrolled in the three-year Pharmacy program at Oregon Agricultural College with the intention of working for their father’s drug store in Dallas. Ruby and Mildred lived in Snell Hall and were involved with Phi Gamma sorority on campus. Ruby was engaged to fellow pharmacy student Andrew Irwin Jr. during their sophomore year, and married on February 14, 1926.
Andrew later ended up managing Stafrin Drug Store in which both Ruby and Mildred worked. The sisters remained active in the Dallas community for the rest of their lives.
Ruby passed away on October 30, 1989 in Dallas, Oregon.
The material was transferred to the University Archives by the Polk County Historical Society in 2004.
For reasons of preservation and access, the scrapbook was disbound and its pages placed in file folders. A folder of loose items that have detached from the scrapbook is also included.
Collection is open for research.
Ruby Stafrin Irwin Scrapbook (MSS Irwin), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
A number of other student scrapbooks and personal documents from the early 20th century are included in the collections, including the
The scrapbook is comprised primarily of photographs, and also contains programs for various campus events relating to the pharmacy fraternity of Kappa Psi, as well as the Y.W.C.A and the Annual Junior Vaudeville Show. The scrapbook also includes commencement programs from 1926, several dance cards, Homecoming game programs from 1923, tags and place cards, and a green freshman rook lid and ribbon. Also included are many newspaper clippings regarding Oregon State Pharmacy School, Rho Chi honor society, the pharmacy club, engagements of friends, events attended, and Dallas, Oregon.
In addition to documenting Ruby, Mildred, and fiance Andrew Irwin as students, the images also depict campus buildings and grounds, particularly Snell Hall and Our Lady of the Fountain. Several hiking and driving excursions are depicted, notably to the Willamette and Marys Rivers and the Oregon Coast. Identified classmates photographed include Clarence Wood, Donna Stone, Zeta Rippy, Stella Fishburn, Mary Belt, Florence Wharton, Katherine Boswell, and Esther Cottle. Campus events shown in photographs include distribution of Beaver yearbooks, Convocation, the "Burning of the Green", Campus Weekend, the Military Tournament, and Graduation. A few images of Ruby's parents and of other members of the Stafrin or Irwin family are also present.