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Walter R. Baker Photographs, circa 1863 - circa 1930

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Baker, Walter Rawalt G.
Title
Walter R. Baker Photographs
Dates
circa 1863 - circa 1930 (inclusive)
1903-1910 (bulk)
Quantity
1.5 cubic feet, including 522 photographs, (15 boxes, including 1 oversize box)
Collection Number
P 018
Summary
The Walter R. Baker Photographs consists of images taken or collected by Baker during and soon after his student years at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC). The collection includes images of campus buildings and students as well photographs of buildings in and near Salem, Oregon, and of the Portland, Oregon, waterfront. Baker attended OAC from 1904 to 1909; he earned a BS in Electrical Engineering in 1908 and completed graduate work in 1909 leading to designation as an Electrical Engineer.
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

Walter Rawalt Baker was born on December 24, 1883. He attended Oregon Agricultural College from 1904 to 1909 and received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1908. He also received the Electrical Engineer designation from O.A.C. in 1909 after completing graduate coursework. Baker's home was in Macleay, Oregon, near Salem. Alumni directories from the 1910s and 1920s list his occupation as farmer. An obituary in the Oregon Stater indicates that Baker died on April 23, 1962, and that he had worked as a farmer and a telephone lineman for community owned telephone companies. He was the primary caregiver for his brother, William, who was injured in an industrial accident in the 1910s.

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Content Description

The Walter R. Baker Photographs consist of images taken or collected by Walter Rawalt Baker. Approximately one-fourth of the images pertain to Oregon Agricultural College between about 1905 and 1909, and include buildings, campus views, students and faculty members. Some of the O.A.C. images were used in the 1909 Orange yearbook. These include several images of the residents of Cauthorn Hall, the men's dormitory during this time, and students' rooms as well as military cadets on campus. A small number of images are of Corvallis and the surrounding area, including Marys Peak, and also date from around 1905 to 1909.

Another significant group of images include views of Salem buildings and the Portland waterfront. Included among the Salem buildings are the State Capitol (pre-1935), the Marion County Courthouse (built in the 1880s), the Chemawa Indian Training School, Willamette University, the Odd Fellows building, and various schools and downtown businesses. The Portland waterfront images are of ships and bridges. Other images in the collection depict agriculture in the Willamette Valley, the Oregon Coast, the Baker Family and home in Macleay near Salem, portraits of family friends and their homes, rural schools and school children, and the Iowa National Guard.

The collection consists of 153 glass negatives (primarily 4x5, with about 20 5x7 format); 46 nitrate roll film negatives; and approximately 325 prints. About one hundred of the glass negatives and most of the nitrate negatives do not have accompanying prints. Many of the prints are mounted on paper board supports; two of the prints are cartes de visites from the mid-1860s.

The collection includes several images made by Corvallis photographer, W.S. Gardner. A selection of images in the collection are available online in the Best of the Archives digital collection.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Walter R. Baker Photographs (P 018), Oregon State University Archives, Corvallis, Oregon.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Walter R. Baker Photographs are arranged in two series: I. Photographs, circa 1863 - circa 1930 and II. Negative Sleeves and Envelopes. All of the images have been assigned individual item numbers (P018:001 - P018:387).

Acquisition Information

The collection was received by the Archives in the 1960s.

Related Materials

Harriet's Collection includes a photograph of Walter Rawalt Baker (HC 1605) as well as photographs of Corvallis attributed to W. R. Baker (HC 0596). The Archives' holdings include many other collections documenting campus buildings and students in the first decade of the 20th century, including the William Harling Davolt Scrapbook and Photographs, the Alexander K. Chapman Photograph Collection (P 235), and the Fred Deininger Luse Photograph Album (P 228). The Wanda Gifford (P 218-SG 4) and Ben L. (P 218-SG 5) Gifford Photographs include many images of Salem, Oregon, in the 1940s-1950s. The Walter R. Baker Papers are held at the University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archives.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

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Subject Terms

  • College buildings--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • College students--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • Military education--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • Waterfronts--Oregon--Portland.

Corporate Names

  • Chemawa Indian School.
  • Oregon Agricultural College--Buildings.
  • Oregon Agricultural College--Students.

Geographical Names

  • Corvallis (Or.)
  • Marys Peak (Or.)
  • Portland (Or.)
  • Salem (Or.)

Form or Genre Terms

  • Cartes de visite.
  • Glass negatives.
  • Nitrate negatives.
  • Photographic prints.

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Gardner, W. S. (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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