Effie Louise Wagner graduated from Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) in 1928 with a BS in vocational education. She attended Oregon Normal School before enrolling at OAC in the fall of 1926. Wagner was born in Wilsonville, Oregon, on November 2, 1902; she died in Hood River, Oregon, in May 1982.
Wagner was manager of the women's debate squad during the 1927-1928 academic year. She was a junior high school teacher in Astoria, Oregon, after graduation. Wagner married George Felix Ackerman, who graduated from OAC in 1929 with a degree in mines.
The Effie L. Wagner Scrapbook documents the 1928 Women's Debate Tour by three members of the Oregon Agricultural College varsity women's debate squad. The team visited Whitman College; the Universities of Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming; and the University of California in Los Angeles to uphold the negative side on the question of mass education. The three-week tour in February and March was the longest ever taken by the women's squad at that time.
The scrapbook consists of a narrative journal of the trip, photographs, newspaper clippings, and ephemera. The narrative describes various aspects of the tour including the train ride, interaction with students at the host colleges, impressions of the campuses they visited, sightseeing in California, and a send-off reception in Corvallis at the beginning of the tour. The photographs depict Wagner and her teammates Dorothy E. Williams and Helen B. Woodward on the train, visiting the college campuses, and touring in California.
In addition to numerous articles about the tour, the clippings include articles about the Oregon Agricultural College men's debate and speech contests; articles about other student activities; and news stories about George (Felix) Ackerman, whom Wagner later married. Ephemeral items include postcards, an itinerary, and brochures.
Collection is open for research.
Effie L. Wagner Scrapbook of the Women's Debate Tour, Oregon State University Archives, Corvallis, Oregon.
The scrapbook was donated to the Archives by Wagner's granddaughter in 2008.
The Archives' collections include a variety of materials pertaining to
debate and speech activities at Oregon State, including the Speech
Communication Department Records (RG 181) and the Drama, Debate, and
Oration Scrapbooks for 1920-1963. The