Oregon State University Libraries, Special Collections & Archives Research Center
University
Archives
121 The Valley
Library
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331-4501
Phone:
541-737-2165
Email:
archives@oregonstate.edu
Web:
http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/archives
MSS
Gibson
Gibson, Vane G. (Vane Garfield)
Vane G. Gibson Collection
1908-1937
1909-1913
0.75 cubic foot, including 330
photographs
2 boxes, including 1
oversize box
The Vane G. Gibson Collection consists of
two photograph albums, a clippings scrapbook, and related materials
documenting the student years of Gibson and his wife, Fern Loughridge
Gibson, at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) and their activities during
the 1920s and 1930s. Vane Gibson graduated from OAC in 1912; Fern
Loughridge graduated in 1911.
Materials
in
English.
Biographical Note:
Vane G. Gibson attended Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) from 1908 to
1912, when he earned a BS in agriculture. Gibson graduated from high
school in Jamestown, Indiana in June 1907; he lived in Warm Springs (Crook
County), Oregon, at the time he enrolled at OAC. Gibson was a member of
the Zetagathean Literary Society and president of the Society during his
senior year.
Gibson worked as an horticultural advisor and station agent for the
Portland, Eugene, and Eastern Railway in Corvallis after graduation. He
was enrolled briefly in 1917 as a graduate student in horticulture at
Oregon Agricultural College. In 1922, he transferred from the Spokane,
Washington, office of the U.S. Bureau of Markets to the St. Louis office
where he was in charge of the Market News Office. He resigned from that
position in 1925 and returned to Corvallis to buy a half-interest in the
Independent Lumber Company. He was active in the local Masonic Lodge.
Gibson retired in 1954 and died in Corvallis on October 4, 1958.
Fern Gladys Loughridge, originally from Hedrick, Iowa, attended Oregon
Agricultural College from 1908 to 1911, when she earned a BS in Commerce.
Her home was given as Corvallis when she enrolled at OAC. She was a member
of the Utopian Literary Society and president of the Society during her
senior year. Loughridge was active in the D.B. Society, an organization
"to promote the social activities" of women students who did not live in
Waldo Hall. She married Gibson in 1913. Fern L. Gibson died in Corvallis
on June 7, 1982.
The Vane G. Gibson Collection consists of two photograph albums, a
clippings scrapbook, and related materials documenting the student years
of Gibson and his wife, Fern Loughridge Gibson, at Oregon Agricultural
College (OAC) and their activities during the 1920s and 1930s.
One of the photograph albums was assembled by Vane Gibson and covers
the period 1910-1912. It includes photographs of the OAC campus and many
OAC students, especially on outings and a 1911 excursion to Newport on the
Oregon coast. The album includes photographic postcards of cadets and
military inspections; the Class of 1910; and a campus work day in May
1910. One of the images of the work day depicts "pulling trees over" on
the west side of Agriculture (now Strand) Hall. The album includes several
dance cards and the autographs of classmates and the cast of
Strongheart, a play performed by the
Zetagathean and Utopian Literary Societies in 1912. Loose items that have
been separated from the album consist of various ephemeral OAC items,
including programs and broadsides for the Strongheart production; clippings; and a speech by
Gibson given at the Oregon State Horticultural Society Meeting in
1911.
The second photograph album (1909-1913), an
OAC Stunt Book was apparently assembled by
Fern Loughridge and includes images of Oregon Agricultural College (OAC)
students, including the DB Club (Society), an initiation for the Utopian
Literary Society, cadets and military formations, and class football
teams. The album includes several images of campus views and buildings,
the Kappa Sigma Nu fraternity house in 1913, and homes in Corvallis. Most
of the images in the album are of student outings, picnics, and trips to
Newport. It also includes images of Loughridge's travels to Seattle and
Canada (Canadian Rockies). Snapshots of circus animals; families and
children; and scenes of Hedrick, Iowa are also included. The album
includes dance cards and clippings announcing the marriage of Gibson and
Loughridge in 1913.
The clippings scrapbook,
Articles of the Day, includes clippings
from newspapers and magazines from 1908 thru 1936 on a variety of topics
including Oregon Agricultural College; Vane Gibson and his family;
horticulture; and national and international events during this time
period. Ephemeral items pertaining to the Masonic Lodge in Corvallis from
1925 to 1933 have been separated from the scrapbook.
The collection also includes a 1937 letter from Hugh Smith and Hortense
Epply Smith, members of the Class of 1912, with several photographs.
Collection is open for research.
Vane G. Gibson Collection, Oregon State University Archives, Corvallis,
Oregon.
These materials were donated to the Archives in 1983.
Some photographs of Gibson and Loughridge acquired at the same time as
these materials are part of the Alumni Association Photographs (P 017).
The Archives' collections include many photograph albums and scrapbooks
assembled in the 1910s, including the
Irwin
Betzel Collection,
Merle T.
Jenkins Papers,
A.
Freeman Mason Scrapbook,
Leslie
Miller Scrapbook,
Willetta
Moore Photograph Album (P 269),
Francis
and Lois Wilson Neer Photograph Album (P 206), and
Marshall
S. Wright Photograph Album (P 276).
Gibson, Fern L.
Oregon
Agricultural College--Buildings.
Oregon
Agricultural College--Students.
Oregon State
Horticultural Society.
Agriculture--Oregon.
College and school drama,
American--Oregon--Corvallis.
College
students--Oregon--Corvallis.
Literature--Societies,
etc.
Military
education--Oregon--Corvallis.
Student
activities--Oregon--Corvallis.
Women--Oregon--Corvallis.
Corvallis
(Or.)
Pacific Coast
(Or.)
Ephemera.
Photographic
postcards.
Photograph albums.
Photographic
prints.
Scrapbooks.
Agriculture
Children and Youth
Colleges and
Universities
Home and Family
Student Life
Women
Oregon
Corvallis
Seattle
Photographs
Scrapbooks