The Mothers Club at Oregon State was established in 1933 during the annual Women's Weekend with the following purpose: "We pledge our support to preserve all traditions of Oregon State College, to futher its interest at all times, and to cooperate with students, alumni, faculty, and the President." Membership was extended to all women who supported this purpose and chapters (units) were established throughout the state. By 1935, units had been established in Corvallis, Hood River, Medford, and Pendleton. In the mid-1980s, there were 17 units: Beaverton, Aloha, and Sunset; Albany; Coos Bay and North Bend; Corvallis; Eugene and Springfield; Junction City, Harrisburg, and Monroe; Klamath Basin; Lake County; Lebanon, Sweet Home, and Brownsville; Mid-Columbia; Portland; Salem; Tillamook County; Pendleton and Umatilla County; Wallow County; Union County; and Morrow. Members included alumnae, mothers of current and former students, faculty and staff, and other supporters of Oregon State.
The Mothers Club (also known as the Moms Club) sponsored a variety of activities to promote Oregon State, raised funds for scholarships, and was active in Women's Weekend (later known as Mother's or Mom's Weekend) on campus.
The Oregon State University Mothers Club Records consist of records of the statewide organization as well as the units in Eugene and Springfield; Corvallis; Pendleton and Umatilla County; and Salem.
The statewide organization records include annual reports and annual meeting minutes; secretary's records; executive board files; scholarship records; OSU Foundation materials; state directories; and scrapbooks. The scrapbooks comprise the bulk of the statewide records and include clippings, photographs, ephemera, meeting minutes, and reports. The scrapbooks include extensive information about unit activities.
The Eugene and Springfield Unit records include annual reports, bylaws and consitutions, correspondence, financial statements, meeting minutes and agendas, membership lists, photographs, and publications. Most of the records are arranged chronologically as they were originally housed in notebooks. The records also document the activities of the Unit's Quilt Committee, which created quilts that were raffled to raise funds for scholarships, and include photographs of the quilts. Artifacts include a banner and a pair of orange gloves and a bell that were used as part of the ceremonial opening of the unit's meetings.
The Corvallis Unit records consist of minutes and financial records for 1934-1940 and three scrapbooks for the period 1934-1976 that document the activities of the unit. They primarily consist of clippings and ephemera with a few photographs. The Corvallis records also include an undated recipe booklet (circa 1970s) for coffee and tea breads served at the unit's Fall Coffee.
The Pendleton (Umatilla County) records include meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, event guest lists, correspondence, and related materials. The Salem Unit records include the unit's bylaws (1953) and minutes for 1941-1951.
All photographs in the collection are affixed in scrapbooks. They include color and b/w prints, primarily of statewide and unit officers and unit activities.
Collection is open for research.
Oregon State University Mothers Club Records, Oregon State University Archives, Corvallis, Oregon.
This collection is not fully processed; this guide is preliminary.
The records were donated and transferred in numerous accessions between the late 1970s and 2001. The Eugene and Springfield Unit records were donated to the Archives in 2008.
The Student Affairs Records (RG 102) and the