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Oliver Greeley Hughson papers, 1882-1959

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Hughson, Oliver Greeley, 1864-1959
Title
Oliver Greeley Hughson papers
Dates
1882-1959 (inclusive)
1933-1959 (bulk)
Quantity
9 cubic feet, (9 record cartons)
Collection Number
Mss 1712
Summary
Oliver Greeley Hughson, a retired building materials salesman, developed a successful program to teach young men construction skills. His Boy Builders clubs and "Minimalic Construction" method became a model for schools and colleges throughout the United States and British Columbia. The bulk of Hughson's papers chronicle the development of this training program from its inception in 1933 until his death in 1959. His personal papers include correspondence, his 1882 diary, day books, and family history.
Repository
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Oliver Greeley Hughson (1864-1959) was born in Broome County, New York. He apprenticed as a blacksmith in Stockton, California, before enrolling in the University of Pacific, where he earned his bachelor's degree in liberal arts and classics in 1892. Hughson began his career selling building materials in Oregon in 1896, through which he gained familiarity with the construction and logging industries, which he later described in a piece published in Oregon Historical Quarterly in 1959. He also became a labor organizer under the employment of the Builders Exchange Board of Directors (circa 1913). He and his wife, Rose Hudson (died 1922) had one son, Robur S., who was born in 1893.

During the Depression era, Hughson became alarmed at the lack of opportunities for boys under age 16 to gain experience in building construction. In 1933, Hughson, then a 69-year-old retiree, developed the first Boy Builders Club to teach all aspects of the trade through the creation of accurately scaled minature buildings. He registered his business, the State Building Congress, with Multnomah County in 1937, and initially formed clubs via the state 4-H system. The program moved into the public school classroom and became a model for programs in schools and colleges throughout the United States as well as in British Columbia, reaching an estimated 50,000 young men. Hughson obtained waste lumber from various sources to be used in his "Minimalic Construction" projects, and set up a shop on the Lane County Fairgrounds to produce precision-cut dimension lumber to be distributed free of charge to schools. He worked doggedly at this voluntary labor of love for the remainder of his life.

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Content Description

This collection of Oliver Hughson Greeley's papers consists primarily of materials related to the development, operations, and promotion of the Boy Builders Clubs and Minimalic Construction, chronicled through correspondence, reports, publications, minutes, clippings, construction drawings, speeches, notes, scrapbooks and memorabilia. Correspondents include timber companies and organizations, educators, Oregon State College and the State College of Washington (now Oregon State University and Washington State University, respectively). The collection also includes personal papers, consisting of correspondence, Hughson's 1882 diary, day books, family history, and other items.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Oliver Greeley Hughson papers, Mss 1712, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Restrictions on Use

The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in the two series:

  • Series 1: Boy Builders Club materials
  • Series 2: Personal papers

Acquisition Information

Gifts of O. G. Hughson, September 1959 (Lib. Acc. 8203) and the estate of Oliver Greeley Hughson, care of Helen Haroldson, October 1959 (Lib. Acc. 8227).

Separated Materials

Photographs were separated from the materials in this collection and cataloged as Org. Lot 81, the Oliver Greeley Hughson photographs collection, at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Bibliography

Oliver Greeley (Oil and Grease) Hughson, "When We Logged the Columbia," Oregon Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, No. 2 (June 1959), pages 173-209.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • 4-H clubs--Oregon
  • Boys--Oregon--Societies and clubs
  • Miniature craft--United States
  • Vocational education--Oregon
  • Vocational education--Washington (State)

Personal Names

  • Hughson, Oliver Greeley, 1864-1959

Corporate Names

  • State Building Congress (Portland, Or.)--Records and correspondence

Family Names

  • Hughson family

Geographical Names

  • Models and modelmaking--United States

Form or Genre Terms

  • correspondence
  • diaries
  • publications (documents)
  • scrapbooks

Shawna Gandy and George Miller
2011; revised 2023

CC0

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