Archives West Finding Aid

The Illustrated Booklets were published by Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) during the 1910s and 1920s to promote and publicize the College to potential students and Oregon residents and provide vocational guidance to youth and young adults.  In addition to general information about academic and research programs of the College, booklets focused on agriculture, engineering, music, science, landscape architecture, business, and home economics were produced.  Several booklets promote opportunities for women at OAC.  Two booklets published during World War I highlight military training and the roles of OAC students and faculty in the war.  One booklet describes campus buildings and facilities as of 1922 and another is dedicated solely to the newly completed Memorial Union.

Edwin T. Reed edited and wrote many of the booklets.  The booklets include numerous photographs and graphical elements.  The photographs depict campus buildings and scenes, students in classrooms and laboratories, and student activities. The first bulletin was described as “elegant … handsomely illustrated … [and] beautifully printed”.  One review of the 1911 bulletin stated, “Every home in Grant County should have a copy.”

Individual copies of most of the bulletins are part of this collection; the bound volumes that comprise Series 2 include two additional bulletins.  Limited correspondence from the College Editor soliciting content for the 1926 booklet on the theme of science; production information for one of the booklets; and news clippings about the first booklet, published in 1911, are also part of this collection.

All of the booklets are available online and searchable in Oregon Digital.