Isaac Burpee (circa 1875-1951) was born in New Brunswick, Canada, and never married. He graduated from the University of New Brunswick and was active in the Alaska gold rush. By the early 1920s, he was operating the Miami Quarry in Lincoln County, Oregon. He was also a construction engineer for the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railway on the north bank of Columbia River and took part in the building of the Celilo Canal.
Burpee was a construction engineer at Kern & Kibbe on three major Oregon Coast jetty projects: Coos Bay, South Umpqua, and Yaquina Bay. He served as the Oregon Historical Society's director and was a member of the Memorials Committee that designated the memorial marker of the Applegate Trail. He also helped to establish George Himes Park in Portland.
An avid historian and book collector, Burpee bequeathed his Pacific Northwest Americana Library to the Oregon Historical Society and the University of New Brunswick. He researched his ancestors' history and probably composed a Burpee family genealogical chart.
Papers consist of accounting records of Coos Bay, South Umpqua, and Yaquina Bay Jetty construction; and business correspondence, budgets, and architectural drawings relating to the projects. Other materials includes a Burpee family genealogical chart, correspondence, documents pertaining to book acquisitions for his Pacific Northwest Americana Library, correspondence relating to the Oregon Historical Society's Memorials Committee, and Burpee's research notes and correspondence about the Know Nothing (American) Party of Oregon.
The collection is arranged in the following series:
The collection is open to the public.
The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any publication use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Isaac Burpee papers, Mss 724, Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Gift of Isaac Burpee estate, circa 1952 (Accession number 9065).
John Work papers, 1823-1943, Mss 319, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Typescript copies of journals and correspondence of John Work, an employee and later Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company who explored the Pacific Northwest in the 1820s and 1830s. The materials were collected by Isaac Burpee in the 1940s for use in a publication of Work's journals. Also included are Burpee's research notes and a microfilm copy of John Work's original journal, 1823-1835.
There are typescript copies of letters, journals, diaries, reports, and
other information in the following manuscript collections in the Oregon
Historical Society Research Library:
The collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings:
Working papers of family members listed on the Burpee Family genealogical Chart which describes their lives, activities and family remembrances. The genealogy traces the various branches of the Burpee Family, starting with Thomas Burpee, emigrant from England, in 1630, and continues to circa 1938.
Relates to adjudication of Oregon Supreme Court re State of Oregon excise tax imposed on corporate income on the Coos Bay Jetty construction contract. Bidding Information for Road Contractors, Items and Record of Bids Submitted for Coos County, North Jetty at Coos Bay.
Drawings, War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army K-3-129 "B": Coos Bay, Oregon, Repairs to North Jetty-1938, U.S. Engineer Office, Portland, Oregon, District. This is one of the two drawings for repairs to North-Jetty, Coos Bay, Oregon, specifications, {K-3-129 "B" and K-3-129 "D"}. Drawings, War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army K-3-129 "C": Coos Bay, Oregon, Repairs to North Jetty-1938, U.S. Engineer Office, Portland, Oregon, District. This is one of the two drawings for repairs to North-Jetty, Coos Bay, Oregon. Change order "A" schematic drawings, War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army K-3-129 "C": Coos Bay, Oregon, Repairs to North Jetty-U.S. Engineer Office, Portland, Oregon, District. Change order "A" schematic drawings, War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army K-3-129 "C": Coos Bay, Oregon, Repairs to North Jetty-U.S. Engineer Office, Portland, Oregon, District. Schedule for construction work with cost accounting on Coos Bay Jetty.
Includes correspondence, notes, accounts, cost sheets, "Invitation for bids no. 33-124, Construction Contract, War Department, United States Engineer Office, First Portland District, Portland Oregon," "Submitted Bid No. 698-37-132, repair and construction of the South Jetty at the mouth of Umpqua River, Douglas County, Oregon."
Includes: trail balance and cost data, summary of distribution of accounts, daily record rock deliveries, pouring concrete blocks, and cost breakdown facts and figures.
War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, Umpqua River, Oregon, Reconstruction of North Jetty, Concrete Breakwater and Terminal, U.S. Engineer Office, Portland, Oregon, District, UM-300-1/175-2. War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, Umpqua River, Oregon, Reconstruction of North Jetty, superseding drawings UM-300-1-175.1. War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, Umpqua River, Oregon, Reconstruction of North Jetty, Concrete Breakwater and Terminal, U.S. Engineer Office, Portland, Oregon, District, UM-300-1/175.1. War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, Umpqua River, Oregon, Reedsport to Jewett Island in 2 sheets--U.S. Engineer Office, Portland Office District.
Includes correspondence, contracts, invitation to bid, "Report of specific gravity test," cost sheets.
Western Steel & Equipment Inc., Portland, Oregon, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army Schematic, K-9-41-"A": Yaquina Bay and Harbor, Oregon, North Jetty Extension, with insert of Pacific Ocean Oregon coastal towns and Bays. Rock shipping schematics, Yaquina Bay, North Jetty. Cross Sections of Barge, Bill of Material and Bill of Hardware. Kern & Kibbe, Cross Section of Barge. War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, Change Order "A" Chain Connection for Concrete Terminal, drawing K-9-41"A". Arrangement of Joints for 30 Ft. Main Line Rails and Layout for Crossovers.
Report of the Oregon Historical Society Naming of the Southern Route of the Oregon Trail, with insert map. Citation references of divergent "Southern Route" sites pioneers mentioned as turn offs taken from the Applegate Trail. Draft of the chronological history of the route from the Columbia River, Oregon to California, untitled. Proposal for Southern Route--Applegate Trail and Oregon State Highway Commission acceptance.
Memorial markers: George Himes Park, Dr. Truman Bonney, Uzapovage gift to Champoeg State Park, Lewis & Clark Salt Cairn gift, Barlow Road at Laurel Hill, and Pacific Fur Company. Short narrative history of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company Trading Post at Astoria, Oregon.
Book quotations, purchases and sales
Book quotations, purchases and book dealers' inventory lists. Notes on Oregon City's Grand Wigwam, Know Nothing (American) Party, and its political positions.
Inventoried acquisitions of Isaac Burpee