Hector Macpherson Sr. was born in Ontario, Canada, on April 22, 1875. After studying in Canada, England, and Germany, Macpherson settled in Oregon in 1911 and taught economics and sociology at the Oregon Agricultural College (later Oregon State University) in Corvallis for 15 years until 1926. During his tenure as professor, Macpherson was involved in a number of national and state commissions that examined rural credit and cooperative marketing systems.
Macpherson was active in advocating for administrative reorganization of Oregon's state political structure. In 1926, he successfully ran for representative of Linn County, serving in the 1927 Oregon legislative session. He subsequently served in the 1929, 1931, and 1939 sessions. As a representative, Macpherson was a member of the Joint Committee on Administration Reorganization in 1929-1930. In 1930, he co-sponsored the Zorn-Macpherson School Moving Bill, which, among other things, proposed consolidating the University of Oregon and Oregon State College (later Oregon State University); the bill was defeated by a proportion of more than 6 to 1.
Macpherson married Margaret Buchanan Dupree in 1911. The couple had three children: David, Miriam, and Hector, Jr. Hector Macpherson died in March 1970.
The collection contains the papers of Oregon educator and legislator Hector Macpherson. The bulk of the collection is correspondence both to and from Macpherson. Other items of note are texts of speeches delivered by Macpherson; records relating to the American Rural Life Commission; records the Oregon Legislature's Joint Committee on Administrative Reorganization; papers relating to legislative issues such as Prohibition, public utilities, state government consolidation, and the Universal Draft Bill; materials relating to the Zorn-Macpherson School Moving Bill; political campaign ephemera; and personal memorabilia.
Collection is open for research.
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.
Hector Macpherson papers, Mss 1376, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
The collection is arranged in three series: Series 1. Correspondence; Series 2. Committees and legislation; Series 3. Other papers and ephemera.
Gift of David Macpherson, March 1971 (Lib. Acc. 11849).
Books were separated to Book Collections, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Additional materials relating to the Zorn-Macpherson School Moving Bill are housed at the Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.