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Edith Yang Papers, 1940-2009

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Yang, Edith Leong, 1918-2012
Title
Edith Yang Papers
Dates
1940-2009 (inclusive)
Quantity
62.00 cubic feet, including 4062 sheets and 25 photographs, (9 boxes, including 7 oversize boxes (in inches: 14x18, 20x24, 22x28, 23x31, 4x48), and 58 map folders)
Collection Number
MSS Yang
Summary
The Edith Yang Papers consist of materials generated and collected by Edith Yang. In 1954, Yang, as a Chinese-American Woman, was the first woman of color to be licensed as an architect in Oregon. Yang predominantly worked within Benton County, Oregon, with the majority of her work taking place within Corvallis and the Oregon State University campus. The collection documents her architectural work in four areas: commercial, residential, and OSU, as well as World War II-related projects. Also included are biographical and other materials reflecting Yang's community engagement within the Corvallis community.
Repository
Oregon State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives Research Center
Special Collections and Archives Research Center
121 The Valley Library
Oregon State University
Corvallis OR
97331-4501
Telephone: 5417372075
Fax: 5417378674
scarc@oregonstate.edu
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Edith Leong Yang was born in 1918 in Portland, Oregon. In 1954, as a Chinese-American, Yang became the first woman of color to be licensed as an architect in Oregon, and she contributed greatly to the Corvallis community through her architectural work in the city, on Oregon State University’s campus, and through her community service. She married Hoya Yang in Vancouver, Washington, and they had two children in the 1960s.

For her education, Yang attended Jefferson High School and graduated in 1936. She began her secondary schooling at Reed College in Portland for one year, before transferring to Museum Art School in Portland, which she graduated from in 1942. Afterward, she decided to pursue a career in architecture. There was a brief pause in her schooling from 1942 to 1944, when she engaged in draft work for the Kaiser Company Vancouver Shipyards. Once she returned to school, she received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Oregon in 1946 and a Master of Science from Oregon State University in 1948. She then pursued her architectural degree at Reed College, the Portland Museum Art School, and Columbia University's School of Architecture before receiving a degree in architecture from the University of Oregon in 1950.

Post-graduation, Yang began her work in architecture with Cleo Jenkins and other architects from Corvallis and Portland from 1950-1954 to gain experience to be licensed in Oregon. Through these experiences, she learned piping, ventilation and structural drafting, production illustration, and isometrics. In 1954, she became licensed in Oregon and started a private practice. Some of the projects of note in her private practice in Benton County include Country Kitchen, Acres Farmstead, Emery’s Shopping Center, Shupe Furniture Store, Co-Resident Women, Inc Projects, and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis buildings. From 1979 to 1991 she was the Staff Architect for the Oregon State University Physical Plant. Yang also worked on many additions and renovations of the buildings on campus outside of her time as Staff Architect; notable projects include the Chi Phi Chapter House and the Hyslop Farm Crops Lab.

Yang was a State Certified A-Level Plans Examiner and Structural Inspector and served as the Vice Chairman of the Corvallis Board of Appeals for the Uniform Building Code. Additionally, she was a member of the American Institute of Architecture from 1955-1982 and was the Secretary-Treasurer for the Southwest Oregon Chapter from 1958-1959.

Her knowledge of code, architecture, and design proved useful not only in her architectural career, but within her community service and involvement with the development of Corvallis and the riverfront area. She was a member of the Linn-Benton Housing Authority for a five-year term. In the 1960s, she was Vice President and then President of the Corvallis chapter of Zonta International, a club that promotes women’s rights and equality in every aspect of life. She was involved with providing aid and support for international students at OSU and serving as the chairman of the committee to create the Zonta float in the Corvallis Freedom Parade in 1975. Yang was appointed for a 3-year term with the Arts in Oregon Council Board of Directors in 1971 and later became the Vice President in 1976. While on the Board, she worked on the Environmental Task Force. Yang was also a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis, which she joined in 1970. She assisted in various renovations of the Fellowship’s buildings from 1982 to 1988, as well as taking on architectural work from other churches in Oregon, including the United Methodist Church of Corvallis, Church of the Good Samaritan, and Tangent City Church. In addition, Yang was a charter member of Citizens of Corvallis, a chair for the Corvallis Arts Center, and a charter member of Focus Club.

Her achievements include being named one of the 1970 Theta Sigma Phi Community Women of Achievement. She was published in Wood Design Focus in their Spring 1990 issue for “Case Study: OSU Seed Lab,” and was a co-editor of “Live with Good Design” and “Live with the Arts in Oregon,” a pocket guide. She also wrote a report titled “Evolution of the Home” which includes original sketches.

She retired from architectural work in 2000 after 46 years working in her private practice. She died in 2012 at the age of 94.

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Content Description

The Edith Yang Papers include biographical materials, reflect Yang's community engagement within the Corvallis community, and document a representative sample of Yang's architectural projects. The collection's scope focuses on her commercial and residential projects in Benton County, her OSU campus projects, including those during her time as Staff Architect of the university’s Physical Plant, and her World War II-related projects. Some of the projects include both her architectural designs and project documentation, others only reflect her design work: folder titles with "Project Documentation" included indicate that there are non-architectural sheets (all project documentation materials are located in boxes 1 and 2, both of which are cubic foot boxes), and if a folder includes "Extent" with a listed number of sheets there are architectural sheets included.

The biographical materials include artwork produced by Yang, newspaper profiles, interviews about Yang, and her design projects as a student. The community engagement materials reflect how Yang utilized her architectural skills for the betterment of the Corvallis community through her civic and community engagement work. Yang participated in various clubs, the organization of street tree planting and waterfront beautification projects, and she worked on involving citizens in the process of a civic development plan for Corvallis. There are a few architectural sheets within these series, but they are associated with projects that Yang was not hired for, or that she donated her time and skills to.

The bulk of the collection consists of Yang's commercial, residential, and OSU related architectural projects, as well as World War II-related projects. These are largely comprised of oversized architectural sheets, but may also contain smaller architectural sheets, correspondence, estimates and invoices, specifications, newspaper clippings, notes, and other textual documents related to the project found within the documentation.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Edith Yang Papers (MSS Yang), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Edith Yang Papers are arranged into six series and the materials are arranged alphabetically within those series: Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1954-2009; Series 2: Community Engagement, 1956-2002; Series 3: World War II Related Projects, 1942-1944; Series 4: Commercial Projects, 1953-2000; Series 5: OSU Projects, 1949-2002; and Series 6: Residential Projects, 1952-2003. Each entry is an individual folder, and most projects have multiple entries.

Related Materials

Related materials include the Facilities Services Records (RG 193) which document OSU's physical campus in Corvallis as well as OSU facilities throughout the state of Oregon; RG 193 consists predominantly of architectural drawings and files for the design, construction, and modification of structures. For additional information regarding OSU buildings, see the "OSU Buildings Histories" research guide. The Yang Papers are a part of the Oregon Multicultural Archives (OMA); for additional information regarding the Asian American experience in Oregon see the OMA website's page featuring collections related to Asian American People and Culture.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Finding Aid Authors: Jozie Billings.
2024

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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