Harvey L. McAlister was known as "Pap Hayseed" during his student years at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC). McAlister came from Lexington, Oregon (in Morrow County) to OAC in 1893. As a freshman, he played center on the first OAC football team. McAlister attended OAC from 1893 to 1897 and earned a BS in Agriculture. After service in the Spanish-American War, he returned to Lexington where he farmed until his retirement in 1947, when he moved to the Veterans Home in Napa, California. McAlister died in California in 1955.
The Harvey L. McAlister Collection consists of materials assembled by McAlister that document his student years at Oregon Agricultural College and his service in the Spanish-American War.
The materials from his student years include a scrapbook of clippings about the first years of football at Oregon Agricultural College in 1893-1897, photographs, and his diplomas. In addition to football clippings, the scrapbook includes clippings about OAC students and Corvallis; several ephemeral items; and articles about Oregon and Washington history especially Dr. Marcus Whitman.
The photographs include portrait photographs of McAlister and images of groups of students; military cadets; and campus views and buildings, including Benton Hall, the greenhouse and horticulture building, Mechanical Hall, Alpha Hall, and the octagonal barn. One of the photographs was made by Pernot Brothers, of Corvallis. Of particular note are several Christmas cards showing either Mount Hood or Benton Hall.
The Spanish-American War materials include Spanish-American War veterans publications, Philipine newspapers published in Manila in 1898-1899, and several photographs of Oregon veterans made in the 1920s.
The McAlister Collection also includes several early American newspapers. These include two issues of the
Collection is open for research.
Harvey L. McAlister Collection, Oregon State University Archives, Corvallis, Oregon.
The photographs in this collection were originally a separate OSU Archives collection (P 064) and have been combined with the paper records and the football scrapbook to form the Harvey L. McAlister Collection. This collection is not fully processed; this guide is preliminary.
The paper records and scrapbooks were donated to the Library in 1950; the photographs were acquired by the Archives before the early 1960s.
Additional materials pertaining to the Spanish-American War are available in the Memorabilia Collection (MC-Spanish American War). The Football Photograph Collection (P 004) and Harriet's Collections include numerous other photographs of early Oregon Agricultural College football teams and players.