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McDonald Forest and Peavy Arboretum Maps, 1934-1993

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Oregon State College. School of Forestry.
Title
McDonald Forest and Peavy Arboretum Maps
Dates
1934-1993 (inclusive)
1934-1943 (bulk)
Quantity
1 cubic foot, including 22 maps, (2 map folders)
Collection Number
MAPS McDonaldForest
Summary
The McDonald Forest and Peavy Arboretum Maps consist primarily of detailed maps of the Arboretum and Forest prepared from the mid-1930s through early 1940s. The maps document topography, forest site and timber types, and plantings in the Arboretum. Peavy Arboretum and McDonald Forest were established in the 1920s as a teaching laboratory and experimental forest for the forestry students at Oregon State College.
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

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English
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Historical Note

Peavy Arboretum was established in the mid-1920s as a teaching laboratory for forestry students by Oregon Agricultural College on land purchased by the College about 8 miles north of Corvallis. Eighty acres were designated as the Arboretum, which reached its present extent of 181 acres by 1931. Since its establishment, the Arboretum has been the site of a tree nursery, a "post farm" for research on fence posts and telephone poles, a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp, a demonstration forest, and a public recreation site.

The lands that comprise McDonald Forest were purchased by Oregon Agricultural College for the School of Forestry beginning in the 1920s. However, the bulk of the Forest was acquired in 1935 with funds donated by Mary McDonald, for whom it is named. The McDonald-Dunn Forest now comprises over 11,000 acres and is the primary research, teaching, and demonstration forest for the Oregon State University College of Forestry.

Mary McDonald provided gifts of money and land to the School of Forestry beginning in the 1920s, initially in gratitude for recommendations Dean George W. Peavy made to address invasive weeds on the McDonald estate in California. In the early 1930s, McDonald contributed the initial volumes and funding for the McDonald Rare Book and Manuscript Collection in the Oregon State College Library.

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Content Description

The McDonald Forest and Peavy Arboretum Maps consist primarily of detailed maps of the Arboretum and forest prepared from the mid-1930s through the early 1940s. The maps document topography, forest site and timber types, and arboretum plantings. The maps depict the forest and arboretum boundaries, roads, streams and lakes, and structures. Of special note are maps depicting land owners in the area as of 1937. Most of the maps are quite detailed; multiple copies of some maps are available. The collection includes one detailed map produced on a pen plotter in 1993 depicting the topography of two tracts in the Soap Creek Valley.

The maps were prepared by students and faculty of the Oregon State College School of Forestry and the OSU Research Forests, including Fred S. Eyerly, P.R. Grimes, Olin R. Miller, Robert S. Oslund, and Alfred A. Wiener. Gordon V. Skelton prepared the 1937 map of Peavy Arboretum.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

McDonald Forest and Peavy Arboretum Maps (MAPS McDonaldForest), Oregon State University Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The McDonald Forest and Peavy Arboretum Maps are arranged in one series: I. McDonald Forest and Peavy Arboretum, 1934-1993.

Acquisition Information

These materials were transferred from the Oregon State University Libraries' maps collection to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2014.

Related Materials

Extensive materials documenting Peavy Arboretum and McDonald Forest, including maps, are part of the College of Forestry Records (RG 139) and Photographs (P 061). The McDonald Forest Aerial Photographs (P 294), Royal G. Jackson Papers (MSS JacksonR), and Donald B. Zobel Collection of Historic Forestry and Vegetation Maps (MAPS ZobelMaps) also provide information about the experimental forest and arboretum.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

  • Series I: McDonald Forest and Peavy Arboretum, 1934-1993

    Series I consists of detailed maps of Peavy Arboretum and McDonald Forest. The maps are described below in chronological order. Multiple copies of some maps are available.

Finding aid prepared by Elizabeth Nielsen and Anna Stewart.
2014

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

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