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.
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.
Collection is open for research.
The McDonald Forest and Peavy Arboretum Maps are arranged in one series: I. McDonald Forest and Peavy Arboretum, 1934-1993.
McDonald Forest and Peavy Arboretum Maps (MAPS McDonaldForest), Oregon State University Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
These materials were transferred from the Oregon State University Libraries' maps collection to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2014.
Extensive materials documenting Peavy Arboretum and McDonald Forest, including maps, are part of the
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.
Detailed topography with contour interval of 5 feet; scale 1 inch = 100 feet (1:1200). Prepared by E. Marshall; dated May 1, 1934.
Two copies of the same map; one is vellum and the other a diazo blueline print. The paper copy covers a larger area than the vellum. Scale is 1 inch = 40 chains (1:31,680). Dated December 2, 1934.
Two copies of the same map. Prepared April 15, 1937 by P.R. Grimes. Scale 2 inches = 1 mile.
Prepared by G.V. Skelton in November 1937; shows land owners, structures, and roads. Hand-colored; scale of 4 inches = 1 mile.
Scale of 8 inches = 1 mile.
From NYA Survey in 1935-1939. Scale of 4 inches = 1 mile (approximately 1:250,000). Two copies of the same map.
Scale of 4 inches = 1 mile. Prepared by Al Weiner and R. Vincent. Poor condition.
Five copies of the same map; one is hand colored. Scale of 4 inches = 1 miles (approximately 1:250,000). From the NYA Survey, 1935-1939; prepared by Al Wiener in December 1940.
Hand colored; scale of 2 inches = 5 chains (1:1980). Prepared by O.R. Miller in October 1940.
Scale of 1 inch = 220 feet. Silviculture project by Bob Oslund.
Two copies of the same map; one is vellum and the other a diazo blueline print; scale of 2 inches = 1 mile; prepared by Fred S. Eyerly.
Scale 1:1500. Very detailed.
At 1:9600 scale. Prepared by OSU Research Forests; produced on a pen plotter.