Finding Genealogical Informaiton in the Archives

Beaver Yearbook and predecessors, 1894 & 1908-present.
Early yearbooks document activities of students, particularly seniors, and include portraits of most students. Most yearbooks include a comprehensive student index. The Beaver Yearbook Photograph Collection (P 3) includes many of the original photographs used in the publication for selected years. A few individual colleges also published yearbooks, such as the CollegeofForestry's Annual Cruise , 1920-1975.

University catalogs, 1866/67-present.
Catalogs through 1956/57 include lists of students enrolled. Catalogs provide description of all classes offered by the institution. All catalogs list faculty members, including year of employment at OSU and degree dates and institutions.

Memorabilia Collection
Includes biographical files on prominent alumni and local citizens, and many faculty members.

Fusser's Guide (student directory), 1912-1997.*
Lists students' names, major, class, and campus address.

Staff directories, 1904-1997 (except 1933/34 & 1934/35).*
Lists position title, department name and address, and phone number of each OSU employee. May also include home address and phone number.

Commencement Programs, 1870-present.
Lists degrees conferred and honors and awards given to students.

News & Communication Services Records (RG 203) and Extension & Experiment Station Communication Records (RG 69)
Contains biographical files on many faculty members; 1940-1996. Records of individual departments and colleges often contain biographical files of selected faculty members.

Alumni Association Records (RG 35)
Includes class records (lists of class members, by-laws, scrapbooks, minutes, etc.), 1902-1944 [not complete]; and class reunion records (Classes of 1888-1929, 1938 and 1967).

Daily Barometer (campus newspaper), 1896-present.
Contains a variety of articles, features, obituaries, and other information on many students and faculty members. Indexed through about 1981.

Faculty and staff personnel files, ca. 1910-present.
University personnel files are maintained by the University Archives and often include considerable biographical information. NOTE: Because the personnel files contain confidential information, researcher access to these records is restricted. Archives staff members can review personnel files for pertinent information which can be disclosed.

Student academic records, ca. 1900-present.
Jointly administered be the University Archives and the Registrar's Office. Contain transcripts, and sometimes applications and other documents useful to genealogists. NOTE: Access to these records is restricted by the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). If the student is deceased, proof of such (obituary or death certificate) is necessary to obtain information from the records.

Alumni directories, 1910, 1913, 1917, 1922, 1925, & 1949-1952.
Includes names, dates of attendance, degree, employment, and home address. Directories for 1949-1952 were published as part of the Oregon Stater .

Corvallis telephone directories, 1909-1910 &1936-1982 (selected years missing).

Harriet's Photograph Collection
This collection was named for OSU's first archivist, Harriet Moore. It contains early (pre-1930) photos of students, faculty, and staff.

Faculty and Staff Photographic Collection (P 46), 1896-1970; and President's Office Photographic Collection (P 92), ca. 1930-1995.
Consists of portraits and group photographs of OSU faculty and staff members. Most of the portraits are photographs that were removed from original employment applications submitted in the 1930s through the 1960s.

Oral History Collection
Contains interviews from the 1950s to the present with OSU faculty members and prominent alumni and local citizens. Includes the oral history collection from the HornerMuseum (transferred in 1996). Interview lists available at the University Archives.

Manuscripts Collection
Many of these collections, particularly collections of faculty papers, include biographical information on the creator of the collection and his/her family.

Guides to other archives and manuscript and library special collections. The University Archives maintains a collection of guides to selected repositories across the United Statesand Canada, particularly in the Western U.S.

* The Fusser's Guide and the Staff Directory were combined into the OSU Directory in 1997.

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