Agricultural Experiment Station Photographic Collection (P 29)
ca. 1900-1988 (inclusive); 1930-1970 (bulk)
1.7 cubic feet (approx. 1050 prints, 800 negatives, and 200 slides)

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of photographs taken by Agricultural Experiment Station staff of Station agricultural research both in Corvallis and at Branch Stations throughout Oregon. The bulk of the collection is a group of photographs from the John Jacob Astor Branch Experiment Station documenting its various research programs including the Northrup Creek Grazing Experiment, dairy cattle breeding and management, forage crops development, beef cattle production, and tussock (and other) weed control.

Other images of especial note in the collection are photographs of Asian pears and their marketing taken by Frank Charles Reimer, Superintendent of the Southern Oregon Experiment Station, during a 1917 trip to China.


Forms

This collection includes a variety of photographic forms including (in order of decreasing prominence): b/w prints; b/w negatives; color slides; color prints; and color negatives. Most of the b/w prints are 5x7 or smaller. The b/w negatives include a large number on nitrate-based stock which are stored separately. The collection includes original camera negatives for many of the b/w prints; there are also a substantial number of negatives without accompanying prints. The color negatives are from the mid-1940s and show some color shift. There are no prints of these negatives.


Organization and Arrangement

About 210 images have been assigned item numbers [P29:1-210]. The remainder consists of the accession from the Astor Branch Station which are arranged by subject and described at the folder-level in the following inventory. Within this accession, prints, negatives (with the exception of nitrate), and slides are stored together. About 700 of the nitrate negatives are stored in negative albums [Albums A-G] with item-level descriptions. These descriptions (using the negative numbers assigned in the albums) have been incorporated into the accompanying inventory.


Historical Note

The John Jacob Astor Experiment Station was established in 1913 at a site 4 miles southeast of Astoria in Clatsop County to conduct agricultural research under coastal conditions, specifically to investigate and demonstrate agricultural possibilities of reclaiming and utilizing tidelands and logged-off lands. The Northrup Creek Grazing Experiment was begun in 1936 on the site of one of the Tillamook forest fires to study the seeding, fertilizing, grazing, and management of logged-off and burned-over timberlands and the effects of grazing on reforestation. The project continued until the early 1950s. The John Jacob Astor Station was closed in 1972. Herbert B. Howell served as Station superintendent from 1934 until 1965 and Elmer Dent as Assistant Superintendent in 1946- 1954.


Related Materials

Many other photographs of Agricultural Experiment Station programs are part of the Agricultural Communications (P 120), Experiment Station Publications (P 132), and Station Bulletin Illustrations (P 19) Photographic Collections. A b/w 16-mm film about the Astor Branch Station is a part of the Films and Videotapes Collection (P29:1). Additional information about the Northrup Creek Grazing Experiment is in the Agricultural Communications Record Group (RG 69, Accession 91:160) and Photograph Collection (P120:8099-8208).


Shelf Locations:

Prints, Negatives, and Slides - 4 document boxes on Photograph Collection shelves, 12x17 oversize box
Nitrate Negatives - 1 document box at LS 1/15/5/12


Inventory
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Last updated: Monday, 11-Aug-2008 13:07:59 PDT