Herbarium Photographs (P 93)
        1904-1963 (inclusive); 1904-1920 (bulk)
        0.25 cubic foot; approximately 80 items

Forest Botany Class, 1914.
Forest Botany Class, 1914. Students in a forest botany class identify and study woody plants in the vicinity of Beeche's Woods, near the Willamette River. As a laboratory for plant research, the Herbarium has been an important resource for the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology since its creation in the early 1880s. Today, the Herbarium serves not only as the chief repository for the OSU collection of plants and fungi, but those of Willamette University and the U of O as well. [OSU Archives P93:32]


Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of photographs from the Herbarium. About half of the photographs are identified and one-third are dated. The images depict a variety of plants and trees both in the wild and in greenhouses, famous botanists, Curators of the Herbarium including E.R. Lake and Helen Gilkey, botany students engaged in research in the classroom and in the field, logging operations, and views of Marys Peak taken from several locations.

Organization and Arrangement
The photographs are numbered P93:1-69

Forms
There are 29 prints in this collection: 28 b/w and 1 color. The remainder of the photographic images are nitrate and glass plate negatives with no prints.

Historical Note
Since its establishment in the early 1880s, the Herbarium has served as the chief repository for the University's collection of flora as well as a laboratory for the study and identification of plants and fungi. Managed since 1883 by a Curator under the auspices of the Department of Botany and Horticulture, the focus of the Herbarium has shifted away from the traditional role of student instruction and more toward the acquisition and cataloging of Pacific Northwest plant specimens. As a research facility, the Herbarium has become the leading center for research on the taxonomy of mycorrhizal fungi. Currently housed at Cordley Hall, the Herbarium has moved many times from its original location in Education Hall. The Herbarium has also resided in the Strand Agricultural building, the basement of the Memorial Union, and Gill Coliseum. In 1993, under pressure to cut costs stemming from state budget reductions, the University of Oregon Herbarium merged with the facility at OSU, increasing the number of plant specimens housed at Cordley Hall by nearly one- third. Willamette University's collection of flora has also recently been transferred to the OSU Herbarium.

Related Materials
In addition to the photographs of the Herbarium, other materials relating to OSU's role in plant instruction and research include: the records of the Herbarium (RG 117), the records and photographs of the Botany and Plant Pathology Department (RG 54, P 75), the records and photographs of the Horticulture Department (RG 187, P 90), and the records of the OSU Horticultural Society (RG 151). The personal papers of Helen Gilkey, who served as the Curator of the Herbarium from 1918 to 1951, also contain materials pertaining to the Herbarium, including an unpublished manuscript of the history of the facility.

Shelf Location
P shelves

Inventory


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Prepared by: Karl McCreary