Category: Digital Collections

Digitization Update – August 2023

Digitization Alert!

Nathan Georgitis, our Archivist of Digital Collections, has been hard at work and now there’s a fresh batch of materials to pull off the (digital) shelf!

UO bookstore, circa 1989.

Now available on Aviary, our hub for digitized audio/visual materials:

Haywood P. Sconce Papers (Ax 363) and his Christian Celebrity Tyme Radio Program Sound Recordings

Haywood P. Sconce (1905-1959) was an enterprising, Arkansas-born Baptist minister who served congregations in Oregon and Washington. In 1954, he became the founding director of Christian Celebrity Tyme, a religious radio program.

Track athlete Jesse Owens is shown mid-air, reaching his right arm forward as his left arm reaches overhead. His left leg extends as his right leg bends. His has dark skin tone, short hair and wears a white tank top and white shorts.
Jesse Owens competing in the long jump. Berlin Summer Olympics, 1936. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, August 31, 2023

The Christian Celebrity Tyme sound recordings date from 1957-1958 and feature testimonials on Christian faith from public figures in the worlds of politics, sports, and industry, including a dugout interview with New York Yankee Enos “Country” Slaughter and discussions with Olympian Jesse Owens, silent film star Mary Pickford and legendary performer Ethel Waters. A particularly haunting–and apparently unused–interview with then-senator John F. Kennedy covers his thoughts on public service, personal exposure, and faith.

Explore collection finding aid here. 

                Listen to the recordings here.

James C. Ingebretsen Papers (Coll 147) and Freedom Story Radio Program Sound Recordings

James Ingebretsen (1906-1999) was a lawyer, developer and American conservative. His Freedom Story radio show ran from 1951-1956 and featured dramatizations on conservative and libertarian themes and commentary.

Explore collection finding aid here.

Listen to the recordings here.

Side note: are you researching conservative and libertarian movements? SCUA’s James Ingebretsen Memorial Travel Fellowship offers funding up to $2,500 each year. Information and application here.

Tom Anderson Papers (Coll 157) and the Straight Talk Radio Program Sound Recordings

Thomas Jefferson Anderson (1910-2002) was a member of the John Birch Society National Council, publisher of farm magazines, editorialist, public speaker, and a conservative political activist in the American Party. His syndicated column Straight Talk appeared in magazines and newspapers and, in 1957, became a book of the same name. His weekly radio program, also called Straight Talk, included discussions on foreign policy, religion and the war in Vietnam.

Explore collection finding aid here.

Listen to recordings here.

Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy Records (Coll 913)

Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy is a peer-reviewed academic journal published quarterly by Cambridge University Press. Named after Hypatia of Alexandria, a mathematician and philosopher who was murdered by a mob in 415 CE, the journal was founded by the Society for Women in Philosophy (SWIP), who chose the name to reflect the enduring roots that women have in philosophy. The digitized portion of the video collection features feminist philosophers expanding on articles published in the journal.

Explore collection finding aid here.

Watch videos here.

Interested in learning more? UO is hosting a conference this September in celebration of Hypatia’s 40th anniversary. Event information here.

Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey (1935-2001) was a University of Oregon graduate and professor, in addition to being an internationally renowned Oregonian novelist, essayist, and counterculture figure.

As a graduate fellow in creative writing at Stanford, Kesey was a volunteer in psychoactive drugs experiments being conducted at the Veterans Hospital in Menlo Park, where he later became an employee. Both experiences would have a profound impact on his art and writing, particularly the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, published in 1962.

Black and white portrait of Kesey, who stands in front of a tree. He is balding, has light skin tone and a collared shirt.
Ken Kesey, c. 1965.

In 1964, Kesey incorporated himself as Intrepid Trips, Inc, purchasing a 1939 International school bus dubbed “Further.” He and his artistic circle, dubbed the Merry Pranksters, began the cross-country road trip to the New York World’s Fair that would become the basis for Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. After the group returned to California in 1965, they busied themselves by editing film footage of the bus trip, organizing parties known as the Acid Tests. The Grateful Dead served as the house band for many of these gatherings.

Newly digitized Kesey materials:

Scott Parker Collection of Ken Kesey Sound Recordings (Coll 932)

Scott F. Parker is an Oregonian author who collected these materials from the Pacifica Radio Archives while researching his book, Conversations with Kesey. His recordings consist of interviews and book talks by Kesey.

Explore collection finding aid here.

Listen to recordings here.

Ken Kesey Papers (Ax 279)

Explore collection finding aid here.

Access digitized recordings of Kesey and friends, circa 1965, here.

Second side note: are you researching Ken Kesey and/or Vietnam-era literature and counterculture? SCUA’s James Laughton Ken Kesey Fellowship offers funding up to $3,000 each year. Information and application here.

 

Creating Pathways to Oregon Historic Landscape Architecture Collections

Post by Liliya Benz, Special Projects Processing Archivist

Special Collections and University Archives is pleased to announce that access to previously unavailable material related to Oregon landscape architects Chester E. Corry, Barbara Fealy, Elizabeth Lord, and Edith Schryver is now available. Finding aids for each of the three collections can be found on ArchivesSpace:

Come explore the working lives of the superintendent of parks in Ashland, Oregon, the first woman to be elected fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and the first women working in landscape architecture in Oregon. The Chester E. Corry papers, Barbara Fealy landscape architectural records, and Lord & Schryver landscape architectural records contain hundreds of newly processed landscape architectural designs, plans, and drawings; updated finding aids; and digitally accessible items available through Oregon Digital.

Landscape designs by Chester E. Corry for Phase III of an extension development of Lithia Park, Ashland, Oregon, entitled the “Proposed Root Park Extension Project,” circa 1960s.

Chester E. Corry (1906-1989) was an Oregon landscape architect who worked predominantly in southern Oregon and is best known for his work at Ashland’s Lithia Park. The Chester E. Corry papers contain landscape architecture plans for public areas and residential clients, some accompanying documentation for landscape projects, clippings, correspondence, and an autobiography. Most projects were conducted in Ashland and Medford, Oregon, however several other areas, including 17 cities and counties in Oregon, five cities in California, and one city in Massachusetts, can be found among the plans. Public projects of note include Corry’s designs for Lithia Park (Ashland, Oregon); several banks and schools in Ashland and Medford, Oregon; Yreka City Park (Yreka, California); and work commissioned by the Oregon Shakespearean Festival Association.

Barbara Fealy (1903-2000) was a landscape architect who primarily practiced in the Pacific Northwest. Fealy was the first woman to be elected as fellow to the ASLA in 1985 and received several honors and awards during the late 1980s and early 1990s for her work at Salishan Lodge, Timberline Lodge, and the Lewis Residence. The Barbara Fealy landscape architectural records include her firm’s architectural drawings, client files, and photographs. A variety of locations are present among the drawings including 65 unique areas in Oregon, 15 areas in Washington, two areas in California, and one area each in North Carolina, British Columbia, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Landscaping plan for front of main building by Barbara Fealy for Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood National Forest, Pacific Northwest Region, 1989 July 22.

Elizabeth Lord (1887-1976) and Edith Schryver (1901-1984) founded the Lord & Schryver landscape architecture firm in 1929 in Salem, Oregon. Working from Lord’s family home in Salem, Oregon, the pair designed gardens for locations throughout Oregon and Washington and were the first women working in landscape architecture in Oregon. The Lord & Schryver landscape architectural records contain landscaping plans and drawings, correspondence, office files, subject files, photographs, brief biographical sketches, and notes relating to Lord’s and Schryver’s work as landscape architects.

Suggested landscape treatment drawing for the grounds of the McLoughlin and Barclay Houses in Oregon City, Oregon by Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, 1938 November.

These three collections were chosen as part of a LSTA-funded project entitled “Creating Pathways to Oregon Historic Landscape Architectural Collections.” The goals of the project were to process 47.1 linear feet of archival material never before accessible to the public, create remotely accessible digital surrogates of select large-format drawings and plans, and stabilize collection materials for long-term storage and preservation.

Landscape designs by Barbara Fealy in unstable rolls before preservation, and designs preserved in appropriately sized housing awaiting transport to storage.

 

Angelus Studio Photographs in Oregon Digital

Oregon Digital has recently added 740 new photographs from the University of Oregon Libraries’ Angelus Studio Photographs collection (PH037). These photographs are now available to browse in our digital collections.

The Angelus Studio was a professional photographic company located in Portland, Oregon that operated between 1880s-1940s. The collection provides documentation of Oregon including the city of Portland, events and landmarks, construction projects such as the Columbia River Highway, and commercial operations and industry.

Early automobile with large sail wings attached to it labeled 'Moon Car'
Moon Car, PH037_b142_MC00186, Angelus Studio Photographs, University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, OR.

New Digital Collection: John Yeon Drawings

Special Collections and University Archives and Oregon Digital have recently published the John Yeon architectural drawing digital collection featuring the work of Oregon architect John Yeon (1910-1994).

Residential house plan.
Series LIX: Watzek House, Portland, OR, 1937, Coll 333, University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, OR.

Yeon was an Oregon architect, landscape architect, and conservationist best known for his role in developing the Northwest regional architectural style. The collection consists of architectural drawings for projects, both built and unrealized, including plans, sections, elevations, details, tracings, and blueprints.

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New Collection: Shobundo Senjafuda Collection

Earlier this year, Special Collections and University Archives acquired a new collection of Japanese votive slips, or fuda, which are now available for viewing and research in the SCUA reading room.

Fuda, also called nōsatsu, are Japanese votive slips printed using a woodblock process. Originally, created in the 11th century by religious pilgrims as devotional items, these slips have become part of a vibrant collecting and exchange culture in Japan and abroad. The religious senjafuda are generally unadorned, consisting of only the pilgrim’s name, and pasted to the walls of temples and shrines. The more detailed and luxurious kokanfuda, featuring many subjects including kabuki characters and mythological creatures, are collected and traded by members of a nōsatsu-kai, or exchange clubs. Individual nōsatsu clubs generally commission artists, carvers, and printers to produce new slips for trading at nōsatsu-kai meetings and events.

Yokohama nōsatsu-kai circa 1950s

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