A $1.4 million gift will give University students, faculty and community members better access to the University’s 12,000 boxes of archive materials, which date back to 1873, according to a University press release.
Mary Solari, a 1946 graduate, and her husband — retired CEO, president and board chairman of Granite Construction Co. Richard Solari — donated the gift, which will endow the University’s historian archivist position.
Heather Briston, the University historian and archivist, said the gift will allow her to better catalogue the archives and do outreach to those who could benefit from the materials.
“Now I’ll be able to focus more on the archives,” she said, adding that her former job requirements included managing University records, such as student and personnel files. “Records management was a huge job.”
The library will also be able to hire a new employee to take on the records management position, giving Briston more time to collect materials.
The Solari family has provided support for the University Libraries since the late 1980s by contributing to the Knight Library’s expansion project, creating an endowment for information technology and teaching, establishing a faculty fellowship for library staff members and funding an endowment for library instructional services, according to the release.
The money counts toward the University’s Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives, a fundraising initiative that aims to raise $600 million to support students, faculty, programs and facilities.
Briston said the gift will provide the means to educate those who are unaware of the archive materials’ diversity or their value to the community and the state.
“I have everything from the ridiculous to the sublime,” she said. She added that some of the memorabilia she has collected and seen over her two and a half years working at the University are the “weirdest” out of the materials.
“I don’t know why I have a stuffed iguana,” she said. “But I have a stuffed iguana.”
An alumna also donated a cowbell that was once used to heckle the Oregon State University crowds during Civil War games, she said. But while some materials have humorous historical value, others provide detailed accounts of notable events.
For example, Briston said there are documents detailing how the University came to be established as the first public institution of higher education in the state.
“All of these materials are unique,” she said.
Other items include the final screenplay draft of “Animal House,” student dissertations and theses and a collection of historical photographs. Briston said there is even a photo of the University’s first day of classes.
Archive materials are located in the Knight Library, Fenton Hall and the Baker Downtown Center. The more than 12,000 boxes of material occupy over 19,000 linear feet of space.
Briston said the materials provide students, faculty and community members many research opportunities. She said students in the Clark Honors College are using the presidential office records and journalism students have used the photo archives to supplement documentaries.
“There’s lots of potential for use,” she said.
University Librarian Deborah Carver said the archives don’t just track the University’s past but also show trends in higher education throughout history.
“I think there’s all sorts of lessons to be learned from the University’s past,” she said.
Briston said she hopes better accessibility will increase interest in the collection.
“I want to make sure everybody knows what I know,” she said.