Museums, Galleries, and Collections

The educational resources of the university include art, galleries, collections, and exhibits of cultural and scientific materials. Research, teaching, and extension functions are combined in these collections, which serve both the institution and the general public.

Over the years, various departments of the university have become repositories for extensive holdings of manuscripts; rare books; prints, paintings, and other art objects; costumes; textiles; historic artifacts; archaeological material; fossils; preserved plants and animals; wood products; and marine material. These collections serve many of the same functions as a library or make possible the identification of materials whose age, name, or significance is unknown.

Most university collections serve primarily research and teaching functions and may be viewed by prior appointment with their curators. Permanent collections and museums include:

Archaeological Collection

The Archaeological Collection consists of artifacts, field notes, maps, drawings, sketches, and photographs accumulated in archaeological investigations. Several thousand items of primary archaeological documentation comprise this collection. Location: Waldo Hall.

Art About Agriculture

The College of Agricultural Sciences has sponsored Art About Agriculture since 1983, as a source for education, inspiration, and research enabling people to understand and value agriculture and natural resources through the universal language of visual arts. The program, in part, recognizes regional artists for investigating agriculture and natural resources themes as content and subjects for creating their works of art. It also enables the college to acquire art for a permanent collection of contemporary fine art now representing more than 150 artists with their more than 200 works of art. The Art About Agriculture permanent collection, selected through peer review, comprises fiber arts, mixed media assemblages, paintings, sculptures, watercolors, and works on paper including drawings, photographs, and prints. Many distinguished artists are represented in the Art About Agriculture permanent collection, including Sally Cleveland, Betty Feves (1918–1985), Sally Haley (1908–2007), Manuel Izquierdo, Marjorie McDonald (1989–1995), John Rock (1919–1993), Laura Ross-Paul, Nelson Sandgren (1917–2007), Robert Schlegel, and Robert Weller. A complete list of artists in the permanent collection, and more information is available on the World Wide Web at: http://agsci.oregonstate.edu/art/.  

The college each year organizes a juried art competition, open to artists living in the Pacific Northwest, and sponsors an annual art show that tours the state during the spring and summer months. Since the program began the college has collaborated with more than 50 galleries, primarily in Oregon, and also Washington, and British Columbia, Canada, for presenting its annual touring art exhibits, displays of collection works, and invitational exhibits. In 2006 the college cosponsored in partnership with the Oregon Historical Society a retrospective exhibition of the entire juried Art About Agriculture permanent collection. The late Brenda Hood, in memory of her husband, the late Gordon Hood, sponsored This Bountiful Place: Art About Agriculture, the Permanent Collection, an exhibition catalog published in association with the Oregon Historical Press, 2006.

Accessions to the Art About Agriculture permanent collection are made possible from patron-donor partnerships. The College of Agricultural Sciences is grateful for support from the deans of OSU Extension Service, College of Agricultural Sciences, and College of Liberal Arts; Betty Brose; Gene and Cande Buccola; Capital Press; James and Stella Coakley; William Cook and Gwil Evans; the late Margaret Hogg; the late Brenda and Gordon Hood; E. R. Jackman; Larry and Sherry Kaseberg; the Lamb Foundation; Beth and Edward Ray; and the Carey L. and Glen S. Strome Agricultural Art Memorial. All gifts made to the OSU Foundation-Art About Agriculture qualify as contributions under current state and federal tax codes, including the Oregon Cultural Trust, and may be made at any time.

Department of Art Slide Collection

The Department of Art Slide Collection contains 90,000 slides of paintings, sculpture, architecture, crafts, graphic design, and general design from prehistoric times to the present. The collection is primarily for use by faculty in their classes. Location: Fairbanks Hall.

Department of Design and Human Environment

The Department of Design and Human Environment (E. Pedersen, Collection Manager) houses a collection of approximately 2,800 historic and ethnic textiles and costumes. Among the earliest textiles in the collection are those from Coptic Egypt and pre-Columbian Peru. A collection of more than 300 historic American and European costumes dates from 1805 to the present. Location: Milam Hall.

Fairbanks Art Gallery

Fairbanks Gallery features exhibitions focusing on contemporary Northwest regional, national, and international artists. This program provides the public, campus, and student communities diverse creative experiences and interactions with the inspired, inventive world of visual art. In many cases exhibitions are accompanied by gallery talks, and sometimes also by classroom workshops, critiques and public lectures. Past one-person exhibits have featured notable artists such as Ruth Bernhard, Sue Coe, Wolf Kahn, Jacob Lawrence, Robert Motherwell, Philip Pearlstein, Wayne Thiebauld, Jerry N. Uelsmann, Edward Weston, Jenny Schmid, and Bill Viola. Group shows have included artists Robert Colescott, Christo, Jim Dine, Eric Fischl, Roy de Forest, Helen Frankenthaler, Ann Hamilton, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Roy Lichtenstein, Henri Matisse, Peter Milton, Robert Motherwell, James Rosenquist, Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, and William Wegman.

Fairbanks Gallery hosts many engaging and informative events. Pondering the Muse is a series of talks that examine the aesthetic and symbolic aspects of the artwork on display. These informal discussions also explore the artist’s intent, historical references, design theories, and technical processes. All of the talks in this series are free and open to the public. In addition, we arrange talks for visitors ranging from elementary school students to art museum docents in specially scheduled presentations.

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Fine Arts Print Collection

The Department of Art’s Fine Art Print Collection contains nearly 600 prints representing numerous countries and spanning several centuries. The collection’s holdings includes work of various styles, including Japanese Ukiyo-e, modern Japanese woodblock, 20th century Latin American, German Expressionism, and 20th century American prints. Artists include Max Beckmann, Francisco Goya, Hideo Hagiwara, Hiroshige Utagawa, William Hogarth, Kathe Kollwitz, Kunisada, Mauricio Lasansky, Otto Mueller, Max Pechstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Jun’Ichiro Sekino, Edward Weston, Yeizan and others.

Prints in the collection have been largely donated over the last sixty years from various sources, including patrons, faculty members, international donors, professional artists, and former students. The collection began in earnest under the direction of Gordon Gilkey. Formerly the chair of the OSU Department of Art, Gilkey became the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and later became the curator of the Vivian and Gordon Gilkey Center for Graphic Arts at the Portland Art Museum. While chairman of the Department of Art at OSU, he hired numerous faculty who were talented printmakers. Berk Chappell, John Rock, Paul Gunn, Shepard Levine, Nelson Sandgren, and Demetrios Jameson not only made prints, but helped collect and find donations to add to the collection.

A World Print Competition portfolio of twenty prints was added in 1973. Portfolios of Latin American artists were organized as Actualidad Gráfica Panorama Artístico, and OSU was a recipient in 1975 and 1976. Photographs are included in this collection. In 1974 photography students petitioned the OSU Foundation to fund the purchase of an edition of The Edward Weston Fiftieth Anniversary Portfolio.

A six-year rejuvenation project of preservation, cataloguing, and digital photography has culminated in a new collection Web site. The collection now serves as an educational resource for the students and faculty at OSU, and the prints are now also accessible via the Web for the general public and other educational institutions. The Web site also acts as a research center for art students, who can research prints and submit research papers to be Web published. The collection is housed in Valley Library, which offers important temperature and climate controls.

Fisheries and Wildlife Bird and Mammal Collections

The Fisheries and Wildlife Bird and Mammal Collections include more than 9,000 specimens of birds and 10,000 specimens of mammals, as well as the Braly Ornithological Collection; Overton Dowell, Jr., Bird Collection; Alex Walker Ornithological Collection; and Oregon Game Commission Collection. Use of the collection is restricted to qualified students and investigators. Location: Nash Hall.

Geological Collections

The Geological Collections include minerals, rocks, and fossils. The W.D. Wilkinson and Walter Lidstrom Memorial Mineral collections (E.M. Taylor, Curator) contain several hundred rare and fine specimens. Over 5,000 fossil specimens of Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic marine invertebrates comprise the outstanding John H. Howard and Earl L. Packard collections in Paleontology (E.J. Moore, Curator). The Silurian Devonian Brachiopod Collection (A.J. Boucot, Curator), consisting of about one million specimens, is the most comprehensive of this type in the world with representation in some depth from every region in the world. This collection is the property of the U.S. Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. Location: Wilkinson Hall.

The Herbarium

The Herbarium contains more than 405,000 named specimens of seed plants, ferns, mosses, algae, fungi, and lichens. Emphasis is on collections from western North America. The herbarium is the repository for the Morton E. Peck Herbarium of Willamette University, a research collection of Oregon flora consisting of more than 30,000 sheets, and the former University of Oregon herbarium. The mycological collections (J. Spatafora, Curator) consist of approximately 75,000 dried specimens of fungi and lichens, supplemented by microscope slides and a culture collection. These collections include the H.C. Gilbert Myxomycete Collection and the Forest Service Pathology Herbarium. Location: Cordley Hall. Web site: http://www.oregonstate.edu/dept/botany/herbarium/.

Herpetological Collection

The herpetological research collection consists of more than 50,000 ethanol-preserved amphibians and reptiles, and approximately 24,000 frozen tissue samples. The collection has excellent representation for sites in the Pacific Northwest and includes the largest collection of garter snakes (Thamnophis) in the world. These and other aspects of the collection are described at the collection Web site http://oregonstate.edu/~arnoldst/herp%20collection.htm. Location: Cordley Hall.

History of Atomic Energy Collection

The History of Atomic Energy Collection consists of nearly 3,000 items, including the first published account of the discovery of radioactivity in 1896, writings on the Manhattan project, the hearings of Robert Oppenheimer, and a formerly secret report of the effects of the atom bomb. It also features cultural aspects of the atomic age. Location: Valley Library.

Ichthyological Collection

The Ichthyological Collection contains more than 12,000 cataloged lots of fish representing 180,000 specimens and 45 nominal type specimens. In addition, there are about 260,000 uncataloged specimens available for study. The collection emphasizes fishes of the Pacific Northwest, but specimens from many parts of the world are held. A small frozen tissue collection has been started. Use of the collection is restricted to qualified students and investigators. Location: Nash Hall.

The LaSells Stewart Center  Galleries

There are three distinct art galleries in The LaSells Stewart Center: Giustina Gallery, Murdock Gallery, and South Hall Display Case. Giustina Gallery is the largest gallery with over 190 linear feet of display and features exhibits focusing on Northwest regional artists. Murdock Gallery is the smaller with just over 60 linear feet of display area. It features smaller and more intimate art work. The South Hall Display Case features two- and three-dimensional work of local artists.

The galleries provide the public, campus, and communities diverse opportunities to view and display regional art. Exhibitions are accompanied by public receptions. Exhibits have included notable Northwest regional, national, and international artists. Group shows have included Willamette Valley Photo Arts Guild, Vista & Vineyards, Art About AG, and the Annual Community Art Exhibit sponsored by Giustina Gallery. Past exhibits can be viewed on the Giustina Galley Web site, http://oregonstate.edu/lasells/gallery.html. 

For a map and directions, http://oregonstate.edu/lasells/gettinghere.html.  

For e-mail notices of Giustina Gallery events, lectures, and receptions, sign up at http://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/austin_auditorium_news.  

Hours: Monday–Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends and evenings during events. Visit the online event calendar at http://oregonstate.edu/lasells/.

McDonald Collection

The McDonald Collection consists of rare books. Fine examples of typography, works of famous illustrators, numerous fine bindings, and several first editions are represented in the collection. Location: Valley Library.

Memorial Union Concourse Gallery

The Memorial Union Gallery schedules a variety of exhibits throughout the year in the main concourse of the Memorial Union. These contemporary art exhibits are planned to reflect a diversity of styles, media and cultural perspectives. Throughout the Memorial Union are selections from its permanent collection. Included in the collections are early 20th century landscape painting from William Henry Price and Leo Fairbanks, American Indian portraits by Carrie Gilbert and prints from the collection of Gordon Gilkey. Art works from Oregon’s Percent for Art program include murals by Hector Hernandez, Henk Pender and Sherrie Wolf.

The J.C. Braly Natural History Collection

The Natural History Collection includes 550 mounts of birds and mammals in the J.C. Braly Collection. A collection of specimen skins on the first floor is used mainly for teaching. In addition, over 1,000 preserved specimens of amphibians and reptiles from the Pacific Northwest constitute a considerable part of the teaching collection. Location: Cordley Hall.

Oregon State Arthropod Collection

The Oregon State Arthropod Collection is a valuable research collection of nearly three million insect and mite specimens, chiefly from the Pacific Northwest. Collection strengths include Heteroptera, Homoptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, and Diptera. Areas of specialization include mites associated with insects and marine habitats, sphecoid wasps and bees of the world, leaf hoppers and plant bugs of North America, aquatic insects, litter arthropods, butterflies, moths, and beetles of the Pacific Northwest. Specimens of historic importance include the Hopkins collection of western forest insects, voucher material of the H.J. Andrews LTER, and the Melville Hatch beetle collection. Location: 4082 Cordley Hall. Visit the Web site at http://osac.science.oregonstate.edu.

Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers

The Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers is an archival research collection, comprising some 500,000 items, which chronicles the life and work of OSU alumnus Dr. Linus Pauling, the only person in history to have received two unshared Nobel Prizes (Chemistry, 1954; Peace, 1962). The collection, donated by Dr. Pauling in 1986, includes the original manuscript for Pauling’s seminal 1931 paper, The Nature of the Chemical Bond; the research notebooks and working manuscripts for a number of Pauling’s over 1,100 journal publications and 13 books; and the original petition for nuclear disarmament presented to the United Nations in 1958, which contains the signatures of more than 9,000 scientists worldwide, including Nobel laureates Albert Schweitzer and Bertrand Russell. The archive also includes Dr. Pauling’s numerous awards, over 100 hours of audiovisual material, his mammoth correspondence with many of the most prominent figures of the twentieth century, and a significant trove of molecular models constructed by Pauling. The collection serves the research interests of scholars from around the world. Tours are given by appointment. Location: Valley Library.

The University Archives

The University Archives is the official repository for university records. The University Archives, a department of the University Libraries, was established in 1961 to collect, describe, preserve, make accessible to the public, and display historical records created or received in connection with the transaction of university affairs. More than 470,000 photographic images document campus buildings, university programs, special events, athletics, faculty, and students. A large collection of memorabilia consists of individual historical items such as programs, posters, brochures, and clippings. The University Archives encourages the use of its collections in undergraduate and graduate classes; instruction services range from general orientation sessions to more specialized sessions with hands-on examination of archival materials in a classroom setting.

A specialized initiative of the University Archives is the Oregon Multicultural Archives, established by the OSU Libraries in 2005 to acquire, preserve, and make available collections that document the lives and activities of African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American communities of Oregon.

The Archives are open to students, faculty, staff, and the public for research from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. More information about the University Archives’ services and holdings is available at http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/archives. The Archives’ collections can provide information on OSU’s academic, research, and outreach programs, as well as agriculture, forestry, oceanography, and other natural resources topics, especially for Oregon and the Pacific Northwest; the lives and activities of ethnic groups in Oregon; and other local history topics. Location: Valley Library.

Valley Library NW Art Collection

The Valley Library NW Art Collection of contemporary art by Northwest artists consists of 120 artworks selected in collaboration with the Oregon Arts Commission through the Oregon Percent for Art law. Located throughout the Valley Library, the collection includes paintings, sculptures, photographs, lithographs, prints and other media. A self-guided tour is available at the reference desk. The Web site http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/libraries_and_collections/art/ has images of all artworks and information about the artists. Location: Valley Library.

Visitor Center, OSU Marine Science Center

The Visitor Center of the HMSC at Newport features aquariums, interactive exhibits, and hands-on displays that bring to life the marine research conducted by OSU scientists. Special events, educational programs, guided tours and walks are available on request to teach visitors about the ocean and its inhabitants, from undersea volcanoes to the tiniest tide pool creatures.

The Visitor Center serves as a social laboratory for OSU Sea Grant’s "Free-choice Learning" initiative.

The Xylarium (Wood Collection)

The Xylarium (Wood Collection) contains approximately 2,500 species of wood, primarily from North and South America, Southeast Asia, and Africa.