University Archives

[TBA], Electronic Records Archivist
Heather Briston, Corrigan Solari University Historian and Archivist
Location: Knight Library, Second Floor North
Mail: University Archives, UO Libraries
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1299
(541) 346-3068 (Research Assistance)
(541) 346-1905 (Records Management)
(541) 346-1899 (Donations of University Memorabilia)
Fax: 541-346-1882, Attn: Archives
spcarref@uoregon.edu (Research Assistance)

University Archives consists of two units. The Electronic Records Archivist, currently a vacant position, assists campus departments in administering the records that document the University's activities and complying with associated legal requirements. The Historian and Archivist, Heather Briston, administers the historical collections which include permanent records, University publications, papers of noted faculty, and documents of student life. University Archives collections are available to the public through the Special Collections & University Archives Paulson Reading Room, on the second floor of the north portion of the Knight Library, at 15th & Kincaid.

Finding Aids

Online Materials

Papers of the Office of the President
Leadership and Legacy: Athletics and the University of Oregon
Search the Oregon Daily Emerald index
see also Architecture of the University of Oregon, an outstanding scholarly resource from the AAA Library.
see also a selection of UO images maintained by the Computing Center
Marjorie Wells Simpsons' UO scrapbook, from the University of Alberta's Heritage Scrapbook project

News & Notes

Clark Presidential Papers Project: During the academic year 2003/04, professors Suzanne Clark and David Frank taught an Honors College class, "The University in War and Peace." A key component of the class was the use of archival materials from the personal papers and presidential records of Dr. Robert D. Clark, president of the University during the turbulent period of 1969-1975. Students worked directly with the historical documents, discovering materials that challenged their assumptions, and assisted in arranging and describing the collections to make them more usable. The model proved very successful, and the class is now an annual event.

On Film: 2003 was the 25th anniversary of National Lampoon's Animal House, the 1978 Universal Studios fraternity film that used the University of Oregon for a set. In 2001 the Library of Congress included the movie in the National Film Registry, and the American Film Institute named it as one of the 100 Funniest American Movies Of All Time. Although the building that housed the fraternity was demolished in 1986, many of the campus landmarks remain. University Archives holds a small collection of prints from the filming of Animal House, but as the copyright to those images is still held by Universal Studios we cannot make them available over the Web. Other films made on the UO campus include Ed's Coed (1929), How to Beat the High Cost of Living (1980), Personal Best (1982), Finish Line (1988), Pre (1996), and Without Limits (1998). (Films about runner Steve Prefontaine invariably include campus footage.)

Goodbye, Dr. Clark

Robert D. Clark died on June 28, 2005 at the age of 95. Dr. Clark (1910-2005), pictured at left in front of Johnson Hall, was a noted scholar and educator, and served as president of the University of Oregon from 1969-1975. He led the university successfully through the unrest and social change inspired by the Vietnam War, and was dedicated to student rights and to curricular innovation. He was known for his ability to listen to protesters and to use his authority to initiate effective change. He was a highly respected leader as well as a scholar.

Robert Clark at Johnson Hall His career at UO began in 1943 as a professor of speech, moving into progressively important administrative positions from 1947. Clark left UO to serve as president of San Jose State 1964-1969, during a turbulent period of racial strife, strikes, and student unrest that prepared him to lead the University of Oregon as its eleventh president. Among his publications are biographies of two UO scholars, The Odyssey of Thomas Condon and Ralph Huestis, and Rain follows the Plow, a noted work about homesteading in his home state of Nebraska.

In 2004 Special Collections and University Archives began a partnership with the Honors College that utilized the papers of Dr. Clark to provide undergraduates with primary source materials fostering original research. Under the direction of Dr. Suzanne Clark, Dr. Clark's daughter, and Dr. David Frank, the "University in Peace and War" class explored themes of social change, balancing conflicting sources of information from newspaper articles, memoranda, letters, and other original documents. Dr. Clark, and University Historian Heather Briston, were privileged to attend presentations of the students' final projects. The class was a highly successful experiment that has become a model for inspiring undergraduate research and engaging instruction programs with the rich collections in Special Collections and University Archives. Dr. Clark's papers are included in our digital library and many of the student research papers are available on-line in Scholars' Bank.

Special Collections and University Archives staff have been privileged to assist Dr. Clark in his research over the years. He was always elegantly attired and meticulously courteous, a gentleman and a scholar, an icon of the University, and we will miss him.

Maintained by: N. Helmer, spcarref@uoregon.edu
Last Modified: 09/29/2009