From the Archives: The Student Bookstore

Change through time

by Max Johnson, University Archivist, OHSU Historical Collections & Archives

June 30, 2015

OHSU bookstore, 1941For this month the archives would like to share a little glimpse of some change through time for the student bookstore. One of my favorite aspects of working in the archives is that I get to compare how things looked in different periods of OHSU’s history. These changes are especially visible in the OHSU campus’ physical surroundings, for instance through our collection of aerial images which shows the campus as 2 buildings on a heavily forested hill (1921) and then slowly grows and spreads out until we see images from the late 1990s which show much of the campus as we see it now complete with institutes, hospitals, specialized care facilities and a variety of health sciences schools.

The first image we have for you today is of Robert Rinehard and Leonard Christiansen in the spring of 1941 staffing the point-of-sale for the one of the earlier student bookstores. One thing I have wondered about this photograph, does anyone know why they would sell tennis balls? Was it a popular sport among medical students, or used in medical education?

Next we have an image of the student bookstore from November of 1968. One thing to notice, there are a lot of books in this image compared to the last one. Also, there’s an increase in the variety of pens and pencils, including many types of notebook and other office supplies. OHSU bookstore, 1968The only individual I could identify in the image is Roy M. White, Jr. (in the center). If anyone has the ID of the other two individuals, please send me that information.

Speaking of books ... since it is summer and many of you are relaxing and enjoying the excellent weather, I wanted to take a moment to send a request “For the Archives.” We are currently looking for copies of the University of Oregon Medical School yearbooks to fill the gaps in our collection. We currently could use copies of yearbooks for the following years: 1929, 1930, 1931-1945, 1955-1957, 1961-1976, 1981, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2004 and 2010-2011.

If you have a copy you are willing to donate to the OHSU Historical Collections & Archives, please contact Max Johnson at the email address earlier in the article.

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