In 2016, the OSU Architectural Naming Committee charged the Building and Place Name Advisory Committee to engage in a research and community engagement process to address the concerns raised citing potential racist and exclusionary views held by the namesakes of five buildings on the OSU Corvallis campus – Arnold Dining Center, Avery Lodge, Benton Hall and Annex, and Gill Coliseum. In 2018, President Ray announced the name changes for three of the five buildings.
The OSU Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) is home to the university’s unique collections of manuscripts, archives, photographs, digital records, and books, and includes collections is documentation of the campus buildings as well as biographical information regarding building namesakes.
This guide is a compilation of the known records within SCARC's collections pertaining to the campus buildings: Arnold Dining Hall, Avery Lodge, Benton Hall and Annex, and Gill Coliseum.
While some materials are available online, the majority are only accessible by an in-person visit to conduct research in SCARC.
For detailed information about the evaluation process and outcomes, see the Building and Place Names website along with the article "When Building Namesakes Have Ties to White Supremacy: A Case Study of Oregon State University’s Building Names Evaluation Process"
The Oregon State University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) maintains and makes available the University's unique collections of manuscripts, archives, photographs, and books. Subject strengths include:
We acknowledge that materials in SCARC collections and the language that describes them may be harmful. We are actively working to address our descriptive practices; for more information please see our SCARC Anti-Racist Actions Statement.
The Special Collections and Archives Research Center public service point is located in the Reading Room on the 5th Floor of the Valley Library at Oregon State University. If you plan to visit us, please check our calendar.
See our Guide to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center for more on how to visit SCARC, find our collections, and research tips.
In order to provide more efficient and effective service, the Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) is offering on-site access to our collections by-appointment. Advance notice of your visit and research interests allows us to better assist you in identifying materials relevant to your research, and provide more efficient service during your on-site visit. A by-appointment model also allows us to limit Reading Room disruptions, and focus on you and on your research needs.
We will continue to respond to general and reference questions remotely via our department email, scarc@oregonstate.edu. There is a wealth of online content in Oregon Digital, on the SCARC website, in ScholarsArchive@OSU, in SCARC LibGuides, and on OSU MediaSpace, and public services staff are available to assist you in navigating and searching these sites. In some cases, by working closely with our archivists and librarians, and identifying a limited amount of specific materials, we may be able to support your research remotely through digitization.
Please see our Guide to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center for more information about our by-appointment model, and other services.
Your archivists are here to help!
Staff of the library’s Special Collections and Archives Research Center are available for virtual reference consultations. Please email us at scarc@oregonstate.edu if you have questions or would like to set up an appointment.
