A Legacy in Orange and Black: Exploring Oregon State University Apparel History
Oregon State University (OSU) boasts a rich history that extends far beyond its academic achievements. From its humble beginnings as Corvallis College in 1868 to its current status as a leading research institution, OSU's evolution is interwoven with traditions, spirit, and a distinctive visual identity. This article delves into the fascinating history of OSU apparel, exploring the evolution of its colors, the story behind its beloved mascot, and the role of clothing in reflecting the university's culture and values.
The Foundation: From Corvallis College to Oregon State University
The journey began on October 27, 1868, when Corvallis College was designated as the state's official land grant institution. While the name, programs, and facilities have undergone significant transformations over the past 150 years, the core mission of conducting world-leading research and providing top-tier education has remained constant. The seeds were sown in 1853 when the Oregon territorial legislature appointed three commissioners to select the Marysville site and construct the university. Materials like brick and lumber were gathered, and a kiln was built for the purpose of erecting a university building where Ballard Extension Hall (originally Snell Hall) now stands.
The Colors of Oregon State: Orange and Black
On May 2, 1893, a pivotal decision was made: orange was chosen as the school color. Demonstrating their innovative spirit, the students immediately adopted black as a background for their color. These colors would soon become synonymous with OSU pride and would be prominently featured in apparel, athletic uniforms, and campus decorations.
Benny Beaver: The Embodiment of OSU Spirit
No discussion of OSU apparel history is complete without acknowledging Benny Beaver, the university's iconic mascot. The story of Benny Beaver traces back to the early 1940s when he first appeared in yearbooks and OSU publications. Officially adopted as the university’s mascot in 1952, Benny has been firing up the Beaver faithful ever since. Ken Austin holds the distinction of being the first student to don the Benny Beaver costume at OSU athletic events during the football season of 1952. While his initial outfit might appear primitive by today's standards, it marked the beginning of a beloved tradition. Ken, an engineering major, later co-founded A-dec, a global manufacturer of dental equipment based in Newberg, Oregon, with his wife, Joan.
Today, the Retro Benny Homecoming Tee, a soft black cotton shirt featuring the iconic Sailor Benny design, keeps OSU spirit alive. Crafted from 100% soft spun cotton, this tee delivers the comfort, durability, and everyday wearability that has made it our best-selling shirt across OSU groups, teams, and clubs.
Read also: Evolution of the Oregon Mascot
Athletic Apparel: A Symbol of Competition and Pride
OSU's athletic programs have played a significant role in shaping the university's apparel history. With 17 NCAA men's and women's sports, there are ample opportunities to wear orange and black in support of the Beavers. Memorable moments like the baseball team's College World Series victory and the women's basketball team's Sweet 16 appearances have further solidified the connection between athletic apparel and OSU pride. The annual rivalry against the University of Oregon Ducks in any sport is always a highly anticipated event.
Ruler featuring OSU coaches and 1973/1974 football schedule are the part of university history.
Traditions and Events: A Tapestry of Orange and Black
Throughout the year, various traditions and events reinforce the importance of OSU apparel in fostering a sense of community and belonging. Corvallis decorates its streets in orange and black in preparation for Homecoming Week. The End of Summer Beaver Bash, featuring a foam party, laser tag, and a life-size version of Hungry Hippos, welcomes new students and immerses them in Beaver Nation. DAM JAM is an annual music event put on for students, by students. The Ho'ike (formerly known as the Luau) - a 68-year tradition - features a range of Polynesian dances performed by Oregon State students, as well as tasty traditional Hawaiian food.
Academic Apparel: A Reflection of Scholarship and Achievement
While athletic apparel often takes center stage, academic attire also holds a significant place in OSU's history.
In the early 1900s, freshman males were required to wear green felt rook caps daily, while women wore hair ribbons. These caps, or "lids," served as a means of identification for upperclassmen. Freshman were required to carry at all times the ‘Rook bible,’ a small book giving information of interest and value to the newcomer at the college,” including information about school traditions, names of deans and Associated Student officers, organizations, publications, school songs, and so forth. “Rooks had several rules which, when violated, earned discipline carried out by the sophomore class”. Back in Corvallis, freshman would “burn their green [caps] . . . at the annual Junior Weekend held at the end of May, signifying their advancement into the sophomore class. In 1961, OSC had become Oregon State University, and “the Burning of the Green had moved to Homecoming in the fall”. Freshman caps are a form of symbolic communication, expressing group “membership in the larger university community, and marking the student as a new-and therefore less meritorious-member of that community”.
Read also: Quarter System at OSU Explained
Commencement programs, 25th and 40th reunion booklets, correspondence are the part of university history. Invitations, Baccalaureate Service programs, schedules and ephemera are also important.
The Historic and Cultural Textile and Apparel Collection: A Living Archive
The OSU Historic and Cultural Textile and Apparel Collection offers a unique glimpse into the university's past. Imagine sitting in a university classroom learning about historical fashion, and then walking across the hallway to view closets full of clothing from the era you’ve been studying. That’s how the OSU Historic and Cultural Textiles and Apparel Collection on the second floor of Milam Hall helps bring fashion throughout the ages to life for students. The artifacts began to take shape as a formal collection in the late 1940s when students and scholars took notice of the collection’s value and began cataloguing and preserving the pieces. The collection, which is stored on the OSU campus in Corvallis, includes Euro-American clothing and accessories such as purses, shoes and hats from the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection started as a way for faculty members to donate items they’d collected over the years, and has slowly expanded to a two-room space in Milam - now filled to capacity - that houses most of the items. Jennifer Mower is a graduate of Oregon State University with a master's and Ph.D. in historical and cultural aspects of dress and she was thrilled to become the collection manager in 2022. Managing this collection had been my dream,” Mower said. While she had known about the collection as a student, it wasn’t broadly known on campus or in the Corvallis community. During winter term, Mower’s historic fashion class students each pick a decade during the 20th century and curate a small collection based on items found within the apparel collection. Mower is always looking to show off pieces beyond display areas in Milam and Austin Hall. For example, last year the Asian and Pacific Islander Cultural Center wanted to look at clothing as a facet of cultural identity, so she helped curate vignettes for the center, including Korean, Indian and Chinese pieces. Mower now has to be extremely strategic with what she accepts, making sure items fill holes in eras and styles that are currently missing. She also wants pieces with historic connections to the university and the community. Mower’s dream is to remodel the physical space in Milam so that there is more room for the collection and more public display space. She’d also like to replace some of the vintage wood cabinets, which aren’t good for storing delicate textiles, with metal cabinets, and generally make the collection more accessible. “The College of Business recognizes what a great resource this is, but what’s the next phase? Through November, a student-curated collection of mourning clothes is on display in the Dean’s Suite on the fourth floor of Austin Hall. These caps were recently donated to the HCTAC by the Nichols family, whose relative, Benjamin Nichols was a freshman at Oregon Agricultural College in 1917. He earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1919 and went on to earn a Master’s of Science degree in 1932. Between 1934 and 1953 he worked as faculty in the Electrical Engineering program at Oregon State College.The orange felt Oregon Agriculture College cap is similar to a hat in the Benton County Historical Society and Museum collection. The tasseled cap has a Meier & Frank department store label. Figueroa, who has a background in museum work, has spent the last few years updating and digitizing the catalogue. Figueroa searched the digital archive for items tagged “Meier & Frank,” which pulled up a number of pieces that were original designs from the store or were purchased there. The display also includes accessories and a panel of text to provide information for the window-gazers strolling by, said Jaeger, a senior apparel major from the Eugene area who took the lead on the window design. The display is expected to remain in place for about three or four months, through the busy holiday shopping season.
In 2017, garments from 40 years designing for the McCall Pattern Company were donated to OSU. Also clothing was donated to the costume collection at The University of Rhode Island, along with most of the 350 patterns designed for McCall’s. Then a booklet for each university with a narrative of the clothes that documented the date, pattern envelope, fabrics used, and the inspiration about where the ideas for each garment came from was created. This is the area where students curate exhibits with Jennifer Mower’s help, choosing a designer retrospective or an era of fashion over the centuries. With the costume collection accessible to students, under the direction of Jennifer Mower, students would come up with an idea and curate displays in the glass cases in Milam Hall. The LA Law blouse shown on page 15 with the red jacket showed how television influenced fashion. A recent donation by Susan (Pletsch) Foster included a piece of home sewing in America history that included this party dress made from Butterick pattern no. 5222 published in 1919, also included in the donation. The dress is made out of blue cotton voile, has a smocked waist, white silk satin sash, and fun fabric flower. The dress was made by Susan’s grandmother, Pearl Arksey for her daughter, Hazel as a party dress for her 8th birthday in 1924, five years after the pattern was originally published. The dress was included in the spring 1997 exhibit, Dreams on Paper, Home Sewing in America at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Hazel attended the exhibit with her daughter in 1997. Dreams on Paper traced the history of the paper pattern industry and home sewing in America. The paper pattern industry coincided with the development of the sewing machine for a commercial market in the late 18th and 19th centuries. homes, and as a result, clothing “production was faster and easier as dresses became lighter, looser and shorter” (“Dreams on Paper” exhibit brochure 1997). The changes in fashion reflected changing gender roles in America. Women were extended the right to vote in 1920 and the “emancipation from traditional restrictions” continued as society and culture also changed with the rise in women working outside of the home (Farrel-Beck and Parsons 2007: 56). Susan’s mother, however, was not one of these women, Hazel “was a stay-at-home mom who baked . . . and loved sewing” (personal communication with author 9/13/23). Hazel instilled this love of sewing into her daughter, Susan who would grow up to sew for a living. After graduating from Arizona State University, Susan went to work for Armo Interfacing Company, where she met Pati Palmer, an OSU alumna. The two worked as educational representatives on the west coast; “we might be a ‘guest speaker’ for a day in a high school or college sewing class, or have a live presentation in a fabric or department store fabric department. The job was ‘education’ but the mission was marketing and sales” (personal communication with author 9/13/23). In 1974 Susan and Pati launched Palmer/Pletsch in order to publish their instructional sewing books, including the famed Sewing Ultrasuede Fabric. Susan left the company in 1984 to pursue other writing projects, however the company the two created almost 50 years ago, still “publishes sewing, home decorating, image, and craft books by other talented sewing, image, and home decorating teachers; creates videos on those subjects; offers sewing workshops and imports or distributes a select group of sewing-related products” (Palmer/Pletsch “About Us.”). In 2018 Pati Palmer generously gifted digitized paper pattern envelopes that she designed for McCall’s since 1980. Pattern envelopes are now on Oregon Digital for viewing.
OSU's Portland Center: A Showcase of Apparel Design
OSU's College of Business is home to the university’s design programs, including apparel design, interior design, design management, merchandising management and retail management. Oregon State is The Nines’ newest neighbor in the iconic Meier & Frank Building. The university is leasing the second floor of the building for its new Portland Center. The display, which showcases the history of the Meier & Frank Building and fashion through time, was installed in a space made available to OSU’s College of Business by The Nines Hotel, which occupies the building’s top floors. “This collaboration with The Nines and our students is a natural fit,” Montoya said. “Opening up our new space downtown gives us even closer proximity to companies who are current or potential partners on student projects like this one.
Read also: Growth and Community at WOU
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