Guide to the Alderman Farms Films
1943-1996

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Overview of the Collection

Creator: Alderman Farms.
Title: Alderman Farms Films
Dates: 1943-1996 ( inclusive )
Quantity: 0.9 cubic feet (13 film reels (4050 ft.)) (9 videotapes)
Collection Number: Consult repository.
Summary: The Alderman Farms Films document the farming operations of the Alderman Farms, located near Dayton, Oregon, during the 1940s and 1950s.
Repository: Oregon State University
University Archives

121 The Valley Library
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331-4501
Phone: 541-737-2165
Email: archives@oregonstate.edu
Web: http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/archives

Languages: Materials in English. 
Sponsor: Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Historical Note

Alderman Farms had its beginning in 1847, when Albert Alderman settled, cleared and began farming a tract of land in Yamhill County. In 1893 one of Albert's sons, Ennis (1870-1939), began farming a small piece of land given to him by his father. In the 1920s, Ennis and his son, Urie (1898-1964), began expanding the farming operation. Urie, who attended Oregon Agricultural College from 1919-1921, experimented with new crops, constructed an on-farm frozen food plant and sawmill, and maintained his own airborne spraying operation. Alderman Farms peaked in the late 1950s, with at least 3100 acres under cultivation, as one of the largest row crop farms in Oregon. In addition to the primary farm in Yamhill County, Alderman Farms cultivated land in Benton, Linn, Marion, and Klamath Counties. After Urie's death in 1964, much of the Yamhill County farm was sold to the Carlton Nursery Company in 1971.

Content Description

The Alderman Farm Films were made by Urie S. Alderman. The films are 16 mm, silent, Kodachrome color. Aspects of the farming operation filmed include planting, harvesting, and processing of corn, beans, strawberries, peaches, and potatoes; irrigation; barbecues and other social activities; logging and sawmill operations; political campaigning; and general farm views. VHS videotape copies exist for selected reels and are indicated in the inventory.

The manuscript materials include copies of newspaper clippings pertaining to farming operations, Urie S. Alderman, and L. S. Alderman, 1952-1965; a film list; and a copy of Last Harvest: The Story of Alderman Farms, published by Carlton Plants in 1996.

Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation :  

Alderman Farms Films (P 214), Oregon State University Archives, Corvallis, Oregon.

Administrative Information

Custodial History :  

The films, made by Urie S. Alderman, were maintained by the family until 1996, when they were donated to the OSU Archives by Peggy Childs, Jack Shelburne, and Mary Ann Wiser (nieces and nephew of U. S. Alderman).

Related Materials :  

Other films and videotapes pertaining to agriculture are located in the Agricultural Experiment Station (P 29); Bioresource Engineering Department (P 106); Experiment Station Communications (P 132); Extension and Experiment Station Communications (P 120); 4-H and Youth Program (P 146); E. R. Jackman (P 89); and News and Communications Services (P 57) film and video groups.

The memoirs of Lewis R. Alderman, a long-time 4-H program extension agent and brother of Ennis Alderman, are located in the Extension Service Records (RG 111), Subgroup 4.


Detailed Description of the Collection

Box
1 Reel 1: Potato harvest , undated
200 ft.
1 Reel 2: Cattle, travel, barbecue, 1943
175 ft.
1 Reel 3: Water tower, garden, cattle train, 1943
450 ft.
1 Reel 4: Barbecue, Mexican migrant workers show, Dean Johnson, 1944
350 ft.
1 Reel 5: Corn, beans, barbecue, pump, bus travel, undated
300 ft.
1 Reel 6: Corn, helicopter, politics, employee cafeteria, undated
375 ft.
1 Reel 7: Aerial views, farm, sawmill, peaches, silo, undated
375 ft.
1 Reel 8: Sawmill, pump, cake, logging, undated
350 ft.
1 Reel 9: Stearman plane, bean planting, corn, 1950
425 ft.
1 Reel 10: Strawberries, planting, harvesting, packaging (processing plant) , 1950
250 ft.
1 Reel 11: Strawberries, water, hoeing, processing plant, undated
250 ft.
1 Reel 12: Beans, freezing (processing plant), garden , undated
100 ft.
1 Reel 13: Stearman plane, bean planting, corn, 1950
450 ft.
1 Newspaper clippings pertaining to Alderman Farms, U.S. Alderman, and L.S. Alderman; film list, and Last Harvest: The Story of Alderman Farms, written by John Schmitz and published by Carlton Plants. , 1952-1965 and 1996

Subjects

    • Subject Terms :
    • Agriculture--Oregon.
    • Farm life--Oregon.
    • Field crops--Oregon.
    • Fruit--Harvesting--Oregon.
    • Logging--Oregon.
    • Migrant agricultural laborers--Oregon.
    • Form or Genre Terms :
    • Silent films.
    • Videotapes.
    • Titles within the Collection :
    • Last harvest.
      • Other Creators :
      • Alderman, Urie S.
      • Schmitz, John.

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