Biographical Note
Alumnus and Oregon State College faculty member, Arthur G.B. Bouquet was
born in England in 1885. He came to Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) in 1902
to study horticulture and completed a BS degree in 1906. After graduation, he
was appointed the Assistant in Floriculture. In 1908, he attended the
Massachusetts Agricultural College (in Amherst) and returned to OAC in 1909 to
become an instructor in the Horticulture Department. Bouquet specialized in the
study and instruction of vegetable gardening. In 1929-30, Bouquet attended
Cornell University and earned a master's degree. He was a founding member of
the Triad Club and was active in the Oregon State Horticultural Society.
Bouquet retired in 1950 and died in 1971.
In 1912, Bouquet married Mary Grace Wilson, the daughter of Lafayette
Yantis Wilson and Inez Irene St. Clair and member of a pioneer Benton County
family. Mary Grace Wilson Bouquet died in 1941. They had no children.
Bouquet's sister-in law, Bertha St. Clair Wilson married Joseph Ganong;
she died in 1960. Her daughter, Bouquet's niece, Joanne St. Clair Ganong,
married Charles E. Norton. Joanne Norton died in 1996.
Content Description
The Bouquet Collection pertains to Horticulture Professor Arthur G. B.
Bouquet and the family of his wife Mary Grace Wilson; it consists of
biographical and genealogical materials and photographs. The collection appears
to have been assembled by Bouquet's niece, Joanne Ganong Norton.
The biographical and genealogical materials include Bouquet's birth and
U.S. naturalization certificates, correspondence, genealogical research
materials, newspaper clippings, and related documents. The bulk of the
genealogical materials document the Wilson and Ganong families.
The photographs consists of 18 photographic prints and 107 color
slides. The prints (circa 1880 to 1940s) include images of Bouquet, Mary Grace
Wilson and her family, unidentified family groups and children, Bouquet's home
at 35th and Polk streets in Corvallis, and images of Bouquet with Oregon State
College faculty groups. Of especial note are an 1890s photograph of the Wilson
family at their home in Corvallis and an 1890 panoramic print of Corvallis
taken from the water tower. The color slides were made in the early 1960s by
Bouquet to document urban gardens and flora in Europe (Salzburg, Geneva,
Denmark) and during trips to the Snake River and Wallowa Mountains in eastern
Oregon.