Historical Note
The Blue Key Honor Society was founded at the University of Florida in
1924. The Oregon State chapter was established in 1934 to recognize male
students with a strong academic background and a who demonstrated
"superior leadership and unselfish commitment to others". Women became
eligible for membership in 1977; prior to that time, Mortar Board was the
comparable organization at Oregon State for women students.
The Donald Wilson MacKenzie Blue Key Memorial Award was established in
memory of MacKenzie, a 1953 graduate of Oregon State in forestry who died
soon after graduation, in the summer of 1953, in a logging accident near
Brightwood, Oregon. The scholarship was made annually to a male Oregon
State College student who best exhibited the characteristics for which Don
MacKenzie was known.
Content Description
The Blue Key Fraternity Records document the membership and activities
of this honor society for Oregon State University students. The collection
includes administrative records for the organization, project files,
publications, and photographs. The administrative records include
constitutions, meeting minutes, financial reports, policies and
procedures, correspondence, membership lists, and materials pertaining to
regional and national conventions. The administrative records document
changes in the mid-late 1970s allowing membership of women. Ephemeral
items include certificates, clippings, and patches.
The project files pertain to a variety of activities and programs of
the organization including leadership clinics and workshops, creeds in
living groups, a cheating study, school spirit, social functions in living
organizations, a peer advising program, service projects, and the
chapter's position statements on campus matters. The records also include
a scrapbook documenting to the Donald Wilson MacKenzie Award and materials
pertaining to the Dubach Award.
The publications include materials published by the national Blue Key
organization including codes and policies and promotional materials as
well as local chapter brochures.
The photographs include a photograph album of MacKenzie Award winners
as well as images of groups of chapter members, members honored in a
ceremony, and a book sale in the Memorial Union quadrangle.