Pacific Index

Pacific’s Old College Hall Museum offers a look into the university’s past  

Old College Hall sits quietly tucked away in the corner of Pacific’s campus—and inside the building sits a rich collection of artifacts related to the university’s almost 200 year history, a second floor Old College Hall Museum, which has been there since just after World War II ended. Even the building itself is a historical artifact, as Pacific’s archivist Eva Guggemos explains, “It was built in 1850, as far as we know, it’s the oldest building being used for higher education that’s been in continuous use west of the Mississippi.” 

Through her work as an archivist, Guggemos has become an encyclopedia of knowledge on the university, working with thousands of historical pieces. She explains that the museum wasn’t created until the centennial in 1949, when the university president’s wife motivated the change from a chemistry lab to museum. 

Divided into two rooms, one contains artifacts that Guggemos describes as very “Pacific-centric”, and the other has more variety and items related to Pacific alumni, such as toymaker A. C. Gilbert. 

Inside the building resides just a small portion of the historical artifacts Pacific possesses, like trunks that some founders who travelled on the Oregon Trail used to carry their belongings. “There’s things that belonged to Tabitha Brown, she was one of our founders,” adds Guggemos. Pacific University also has the bell Brown rang to call students to class in the university’s early days. 

Other unique artifacts include the costume from Pacific’s mascot before the boxer, a badger, and the chains used to measure land divisions. “When they originally plotted out all the land so that people could ‘claim’ land, they literally measured it with chains,” says Guggemos. 

Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the museum received many donations, including artifacts from Native American tribes that inhabited this land. Guggemos explains people living here would sometimes, “come across stuff and there was nowhere for these artifacts to go, so people brought them to Pacific.” 

Guggemos goes on to say, “Should we have these things? Probably not. So, we have worked to return items that we know belong to Grand Ronde, but we still have some things like baskets… they’ve been in storage for a very very long time with people really not able to see or interact with them, and I think there is room for us to do better.”

“The museum is there, but we just haven’t had the resources to really make it all that it could be.” The full-time last curator was Rick Reed, but due to budget issues in the 1990s his position was cut. Since then, volunteers and people like Guggemos have taken responsibility for the museum. 

In addition to showing more history, Guggemos says it would be nice to insulate the building and make it more ADA accessible. “It takes money, and there’s so many things right now that need money,” she says.  

Despite these issues, they do not overshadow the historical significance of the Old College Hall Museum. Though it needs some work, for many decades it has provided a special glimpse into Pacific’s past. “It’s important for us to be able to see pieces of the past,” Guggemos summarizes “Nowadays you can look up almost anything, but there’s something about being physically in the presence of something.” 

For students interested in learning about the university’s history, open houses at the museum will be held on November 21 and December 19, both from 11:00 am – 4 pm. For more information on historical artifacts at Pacific, visit pacificu.libraryhost.com.