Introduction
It was more than a school where classes were attended, knowledge handed out, examinations taken. It was a spirit. ... Within these walls hovered a spirit of congeniality and vigor, of appreciation of common work, thus striving to attain ideals of the right way to live as well as the right way to write. -- Letter to the Oregonian from a group of alumni after the State Board had abolished the School of Journalism in 1932
The year was 1916. America hadn’t yet entered the vast global conflict that came to be known as the First World War. That year, the Board of Regents at the University of Oregon raised the status of the small journalism program to that of a School of Journalism and named Eric W. Allen its first dean. Allen went on to prove himself and his School, becoming, at the same time, one of the outstanding journalism educators of his age. He headed the Oregon program for over 30 years, and when he died in 1944, he left a legacy of professionalism and dedication that has guided the generations following him.
The senior class that graduated from the new School in 1916 consisted of four dedicated students who had been in the program since its formation in 1912. They were Wallace C. Eakin, who later became a reporter and editor for various newspapers in Oregon; Grace H. Edgington, who taught at Oregon for a while and later authored several books on Idaho life; Merlin Batley, who switched from journalism to a business career in California; and Henry Heidenreich, who taught secondary education in Arizona.
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From those early graduates and the thousands to follow, the reputation of the School of Journalism has spread far and wide across the country. For those of us who work and study in today's Allen Hall, it's hard to conceive of a time when classes were held in small, crowded rooms in shacks no larger than a small house; or when they had to be postponed due to the shaking caused by the printing presses on the ground floor of old McClure Hall; or when, during the Second World War, many journalism classes were held in a quonset hut located next to McClure. But in the years since the formation of the School of Journalism, students have had to learn their craft in an amazing variety of environments under sometimes daunting conditions.
Over the past 100 years literally thousands of students have worked and studied within these walls. From old McClure Hall, through years in cramped shacks and quonset huts, to new buildings of brick, stone, and now glass; they have written by lamp light and electric light, with paper and pen, typewriters and computers. They have gone on to careers in every imaginable field -- not always journalism, but always worthwhile. It is these students, and their teachers, that we honor here. This history is dedicated to them.
Over the past 100 years literally thousands of students have worked and studied within these walls. From old McClure Hall, through years in cramped shacks and quonset huts, to new buildings of brick, stone, and now glass; they have written by lamp light and electric light, with paper and pen, typewriters and computers. They have gone on to careers in every imaginable field -- not always journalism, but always worthwhile. It is these students, and their teachers, that we honor here. This history is dedicated to them.