Bound manuscript minutes and records of the Bethel Institute, March 3, 1855-March 5, 1883, beginning from the school's inception. The Bethel Institute was established in Zena, Oregon, in the mid-1850s by members of the Disciples of Christ. It merged with Monmouth University in 1865 and became Christian College, then became the Oregon State Normal School in 1882. The school would change names and focus several more times before becoming Western Oregon University, its current name, in 1997.

Genealogical materials and correspondence relating to the family of John Hudson Robbins, who traveled overland to Oregon in 1862 and married Margaret Harvey, his second wife, in 1864. Includes minutes and incorporation papers of the Bethel Cemetery Association, and copies of the charters of the Bethel Institute and Rickreal Academy.