Bertha Herse graduated from Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) in 1910 and began working in the OAC Library's circulation department that year. She worked as a Loan Desk Assistant from 1910 to 1920 and was head of the Periodical Department in 1920-1922. In 1922 she took a 2-year leave-of-absence and enrolled in the New York State Library School in Albany, New York, where she earned a BS in library science in 1924. Herse then returned to the OAC Library as a Reference Librarian and Head of the Reference Department, a position she held until her retirement in 1957. When she retired in 1957, her 45 years of service at Oregon State was the longest of anyone on campus.
Herse continued to take courses at Oregon Agricultural during the 1910s and 1920s and earned a BS in Home Economics in 1928.
Bertha Emma Herse was born in West Point, Nebraska, on July 26, 1891; she died in Corvallis, Oregon, on November 5, 1966. Herse graduated from Corvallis High School in 1906.
From the guide to the Bertha Herse Collection, 1905-1960, 1905-1929, (Oregon State University Libraries)
