Published: December 16, 2007 09:51AM

If a long-lost Platypus Trophy gathered dust in storage at the University of Oregon for four decades — as you may have heard about before the annual Civil War football game a couple of weeks ago — what other treasures might be hidden in the nooks and crannies of the 131-year-old campus?

Well, curious as we newspaper types are, we wondered. Then we looked.

Here’s a sliver of what we found:

Rose Bowl hero “Shy” Huntington’s scrapbook, and his blue and gold (yes, blue and gold) letterman’s sweater; a 40-year-old letter from Bill Bowerman to Marshfield High School junior Steve Prefontaine; some Frank Sinatra albums; a box of wooden mallards; a piece of black rubber with waffle-shaped tread; a sketch of Prince Lucien Campbell (the man, not the building); and a photograph of the university and its students on the first day of classes in 1876.