An audio recording of an oral history of Charles Renard of Milwaukie, a trolley operator in Portland, Oregon for several years, starting in 1912. Renard explained the many routes he would take and how technology changed during his time as an operator. He describes a fight he got in with a senior conductor after only being on the job a few months. There were three trolley barns in Portland at that time and Mr. Renard worked on all three after being fired or quitting and returning to work. He gives brief demographic descriptions based on the different areas the trolley services, such as Alberta, Mt. Tabor, etc. At the time horse-drawn vehicles were still in operation and Renard recounts one carrying a milk truck not moving out of the trolley’s way on the Burnside Bridge resulting in a collision. He reflects that he shouldn’t have hit the brakes so hard and locked the wheels. He compares the Portland trolley system to the Oakland system and claims the Portland system was superior.
An audio recording of an oral history of Earl Mossman, an entertainer known as the 'Mayor of Broadway', about his life and the theater and vaudeville business in Portland, Oregon. Recorded in 1971, he talks about how he got involved in show business in the first place, started learning and improving his dancing, and what shows he took part in. Mossman talks about his friend Ray who got drafted into the military during World War One while Mossman was denied into the draft. Waiting for Ray to return, Mossman continued performing and producing shows, including a play called “Sunny Side of Broadway” in New York. Much of Mossman’s time was spent in Oregon, but he also spent a large amount of time traveling and performing around the country. In 1940, Mossman moved back to Portland in order to look after his ill mother, but he stayed in contact with people in show business through letters and reviews. He mentions the Oregon Centennial and who he performed with. Mossman talks about each of the theatres that were in Portland and where they were located during his time there. While in Portland, Mossman appointed himself the unofficial greeter for all of the celebrities to the city. He would meet them at the airport and make sure they were able to get around town safely. Much of his ability to do this comes from him already knowing many of the celebrities beforehand. Mossman comments on the rise of television and what that does to show business and the people involved in it. The beginning of the recording is hard to hear, but at about three minutes, the recording focuses and becomes easier to hear for the rest of the interview. There are intermittent background noises of airplanes overhead and cars passing by. Throughout the recording are names of actors, dancers, and other famous people that Mossman know. There is a full transcript of the recording. Many of the names and companies could be misspelled in the transcription.
An audio recording of an oral history of Al Weisendanger, Director of Keep Oregon Green, about his long career in forestry and the Keep Green movement. From the age of 16, Weisendanger began working in forestry and found his calling relating to young students to explain forest practices and fire prevention. He talks about the Keep Oregon Green organization educating people on fire prevention as well as Oregon’s Green Guard to encourage young people to get involved. He talks about Smokey the Bear, involvement in fairs and parades, and where most of the fire prevention advertisements go to in order to lessen the amount of fires in Oregon. They remember large fires that had happened recently to the interview and how each county had help from the forest service. Weisendanger comments on Oregon being the only state with a young program for the forest service and funds preventing him to sending materials to other states. He also talks about the importance of watchmen placed in the forest to look out for fires and raise the alarm as well as having planes that can quickly get over the fire and help put it out. The recording starts in the middle of a conversation and has frequent pauses as the tape gets paused.
An audio recording of an unnamed woman's recollections of growing up in Portland. First 30 minutes is a personal message to Ellis Lucia and his wife Elsie addressing them as a friend or acquaintance; last 20 minutes are recollections of growing up in Portland in an ethnic German neighborhood.
An audio recording of an oral history of Robert 'Bob' Torheim, U.S. Forest Service, about current issues of the Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest, including the relationship between the environmental movement and the lumber business.
An audio recording of an oral history of Jim Wakefield, Meteorologist and head of the Portland office of the National Weather Service, on the Vancouver tornado of 1972. The recording starts in the middle of the interview and ends before the interview is over. In the interview, Wakefield and the interviewer talk about the tornado that happened in Vancouver and their opinions on the possible climate change over the last hundred years. They cover topics such as having the buildings secured, the level of preparedness in the northwest as in the midwest, and whether people were able to take pictures of the tornado. Wakefield had put out a notice in the 'Columbian' asking for people to submit pictures of the storm, but he was not very hopeful. There is a lot of background noise throughout the entire recording including telephones ringing, the tapping of a typewriter, and an airplane flying overhead. Sometimes it is hard to discern what the speakers are saying.
An audio recording of an oral history of Clifford 'Cliff' Johnston of Forest Grove, a long-time logger who was present at the start of the 1933 Tillamook fire. Mr. Johnston, in his sixties, was still a logger at the time of the interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Ormond Bean, former City Commissioner of Portland, about his memories of Portland. Unfortunately, Ormond does not remember specifics about old Portland, but does tell the interviewer detailed recounts of some memories. Ormond talks about the progression of Portland from streetcars and trolleys to personal cars. With the advancement of technology and automobiles Ormond worries that the small villages that made up Portland will be overtaken with streets and highways. Suggested multiple times to head decision makers that they should focus on public transportation so the city does not get congested with personal cars. Ormond shares a number of photos and scrapbooks of old Portland with the interviewer throughout the interview to give him references as to what he is explaining. The recording cut out at 15:50, 26:45 and was difficult to hear from 27:30 till the end.
An audio recording of an oral history of Arthur J. Prideaux, Pacific University alumnus, about the old Slabtown area of Portland and his recollections of life in the area. During the interview Arthur was ninety-two years old trying to reminisce on memories from his younger years of playing in Slabtown with friends, teaching and various other memories that come to him during the interview. Slabtown was not a distinguished community but had a reputation of gang violence, yet, Arthur did not recall any gangs or fights while growing up in the community; playing baseball with all the boys from the area. Arthur discusses his fond memories of the Lewis and Clark fair where he met his wife, both attended and graduated from Pacific University. After graduating from Pacific Arthur started his career of working in the school system with various jobs ranging from teacher to principal for the next thirty-four years after graduating from Pacific University. Growing up Arthur would play with his close friends from the Scott family, brothers of Harvey Scott who was Pacific’s first graduate. With the many years of living and working in Portland Arthur accumulated many documents and papers that he donated to a historical society to put on display and use as references. The growth of Portland is not a bad or good thing in his eyes, but the loss of many historical landmarks is upsetting to him. At 32:37 the recording cuts out and then continues with a loud squeaking noise for the next thirty seconds.
An audio recording of an oral history of Ada Henley, former public stenographer of the Portland Hotel for 27 years, about her memories of the hotel. Ada and the interviewer talk about the various organizations that held events and meetings at the hotel; no names in specific besides the geological organization were mentioned. Numerous names were shared between the two with little context to their connection to the hotel. Ada has lived in Portland her entire life except for three years as a young child. The recording was interrupted at 6:20, 17:14 and 33:00.
An audio recording of an oral history of Sidney J. Harris, sternwheeler riverboat captain on the Columbia and Willamette towing logs and ships from 1913 until retirement in approximately 1955. Harris operated a Stern Weaver from Astoria or Cascade Locks down carrying crates and logs. It took around 13 men to operate a single ship during a trip. Running into things, going onto the ground, sinking were all part of the job.
An audio recording of an oral history of Edna Tupper about her memories of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition of 1905 and ethnic neighborhoods of Portland at the time.
An audio recording of an oral history of Mike Huffsmith and his brother about the old Albina district of Portland, Oregon. A woman is on the recording as well, possibly Mike Huffsmith's wife. The Huffsmith brothers explain how they lived in an area with many different settlements of ethnicities; Jewish, German, Italian and Russian. Growing up in the heart of the city they were about to use streetcars to get to most places, including their father's work. There was a conversation about the building of Swan Island Airport in 1927, following a discussion about a disaster involving Swan Island in the 1920’s or 1930’s. There was a phone interruption at 16:40 and recording cutting out at 31:10 and 47:00.
An audio recording of an interview with Margaret (Mrs. Max) Reeher and Arthur Reeher of Forest Grove about their memories of the 1933 Tillamook fire. The interview took place April 1973 at Mrs. Reeher's home in Forest Grove. The recording starts in the middle of a conversation with no context as to what the topic of discussion is. The interviewer asks both Margaret and Arthur if they remember how the fire start. Neither of them remember how the fire start but do remember seeing smoke from their home in Forest Grove on A street. The boss of Arthur was Peter Burbmy who assigned someone to help and follow Arthur, for Arthur to only discover him starting small fires during his free time. This concerned Arthur so he eventually turned him into the state, feeling as though he may be involved in some bigger fires in the Tillamook area. During the summer Arthur would patrol the forest to ensure there were no fires that they were unaware of. When the fire of 1933 started in Tillamook on August 22,1933 the weather made a turn for the worse and picked up strong wind causing the fire to explode being virtually uncontainable. Until this fire the fire of 1924 in Tillamook forest was thought to be the most devastating fire Oregon had ever had. Both of these fire details were read by Margaret during the interview from a book about Oregon fires she had. The interview cuts out at 35:00 and begins to slowly fade in sound starting at 47:00 minutes.
An audio recording of an interview with Lynn 'Crony' Cronemiller, State Forester at the time of the 1933 Tillamook fire and Public Relations officer the State Forestry department during the subsequent fires that made up the ‘Big Burn’. Interview conducted at Cronemiller's home in Salem. Cronemiller was at the Tillamook fires the first day they ignited to the last day they were distinguished. He temporarily moved his headquarters from Salem to Forest Grove during the first fire, running his rigs from there. The former State Forester discusses the different placement of camps and crews to control the burn, including civilians that joined the effort and crews from the State of Washington, which were concentrated on the East side. There were a few instances when they thought they had the fire knocked down only for it to come back alive. Many lives were lost from smoke inhalations, burns, and being crushed by falling trees. They had a plane and a helicopter to view the fire birdseye and also used scouts for tracking. They had a radio between Tillamook and Forest Grove, but it wasn’t always effective so the scouts often had to find the nearest phone to report their findings. In general, the firefighters had very limited resources and relied mainly on hand tools. Cronemiller later became the Manager of revitalization efforts for the Tillamook Forest after the burn, the initial planning of which taking place in 1945. Cronemiller recounts the origins of the fires, remembering the logging companies being told to cease production due to weather concerns but some companies continuing work. He believe this is what started the first fire, but Ellis Lucia points out this is a contentious subject. They briefly discuss the politics of the restoration efforts for the burn area and the current wages of workers on the project.
An audio recording of an interview with Alf Johannesen, Manager for Crosset and Western at the old Glenwood Camp at the time of the 1933 Tillamook fire. The interview conducted in Alf's home in King City on June 18, 1973. A woman also contributes to the interview, likely Alf's wife.
An audio recording of Mrs. Maitland giving a talk to the Tualatin Valley Historical Society on her recollections of growing up in Watts, the site of a gristmill and sawmill near Gales Creek in Washington County.
An audio recording of Hugh McGilvra, journalist and newspaper publisher in Forest Grove, giving a talk to the Tualatin Plains Historical Society on the occasion of his 50th anniversary of work. He talks about the newspaper history of Washington County for the first 25 minutes; the final 27 minutes are about his experiences working on the newspaper in Forest Grove and the community there. Topics include the chain of ownership of the various newspapers in the county; the newspaper business in Forest Grove; other businesses in Forest Grove; news items of interest in the 1920s such as banking, water supply and the creation of the Forest Grove united school district; doctors and ambulance services; and other topics. This oral history is accompanied by a transcript.
