An audio recording of an oral history of Bert Gredvig, including Tektronix, land use and facilities. Gredvig was with Tektronics for almost 23 years, mostly in facilities management roles. He talks about his experiences working there. There is a transcript of this interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Al Reser on Reser's Fine Foods. Includes an extensive handwritten index by the interviewer. This interview originally consisted of three cassette tapes but the middle tape (Part 2) is completely inaudible and therefore not included.
An audio recording of an oral history of Al Reser on Reser's Fine Foods. Includes an extensive handwritten index by the interviewer. This interview originally consisted of three cassette tapes but the middle tape (Part 2) is completely inaudible and therefore not included. Part 1 is mostly inaudible.
An audio recording of an oral history of Morris Adair recorded on September 7, 1978, about his life in Washington County, Oregon. The recording describes his childhood on a farm in Astoria, Oregon, and his father having the first cream separator in Oregon. He talks about the thoughts and emotions in Washington County about the Spanish-American War, describes details of the war including the death of his brother, and tells of a song that was sung during the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. In the second half of the recording, he talks about his experience working in a bank in Sherwood, Oregon, through the Great Depression. He describes the role of banks in the beginning of the twentieth century, the role he played as an examiner of banks, the Columbia Region Association of Governments and how it played a part in adding land to the area, a terrible fire in Sherwood in 1911, and then the return of men to the farm from war and how their ignorance of farming fed into the Depression. The recording is very hard to hear. There is a full transcript with an introduction, index, and handwritten notes of the questions asked in the interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Margaret Derle Perkins on farming and settlement in Beaverton. Second tape is mostly inaudible. There is a transcript of this interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Minor T. Hesse recorded on March 22, 1978, on the settlement and farming in Washington County, Oregon, specifically the Scholl area, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His family represents the typical farmer in the area and his experiences convey common characteristics of rural life in the area. His family had come to Oregon with the intention to run a dairy farm and had to clear out the land of timber. He describes how his family made a profit from their cows and other products by making day trips into Portland. When bovine tuberculosis took out their herd of cows, Hesse recounts how his family invested in other crops, especially grains and potatoes to ship to California. He talks about his childhood chores on the farm, the Scholls Fair, the start of 4-H and the implementation of scientific farming, the addition of Ford automobiles and tractors to farm life, and the role that religion played in the area. Hesse describes the neighborhood trust that was built and how the farmers would help each other out, catch scammers and bring them into the town sheriff, and the expectation behind letting strangers stay at their farmhouse as they were traveling. He finishes by talking about the hops industry in the area, the breweries in Portland, the Chinese and Mexican migrant workers that came to help in the fields and stayed in labor camps set up by the farmers, and how Prohibition affected the hops business. There is a full typed transcript of the interview with an index, list of questions, and an introduction.
An audio recording of an oral history of Don McInnis, including some stories from friend Oscar Pierson and his sister Clara who stopped by for the last part of the interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Don McInnis, including some stories from friend Oscar Pierson and his sister Clara who stopped by for the last part of the interview.
An audio recording of an oral history of Don McInnis, including some stories from friend Oscar Pierson and his sister Clara who stopped by for the last part of the interview.
Part two of an audio recording of an oral history of Walter Tews and his life in Hillsboro, Oregon. The recording starts with Tews continuing his description of a guy approaching him about a spotlight and telling Tews that he had done the best job possible. Tews tells stories of his time as police chief including locking a young man up in the iron cell in the jail for an hour to teach a lesson about curfew. When the discussion turns to Prohibition, Tews talks about his distrust of vaccinations and how there was nothing a shot of whiskey couldn’t cure. He recounts more memories of the fires in town and how the bakery and hospital could have burnt down. The Great Depression definitely had an effect on Hillsboro and he remembers the ways in which people helped each other through the time. During this time, Tews also worked on clocks and describes how he wanted equal money for his work. He also describes how he borrowed money from the restaurant where he worked and how people also borrowed money from him. He goes on to talk about the Fourth of July celebrations that were extremely popular and how they were more well-attended than the county fairs which became something mainly for the farmers. Tews finishes by talking about his time building roads and the process behind it with the different sized rocks. He enjoyed his time living in Hillsboro and taking on so many positions. He always finished every one of his jobs that he took on. As with the first part, it is difficult to understand many of the individual words that Tews says throughout the interview. There is some background noises of cars’ engines roaring by and the clocks chiming, but the interview is still clearly audible. There is an attached page of typed introduction and an index along with the recording.
Part one of an audio recording of an oral history of Walter Tews and his life in Hillsboro, Oregon, and the many different positions that he held. Born just a few miles north of Hillsboro in Centerville in 1891, Tews moved into town in 1905. He describes the layout of the town including where buildings like the school are located, even giving exact street names. Wanting to be his own boss, Tews quit school and started working for the mill loading and unloading the train cars that brought in logs. He describes himself as doing the job “better than three men.” When the mill changed ownership, he also started working elsewhere. For four years, Tews worked in a grocery store, managing the storage room in the back, the refrigeration of items, and delivering grocery orders to people in town. During this time, he was also a volunteer firefighter at the local fire department. Everybody in the department was a volunteer and he remembers when they finally got a horse to pull the hoses to fires, instead of carrying the hoses themselves. Tews tells the story of a few fires that he fought. After that, he worked as a sewer inspector, a road builder, and a building inspector. Eventually, he even served as police chief for a while. Tews remembers the sewer system and paved streets adding to the growth of the city, the paved streets especially since they allowed automobiles to drive in the city for the first time. Anytime the city of Hillsboro needed an inspector or chief, they went to him because they “could depend on” him and he “always did a good job wherever” he went. It is hard to understand many of the individual words that Tews says throughout the interview. There is some background noises of cars’ engines roaring by and the clocks chiming, but the interview is still clearly audible. There is an attached page of typed introduction and an index along with the recording.
