Print preview Close

Showing 4 results

Collections
Teachers
Print preview View:

Oral history interview with John R. Dellenback

This oral history interview with John R. Dellenback was conducted by Clark Hansen at Dellenback's home in Medford, Oregon, from June 24 to October 3, 1992. In this interview, Dellenback discusses his family background and early life in Chicago, Illinois, including his family life, his early education, and some of his influential teachers. He speaks at length about his Christian faith and how it has influenced his personal philosophy. He talks about his experience at Yale University, including his social life. He talks about the jobs he worked after graduating, including working as a bellboy and at General Electric in Connecticut. He describes his naval service in the Pacific Theater during World War II, including the invasion of Okinawa. He discusses attending the University of Michigan Law School, as well as his courtship of Mary Jane Benedict and their subsequent marriage. He then talks about practicing law with Frank Van Dyke in Medford, Oregon, including his philosophy of law. He also talks about his involvement with several local organizations, including the Oregon Bar Association. He discusses his involvement with the Republican Party, as well as his views on contemporary geopolitics.

Dellenback discusses serving in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1960 to 1966. He talks about his reasons for running for the Legislature in 1960 and his campaign that year. He talks about his committee assignments, building coalitions, and the attempt to revise the state constitution in 1963. He also discusses other legislation that came up during his time in the House; Governor Mark Hatfield's administration; and engaging with his constituents. He also speaks at length about national Republican politics, including his longtime support for Nelson Rockefeller; President Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal; and his moderate Republicanism. Dellenback then discusses serving in the U.S. House from 1967 to 1974. He talks about his decision to run for a seat in Congress, his campaigns, and his staff. He discusses legislation that came up in Congress during this time, his fellow representatives, and congressional procedure. He talks about the Vietnam War, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and the Oregon Dunes. He also discusses his 1974 election loss.

Dellenback discusses serving as director of the Peace Corps from 1975 to 1977. He describes the mission and activities of the Peace Corps. He also talks about the 1992 presidential election. He talks about serving as president of the Christian College Coalition. He closes the interview by talking about his involvement with other faith-based organizations.

Dellenback, John R., 1918-2002

Oral history interview with Fred D. Miller

This oral history interview with Fred D. Miller was conducted by Pat Collmeyer at the Portland General Electric offices in the World Trade Center in Portland, Oregon, from October 12, 1993, to June 7, 1994. Miller discusses his family background and early life in Southwest Portland. He also discusses his experiences at Willamette University, Portland State University, and Michigan State University, including studying abroad in Argentina. He talks about becoming a professor at Oregon State University in 1967 in order to get a deferment from the draft, and about teaching abroad in Peru and with World Campus Afloat. Miller discusses his involvement with the Oregon State Legislature as special assistant to the director of the Oregon Department of Transportation, and talks about the Mount Hood Freeway. He also talks about working with George Baldwin, Glenn Jackson, and Bob Burco. He then describes his time as director of the Oregon Department of Energy from 1976 to 1979, replacing Lon Topaz, and discusses nuclear power plants and electrical utilities. He also talks about working with Janet McLennan and Mike Katz. Miller discusses his time as assistant director, then director, of the Oregon Department of Transportation, from 1979 to 1987, including funding and gas taxes. Miller also discusses working under governors Tom McCall, Bob Straub, Vic Atiyeh, Neil Goldschmidt, and Barbara Roberts. In addition, he talks about Corrections Director Michael Francke and his murder in 1989. Miller closes the interview by discussing the various management styles of the many governors he served under.

Miller, Fred D., 1942-

Oral history interview with Isaka Shamsud-Din

This oral history interview with Isaka Shamsud-Din was conducted by Milo Reed and P.C. Peri from December 7, 2018, to January 25, 2019. Isaka Shamsud-Din was nominated by Oregonians to be interviewed as part of a program by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library to enhance and expand the range of voices in the library's collections. Interviewees are selected from the pool of nominees by a staff committee appointed by the historical society's executive director. The interview was conducted in three sessions.

In the first interview session, conducted on December 7, 2018, Shamsud-Din discusses his family background and early life on a farm in Atlanta, Texas. He talks about his life in Vanport, Oregon, from 1947 until the 1948 flood that destroyed Vanport. He shares his experiences studying art at the University of Kansas and at the Museum Art School in Portland, Oregon, while a teenager; and talks about the reasons he considered dropping out of high school, including racism he experienced and the focus of public school curriculum on white culture and history. He also shares his reasons for changing his name to Isaka Shamsud-Din. He talks about hitchhiking to San Francisco, California, after high school.

In the second interview session, conducted on January 18, 2019, Shamsud-Din discusses studying art at Portland State University and painting his first murals. He speaks at length about his involvement with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Arkansas during the civil rights movement. He talks about living in San Francisco from 1966 to 1967 and about his involvement with the Black arts community there; about living in Anchorage, Alaska; and about returning to Portland to teach at PSU. He discusses serving as artist-in-residence at several educational institutions during the 1970s, including Reed College; talks about his work with the Albina Mural Project; and shares his experiences of not being paid adequately for his work. He talks about the status of the Black community in Portland.

In the third and final interview session, conducted on January 25, 2019, Shamsud-Din discusses his role in starting Black studies courses at San Francisco State University and at PSU, and shares his thoughts on the value of such programs. He talks about his involvement with the Nation of Islam, about his reasons for leaving the organization in 1976, and about his identity as a Black Muslim. He also speaks further about his reasons for changing his name. He discusses his painting process and his work as an editorial cartoonist, and talks about vandalism of some of his murals in Portland. He closes the interview by talking about the lives of his siblings, about the patronage of Arlene Schnitzer and Harold Schnitzer for his art, and about the many jobs he worked over his life.

Shamsud-Din, Isaka, 1940-

Oral history interview with Gladys Sims McCoy

  • SR 9045
  • Collection
  • 1981-02-20 - 1981-06-22

This oral history interview was conducted by Linda S. Dodds at the Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, from February 20 to June 22, 1981. At the time of the interview, Dodds' name was Linda S. Brody.

In this interview, McCoy discusses her early life on a farm during the Depression in Chattanooga, Tennessee, including the impact that segregation had on her childhood, her education, and her early jobs. She then discusses attending Talladega University in Alabama, including the experience of having an international faculty and thereby an integrated community in the heart of the segregated South. She also talks about studying sociology. She describes seeking employment in the field of social work and accepting a job in Portland, Oregon, as assistant teenage program director at the YWCA. She discusses differences in the ways the black population was treated in Portland compared to her experiences in the South. She describes meeting Bill McCoy and their subsequent marriage, giving up her career to stay at home, and later pursuing a career again after raising seven children over the course of 17 years. She talks about attending Portland State University as an older student and the difficulty of finding child care. She then describes her work with Project Head Start in Vancouver, Washington; teaching sociology and counseling students at Clark College; and teaching sociology at Pacific University in Forest Grove.

McCoy discusses her involvement in local politics. She talks about serving on the board of Portland Public Schools, including her campaign and programs to improve schools. She speaks at length about the board's efforts to implement middle schools, and the opposition the idea faced. She talks about her involvement with Bob Straub's successful 1975 campaign for Oregon governor and serving as an ombudsman for the governor, as well as some of the cases she investigated. She talks about her 1978 campaign for Multnomah County commissioner. She describes some of her work as commissioner, the types of complaints she received, and her support for city-county consolidation. She closes the interview by discussing her philosophy of life.

McCoy, Gladys Sims, 1928-1993