Oral history interview with Don E. Clark

Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Transcript] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 01, Recording 01] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 01, Recording 02] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 01, Recording 03] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 01, Recording 04] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 02, Recording 01] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 02, Recording 02] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 03, Recording 01] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 03, Recording 02] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 04, Recording 01] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 04, Recording 02] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 05, Recording 01] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 05, Recording 02] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 06, Recording 01] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 06, Recording 02] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 07, Recording 01] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 07, Recording 02] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 08, Recording 01] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 08, Recording 02] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 08, Recording 03] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 08, Recording 04] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 08, Recording 05] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 08, Recording 06] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 08, Recording 07] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 08, Recording 08] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 09, Recording 01] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 09, Recording 02] Oral history interview with Don E. Clark [Session 09, Recording 03 & Session 10, Recording 01]
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Identity elements

Reference code

SR 1166

Name and location of repository

Level of description

Collection

Title

Oral history interview with Don E. Clark

Date(s)

  • 1994-08-30 - 1998-03-27 (Creation)

Extent

.2 cubic feet; 42 audiocassettes (37 hr., 57 min., 42 sec.) + transcript (943 pages)

Name of creator

Clark, Don E. (Donald Edward), 1933-

Biographical history

Donald Edward Clark was born in Silverton, Oregon, in 1933. His family moved to Oregon less than a year later, and then to San Miguel, California, in 1944. The family returned to Portland in 1945. In 1952, he and Barbara Bolin were married; they later had two children. Clark attended Vanport College, which later became Portland State University, and in 1953, he transferred to San Francisco State College, where he graduated in 1956 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. While at San Francisco State, he worked as a prison guard at San Quentin State Prison. In 1956, he returned to Oregon and worked as a deputy in the Multnomah County Sheriff's office. For six months in 1958, he acted as a jail counselor at Rocky Butte Jail. Around the same time, he earned a teaching credential from Portland State University, then taught elementary school while also serving as a deputy sheriff. He was elected Multnomah County sheriff as a Democrat in 1963 and served until 1966. From 1967 to 1968, he was assistant director of the Law Enforcement Program at Portland State University. In 1968, he was elected to position 4 on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. In 1970, he and Barbara Clark divorced, and Don Clark remarried in 1971. In 1974, Clark was elected chair of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, and he served in that role until 1979, when charter amendments changing the structure of county government took effect, and he became Multnomah County executive. After an unsuccessful run for the Democratic nomination for Oregon governor in 1982, he retired from county government. He was a consultant with Cogan, Sharpe, & Cogan (now known as Cogan & Associates) for one year. In 1984, he became executive director of the Burnside Consortium, now known as Central City Concern. In 1988, he became executive director of the Housing Authority of Portland. He retired in 1992.

Content and structure elements

Scope and content

This oral history interview with Don E. Clark was conducted by George M. Joseph at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, Oregon, from August 30, 1994 to March 27, 1998. The interview was conducted over twenty-nine sessions, and the collection includes a transcript. Tape 13 of this interview is missing, and some sections of the interview have been restricted by Clark.

In sessions 1 through 5, Clark discusses his early life and career, including working as a prison guard at San Quentin State Prison in California and then as a deputy for the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. In sessions 5 and 6, he discusses his 1962 campaign for Multnomah County sheriff. In sessions 7 through 9, he continues to speak about his campaign, and then discusses serving as Multnomah County sheriff from 1962 to 1966. In sessions 10 and 11, he discusses his 1966 re-election campaign for Multnomah County sheriff and his simultaneous campaign for chair of the Multnomah County board of commissioners; serving as assistant director of the Law Enforcement Program at Portland State University from 1967 to 1968, and his 1968 campaign for position 4 on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. In sessions 12 through 15, Clark talks about serving on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, focusing on the years from 1969 to 1974. In sessions 16 through 20, he talks about campaigning for and serving as chair of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners from 1975 to 1979. In sessions 21 through 24, Clark discusses serving as county executive from 1979 to 1982, and his 1982 campaign for Oregon governor. In sessions 25 through 29, Clark talks about his activities since leaving office, including serving as executive director of the Burnside Consortium, now known as Central City Concern, from 1984 to 1988, and as executive director of the Housing Authority of Portland, now known as Home Forward, from 1988 to 1992.

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use elements

Conditions governing access

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Physical access

Technical access

Parts of the interview have been restricted by Don Clark. Restricted segments have been redacted from the transcript and digitized audio files, and tapes 16, 18, 22, 25-28, 31, 32, 41, and 42 are restricted. The remainder of the interview is open for research.

Conditions governing reproduction

Languages of the material

  • English

Scripts of the material

Language and script notes

Finding aids

Acquisition and appraisal elements

Custodial history

Immediate source of acquisition

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information

Accruals

Related materials elements

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related archival materials

Donald E. Clark papers, Mss 1373, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Related descriptions

Notes element

General note

Preferred citation: Oral history interview with Don E. Clark, by George M. Joseph, SR 1166, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

General note

Handwritten index (106 pages) is available for in-person use at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Specialized notes

Alternative identifier(s)

Description control element

Rules or conventions

Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard), 2nd Edition.

Sources used

Archivist's note

Sarah Stroman

Access points

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Accession area