Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee

Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 01] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 02] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 03] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 04] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 05] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 06] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 07] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 08] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 09] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 10] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 11] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 12] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 13] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 14] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 15] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 16] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee Sound Recording 17] Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee [Transcript]

Identity elements

Reference code

SR 1214

Name and location of repository

Level of description

Series

Title

Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee

Date(s)

  • 1985-02-08 - 1995-03-08 (Creation)

Extent

.1 cubic feet 9 audiocassettes (8 hr., 24 min., 52 sec.)

Name of creator

Fee, Alice Tomkins (Alice Emma Tomkins), 1897-1995

Biographical history

Alice Emma Tomkins Fee was born in Cascade Locks, Oregon, in 1897, and grew up in Portland until the age of 10, when her family returned to Cascade Locks. With few career paths open to women, she chose to attend the Oregon Normal School in Monmouth with the intention of becoming a teacher. She transferred to the University of Oregon and studied music, earning her bachelor's degree in 1924. She was principal at a school in Malin, Oregon; a third-grade teacher in Hood River, Oregon; and principal in Pine Grove, Oregon. She got a job as a typist and stenographer in the clerk's office for the U.S. District Court of Oregon in 1927, and in 1931 she became deputy clerk of the court. In 1939, she became secretary for Judge James Alger Fee. They were married in 1943 and they had no children. They moved to San Francisco, California, when Judge Fee was appointed to the Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Fee died in 1959. Alice Tomkins Fee returned to Portland around 1978. She died in 1995.

Name of creator

Harmon, Rick
(1952-2004)

Biographical history

Richard Charles Harmon was born in Jackson, Michigan, in 1952. When he was six years old, his family moved to the West Coast. In 1975, he earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of California, San Diego. He attended Columbia University in New York, then transferred back to UCSD. A few years later, he left graduate school and began working in publishing in Southern California. In the early 1980s, he began working in the UCLA oral history program. In 1984, he became an oral historian at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, and the next year, he also became the editor of Oregon Historical Quarterly, the historical society's journal. For a year, he held both positions, and he served as editor of OHQ until 1999.

Harmon was married twice. He and Candice Gaucher married in 1975, then divorced in 1985. He remarried, to Jane Malarkey, in 1990. Harmon died in 2004.

Sources: Information provided by Harmon in an oral history interview, SR 2531, held by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library; vital records on Ancestry.com.

Content and structure elements

Scope and content

This oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee was conducted by Rick Harmon in Portland, Oregon, from February 8 to March 8, 1985. In this interview, Fee discusses her family background and early life in Portland and Cascade Locks, Oregon, including her education, her memories of World War I, and the lack of career options available to women. She discusses attending the Oregon Normal School in Monmouth, including her teachers and social life, and studying music at the University of Oregon. She then talks about her career as a teacher and principal at schools in Malin, Pine Grove, and Hood River, Oregon. She also discusses the numerous health issues she's had over the years. She speaks about working as a typist in the clerk's office for the U.S. District Court of Oregon, then as a stenographer for naturalization and bankruptcy cases, and then as a law clerk. She discusses the judges she worked with, the Pioneer Courthouse, and the procedures of the court. She speaks at length about her husband, Judge James Alger Fee, including his family background, early life, and judicial career, as well as cases he presided over and her work as his secretary. She discusses the circumstances surrounding Judge Fee's heart attack in 1959 and his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. She closes the interview by talking about her activities since her husband's death, including traveling, cooking and reading.

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use elements

Conditions governing access

Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society, the U.S. District Court of Oregon, and the estate of Alice Tomkins Fee. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/

Physical access

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Conditions governing reproduction

Languages of the material

  • English

Scripts of the material

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Finding aids

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Notes element

General note

Preferred citation: Oral history interview with Alice Tomkins Fee, by Rick Harmon, SR 1214, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

General note

Forms part of the United States District Court Oral History Project.

General note

Publication note: Transcript published in Oregon Historical Quarterly, Fall 1987, pages 285-307.

General note

Incomplete transcript (181 pages) and handwritten index (15 pages) are available for in-person use at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

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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

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