Oral history interview with Norma Paulus

Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 01] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 02] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 03] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 04] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 05] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 06] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 07] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 08] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 09] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 10] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 11] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 12] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 13] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 14] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 15] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 16] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 17] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 18] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 19] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 20] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 21] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 22] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 23] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 24] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 25] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 26] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 27] Oral history interview with Norma Paulus [Sound Recording 28]
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Identity elements

Reference code

SR 3972

Name and location of repository

Level of description

Collection

Title

Oral history interview with Norma Paulus

Date(s)

  • 2010-02-10 - 2010-02-27 (Creation)
  • 1999-02-10 - 2000-11-02 (Creation)

Extent

.1 cubic feet 22 audiocassettes (19 hr., 2 min., 58 sec.) and 1 compact disc (47 min., 57 sec.)

Name of creator

(1933-2019)

Biographical history

Norma Paulus was born in Nebraska in 1933. Her family relocated to escape the Dust Bowl, eventually settling in Burns, Oregon, in 1938. After graduating from high school, she got a job as secretary to the district attorney of Harney County. She later moved to Salem, Oregon, and worked as a secretary for Judge Earl Latourette; at age 24, she decided to go to law school. She took night classes at Lewis and Clark College and graduated in 1962. She passed the Oregon State Bar the same year. She met her husband, Bill Paulus, while she was at law school, and they married in 1958. She became an appellate lawyer in Salem and argued before the Oregon Supreme Court. She was appointed to the Marion County Boundary Commission by Governor Tom McCall in 1969, which was the beginning of her political career. She represented Marion County in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1970 to 1976. She then served as Oregon's first woman secretary of state from 1977 to 1985. She also ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1986. She was then appointed to the Northwest Power Planning Council, where she served from 1987 to 1990, and subsequently was superintendent of public instruction from 1990 to 1999. She later served as the executive director of the Oregon Historical Society from 2000 to 2003. She died in 2019.

Content and structure elements

Scope and content

This oral history interview with Norma Paulus was conducted by Clark Hansen at Paulus's home in Salem, Oregon, in Lincoln City, Oregon, and in Portland, Oregon; and at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, Oregon, from February 10, 1999, to November 2, 2000, and from February 10 to 27, 2010. In the interview, Paulus discusses her family background and early life in Burns, Oregon, including life during World War II and contracting polio at the age of 19. She also discusses working as a secretary for the Harney County district attorney, Leland Beckham; moving to Salem to work for a law firm; working for Judge Earl Latourette; and going to law school. Paulus describes meeting Bill Paulus while attending law school; his family background; and their marriage. Paulus discusses her involvement with the Republican Party; working as an appellate lawyer for the Oregon Supreme Court; working on Wally Carson's campaign for the Oregon Legislature in 1965; and getting her first political appointment, to the Marion County Boundary Commission, where she focused on land-use and city planning issues. She focuses on managing a career in law and politics while raising two young children and building a house.

She then discusses her time in the Oregon House of Representatives, from 1970 to 1976, including environmental issues such as the Bottle Bill of 1971 and recycling; education; the criminal code; taxes; attempts to make Cape Kiwanda a state park; and the Rajneeshees. Paulus goes into detail about the women's caucus and the bills they focused on for women's rights, as well as efforts to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. She describes working with Bob Smith, Paul Hanneman, Betty Roberts, Stafford Hansell, Jack Anunsen, Wally Priestly, Dick Eymann, Lynn Newbry, Glenn Jackson, Jason Boe, and Gretchen Kafoury. She also talks about being co-chair for Clay Myers' 1974 race for Oregon governor.

Paulus goes on to speak about her time as Oregon's first woman secretary of state from 1977 to 1985, including her first campaign in 1976 against Blaine Whipple; her efforts to increase voter turnout; and conducting audits, particularly of the Forestry Department. She also discusses the secretary of state's role as state archivist and the conflict between the Oregon State Archives and the Oregon Historical Society over which records belong with which institution. She also discusses working with Governor Vic Atiyeh. Paulus discusses running for governor against Neil Goldschmidt in 1986 and the challenges her campaign faced. She discusses her position on the Northwest Power Planning Council from 1987 to 1990, including working with Ted Hallock and Bob Duncan. She also discusses her position as Oregon superintendent of public instruction from 1990 to 1999, including her efforts to fund K-12 education. Paulus also relates a story about sharing an airplane with Moshe Dayan.

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use elements

Conditions governing access

Collection is open for research.

Physical access

Technical access

Conditions governing reproduction

Copyright held by the Oregon Historical Society. Licensed under Creative Commons, BY-NC-SA: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

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

This interview is continued by: Oral history interview with Norma Paulus, by Clark Hansen, SR 11239, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Related descriptions

Notes element

General note

Preferred citation: Oral history interview with Norma Paulus, by Clark Hansen, SR 3972, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

General note

Audiocassettes 14 and 22 are blank and so have not been included in the cassette-by-cassette list of recordings that make up the interview. Audio for the 2010 portion of the interview is incomplete.

General note

Incomplete transcript (595 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

Genre access points

Accession area

Related genres