Oral history interview with Jack G. Collins
Scope and Contents
This oral history interview with Jack G. Collins was conducted by Bruce James on August 15, 1996. Additional interview sessions were planned, but were never conducted. In this interview, Collins discusses coming to Oregon in 1958 to become a law clerk for Oregon Supreme Court Justice Water Perry; studying for the Oregon bar exam; and working with Bob Packwood. He then speaks at length about his family background and early life in Waukegan, Illinois, including his education. He discusses his involvement with the Presbyterian Church; some of the cases he worked on as a lawyer in Salem, Oregon; and attending Princeton University while serving in the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps. He closes the interview by talking briefly about his naval service during the Korean War.
Dates
- 1996 August 15
Creator
- Collins, Jack G. (Jack Gore), 1930-2010 (Interviewee, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
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/
Biographical note
Jack Gore Collins was born in Waukegan, Illinois, in 1930. He joined the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps to pay his tuition to Princeton University, where he graduated in 1952. He then served in the Navy at the tail end of the Korean War. He met Janine Decker during leave in 1954, and they were married in 1957; they later had three children. He earned a law degree at Harvard Law School in 1958. After graduation, he relocated to Oregon to be a law clerk for Oregon Supreme Court Justice Walter Perry for a year. In 1958, he went into private law practice in Salem, Oregon. He became an assistant attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in 1963. He worked under U.S. Attorney Sidney Lezak. He was promoted to first assistant U.S. attorney in 1966. In 1982, Charles Turner replaced Sidney Lezak, and Collins was made chief of the Civil Division. In 1992, his title changed to chief of the Asset Forfeiture Division. He retired three years later in 1995. He taught administrative law at Lewis and Clark College and later at Portland State University. He died in 2010.
Extent
.1 Cubic Feet (2 audiocassettes (1 hr., 46 min., 37 sec.))
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Oral history interview with Jack G. Collins conducted by Bruce James on August 15, 1996, as part of the United States District Court Oral History Project. Collins was an assistant U.S. attorney for Oregon.
Existence and Location of Copies
General
Forms part of the United States District Court Oral History Project.
Creator
- Collins, Jack G. (Jack Gore), 1930-2010 (Interviewee, Person)
- James, Bruce (Interviewer, Person)
- Title
- Guide to oral history interview with Jack G. Collins
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Sarah Stroman
- Date
- 2020
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is written in English.
- Sponsor
- This project is supported in whole or part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the State Library of Oregon.
Repository Details
Part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library Repository
1200 SW Park Ave.
Portland OR 97205 United States
5033065204
5033065240
libreference@ohs.org