Oral history interview with Jean L. Lewis
Scope and Contents
This oral history interview with Jean L. Lewis was conducted by Linda S. Dodds in Portland, Oregon, on March 5, 1981. At the time of the interview, Dodds’ name was Linda S. Brody.
In this interview, Lewis discusses her family background and early life in Portland, Oregon. She briefly talks about studying at Northwestern College of Law, practicing law in Portland, and working on the staff of the U.S. Treasury General Counsel in Washington, D.C., during World War II.
She discusses serving in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1954 to 1956, and in the Oregon Senate from 1957 to 1961. She talks about legislation she worked on, including on capital punishment, education, government transparency, and carnival safety. She also talks about her experiences as a woman in the Legislature, and as the first woman to serve on the Ways and Means Committee and the Emergency Board.
Lewis talks about serving as a judge on the Multnomah County Circuit Court from 1961 to 1978. She describes her experiences as the first woman to serve on a circuit court in Oregon. She talks about specializing in domestic cases and about some of the cases she presided over, including cases on allowing single fathers to adopt children. She briefly lists some of the organizations she’s been involved with. She closes the interview by talking about her reasons for retiring in 1978.
Dates
- 1981 March 5
Creator
- Lewis, Jean Lagerquist, 1914-1991 (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 license: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Biographical note
Jean Lagerquist Lewis was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1914. At age 12, she decided that she wanted to become a lawyer. She earned a law degree from Northwestern College of Law in 1938 and passed the Oregon bar exam in 1939. She opened a private practice law firm in Portland later that year. In June 1940, she and Hank Lewis were married before he was deployed overseas during World War II. They later had one child. From 1943 to 1945, she worked on the staff of the U.S. Treasury General Counsel in Washington, D.C. She returned to Portland in 1946 and reopened her law office. She was a Democrat and served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1954 to 1956, and in the Oregon Senate from 1957 to 1961. She also managed Wayne Morse’s 1956 campaign for the U.S. Senate. She became the first woman Circuit Court judge in Oregon when Governor Mark O. Hatfield appointed her to the Multnomah County Circuit Court in 1961. She served on the court until her retirement in 1978. She died in 1991.
Extent
.1 Cubic Feet (1 audiocassette (43 min., 42 sec.) + transcript (21 pages))
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Oral history interview with Jean L. Lewis conducted by Linda S. Dodds on March 5, 1981. Lewis was a state legislator and the first woman to become a Circuit Court judge in Oregon.
Existence and Location of Copies
- Judges -- Oregon
- Justice, Administration of -- Oregon
- Lawyers -- Oregon -- Portland
- Legislators -- Oregon
- Lewis, Jean Lagerquist, 1914-1991
- Oral Histories
- Oregon
- Oregon -- Politics and government -- 20th century
- Oregon. Circuit Court (Multnomah County)
- Oregon. Legislative Assembly
- Women judges -- Oregon
- Women legislators -- Oregon
- interviews
Creator
- Lewis, Jean Lagerquist, 1914-1991 (Interviewee, Person)
- Dodds, Linda S. (Interviewer, Person)
- Title
- Guide to oral history interview with Jean L. Lewis
- 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