Oral history interview with Margaret Biddle Parker

Collection

Identifier: SR 9413

Staff Only

Oral history interview with Margaret Biddle Parker

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Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Margaret Biddle Parker was conducted by Charles Digregorio and Terence O'Donnell in Portland, Oregon, on March 28, 1978, as part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library’s oral history program. In addition to the audio recording, a transcript of the interview is available.

In this interview, Parker looks at and describes photographs of her mother, Margaret Burrell Biddle, and talks about her mother’s life. She talks about their relationship, about their travels, and about her mother’s talent for gardening. She describes the places her mother lived after her divorce in 1925, talks about her mother’s antisemitism, and discusses her mother’s recreational activities.

Dates

Creation: 1978 March 28

Creator

Parker, Margaret Biddle, 1898-1987 (Interviewee, Person)
Digregorio, Charles (Interviewer, Person)
O'Donnell, Terence, 1924-2001 (Interviewer, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and the estate of Margaret Biddle Parker. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted, https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-NC/1.0/

Biographical note

Margaret Biddle Parker, nee Margaret Alden Biddle, was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1898. She spent much of her childhood in Germany, and returned with her family to Portland in 1907. She attended the University of California in Berkeley. In 1923, she and Jamieson Kirkwood Parker were married; they later had three children. She died in 1987.

Biographical note

Margaret Burrell Biddle, nee Margaret Alden Burrell, was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1876. In 1897, she and William Shepherd Biddle II were married; they later had three children. They separated in 1912, and divorced in 1925. From 1926 to about 1933, she lived in Berkeley, California; she then lived on a ranch in Medford, Oregon, until World War II. In 1952, she moved to Santa Barbara, California. She died in 1966.

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (1 audiocassette (46 min., 25 sec.) + transcript (27 pages))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Margaret Biddle Parker conducted by Charles Digregorio and Terence O'Donnell on March 28, 1978. Parker discusses the life of her mother, Margaret Burrell Biddle.

Existence and Location of Copies

Audio and transcript available online in OHS Digital Collections.

Related Materials

Additional interviews with Margaret Biddle Parker, SR 9484 and SR 9485, and the Biddle family photographs collection, Org. Lot 936, are also held by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.