Oral history interview with Agnes Barchus
Scope and Contents
This oral history interview with Agnes Barchus was conducted by Karen A. Reyes at Barchus’ home in Portland, Oregon, on March 3, 1980. In this interview, Barchus discusses the art career of her mother, Eliza R. Barchus, including her exhibits at the Portland Hotel and the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, as well as her innovation of selling prints of her paintings on postcards. Barchus also shares her memories of the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition, describing many of the buildings and exhibits in detail. She describes some of the houses that her mother built in Portland, her mother’s practice of paying her bills in trade, and her mother’s efforts to save several boxwood trees from a construction project. She talks about the renewed interest in her mother’s artwork after Eliza Barchus’ death in 1959, exhibitions of her mother’s work in the 1960s and 1970s, and the passage of a resolution naming Eliza Barchus “The Oregon Artist.”
Dates
- Creation: 1980 March 3
Creator
- Barchus, Agnes, 1893-1983 (Interviewee, Person)
- Reyes, Karen A., 1950- (Interviewer, 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
Agnes J. Barchus was born in 1893. She was the first woman minutes clerk in the Oregon State Legislature, beginning in 1927. She also wrote a biography of her mother, Oregon artist Eliza R. Barchus. She died in 1983.
Extent
.1 Cubic Feet (1 audiocassette ( 1 hr., 1 min., 50 sec.) + 4 photographs (black and white))
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Oral history interview with Agnes Barchus conducted by Karen A. Reyes on March 3, 1980. Barchus was the first woman minutes clerk in the Oregon Legislature and the daughter of Oregon artist Eliza R. Barchus. She discusses her mother's art career and her memories of the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland.
Existence and Location of Copies
General
Handwritten index (1 page) is available for in-person use at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Subject
- Barchus, Agnes, 1893-1983 (Person)
- Barchus, Eliza Rosanna, 1857-1959 (Person)
- Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition (1905 : Portland, Or.) (Organization)
- Title
- Guide to oral history interview with Agnes Barchus
- 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