Radio interview with Lewis L. McArthur

Collection

Identifier: SR 2608

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This interview with Lewis L. McArthur was conducted by Bob Griggs at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, Oregon, around 1995. The interview was conducted for Oregon Public Broadcasting's Hotline radio program. This recording was aired on the Portland radio station KOPB as part of the Golden Hours series, which was a reading service for blind and visually impaired people that ran from 1975 to 2009. Jeffry Uecker, an Oregon Historical Society museum educator, was also present. A transcript of the interview is available.

In this interview, McArthur discusses the work of his father, Lewis A. McArthur, on the first three editions of the Oregon Geographic Names book, then discusses his own work on the fourth, fifth, and sixth editions. He talks about his research methods and shares information about several Oregon place names. He also shares his opinion on the theory that Sir Francis Drake landed on the Oregon Coast. He closes the interview by discussing the work of the Oregon Geographic Names Board.

Dates

circa 1995

Creator

McArthur, Lewis L. (Interviewee, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

In Copyright – Rights-Holder(s) Unlocatable or Unidentifiable - https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/

Biographical note

Lewis Linn McArthur was born in 1917 in Portland, Oregon. He studied economics at the University of California at Berkeley, and served in the U.S. Army in the Aleutian Islands during World War II. After the war, he worked for 40 years as an industrial engineer for the Ray F. Becker Company.

McArthur's father, Lewis A. McArthur, was the author of Oregon Geographic Names in 1928. Though Lewis L. McArthur was not formally trained as a historian, he was most well known for continuing his father's work in studying and compiling the history of place names in Oregon. He served on the Oregon Geographic Names Board from 1958 to 2006, and between 1974 and 2003, he published the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh editions of Oregon Geographic Names. McArthur also served on the state historic preservation committee and the Historic Columbia River Highway State Advisory Committee.

McArthur and Joyce Abigail Clark of Eugene, Oregon, married in 1946. The couple had four children: Lewis, Mary, Sarah, and Susan. Lewis L. McArthur died in 2018 at the age of 101.

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (1 audiocassette (30 min., 11 sec.) + transcript (14 pages))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Radio interview with Lewis L. McArthur conducted by Bob Griggs around 1995. McArthur discusses the work of his father, Lewis A. McArthur, on the first three editions of the Oregon Geographic Names book, as well as his own work on later editions.

Existence and Location of Copies

Audio and transcript available online in OHS Digital Collections.

Related Materials

Lewis L. McArthur's papers, Coll 854, and several additional sound recordings, SR 62, SR 2526, SR 2955, SR 2956, SR 2957, SR 9469, and SR 11092, are also available at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.