Oral history interview with Nan M. Brewster

Collection

Identifier: SR 9568

Staff Only

Oral history interview with Nan M. Brewster

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Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Nan M. Brewster was conducted by Charles Digregorio at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, Oregon, on June 25, 1976, as part of the oral history program at the society’s research library.

In this interview, Brewster speaks at length about her Montgomery and Gill family background, and talks about the history of the J.K. Gill Company. She discusses her early life in Portland, including her recreational activities and her social life. She talks about her education, about her career as a columnist and illustrator for Portland newspapers, and about her volunteer work for health organizations. She also talks about her marriage to William L. Brewster. She closes the interview by describing vacations at Seaview, Oregon.

Dates

Creation: 1976 June 25

Creator

Brewster, Nan M. (Frances Ann Montgomery), 1903-2005 (Interviewee, Person)
Digregorio, Charles (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 Nan M. Brewster. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted, https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-NC/1.0/

Biographical note

Frances Ann Brewster (née Montgomery, known as Nan M. Brewster in her life) was born in 1903 in Portland, Oregon. She was the granddaughter of bookstore founder Joseph Kaye Gill and the daughter of J. K. Gill company president William A. Montgomery. She studied at the University of Oregon and at the Museum Art School in Portland. In 1937, the Oregonian newspaper in Portland hired Brewster to write and illustrate a weekly column, titled "Faces and Places." The column ran on Sundays in the newspaper's society section. When the United States entered World War II, Brewster incorporated subjects relating to the homefront experience into her column, such as rationing, selling war bonds, and rolling bandages for wounded soldiers.

Brewster married William Lewis Brewster, Jr. (1905-1993) in 1931; the couple had two daughters. Nan M. Brewster died in 2005.

Sources: Obituary on OregonLive (accessed January 30, 2025), https://obits.oregonlive.com/us/obituaries/oregon/name/nan-brewster-obituary?id=19565564; vital records via Ancestry.com.

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (1 audiocassette (54 min., 39 sec.))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Nan M. Brewster conducted by Charles Digregorio on June 25, 1976. Brewster discusses the Gill and Montgomery family histories, and the history of the J.K. Gill Company in Portland, Oregon.

Existence and Location of Copies

Audio available online in OHS Digital Collections.

Related Materials

Additional materials at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library that relate to Nan M. Brewster include a collection of her cartoons and clippings, Coll 1066; and the J.K. Gill Company collection, Mss 754.