Oral history interview with Marjorie K. Sailors

Collection

Identifier: SR 11328

Staff Only

Oral history interview with Marjorie K. Sailors

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Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Marjorie K. Sailors was conducted by Linda S. Dodds in Portland, Oregon, in two sessions, on June 26, 1989, and July 7, 1989. An unidentified person was also present for the second session.

In the first interview session, conducted on June 26, 1989, Sailors discusses her family background, particularly the life and legal career of her father, Edward Emmet Kelly, and his experience in the U.S. Army during World War I. She talks about the lives and careers of her brothers, and shares her experience as a woman in the U.S. Army during World War II. She speaks at length about the Ku Klux Klan presence in early 20th-century Medford, Oregon, and about her father’s opposition to the Klan.

In the second interview session, conducted on July 7, 1989, Sailors continues to discuss her father’s life and legal career. She shares her memories of prominent people in Medford and their connection to the Ku Klux Klan as they are listed off by Linda S. Dodds. She describes some of the cases her father worked on. She talks about her early life in Medford, describes her childhood home, and discusses the life of her mother, Agnes Kelly.

Dates

Creation: 1989 June 26-July 7

Creator

Sailors, Marjorie K. (Marjorie Kelly), 1909-1990 (Interviewee, Person)
Dodds, Linda S. (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 statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Biographical note

Marjorie Kelly Sailors, nee Marjorie D. Kelly, was born in Medford, Oregon, in 1909. Her father, Edward Emmet Kelly, was a lawyer in Medford, and also served in the U.S. Army during World War I. Sailors earned a teaching degree from the University of Oregon. She was a teacher at schools in Medford, and later taught in Lancaster, California. During World War II, she served as a lieutenant in the Women's Army Corps of the U.S. Army during World War II. She later became an executive at a timber company in Portland, Oregon. She died in 1990.

Sources: Vital records on Ancestry.com; Sailors’ obituary in the Napa Valley Register, November 2, 1990.

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (2 audiocassettes (1 hr., 56 min., 47 sec.))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Marjorie K. Sailors conducted by Linda S. Dodds from June 26-July 7, 1989. Sailors discusses the life and legal career of her father, E. E. Kelly (1867-1938), the Ku Klux Klan presence in early 20th-century Medford, and her father's opposition to the Klan.

Existence and Location of Copies

Audio available online in OHS Digital Collections.

Related Materials

Additional collections at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library that relate to E. E. Kelly and other members of the Kelly family include the Edward Emmet Kelly family papers, Mss 1434; the Edward E. Kelly photographs collection, Org. Lot 882; and an interview with Marjorie Sailors' brother Robert E. Kelly, SR 336, are held at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.