Oral history interview with L. Raphael Geisler
Scope and Contents
This oral history interview with L. Raphael Geisler was conducted by Charles Digregorio at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, Oregon, on June 10, 1976. In this interview, Geisler discusses his family background and early life in the Portland Heights neighborhood of Portland. He also briefly shares his memories of the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition.
Geisler discusses his experience as vice-consul to Cologne, Germany, and to Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I. He then speaks briefly about his career in banking after the war until the Depression, and then working as a patent lawyer in Portland. He discusses his involvement with Trinity Episcopal Church, including his memories of the 1902 fire that destroyed its original building on SW Sixth Avenue and SW Oak Street in downtown Portland. He closes the interview by speaking briefly about his parents.
Dates
- Creation: 1976 June 10
Creator
- Geisler, L. Raphael (Louis Raphael), 1890-1982 (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 L. Raphael Geisler. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-NC/1.0/
Biographical note
Louis Raphael Geisler was born in 1890 in Portland, Oregon. He attended the University of Oregon and graduated in 1912, then taught high school for a few years. He then studied law at Columbia College (now Columbia University) in New York. During World War I, he served as U.S. vice consul to Cologne, Germany, from 1916 to 1917, and to Zurich, Switzerland, from 1917 to 1919. After the war ended, he returned to Columbia College and completed his law degree. He then worked in the foreign banking department of the Irving Bank and Trust Company, managing branches in London, England; Berlin, Germany; and Paris, France. In 1919, he and Gertrude Blackmar were married; they later had one child. When the Depression struck in 1929, the Irving Bank branches closed, and Geisler returned to the U.S. to become a patent lawyer. He returned to Portland around 1935. After Gertrude Blackmar’s death in 1957, he and Florence Elton married in 1960. He died in 1982.
Extent
.1 Cubic Feet (1 audiocassette (50 min., 22 sec.))
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Oral history interview with L. Raphael Geisler conducted by Charles Digregorio on June 10, 1976. Geisler was a patent attorney and vice-consul to Cologne, Germany, and Zurich, Switzerland.
Existence and Location of Copies
General
Incomplete transcript (14 pages) is available for in-person use at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Subject
- Trinity Episcopal Church (Portland, Or.) (Organization)
- Geisler, L. Raphael (Louis Raphael), 1890-1982 (Person)
- Title
- Guide to oral history interview with L. Raphael Geisler
- 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. Digitization funded by the James F. Miller Endowment.
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