Oral history interview with Margaret G. Fritsch

Collection

Identifier: SR9318

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Margaret G. Fritsch was conducted by Linda S. Dodds on March 29, 1982. At the time of the interview, Dodds’ name was Linda S. Brody.

In this interview, Fritsch discusses her family background and early life in Salem, Oregon. She talks about studying architecture at the University of Oregon, including the discrimination she faced as a woman. She then discusses her career as an architect, including the process of obtaining a license and some of the buildings she designed early in her career. She also talks about serving as secretary of the Oregon State Board of Architect Examiners. Fritsch discusses some of the architects she worked with, including Jamieson Parker and A.E. Doyle. She also talks about the architecture career of her husband, Frederick Fritsch. She briefly talks about adopting a child after Frederick Fritsch’s death in 1934. She describes the effect the Depression had on their careers. She talks about working as a city planner for Juneau, Alaska, and her retirement in 1974. She closes the interview by talking about working with craftspeople; designing plinths for public art; and changes in the field of architecture.

Dates

Creation: 1982 March 29

Creator

Fritsch, Margaret G., 1899-1993 (Interviewee, Person)
Dodds, Linda S. (Interviewer, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Licensed under: Creative Commons, BY-NC-SA: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Biographical note

Mary Margaret Goodin Fritsch was born in 1899. She studied architecture at the University of Oregon, and in 1923 she became the first woman to graduate from that program. That same year, she became the first woman to be a licensed architect in Oregon, and she was also the first woman member of the American Institute of Architects from the West. She served as secretary of the Oregon State Board of Architect Examiners from 1926 to 1956. In 1928, she and fellow architect Frederick Fritsch were married. Frederick Fritsch died in 1934, and the next year, Margaret Fritsch adopted a child. In 1938, she opened her own architectural practice, and in 1963, she moved to Juneau, Alaska, where she worked as a city planner. She retired in 1974 and remained in Alaska. She died in 1993.

Extent

.1 Cubic Feet (2 audiocassettes (1 hr., 20 min., 32 sec.) + transcript (36 pages))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Margaret G. Fritsch conducted by Linda S. Dodds on March 29, 1982. Fritsch was the first woman to be a licensed architect in Oregon.