Oral history interview with Bernice McGregor Church

Collection

Identifier: SR 9547

Staff Only

Digitized audio recording of interview

Go to file

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Bernice McGregor Church was conducted by Charles Digregorio on February 17, 1977, at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, Oregon, as part of the oral history program at the society’s research library.

In this interview, Church discusses her family background, and shares her memories of life in Astoria in the 1900s and 1910s. She discusses her marriage to Walter Enos Church, speaks about her work as a bookbinder, and describes her involvement with the Oregon Ceramic Studio, later known as the Contemporary Crafts Gallery, and then as the Museum of Contemporary Craft.

Dates

Creation: 1977 February 17

Creator

Church, Bernice McGregor, 1894-1989 (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 Bernice McGregor Church. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted, https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-NC/1.0/

Biographical note

Bernice McGregor Church, nee Bernice Elizabeth McGregor, was born in Astoria, Oregon, in 1894. In 1919, she and Walter Enos Church were married; they later had three children. In 1925, the couple moved to Portland, where Walter E. Church worked as an architect. In 1965, they moved to Arch Cape, Oregon. Walter E. Church died in 1976, and in the 1980s, Bernice M. Church returned to Portland. She was a bookbinder, and was active with the Oregon Ceramic Studio (later known as the Contemporary Crafts Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Craft). Bernice McGregor Church died in 1989.

Sources: Vital records in Ancestry.com; information provided by McGregor in interview; Church’s obituary in the Oregonian, August 10, 1989, Page E9.

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (1 audiocassette (46 min., 55 sec.))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Bernice McGregor Church, conducted by Charles Digregorio on February 17, 1977. Church discusses her memories of Astoria, Oregon, in the 1900s and 1910s.