Skip to main content

Oral history interview with Holly Hart

 Collection
Identifier: SR 4145

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Holly Hart was conducted by Winter Drews and James Loos at Hart’s home in Portland, Oregon, on November 14, 2000. Drews and Loos conducted the interview for the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest as part of Professor Ann Mussey's senior capstone class on LGBTQ history at Portland State University. The interview transcript includes a written introduction by George Nicola.

In this interview, Hart discusses her experience at Reed College in Portland during the 1960s, including her experience as a closeted lesbian and her political and civil rights activism. She talks about working for the Willamette Bridge newspaper, her involvement in the gay liberation movement, and coming out as a lesbian. She briefly talks about her experience studying law at the University of California at Berkeley, then discusses practicing law in Portland. She talks about cases she worked on, lawyers she worked with, and her focus on civil rights cases, particularly gay rights. She discusses serving on the Task Force on Sexual Preference and describes the report of recommendations she authored for the governor. She talks about her dissatisfaction with practicing law and her decision to instead open a restaurant, Old Wives’ Tales; describes the process of opening the restaurant; and talks about her original plan to also open a bookstore. She speaks at length about running the restaurant and its role in the Portland community. She then discusses having a child via artificial insemination and talks about raising her daughter. She also discusses her involvement in Portland’s Jewish community. She then revisits the topic of her restaurant and talks about the diversity of its clientele; discusses how social conditions for LGBTQ people have changed in Portland; and talks about her experience as a lesbian and a mother in Portland’s Jewish community. She closes the interview by revisiting the topic of her work at the Willamette Bridge newspaper, describing instances of harassment she has experienced, and talking about her hopes for the future of gay rights.

Dates

  • Creation: 2000 November 14

Creator

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, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.

Biographical note

Holly Hart was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1947. In 1964, she came to Portland, Oregon, to attend Reed College. After graduating from Reed in 1968, she came out as a lesbian and was a gay rights activist. In 1975, she graduated from law school at the University of California at Berkeley. She then returned to Portland to practice law. In the late 1970s she served on a panel commissioned by Oregon Governor Bob Straub to compile a report for the Task Force on Sexual Preference. In 1980, she opened the Old Wives’ Tales restaurant on East Burnside in Portland. She chose to be a single mother and had one child. The restaurant closed when Hart retired in 2014.

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (2 audiocassettes (1 hr., 46 min., 43 sec.) + transcript (44 pages))

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Oral history interview with Holly Hart conducted by Winter Drews and James Loos on November 14, 2000, for the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN). Hart discusses her work as a gay rights activist, lawyer, and restaurant owner in Portland, Oregon.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Pat Young, May 2002 (Lib. Acc. 24728).

Existence and Location of Copies

Related Materials

Additional interview with Holly Hart, SR 6318 and SR 11228, are also held at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

General

Forms part of the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN).

Title
Guide to the oral history interview with Holly Hart
Status
Completed
Author
Sarah Stroman
Date
2021
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library Repository

Contact:
1200 SW Park Ave.
Portland OR 97205 United States
5033065204
5033065240