Oral history interview with Howard C. Stearns

Collection

Identifier: SR460

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Howard C. Stearns was conducted by Leon Speroff from January 21-23, 1980. The interview was conducted in two sessions.

In the first interview session, conducted on January 21, 1980, Stearns discusses his career as a member of the University of Oregon Medical School faculty, including other members of the faculty, running his own medical practice on the side, and his promotion to department chair in 1945. He also talks about his reasons for leaving the university in 1957. He then discusses his family background and early life in Portland, Oregon; his service in the Merchant Marines during World War I; and his experience studying entomology at Oregon State University, and medicine at the University of Oregon Medical School. He talks about practicing obstetrics and gynecology and describes some of the common procedures he conducted, including some graphic descriptions of childbirth.

In the second interview session, conducted on January 23, 1980, Stearns continues to discuss practicing obstetrics and gynecology. He talks about his service as chair of the of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Oregon Medical School. He then discusses his children, their careers, and their families. He closes the interview by talking about his involvement with Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland and teaching obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Oregon Medical School.

Dates

Creation: 1980 January 21-23

Creator

Stearns, Howard C. (Howard Cecil), 1900-1985 (Interviewee, Person)
Speroff, Leon, 1935- (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, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Biographical note

Howard Cecil Stearns was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1900. During World War I, he served in the Merchant Marines. He earned a master’s degree in entomology from Oregon State University in 1924, and in 1929 he graduated from the University of Oregon Medical School. He was a member of the University of Oregon faculty for 13 years, and in 1945, he was appointed chair of the obstetrics and gynecology department of the University of Oregon Medical School, now Oregon Health & Science University. He also operated his own medical practice in addition to serving on the university faculty. He served as president of the Legacy Emanuel Hospital medical staff, as a trustee of the Medical Research Foundation, as president of the University of Oregon Medical School Alumni Association, and as vice president of the American Academy of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Stearns married twice. He and Mary Louise Wiley were married in 1928; they later had three children. Mary Louise Stearns died in 1969, and in 1971, Howard C. Stearns and Rosella M. Arlick were married. Stearns died in 1985.

Extent

.1 Cubic Feet (2 audiocassettes (2 hr., 6 min., 28 sec.) + transcript (58 pages))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Howard C. Stearns conducted by Leon Speroff from January 21-23, 1980. Stearns was an obstetrician and gynecologist in Portland, Oregon.