Oral history interview with Barbara Fealy

Collection

Identifier: SR922

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Barbara Fealy was conducted by Marian W. Kolisch at Fealy’s home in Portland, Oregon, on May 2, 1987. The interview was conducted as part of a series by Oregon photographer Marian W. Kolisch to accompany portraits of Oregon artists, businesspeople, and politicians.

In this interview, Fealy discusses her family background and early life in Utah, including her father’s nursery business and her early interest in landscape architecture. She talks about studying landscape architecture at the University of Illinois and her early career in Utah and Denver, Colorado. She also briefly discusses her marriage to Martin Hoag, Hoag’s death, and her marriage to William Fealy. She shares her philosophy and process of landscape design; talks about how the field in the United States differs from the field in England and Japan; and discusses managing her own practice. She speaks about her experience working on Salishan Lodge in Gleneden Beach, Oregon; discusses her involvement with the American Society of Landscape Architects; and talks about her experience as a woman in landscape architecture. She closes the interview by speaking about working with clients, her grandchildren, and landscape design drawing.

Dates

Creation: 1987 May 2

Creator

Fealy, Barbara, 1903-2000 (Interviewee, Person)
Kolisch, Marian W. (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 Barbara Fealy. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-NC/1.0/.

Biographical note

Barbara Vorse Fealy, nee Barbara Bertha Vorse, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1903. In 1925, she earned a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Illinois. She worked as a landscape architect in Denver, Colorado, and in Utah. In 1934, she and Martin Hoag were married; they later had one child. After Hoag died in 1935, she and Willam Fealy were married in 1946; they later had one child. Shortly after their marriage, the Fealys relocated to Oregon and Barbara Fealy worked as a landscape architect in the Pacific Northwest. Her Oregon works include Caitlin-Gabel School, the Leach Botanical Garden, Timberline Lodge, Sokol Blosser Winery, and Waverley Country Club. She died in 2000.

Extent

.1 Cubic Feet (1 audiocassette (55 min., 7 sec.))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Barbara Fealy conducted by Marian W. Kolisch on May 2, 1987, as part of the Marian Wood Kolisch Oral History Collection. Fealy was a landscape architect and worked primarily in the Pacific Northwest.