Washington County Heritage Online
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Campfire Girl presenting a scarf to Dolores Atiyeh
No full textA young girl in a Campfire Girls uniform ties a scarf around Dolores Atiyeh's neck in the Governor's Office complex while Governor Atiyeh observes
Tualatin Valley Harmony Masters oral history recording
No full textButch Berquist, Ed Phillips, Jim MacMillan and Scott Harwood oral history interview on the Tualatin Valley Harmony Masters (TVHM) and Forest Grove’s barbershop history, recorded July 21, 2025 at the Friends of Historic Forest Grove Old Train Station Museum in Forest Grove, Oregon. Elle Griego, the interviewer, was a History and French undergraduate student at Pacific University from 2022-2026.In the interview, the four members of the Tualatin Valley Harmony Masters discuss the organization's history, current activities, and hopes for the future. Founded by Chuck Olson in 1974, TVHM has evolved from a men-only chorus to a mixed chorus called Ballad Town Harmony. The group discusses their involvement in the community, the challenges of maintaining membership, and the decline of the barbershop competition. They highlight the personal significance of barbershop music in their lives, noting the importance of tradition, the joy of singing, and the camaradie that comes with singing in a chorus.The Gay Nineties was an annual festival in Forest Grove, Oregon, centered around a theme of nostalgia for the 1890s decade. The event, which ran from 1947 through the 1990s, featured a parade downtown, residents dressing up in 1890s-themed costumes for the celebrations, local businesses decorating their window displays, and the crown jewel of the event, the Original All-Northwest Barbershop Ballad Contest, which earned Forest Grove the nickname “Ballad Town U.S.A.”This is one of a collection of oral history interviews on the Gay Nineties Festival and the Barbershop Ballad Contest at the Pacific University Archives. This recording is accompanied by a transcript, which was made through AI in 2025 with manual corrections
Rosanna Steiner oral history recording
No full textRosanna Steiner oral history interview on the Gay Nineties and Barbershop Ballad Contest, recorded June 12, 2025 at the Friends of Historic Forest Grove Old Train Station Museum in Forest Grove, Oregon. Elle Griego, the interviewer, was a History and French undergraduate student at Pacific University from 2022-2026.In the interview, Steiner shares her memories of the festival and contest from the 1970s to the early 1990s. She recalls the community's involvement, including school activities, the parades, and the Ballad Town Belle contest. Steiner discusses nostalgia and the more lighthearted aspects of the festival, as well as how the event brought the community together. She also discusses the town's changes, including the loss of old houses and the rise of new businesses. She also discusses her involvement with Friends of Historic Forest Grove.The Gay Nineties was an annual festival in Forest Grove, Oregon, centered around a theme of nostalgia for the 1890s decade. The event, which ran from 1947 through the 1990s, featured a parade downtown, residents dressing up in 1890s-themed costumes for the celebrations, local businesses decorating their window displays, and the crown jewel of the event, the Original All-Northwest Barbershop Ballad Contest, which earned Forest Grove the nickname “Ballad Town U.S.A.”This is one of a collection of oral history interviews on the Gay Nineties Festival and the Barbershop Ballad Contest at the Pacific University Archives. This recording is accompanied by a transcript, which was made through AI in 2025 with manual corrections
Don Skinner oral history recording
No full textDon Skinner oral history interview on the Gay Nineties and Barbershop Ballad Contest, recorded June 19, 2025 at the Friends of Historic Forest Grove Old Train Station Museum in Forest Grove, Oregon. Born in 1948, Skinner grew up in Forest Grove and served in the Vietnam war as a Photographic Laboratory Specialist in the Army before working for and retiring from Tektronix. He and his wife Cheryl are responsible for putting together the Old Train Station Museum as it is today. Elle Griego, the interviewer, was a History and French undergraduate student at Pacific University from 2022-2026.In the interview, Skinner shares his memories of the festival and contest. He recounted his childhood at Harvey Clark grade school, where students learned and performed Gay Nineties songs; the festival's attractions, including the Boot Hill Gang and traveling amusement park rides; and the festival's decline in the 1970s and 1980s, attributing it to changes in community interest. Skinner also discusses his involvement with Friends of Historic Forest Grove and the Old Train Station Museum.The Gay Nineties was an annual festival in Forest Grove, Oregon, centered around a theme of nostalgia for the 1890s decade. The event, which ran from 1947 through the 1990s, featured a parade downtown, residents dressing up in 1890s-themed costumes for the celebrations, local businesses decorating their window displays, and the crown jewel of the event, the Original All-Northwest Barbershop Ballad Contest, which earned Forest Grove the nickname “Ballad Town U.S.A.”This is one of a collection of oral history interviews on the Gay Nineties Festival and the Barbershop Ballad Contest at the Pacific University Archives. This recording is accompanied by a transcript, which was made through AI in 2025 with manual corrections
Tim Schauermann oral history recording
No full textTim Schauermann oral history interview on the Gay Nineties and Barbershop Ballad Contest, recorded June 26, 2025 at the Friends of Historic Forest Grove Old Train Station Museum in Forest Grove, Oregon. Elle Griego, the interviewer, was a History and French undergraduate student at Pacific University from 2022-2026.In the interview, Schauermann shares his memories of the festival and barbershop contest. Schauermann was born in Fort Morgan, Colorado in 1944 before moving to Forest Grove in 1949. He initially majored in engineering at Oregon State University before transferring to Pacific University to major in mathematics. A prominent businessman in the local community, Schauermann discusses local businesses that no longer exist in Forest Grove, like French's Menswear. He reflects on the festival decline, pointing to changing dynamics like reduced volunteerism and the rise of corporate America and alternate forms of entertainment. Schauermann highlights the immense sucess of the Concours d'Elegance, owing its success to the high energy and spirit of organizer Al Stevens.The Gay Nineties was an annual festival in Forest Grove, Oregon, centered around a theme of nostalgia for the 1890s decade. The event, which ran from 1947 through the 1990s, featured a parade downtown, residents dressing up in 1890s-themed costumes for the celebrations, local businesses decorating their window displays, and the crown jewel of the event, the Original All-Northwest Barbershop Ballad Contest, which earned Forest Grove the nickname “Ballad Town U.S.A.”This is one of a collection of oral history interviews on the Gay Nineties Festival and the Barbershop Ballad Contest at the Pacific University Archives. This recording is accompanied by a transcript, which was made through AI in 2025 with manual corrections
Carol Drew oral history recording
No full textCarol Drew oral history interview on the Gay Nineties and Barbershop Ballad Contest, recorded June 20, 2025 at her residence in Forest Grove, Oregon. Born in 1939, Drew has lived in Forest Grove since the 1950s. A prominent member of the local community, she graduated from Pacific University in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Elle Griego, the interviewer, was a History and French undergraduate student at Pacific University from 2022-2026.In the interview, Drew shares her memories of the festival and contest, as well as her childhood growing up in Van Nuys, California and Lebanon and Sweet Home, Oregon during the 1940s. She first started participating in the Gay Nineties Festival as a Pacific University student in the 1950s, describing how the event celebrated the town's history with parades, costumes, and barbershop quartets. Drew notes that the decline of the festival coincided with the decline of small businesses and the town becoming more of a bedroom community. She emphasizes the importance of community traditions and suggests that Forest Grove could revive similar celebrations to get the community to come together again. Drew also reflects on her involvement with Friends of Historic Forest Grove, a group she co-founded to preserve local history.The Gay Nineties was an annual festival in Forest Grove, Oregon, centered around a theme of nostalgia for the 1890s decade. The event, which ran from 1947 through the 1990s, featured a parade downtown, residents dressing up in 1890s-themed costumes for the celebrations, local businesses decorating their window displays, and the crown jewel of the event, the Original All-Northwest Barbershop Ballad Contest, which earned Forest Grove the nickname “Ballad Town U.S.A.”This is one of a collection of oral history interviews on the Gay Nineties Festival and the Barbershop Ballad Contest at the Pacific University Archives. This recording is accompanied by a transcript, which was made through AI in 2025 with manual corrections
Myra Beeler, Laura Frye, Jerry Frye, Jane Romig, and Peggy Alexander oral history recording
No full textMyra Beeler, Laura Frye, Jerry Frye, Jane Romig, and Peggy Alexander oral history interview on the Gay Nineties and Barbershop Ballad Contest, recorded July 11, 2025 at the United Church of Christ in Forest Grove, Oregon. Elle Griego, the interviewer, was a History and French undergraduate student at Pacific University from 2022-2026.The group being interviewed are church friends, with many growing up together in Forest Grove in the 1940s and 1950s. Several are Pacific University alumni, and Jerry and Laura Frye owned Frye's Action Athletics in downtown Forest Grove. In the interview, the group discusses their memories of the festival and barbershop contest, as well as their early lives in Forest Grove, their connections through church and Pacific University, and their personal involvement in the festival. They reflect on the festival's origins and earliest years, and the decline of the event due to changing times and technology.The Gay Nineties was an annual festival in Forest Grove, Oregon, centered around a theme of nostalgia for the 1890s decade. The event, which ran from 1947 through the 1990s, featured a parade downtown, residents dressing up in 1890s-themed costumes for the celebrations, local businesses decorating their window displays, and the crown jewel of the event, the Original All-Northwest Barbershop Ballad Contest, which earned Forest Grove the nickname “Ballad Town U.S.A.”This is one of a collection of oral history interviews on the Gay Nineties Festival and the Barbershop Ballad Contest at the Pacific University Archives. This recording is accompanied by a transcript, which was made through AI in 2025 with manual corrections
Gamma Sigma alumni visiting Boxer, Boxer II and Boxer III
No full textAlumni members of Pacific University's Gamma Sigma fraternity visiting with three versions of the statue that serves as Pacific University's mascot: the original bronze Boxer, which Pacific first acquired in the late 1890s (gold-colored, left); the second casting of Boxer II, created in 1983 (middle, dark grey); and Boxer III, created in 2018 (right, lighter grey). The original Boxer had been missing between 1969-2024, when it was finally returned to the university. The first casting of Boxer II had been missing since the mid-2000s, but a second casting had just been returned to Pacific a few weeks before this event. This was the first-ever time when all three Boxer statues were brought together at once.
Several of the alumni in this photograph remembered seeing the original Boxer before it went missing, and were also among those who raised funds to create Boxer III. Pete Truax (Class of 1969), wearing a maroon t-shirt in in the background, was one of the last students to "throw out" the original Boxer statue in a "Boxer Toss." Bruce Bishop (Class of 1968), pointing the camera, was one of the most active in the commissioning of Boxer III. The photograph was taken by Martha Calus-McLain (Class of 2023), Pacific's Alumni Director, who had seen the original Boxer II when it was on campus. Others pictured in this photograph include: Frank Baldwin (Class of 1967), wearing a baseball cap; Gerry Frye (Class of 1962), wearing red and black; and Scott Pike (Class of 1969, OD 1970) , in the foreground, next to the Boxers
David and Mary Jo Morelli oral history recording
No full textDavid and Mary Jo Morelli oral history interview on Forest Grove and Friends of Historic Forest Grove history, recorded July 31, 2025 at their Forest Grove residence. Elle Griego, the interviewer, was a History and French undergraduate student at Pacific University from 2022-2026.In the interview, married couple David and Mary Jo Morelli discuss their lives and Forest Grove's history. Mary Jo was born in Portland in 1952 and grew up in the Gresham area, and David was born in 1950 and moved to Oregon in 1960. David served in the military before working in his father's plastics business and later at Pacific University. They discuss their involvement in local organizations, including a babysitting co-op and Friends of Historic Forest Grove, of which they are founding members. They also talk about the impact of the 1993 earthquake, how Pacific has been involved with Old College Hall over the years, former Pacific University Curator Rick Read, and the year 2000 problem (Y2K), among other topics.This is one of a collection of oral history interviews on the Gay Nineties Festival and the Barbershop Ballad Contest at the Pacific University Archives. This recording is accompanied by a transcript, which was made through AI in 2025 with manual corrections
Mary Jo Morelli oral history recording
No full textMary Jo Morelli oral history interview on Forest Grove and Friends of Historic Forest Grove history, recorded August 4, 2025 at the Friends of Historic Forest Grove Old Train Station Museum in Forest Grove, Oregon. Elle Griego, the interviewer, was a History and French undergraduate student at Pacific University from 2022-2026.In the interview, Morelli discusses the history and evolution of Friends of Historic Forest Grove since its founding in 1989. She describes the organization's connections to the Historic Landmarks Board, and emphasizes the importance of historic preservation for educating future generations in the community. Morelli also notes the challenges of maintaining historic buildings, such as the historic Alvin T. Smith House, and the impact of modern developments on Forest Grove's landscape.This is one of a collection of oral history interviews on the Gay Nineties Festival and the Barbershop Ballad Contest at the Pacific University Archives. This recording is accompanied by a transcript, which was made through AI in 2025 with manual corrections