Collection is open for research.
Gift of Robert Peirce, June 2003 (Lib. Acc. 25184).
Robert "Bob" Henry Peirce was born in California in 1924, and grew up in Massachusetts. He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942. He served with a medical battalion in France during World War II. He later earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in medieval history at Harvard University. In 1956, he returned to Portland and became a librarian at the Portland Art Museum and the Museum Art School (now the Pacific Northwest College of Art). He was a member of the Mazamas, the Mt. Hood Ski Patrol, and Oregon Mountain Rescue, and in 1979, he began climbing mountains in Nepal. He also served on the Scenic Waterway Advisory Committee, to which he was appointed by Governor Tom McCall. Peirce died in 2017.
Sources: Vital records on Ancestry.com; Find a Grave memorial page for Robert H. Peirce, accessed May 7, 2024,
The origins of the Portland Art Museum (PAM) date to 1892, when residents of Portland, Oregon, organized the Portland Art Association with the goal of collecting and supporting the study of art. The association opened a museum in the Portland city library building on SW 7th (now Broadway) between Stark and Oak streets in 1895; a decade later, in 1905, the museum moved to its own building at SW 5th and Taylor. In 1909, the art association also opened a school, which would later be named the Museum Art School, in the museum building. In the early 1930s, both the museum and the school moved to the South Park Blocks, where the art association had acquired new space for the school and commissioned architect Pietro Belluschi to design a larger museum building, which opened in 1932.
The museum and the school continued to grow over subsequent decades, and the Portland Art Association also became the parent organization of the Northwest Film Study Center, which was founded in 1971 and incorporated into the museum in 1978. Due to the increasing complexity and financial burdens of the organization, the Portland Art Assocation began to revisit its mission and structure. It was renamed the Oregon Art Institute in 1989, and efforts were undertaken to separate the museum from the school, which had become the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) in 1981. In 1992, the Oregon Art Institute was renamed the Portland Art Museum, and two years later, PNCA became a separate nonprofit, which later moved to Portland's Pearl District. The film center remained part of the museum, and in 2022 was renamed PAM CUT: Center for an Untold Tomorrow.
Sources: "Portland Art Association," by Sarah Munro, Oregon Encyclopedia,
Interviews conducted by Robert H. Peirce about the Portland Art Museum, SRC 3, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
A collection of Robert H. Peirce's papers, designated Coll 675, is also held at Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
This collection consists of audio recordings of interviews related to the Portland Art Museum (PAM) in Portland, Oregon. They were conducted from approximately 1990 to 1993, most of them by Robert H. Peirce, the museum's librarian. The interviews are with both individuals and groups, including people who worked or volunteered for the museum, attended the Museum Art School, or had other relationships to PAM.
Interviewees include: Bob Sitton, director of the Northwest Film Study Center from 1973 to 1981; Bill Foster, director of the film center from 1981 to 2018; members of the Portland Art Museum Women's Council; Clyde Rice, an author and former student at the Museum Art School; William Givler, a teacher at the Museum Art School starting in 1931, and dean from 1941 to 1973; unidentified people who share memories of Rachael Griffin, curator of the museum from 1955 to 1974; Pietro Belluschi, the architect who designed the museum's building; Marian W. Kolisch, a photographer and the granddaughter of Charles Erskine Scott Wood, who helped to found the museum in 1895; Francis J. Newton, director of the museum from 1960 to 1975; and Robert O. Lee, an explorer and mountaineer who also served on the board of the Portland Art Association, the museum's original parent organization.
Copyright for the oral history interview with Pietro Belluschi is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA,
Joint copyright for the remaining interviews is held by the Oregon Historical Society and the estates of the individual interviewees. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted,
From 1973 to 1981, Bob Sitton was the director of the Northwest Film Study Center in Portland, Oregon, later known as the Northwest Film Center and PAM CUT: Center for an Untold Tomorrow. In this interview, conducted by an unidentified interviewer in January 1993, Sitton discusses the founding of the Northwest Film Study Center, and his work as its first director. He describes the center's building, talks about its early programs, and speaks about being hired as director in 1973. He explains why he describes himself as the center's founding director, even though he was not the first director. He closes the interview by talking about art collections held by the Portland Art Museum. Sitton's wife, Patricia Sitton, was also present.
Bill Foster was director of the Northwest Film Center in Portland, Oregon, now known as PAM CUT: Center for an Untold Tomorrow, from 1981 to 2018. In this interview, conducted by Robert H. Peirce in approximately 1990 at a restaurant in Portland, Oregon, Foster discusses the history of film as an art form, and talks about the creation of early film preservation organizations. He speaks about the history of the Northwest Film Center, about the development of the center's programming, and about the center's relationship with the Portland Art Museum and Portland State University. He closes the interview by describing the film center's administrative structure and funding sources. An unidentified woman was also present.
This conversation with members of the Portland Art Museum Women's Council, was conducted by Robert H. Peirce around 1990. Writing on the audiocassette identifies the speakers as Elizabeth Jones, Amarie Langerman, Bobbi Olmstead, and Helen Thompson. They discuss their experiences on the Portland Art Museum Women's Council. They talk about the importance of volunteers in the daily operations of the museum. They also discuss the development of other museums in Oregon. They speak at length about running the Rental Sales Gallery, which allows museum members to rent artworks to display in their homes.
Clyde Rice attended the Museum Art School (now the Pacific Northwest College of Art) and later became an author, publishing his first book, "A Heaven in the Eye," at age 81. In this interview, conducted by Roxane Nelson and Robert H. Peirce in 1990, Rice discusses the topic of his books, and talks about the process of getting them published. He speaks at length about his experience as a student at the Museum Art School. He also shares anecdotes about his life. He closes the interview by looking at photographs and talking about them.
William Givler was a teacher at the Museum Art School (now the Pacific Northwest College of Art) starting in 1931, and was dean of the school from 1941 until his retirement in 1973. In this interview, conducted by Robert H. Peirce around 1990, Givler discusses the history of the Museum Art School. He speaks at length about teaching at and serving as dean of the school. The audio quality of this interview is very poor.
A compilation of brief conversations with several unidentified people, conducted by Robert H. Peirce around 1990. The speakers share their memories of Rachael Griffin, an artist who taught at the Museum Art School (now the Pacific Northwest College of Art) from 1933 to 1951, and who served as curator of the Portland Art Museum from 1955 to 1974. According to writing on the original audiocassette, one of the speakers may be George Johanson.
Pietro Belluschi was an internationally known architect who was commissioned to design the Portland Art Museum building in the early 1930s. In this interview, conducted by Robert H. Peirce on February 4, 1992, Belluschi discusses the history of the Portland Art Museum and speaks at length about his experience designing the building for the museum in downtown Portland. He also discusses his service on the museum's art-buying committee. He closes the interview by talking about other buildings he designed and about how the museum building has been altered since it was built in 1932.
Marian W. Kolisch was a photographer and the granddaughter of Charles Erskine Scott Wood, who helped found the Portland Art Museum in 1892. In this interview, conducted by Robert H. Peirce around 1990, Kolisch shares family stories about C. E. S. Wood and talks about his role in founding the Portland Art Museum. She also talks about oral history interviews, now in the collections of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library, that she conducted with people affiliated with the museum, including Pietro Belluschi and John Yeon. Peirce closes the recording by reading from a biography of C. E. S. Wood.
Francis J. Newton was director of the Portland Art Museum from 1960 to 1975. In this interview, conducted by Robert H. Peirce around 1990, Newton discusses his work as museum director. He briefly talks about his early life and college education, then speaks about the history of the art museum.
Robert O. Lee served on the board of the Portland Art Association, which was the original parent organization of the Portland Art Museum. In this interview, conducted by Robert H. Peirce in November 1993, Lee discusses his experiences as a participant in exploratory expeditions in Mexico and South America during the 1960s, and describes his experiences climbing mountains around the world. He then speaks at length about serving on the board of the Portland Art Association. An unidentified woman was also present. The audio quality is very poor.