Collection is open for research.
Gift of Ron D. Bailey, February 2023 (RL2023-011).
Mary Jane Sills, née Christgau, was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1922. She attended Reed College, but dropped out in 1941 to join the civil service during World War II. She worked for the War Department in Portland until the end of the war, and as a secretary for a law association for a few years. From 1954 to 1967, she worked as an aide to U.S. Senators Richard Neuberger and Maurine Neuberger. In 1969, she and Harold Sills were married, and the couple lived in Oakland, California. She died in 2010.
Sources: Obituary in the Oregonian, January 21, 2010;
Richard Lewis Neuberger (1912-1960) and Maurine B. Neuberger (née Brown, 1906-2000) were both born in Oregon, and married in 1945. Richard Neuberger, who had already served in the Oregon House of Representatives in 1941, was elected to the Oregon State Senate in 1948; in 1950, Maurine Neuberger was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives. In 1954, Richard Neuberger was elected as a U.S. senator for Oregon, becoming the first Democrat to win one of the state's Senate seats since 1912. As senator, Neuberger pursued policies favoring public power, civil rights, clean water, and sustainable forestry. After he died of cancer in 1960, Maurine Neuberger successfully ran for his seat. She served on the Commerce Committee, and became known for her advocacy of consumer rights and women's rights. She remarried to Philip Solomon in 1964. Neuberger declined to run for a second Senate term, and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she taught American government at Radcliffe College and Boston University. In 1967, she and Solomon divorced, and Neuberger returned to Portland, Oregon, where she taught at Reed College. She died in 2000.
Sources: "Richard Neuberger (1912-1960)," by William G. Robbins, Oregon Encyclopedia,
Mary Jane Sills papers relating to Maurine and Richard Neuberger, Coll 960, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Other materials at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library relating to Richard Neuberger, Maurine Neuberger, and Mary Jane Sills include: the Maurine and Richard L. Neuberger papers, Mss 791; the Maurine and Richard L. Neuberger photographs collection, Org. Lot 1007; Richard L. Neuberger reports, Coll 331; a vertical file, Biography - Neuberger, Mrs. Maurine (Brown); three oral history interviews with Maurine Neuberger, SR 9523, SR 9307, and SR 1141, which is available online in OHS Digital Collections at
The collection primarily consists of materials relating to U.S. Senators Richard L. Neuberger and Maurine B. Neuberger. The materials were collected by Mary Jane Sills (née Christgau), who worked as an aide for both of the Neubergers, and include correspondence, ephemera, and photographs. Correspondence consists of letters and enclosed newspaper clippings that Maurine Neuberger sent to Sills in the 1970s, and a letter from Neuberger sent with the program for an event honoring Judge Gus J. Solomon that Neuberger had attended. Ephemera includes Senate passes for Sills; a card for Sills from the Association of Administrative Assistants and Secretaries; small-sized stationery for Richard L. Neuberger, listing Mary Jane Christgau as his secretary; and a list of novels that Richard Neuberger recommended. Photographs in the collection include a photograph of Richard Neuberger and Sills, with an inscription from Neuberger; a photograph of Richard Neuberger in front of the U.S. Capitol; and four slides of Sills and others, which Maurine Neuberger may have mailed to Sills. The collection also includes an address list for people who had staffed for either or both of the Neubergers, compiled in the mid-2000s.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.