Collection is open for research.
Ruth Bruere Hollister, nee Bruere, was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1903. In 1922, she graduated from Wykeham Rise School in Washington, Connecticut. In 1923, she and Charles Newell Huggins were married. The couple briefly moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where they later had two children. They moved to Portland in the 1930s, and Charles Huggins died in 1939. While in Portland, Hollister was active with the Junior League. In 1943, she remarried to Rowland Hughes McKee. The couple moved to Dayton, Ohio, and McKee later died in 1949. That same year, she returned to Portland to head the training program for Lipman & Wolfe, and also remarried to Harry Hollister. Ruth B. Hollister died in 1992.
Oral history interview with Ruth B. Hollister, by Charles Digregorio, SR 9395, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
This oral history interview with Ruth B. Hollister was conducted by Charles Digregorio at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, Oregon, on February 22, 1977, as part of the oral history program at the society's research library. In addition to the audio recording of the interview, a transcript is available.
In this interview, Hollister discusses her family background and early life in the Northwest neighborhood of Portland. She describes the neighborhood and discusses everyday life. She talks about people who lived there, and about business in the area. She briefly discusses her marital history, and talks about how her life in Portland compared to her life in Vancouver, British Columbia, and in Dayton, Ohio. She describes her work with the Junior League of Portland in the 1930s and 1940s. She closes the interview by sharing her thoughts on how and why Portland changed over the 20th century.
Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and the estate of Ruth B. Hollister. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted,