Collection is open for research.
Sidney Teiser was born in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1882. After his parents died, he was raised by relatives in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1903, he earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. In 1911, he moved to Portland, Oregon, and practiced law until his retirement in 1972. He served on the board of governors of the American Bar Association. He invented the Magna Q Viewer, a reading aid for people with visual impairments, and developed the Microlex system of legal research. He served as the first president of the Jewish Historical Society of Oregon. He wrote several books on legal and judicial history. Teiser married twice and had two children. He died in 1982.
Sources: Vital records on Ancestry.com; information provided by Teiser in his interview.
A typescript summary (2 pages) is available for in-person use at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Oral history interview with Sidney Teiser, by Charles Digregorio, SR 9509, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
A collection of Sidney Teiser's papers, Mss 2587, is also held by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
An additional interview with Teiser, conducted by Jennifer Lenway in 1977, is held by the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education in Portland, Oregon.
This oral history interview with Sidney Teiser was conducted by Charles Digregorio at Teiser's home in Portland, Oregon, on February 3, 1977, as part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library's oral history program.
In this interview, Teiser discusses his family background and early life in Virginia, including his experience of being raised by relatives. He speaks about studying law at the University of Virginia and shares his reasons for moving to Portland, Oregon, in 1911. He talks about practicing law in Portland, about cases he has worked on, and about why he enjoys his career as a lawyer. He shares his experiences as a Jew in Portland in the early 20th century, talks about racism in the American Bar Association (ABA), and discusses his work as a historian and author. He talks about founding the Scribes branch of the ABA, also called the American Society of Writers on Legal Subjects, and shares his thoughts about the way lawyers tend to write.
Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and the estate of Sidney Teiser. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted,