Oral history interview with Lewis L. McArthur, 2001 January 19-February 15

In the first interview session, conducted on January 19, 2001, McArthur discusses his family background and early life in the Green Hills neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, including his education, the house he grew up in, and his recreational activities. He describes the neighborhood and talks about people who lived there. He also speaks about his parents' personalities, travels, and social lives.

In the second interview session, conducted on January 23, 2001, McArthur continues to discuss his early life in the Green Hills neighborhood and talks about his relationship with his parents. He speaks about the work of his father, Lewis A. McArthur, on Oregon Geographic Names and about traveling with him by train in the 1920s for research. He discusses his college experience at the University of California, Berkeley, and talks about working for U.S. Steel Company in the late 1930s. He then talks about his experiences in the U.S. Army while stationed in Alaska during World War II.

In the third interview session, conducted on February 1, 2001, McArthur speaks further about working for the U.S. Steel Company and about his experiences in the U.S. Army during World War II, including studying Mandarin Chinese. He talks about his marriage to Joyce A. Clark. He then speaks at length about his career as an industrial designer for the Ray F. Becker Company, and talks about products the company produced, about the steel fabrication process, and about buildings the company worked on, particularly gas stations. He talks about how Oregon has changed during the 20th century, particularly regarding housing development, transportation, and power generation.

In the fourth interview session, conducted on February 8, 2001, McArthur shares his memories of the Columbia River before the construction of hydroelectric dams, and talks about how the Columbia River Gorge changed. He briefly discusses serving on the state advisory committee on historic preservation in the 1970s, and then talks about his recreational activities on Mount Hood, including climbing and camping on the mountain, and repairing the Snowshoe Cabin, the Cloud Cap Inn, and other buildings.

The audio quality of this session is very poor. In the fifth interview session, conducted on February 15, 2001, McArthur discusses his role models, including his family members, and talks about construction projects that impressed him, including dams on the Columbia River and the Bay Bridge in California. He also speaks about mapmaking. He shares his childhood memories of attending meetings of the Pioneer Association, riding the streetcar, and traveling with his family. He compares travel by various modes of transportation, particularly air and rail. He revisits the topic of his father's work on Oregon Geographic Names, then speaks at length about his own work on later editions of the book and about his service on the state advisory committee on historic preservation. He describes his favorite places in Oregon, and talks about raising a family.