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Identifier
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PUA_MS166_009
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Title
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Tualatin Valley Harmony Masters oral history recording
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Description
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Butch Berquist, Ed Phillips, Jim MacMillan and Scott Harwood oral history interview on the Tualatin Valley Harmony Masters (TVHM) and Forest Grove’s barbershop history, recorded July 21, 2025 at the Friends of Historic Forest Grove Old Train Station Museum in Forest Grove, Oregon. Elle Griego, the interviewer, was a History and French undergraduate student at Pacific University from 2022-2026.
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In the interview, the four members of the Tualatin Valley Harmony Masters discuss the organization's history, current activities, and hopes for the future. Founded by Chuck Olson in 1974, TVHM has evolved from a men-only chorus to a mixed chorus called Ballad Town Harmony. The group discusses their involvement in the community, the challenges of maintaining membership, and the decline of the barbershop competition. They highlight the personal significance of barbershop music in their lives, noting the importance of tradition, the joy of singing, and the camaradie that comes with singing in a chorus.
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The Gay Nineties was an annual festival in Forest Grove, Oregon, centered around a theme of nostalgia for the 1890s decade. The event, which ran from 1947 through the 1990s, featured a parade downtown, residents dressing up in 1890s-themed costumes for the celebrations, local businesses decorating their window displays, and the crown jewel of the event, the Original All-Northwest Barbershop Ballad Contest, which earned Forest Grove the nickname “Ballad Town U.S.A.”
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This is one of a collection of oral history interviews on the Gay Nineties Festival and the Barbershop Ballad Contest at the Pacific University Archives. This recording is accompanied by a transcript, which was made through AI in 2025 with manual corrections.
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Date: Year(s)
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2025
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Date: Display
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July 21, 2025
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Extent
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1 video file (1hr.)
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Copyright
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http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
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Contributor
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Griego, Elle
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Format
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MP4
