Photo above: (l-to-r)-Conrad Wirth David Canfield Lawrence Merriam Sam Boardman 1936
Lawrence C. Merriam, Jr. Oral History Interview
Interviewer and Date: Stephen R. Mark, Crater Lake National Park Historian
Interview Location: Corvallis, Oregon, November 25-26, 1988
Transcription: Transcribed by Amelia Bruno, 1994
Biographical Summary (from the interview introduction)
Lawrence C. Merriam is an emeritus professor of forestry at the University of Minnesota, though he continues to teach at Oregon State University on a courtesy appointment. He never worked at Crater Lake, but his father served as regional director in San Francisco from 1950-1963. His grandfather, John C. Merriam, has probably exercised the single greatest influence on the formation of the park’s educational program.
This interview took place in Corvallis represents the first of many visits with Dr. Merriam. One of the themes emphasized on the following pages was his work with the state of parks in Oregon. He has since published Oregon’s Highway Park System 1921-1989: An Administrative History and we have collaborated on other work involving wilderness, his grandfather, and the John Day Fossil Beds.
Materials Associated with this interview on file at the Dick Brown library at Crater Lake National Park’s Steel Visitor Center
Taped interview 11125-26/88. Notes from other conversations, all at his residence: 911 8/89, 1/19/90,2/9/90, and 411319 1. File includes copies of published articles, correspondence, and copy of Herb Evison’s (NPS) interview with his father. Several donations pertaining to his father and grandfather made to CRLA and other NPS units. Slide taken at the time of the taped interview. Copies of his administrative history of Oregon State Parks are in the park library.
