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JAMES R. GREENFIELD Papers
Coll. 140
Biography
James R. Greenfield was born in Van Buren Country, Iowa, on July 27, 1867. He moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1885, and later studied scientific courses at the University of Oregon, where he received a B.A. degree in 1890. The next year he returned to the University of Oregon to study law, and passed the bar examination in 1892.
With a classmate, Loyal E. Woodworth, Greenfield founded the Pacific Mail Order Company in Portland; this was the first complete mail order house in Oregon. In later years he practiced law, and became a specialist in probate and federal taxation procedure. Greenfield was also interested in the educational and literary development of the Northwest, and helped organize and develop the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Educational movement. He died in 1960 at the age of 93.
Source : Obituary, Portland Oregonian, Monday, Sept. 26, 1960
Scope and Content
Greenfield's diary, of which three volumes survive, is a detailed account of the events of his junior and senior years at the University of Oregon, June 10, 1888 to June 11, 1890. The original diaries have been restricted due to their fragile condition; a microfilm copy of the diary is available.
Portions of the diary were published as "Happy Time; the Journal James R. Greenfield,\" University of Oregon Library Call Number, vol. 22, no. 2 (Spring 1961).
The remainder of the collection consists of correspondence, 1917-1949, and miscellaneous papers, including a 1904 catalogue of the Pacific Mail Order Company. Photographs, mainly of Greenfield's University of Oregon classmates, have been removed to the University Photograph Collection.
Inventory
1888-1941
1 box
1.5 lin. ft.
Box/folder
1/1 Inventory
1/2 Correspondence, 1917-1949
1/3 Misc. Papers
Last Modified: 10/30/2006