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Millikan, Gertrude (audio interview #1 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first of three interviews conducted as part of a project in a women's oral history class. The interview was conducted in Millikan's room at the PEO (Philanthropic and Educational Organization for Women) Retirement Home in Alhambra, California. This interview was to gain an overall biography and is a broad sweep of her life. Millikan is described by the interviewer as "a very proud, alert and articulate woman" who was able to recall many aspects of her life in great detail. 7/7/1976
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- 2021-02-11
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- *** File: refgmillikan1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:18)... Talking about her family background, Millikan notes that she was the family member most interested in their history. She is of pioneer stock, and from a young age was always willing to try something new. (2:18-4:30)... Millikan's maternal ancestors came from England and her paternal ones from Scotland, arriving in California during the Gold Rush days. Her grandfather, who was a farmer, came around the horn, leaving his family behind until he knew where they would live. He sent furniture ahead and stored it, but a San Francisco warehouse fire destroyed all but one valuable piece, a sampler made in England in l823, which is still in the family. (4:30-7:10)... Waiting to determine where to live permanently, Millikan's family wandered up the coast and landed in Lynn City, on the Deschutes River in Oregon. When floods washed the city away, they moved to Portland, where her grandfather purchased the Deschutes Falls on the river of the same name. It was sold for $50,000, and later became worth much more, since it was used for power. While her grandfather was operating Portland's first water works in wooden flumes, and Oregon's first grist mill, Grandmother Pentland was running the first burr mill complete with two different systems of getting the wheat out. (7:10-8:52)... A maternal relative, Seth Hayes, who was a farmer and landowner, spent time in California and Oregon preparing land for agriculture. He was a prohibitionist and allowed no drinking on the job. Because of his views he was stabbed and killed by one of his men. (8:52-10:22)... Millikan's parents were Oregon pioneers. Her English grandparents moved to The Dalles near the Columbia River. Although it was unusual for women to attend college at that time, both of her parents attended Normal School, the forerunner to University of Oregon at Eugene. Her father was a teacher while her mother, after whom Gertrude was named, was an interesting and intelligent homemaker who did not work outside the home. (10:22-12:28)... Millikan's father went from teaching into journalism, working first at the Portland Oregonian and then the Los Angeles Times as a feature writer. Millikan often accompanied her father on field trips by horse and buggy to small towns like San Fernando and Burbank to interview outstanding community leaders. [Editor's note: Although Millikan dates their move to Los Angeles in this segment as 1903 and says that she was nine when she went on these field trips with her father, in the next interview, Millikan says that the family moved to Los Angeles in 1909 when she was a senior in high school.] (12:28-14:12)... Many years later. when her Glendale house was being built, Millikan went to the Los Angeles Times to seek information about her trips with her father when he was working on features. She was given a piece of marble from the original Times building before it was bombed. She didn't find that sufficiently special, so the business manager presented her with a brass plaque that was on the original building before the bombing. (14:12-16:48)... Millikan was always interested in asking questions; from a young age, with her deep voice, she generally was heard by someone. In Independence, during the McKinley campaign, local grocers and merchants would ask her who she was going to vote for and when she responded everyone around heard her. Because of her deep voice, when she was four years old, Millikan was asked to lead the Chart Class in singing. She remembers things from a young age, and can still see herself doing them. As the next to youngest of four children, she was always asked to lead the singing. (16:48-18:52)... Millikan notes that she was mischievous or inquisitive. Even after her marriage she was not afraid to tackle the unusual, which led some to label her a character. (18:52-22:46)... Millikan describes childhood activities with her older brothers, especially Harvey. She lived in a rural environment until age six and recalls chopping a chicken's bill off once and wanting to carry it around. She wanted to emulate her brothers, including walking the railroad trestle. One brother nicknamed her "spindle shanks" just to get her angry, which left her with a complex about her legs for many years. (22:46-24:27)... With twelve years separating them, Millikan had little in common with her elder sister. An older brother was bothered by her entry into the world as a girl. He first wanted her name to be Eve Tree and then Ruby. Millikan was named after her mother, and always preferred the name to Gertie. Her youngest brother was born four years later, also in Oregon. (24:27-26:27)... After leaving Independence for Eureka, California, the family was stranded on a boat for six days because of fog near Coos Bay. They then traveled by horses, wagon, and stagecoach, camping at night. They changed the horses and drivers. (26:27-29:52)... Moving from the small logging town of Eureka to more sophisticated Los Angeles to attend school was exciting. Chaperones were required for evening courting events and dating was in groups, walking or going for an ice cream cone. Going to Los Angeles High School was usually by streetcar; few people few owned automobiles in the early 1900's. Millikan became very involved in Glee Club,was in plays like The Merchant of Venice, and participated in other school and social activities during her high school years. (29:52-32:40)... In 1912, there was not much difference between Eureka and Los Angeles in the ratio of boys to girls. The main difference was Eureka's laboring and lumber people wanted no changes and no outsiders. Consequently, there were probably more men than women in Eureka. Millikan's family was in a higher socioeconomic bracket. Her parents were college educated, and there were many books at home. They insisted upon proper grammar at all times. She appreciated her father's high standards and as a result became a good speller and writer. (32:40-34:12)... Courting or socializing at L.A. High School, which was one of only two high schools in Los Angeles, consisted of sitting on gravestones in the cemetery behind the school and visiting with your friend or boyfriend. Students came from long distances so they really had two lifestyles, church and school activities. (34:12-37:51)... After her marriage, Millikan wanted memorabilia from L.A. High School, which was about to be torn down. Through the Board of Education she secured a permit to obtain enough bricks to build a barbecue at her new home. However, on pickup day, her son and driver were not allowed to pick them up. Not one to be dissuaded, Millikan arrived at the site in her car and retrieved thirteen handmade bricks, which later were prominently displayed on the front porch of her National Homes and Gardens award-winning home. (37:51-38:31)... Millikan talks about meeting her husband at the University of Southern California (USC). End of tape. *** File: refgmillikan2.mp3 (0:00-4:18)... Millikan graduated from USC in l916. She was involved in many activities while there, including YWCA President, but lamented the absence of a Glee Club for men or women. With approval of the college president, Millikan organized an excellent mixed group who performed in and around Los Angeles. At the time, USC enrollment was 5000 students, and tuition was $17/semester. Millikan wished her money could have purchased some clothes of the period, a midi suit, for example. (4:18-8:12)... From her botany classroom, Millikan watched Charles English "Pat" Millikan, the man who later became her husband, while he practiced on the baseball field. After an arranged meeting in the school cafeteria, this law school graduate and Millikan were inseparable. Following a six-week whirlwind and antic-filled courtship Pat Millikan proposed. (8:12-9:07)... Millikan's future husband graduated from USC law school while Millikan was still a student; he was in charge of the moot trial court. He later chose private law practice over becoming Dean of the USC Law School. (9:07-11:34)... Millikan's parents were consulted ahead of the wedding proposal. Pat Millikan's father was a Methodist minister and Millikan was a Congregationalist. It was agreed the two should attend the same church and Millikan became a Methodist. Millikan reflects on the differences in religious attitudes among hard-shell Baptists, Catholics, and other denominations when she was growing up in Eureka. She also notes that all social life in high school was centered around the church one attended. (11:34-14:10)... Millikan's husband was nicknamed Pat after a famous Chicago Cubs baseball player he resembled; he rarely used his given name, Charles. Millikan recounts how their eldest son lacked a name at the age of three. Never a Junior, he wound up as Brad. (14:10-16:34)... When she graduated USC, Millikan accepted a job earning $40/month as Recreation Director for the YWCA in charge of evening recreation activities for working girls. Her beau, Pat, accompanied her on the streetcar to be certain she arrived home safely after working evening shifts. (16:34-19:22)... After WWI began, Millikan's future husband, Pat, left to train in the northwest as a ground flyer for the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. At the same time, the YWCA wanted her to open a Hostess House in Vallejo, California. Her only instructions were to sell a Catholic priest on the idea; otherwise the project would not succeed. Millikan's poem and optimism won over the Catholic priest and pupils at the nearby private Catholic school. (19:22-21:13)... Millikan secured donated space for a Hostess House in Vallejo and had Naval cadets do the painting. She ran a benefit, had a parade, and successfully opened and ran the YWCA Hostess House. When her fiance wanted to schedule their wedding, Millikan trained her successor director. In 1918 Millikan married and then moved to the North Woods and lived in a log cabin. She was thrilled with the outdoor adventure, cookhouse meals, jeep riding, moving from camp to camp, and picking blackberries. She never missed the metropolitan life. (21:13-21:51)... One aspect of Millikan's life in Eureka's lumbering country was concern about accidents. When the whistle blew, an accident had occurred. (21:51-22:56)... Millikan compares her experiences in WWI as the sole woman setting up USO centers to the current generation. Men then did not expect favors; they were gentlemen and helpful. (22:56-26:52)... Millikan believes that women were unprepared for marriage in the early 1900's. Facts of life were poorly communicated, if at all. She learned babies arrived by stork, read books left around, and heard about "monthlies" from a girlfriend. Now married, she happily responded to questions of single women about contraceptives and monthly periods. Millikan practiced birth control and her four children were planned. The early 1920's saw the start of planned parenthood. (26:52-30:34)... Millikan's husband never discouraged her enthusiasm for projects she believed in. Her work for compensation outside the home included being drafted to start the Los Angeles USO and training teachers to speak and write on behalf of consumers. Millikan remained active in PTA, AAUW, and other volunteer organizations that would meet the needs of her family. Ultimately, her most exciting venture was educating women to be better mothers, consumers, and household managers. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Gertrude Millikan was a leading figure in consumer education in California. She taught one of the first classes on consumer affairs, which became the basis of the certification program for consumer educators. The third of four children, Millikan was born in Independence, Oregon and then raised in the lumber town of Eureka, California by college-educated parents. When she was fifteen, the family moved to Los Angeles in order for her father to take a job as a feature writer at the <Los Angeles Times.> After Millikan graduated from USC in 1916, she went to work first at the YWCA and then organized Hostess Houses (USO) during the war until her marriage in 1918. From the early days of her marriage, she was actively involved in a variety of organizational activities, including consumer affairs, YWCA, PEO, Republication organizations and civic committees. Typical of the volunteer reform activist, Millikan's life centered around the home and family and her priorities were as wife, mother, and homemaker, pacing herself between her home and outside demands. After Millikan's husband died in 1949, she moved to the mountain community of Idyllwild, where she continued her volunteer work. She remained there until she moved into the PEO Retirement Home, where she was residing at the time of the interview. TOPICS - family background and history; migration to California; father's job at Los Angeles Times; personality; sibling relationships; social life at school and church; high school dating; transportation modes; and building Glendale home;USC and sorority life; meeting future husband; courtship; religious affiliation; YWCA job; WWI USO Hostess House; marriage; Army life in Oregon; marriage preparation; birth control and sex education; childbearing; social values; gender ideology; volunteer activities; and role in developing consumer education;
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