Title: Interview with Eulalie Merrill Wagner - #2

Original format: Umatic

Item Id.: spl_ds_ewagner_01_02

Description: This is part 2 of 2 of an interview with Eulalie Merrill Wagner. This interview was conducted by John Robinson on July 14, 1986 at the Wagner’s Lakewold home.

Eulalie Merrill Wagner (1904-1991) was a philanthropist well known for the gardens of her 10 acre Tacoma estate, Lakewold. She was born in Seattle and attended St. Nicholas School and the Masters School, a preparatory school in Dobbs Ferry, NY. She married George Corydon Wagner (1895-1979) in the 1920s. They moved to Lakewold in 1938. Both Wagner and her husband had family ties to the local lumber industries; through her husband’s side with the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company and through her side with the Merrill & Ring Lumber Company. She was an avid golfer and served as president of many organizations such as the Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma Garden Club and Tacoma Junior League. She also supported the University of Washington Arboretum, helped to develop the native plant garden at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma and created the Wagner Endowment for Nursing Education at Tacoma General Hospital.

In the interview Wagner discusses her family background and the background of her husband’s family along with both of their family’s interests in the lumber industry. She talks about her childhood, education and her interests as a patron of the arts in Tacoma. She also discusses her interest in gardening and work of the Tacoma Garden Club, along with her and her husband's interest in golf. The interview includes unnarrated footage of features of her home and gardens at Lakewold.

This interview is part of the Donald Schmechel Oral History Collection. Don Schmechel, who was a member of the Seattle Public Library Foundation board, began this project with Seattle Public Library in 1984, with the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) brought on board as a partner in early 1985. Schmechel himself worked to raise the funding for the project, and volunteered his time to manage the project, and to conduct interviews along with a crew of volunteers. Originally titled the Videotaping Historic Figures (VHF) Program, the project interviewed 91 people, with a portion of the interviews entering the collections of the Seattle Public Library and a portion of them going to MOHAI.The interviews conducted with these Seattle civic, business and cultural leaders are valuable first-hand accounts that provide insight into developments taking place in the mid-twentieth century. 

Digitization of this videotape material has been made possible in part by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

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