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Arizona Oral History Project Transcripts 1981 October 19-1982 May 11

MSS-405

Historical Note

First Interstate Bancorp was founded as Firstamerica Corp. in 1958 when Transamerica Corp. spun off its banking interests. It became Western Bancorporation in 1961 and finally First Interstate Bancorp in 1981. The organization established a pattern of aggressive acquisitions that made it a significant presence in California finance and created a network covering 13 western states, including Arizona. First Interstate was, however, criticized for not managing these assets effectively: it often struggled to eliminate redundant operations in its network and suffered from bloated costs. It did not meet the financial industry's major criterion for profitability, earning at leas $1 for each $100 worth of assets, between 1987 and 1992. First Interstate became profitable in the mid-1990s and was sold to Wells Fargo & Co. for $11.6 billion in January of 1996.

In 1981, First Interstate Bank sponsored the Arizona Oral History Project, which was designed to "retain ... the spoken recollection of some whose lives comprised the transition period of Arizona from Territorial days through statehood." The rough criteria for inclusion in this effort were people who had lives interesting in their own right, were good communicators, in fair health, and represented Arizona's major occupations and regions. The project was administered by Kristina Minister.

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of transcripts of oral history interviews conducted with individuals who lived in Arizona during its transition from a Territory to a State and during the early years of statehood. Among the subjects interviewed are lawyers Ralph W. Bilby, Sr. and Orme Lewis; reporter Ben Avery; banker Sherman Hazeltine; communications executive Lawson Smith; polititian John Babbitt; early settlers Eleanor Sloan, Lela Cartwright Hon, and Louis Escalada; teachers Edith Slaughter and Caroline Brinkmeyer; rancher and trader Clay Lockett; rancher Gail Gardner; mining engineer Wesley Goss; businessman Pedro Guerrero; lumberman James O'Malley; and land developer Fred Eldean.

Arrangement

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.

Copyright

Arizona State University does not own the copyright to this collection. We recognize that it is incumbent upon the researcher to procure permission to publish information from this collection from the owner of the copyright.

Related Material

The photographs corresponding to these oral histories have been cataloged as CP FIB. A full description of these materials is available at http://azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/asu/cp_fib.xml.

Access Terms

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Arizona Oral History Project Transcripts, MSS-405, Arizona State University Library.

Provenance

Dr. Kristina Minister donated these transcriptions to the Arizona Collection in 1984 (Accession #1984-00098).

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