Dallas Finn oral history interview

1978-10-16

Finn, Dallas; Mayo, Marlene J.

Oral history interview with Dallas Finn conducted by Marlene Mayo on October 16,1978. Dallas Eugenia Rumsey Finn (1919-2012) was an author and lecturer of Japanese architecture. Finn attended Radcliffe College until 1939 when she moved on to Harvard University where in 1942 she earned a master's degree in history. From 1947 to 1954 she lived in Japan with her husband, Richard, a U.S. diplomat. While in Japan she began teaching at Tokyo universities. After her return to the U.S. she taught at Mount Vernon Junior College until 1958. In 1957, she and her husband moved to Paris where they lived until 1963. Upon their return to the U.S. the Finns settled in Bethesda, Maryland. Finn was an authority on Japanese architecture and in 1995 she published a book "Meiji Revisited" that delves into Victorian styles and their modification in 19th century Japanese architecture. As a result of her work, in 2004 she received a commendation from Japanese government for her work in fostering goodwill between the United States and Japan. Finn passed away at the age of 93.

University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)

Oral histories

Japan--History--Allied occupation, 1945-1952

Japan; Maryland; Glen Echo

Postwar Japan

Special Collections and University Archives

English

Collection may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the University of Maryland Libraries at http://www.lib.umd.edu/special/contact/home.

Recording: 02:00:00 (audiocassette; mp3); Transcript: 65 pages (PDF)

This oral history interview is part of the Marlene J. Mayo oral histories. A guide to the full collection of Marlene J. Mayo oral histories is available in our archival collections: http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/42478.
Accession 2009-209-GWP
An interview transcript is available.

Filename: prange-087539