Alabama Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: AGRICULTURE, including markets, prices, dairy, turpentine and fishing (recreation); RELIGION, including beliefs and wedding and funeral customs; DAILY LIFE, including pets, home furnishings, thefts, New Deal politics, mortgages and food; and OCCUPATIONS, including physicians, truck drivers and odd jobs handymen.

Interviews were conducted by project workers William P. Burke, Mary Chappell, Luther Clark, John R. Estes, Lawrence F. Evans, Covington Hall, Woodrow Hand, Helen S. Hartley, Vera L. Henry, Rhussus L. Perry, Ila B. Prine, Marie Reese, Ruby Pickens Tartt, Mildred Thrash, and Annie Webb.

All in a Day's Work: Industrial Lore

Alice Caudle
Mill Worker

Name:

Alice Caudle

Occupation:

Mill Worker

Location:

Concord, North Carolina

Date:

September 2, 1938

Interviewer:

Muriel L. Wolff

Interview Excerpt:

Do you like working in a mill?

Listen to Alice's response

Law, I reckon I was born to work in a mill. I started when I was ten year old and I aim to keep right on jest as long as I'm able. I'd a-heap rather do it than housework...Yessir, when I started down here to plant No. 1, I was so little I had to stand on a box to reach my work. I was a spinner at first, then I learned to spool. When they put in them new winding machines, I asked them to learn me how to work em and they did. If I'd a-been a man no telling how far I'd-a gone.

Transcript #28120207

Alabama Titles

Armisteads, The

Cottonseed

Cottonseed

Crawford Ellis

Declaration of Independence

Fish Basket, A

Gluemania

History of career (import) of J. H. Kimbrough

"I's Weak an' Weary"

Jesse Owens

Jim Lewis, Turpentine Worker

Johnnie Gates-Truck Driver

Lewis Family and their Floating Home, The

Life of Jim Davis, The

Looking Around with a Hay Farmer

Magnolia Grove

Marriage of Mr. H. Graham Benners

Mary Gilchrist Powell

Memorandum to Dr. Botkin

Mountain Merchant-Farmer

Mountain Thinker and Experimenter

Peter McDonald

"Portable Steam Engine"

Progress of Education in Alabama, The

Rev. Lorenzo Dow

Sallie Brown

Sallie Smith

Speckled hen and her chickens, A

State Laws

Story of Katy Brumby, The

Terrapin Dogs

Visit to a Farming Dairy at Chunchula, Ala.

Rank and File

Anna Novak
Packing House Worker

Name:

Anna Novak

Birth:

Wisconsin, about 30 years ago

Ethnicity:

Polish

Family:

Married with two children, boys, ages 10 and 13

Education:

8th grade and one and a half years of high school in St. Hedwig's Orphanage

Occupation:

Packing House Worker

Location:

Chicago, Illinois

Date:

April 25-27, 1939

Interviewer:

Betty Burke

Interview Excerpt:

How long have you worked in the stockyards?

Listen to Anna's response

I've had eight years of the yards. It's a lot different now, with the union and all. We used to have to buy the foremen presents, you know. On all the holidays, Xmas, Easter, Holy Week, Good Friday, you'd see the men coming to work with hip pockets bulging and take the foremen off in corners, handing over their half pints...Your job wasn't worth much if you didn't observe the holiday "customs." The women had to bring 'em bottles, just the same as the men. You could get along swell if you let the boss slap you on the behind...I'd rather work any place but in the stockyards just for that reason alone.

Transcript #07051009

Hard Times in the City: Testifying

Bernice

Name:

Bernice

Ethnicity:

West Indian

Address:

Informant gave the interview on condition that her present address and last name be omitted from story

Occupation:

Rent Party Hostess

Location:

141 Street, near Lenox Avenue, New York City

Date:

October 2, 1938

Interviewer:

Frank Byrd

Interview Excerpt:

Why did you start giving rent-parties?

Listen to Bernice's response

When I first came to New York from Bermuda I thought rent-parties were disgraceful. I couldn't understand how any self-respecting person could bear them, but when my husband, who was a pullman porter, ran off and left me with a sixty-dollar-a-month apartment on my hands and no job, I soon learned, like everyone else, to rent my rooms out an' throw these Saturday get togethers.

I had two roomers, a colored boy and white girl name Leroy and Hazel, who first gave me the idea. They offered to run the parties for me if we'd split fifty-fifty. I had nothing to lose, so that's how we started.

Transcript #21011104

Be a Federal Writers' Project Interviewer

Hard Times in the City: Testifying

Who would you like to interview?

Man at Eddie's Bar

Clyde "Kingfish" Smith, Street Worker

Bernice, Rent Party Houses

Man at Colonial Park

Hard Times in the City: Testifying

Clyde "Kingfish" Smith
Street Vendor

Name:

Clyde "Kingfish" Smith

Ethnicity:

African-American

Occupation:

Street Vendor

Location:

Basement of B. Shapiro, 300 E. 101 Street, New York City

Date:

November 29, 1939

Interviewer:

Marion Charles Hatch

Interview Excerpt:

Why did you start singing while you work?

Listen to Clyde's response

When I started peddling that was in 1932, that's when I started singing..."Heighho, fish man, bring down you dishpan," that's what started it. "Fish ain't but five cent a pound...." It was hard times then, the Depression, and people can hardly believe fish is five cents a pound, so they started buying. There was quite a few peddlers and somebody had to have something extra to attract the attention. So when I came around, I started making a rhyme, it was a hit right away.

...On the street whatever comes to mind I say it, if I think it will be good. The main idea is when I got something I want to put over I just find something to rhyme with it. And the main requirement for that is mood. You gotta be in the mood. You got to put yourself in it. You've got to feel it. It's got to be more or less an expression, than a routine. Of course, sometimes a drink of King Kong liquor helps.

Transcript #21051622

Choose a different topic

Connecticut Titles

A

Albert Beaujon

Andrew MacCurrie

Anecdotes

Armstrong

Art Botsford Speaking

Arthur Botsford

Arthur Botsford

Arthur Botsford

Connecticut Titles

B

"Bill" Knox

"Bill" Knox

"Bill" Knox

"Bill" Knox

Biting cold, The

Biting Cold, The

Botsford

Botsford

Botsford

Botsford on Migration

Botsford

Botsford

Brass Mill

Brass Mill Casting Shop

Connecticut Titles

C

Charles Kerr

Charles Kerr

Charles Kerr

Charles Saum

"Charley" Saum

Connecticut Clockmaker (Botsford)

Connecticut Clockmaker--Botsford

Connecticut Clockmakers

Connecticut Clockmakers

Connecticut Clockmakers

Connecticut Clockmaking

Crew of tree men, A

Crew of tree men, A

Connecticut Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: OCCUPATIONS, including clockmaking, knifemaking, millworkers, firefighters, foresters, ministers, cobblers, labor disputes (strikes), women in knife manufacturing, unemployment and chain stores; IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE, including nationalities, manners and mores, dialects, and food; POLITICS, including World Wars I and II; MEDICINE, including folk medicine, hospital care, and cost of medical care; LOCAL HISTORY AND GENEALOGY; RELIGION; and RECREATION, including sports and pets. Pseudonyms are frequently substituted for informants' names.

Interviews were conducted by project workers Francis Conovan, Robert Guanino, Merton R. Lovett, M. V. Rourke, P. K. Russo, M. G. Sayers, and William J. Smallwood.

Connecticut Titles

D-F

Dutcher

E. R. Kaiser

E.R. Kaiser

E.R. Kaiser

E.R. Kaiser

Editorial Comments

Fire House Scene, The

Fire House Scene

Fire House

Folklore of Clockmaking

Folklore of Clockmaking

Francis Donovan

Frank Burns

Further interview with Arthur Botsford

Connecticut Titles

G-H

George Potter

George Richmond

George Richmond

George Richmond

George Richmond

George Richmond

Good Cobbler, The

Gulf Road

Henry Odenwald

Herbert Mason

Hopkinson

Hospitals

Hospitals

Hughie Campbell is dead

Hughie Campbell is dead

Connecticut Titles

I

I hear that Brown lost his job today

I hear that Brown lost his job today

I see our friend George

I see our friend George

I talked with old Mr. Richmond again today

Interview with Vito Cacciola #1

Interview with Vito Cacciola #1

Interview with Vito Cacciola #1

Interview with Vito Cacciola #2

Interview with Vito Cacciola #2

Interview with Vito Cacciola #3

Interview with Vito Cacciola #4

Interview with Vito Cacciola #4

Interview with Vito Cacciola #5

Interview with Vito Cacciola #6

Interview with Vito Cacciola #7

Interview with Vito Cacciola #8

Interview with Vito Cacciola #9

Interview with Vito Cacciola #10

Interview with Vito Cacciola #11

Interview with Vito Cacciola #12

Interview with Vito Cacciola #13

Interview with Vito Cacciola #14

Interview with Vito Cacciola #15

Interview with Vito Cacciola #16

Interview with Vito Cacciola #17

Interview with Vito Cacciola #18

Interview with Vito Cacciola #19

Interview with Vito Cacciola #20

Interview with Vito Cacciola #21

Interview with Vito Cacciola #22

Interview with Vito Cacciola #23

Interview with Vito Cacciola #24

Interview with Vito Cacciola #25

Interview with Vito Cacciola #26

Interview with Vito Cacciola #27

Interview with Vito Cacciola #28

Interview with Vito Cacciola #29

Interview with Vito Cacciola #29

Interview with Vito Cacciola #30

Interview with Vito Cacciola #31

Interview with Vito Cacciola #32

Interview with Vito Cacciola #33

Interview with Vito Cacciola #34

Interview with Vito Cacciola #34

Interview with Vito Cacciola #35

Interview with Vito Cacciola #36

Interview with Vito Cacciola #37

Interview with Vito Cacciola #38

Interview with Vito Cacciola #39

Interview with Vito Cacciola #40

Interview with Vito Cacciola #41

Interview with Vito Cacciola #42

Interview with Vito Cacciola #43

Interview with Vito Cacciola #44

Interview with Vito Cacciola #45

Interview with Vito Cacciola #46

Interview with Vito Cacciola #47

Interview with Vito Cacciola #48

Interview with Vito Cacciola #49

Interview with Vito Cacciola #50

Interview with Vito Cacciola #51

Interview with Vito Cacciola #52

Interview with Vito Cacciola #53

Interview with Vito Cacciola #54

Interview with Vito Cacciola #55

Interview with Vito Cacciola #56

Interview with Vito Cacciola #57

Interview with Vito Cacciola #57

Interview with Mrs. A.

Interview with Mrs. B.

Interview with Mrs. F.

Interview with Mrs. D.

Interview with Rev. Holt Hughes D.D.

Irish in Bridgeport

It's pretty hard to get a job these days

It's pretty hard to get a job these days

Italian Munitions Worker

Connecticut Titles

J-K

James Morton

Jim Higgins

"Jim" Higgins

"Jim" Higgins

John Davis

Johns

Joseph Reichenbach

Klocker

Knox

Connecticut Titles

L

Landmarks and Local Characters

Law, The

Law, The

"Leiderkranz"

"Leiderkranz"

Linford Buckingham

Living Lore of New England

Local Anecdotes

Local Color

Local Color--John Davis

Local Tale, A

Local Tale--George Richmond, A

Connecticut Titles

M

MacCurrie

MacCurrie

Medicinal Folklore

Miscellaneous Anecdotes

Miscellaneous Anecdotes

Morehouse

Moses Ariel

Mother White

Mr. Botsford

Mr. Botsford

Mr. Botsford is pottering about his kitchen

Mr. Botsford is standing on his "verandy"

Mr. Botsford on Travel--Kansas

Mr. Botsford on Travel--Kansas

Mr. Botsford's car

Mr. Coburn

Mr. Coburn

Mr. Coburn

Mr. Coburn

Mr. Garrigus

Mr George R.--age 73, unmarried

Mr. George Richmond

Mr. George Richmond

Mr. George Richmond

Mr. Gill

Mr. Gill no. 2

Mr.Gill no. 3

Mr. MacCurrie

Mr. MacCurrie

Mr. MacCurrie and Josh

Mr. MacCurrie has found a listener

Mr. MacCurrie is interupted

Mr. MacCurrie on Mussolini

Mr. MacCurrie on New York

Mr. MacCurrie on New York

Mrs. Buckingham

Mrs. Elizabeth Newsome

Mrs. George Andrews

Mrs. Gladys Turberg

My knock at the door

My knock at the door

Connecticut Titles

N-P

Not much of a day for walking

Note

On English Clockmaking

On German Clockmakers

On German Clockmakers

Personal Opinions

Personal Opinions

Personal Reaction to Politics

Personal Reaction to Politics

Peter Odenwald

Politics, WPA, etc.

Connecticut Titles

R-S

Recreation

Reynold's Bridge

Richmond

Robert Titus

Robert White

Robert White

Set down young feller

Set down young feller

Struck by a car

Struck by a car

Connecticut Titles

T

Thayer

They ought to make the driver's examinations

They ought to make the driver's examination

Town Government, Taxation etc.

Town government, taxation etc.

Tramps

Tramps

Transportation

Transportation

Truelove

Connecticut Titles

B

C

D-F

G-H

I

J-K

L

M

N-P

R-S

T

U-Y

Connecticut Titles

Unable to locate Mr. Richmond today

Vincent Sullivan

Wandering Clockmaker, A

We are discussing the fall of Barcelona

Weatherlore

Weatherlore, Blizzards, Hurricanes, Longevity

Widow Buckingham

William Dunbar

William Knox

William L. Gilbert Library

William Lundrigan

Yankee Folk

You can't tell by lookin'

Making Do: Women and Work

Mrs. Elizabeth E. Miller

Name:

Mrs. Elizabeth E. Miller (Grammy Miller)

Age:

90 years old

Ethnicity:

Scotch/Yankee

Family:

4 boys, Clarence, John, James, George and 1 daughter who died in infancy

Location:

Mountain and Lake View Farm, West Newbury, Vermont

Date:

November 4 and 16, 1938

Interviewer:

Rebecca M. Halley

Interview Excerpt:

Did you ever have to do work that the men usually did?

Listen to Elizabeth's response

One fall we had a five hundred and fifty pound dressed hog hanging in the yard. The men went off to Wells River to take up another hog they had dressed at the same time and left it hanging there and the caldron kettle half full of water. They aimed to get back and take the hog down to cellar before it froze. It would never do to let pork that was going to be salted freeze. I was all alone with the children and I waited until almost twelve. My husband didn't come and so I took a lantern and a saw and a knife and went out to fetch in that hog...I cut up that hog and loaded it piecemeal onto the sled. The worst part was getting it through the front door, but I managed. I had it all done before my husband got home. He asked who had brought the hog in. I said, "I did." He asked who helped and I said, "Alone." I wasn't wasting many words on him. He was struck dumb.

Transcript #37130111

The Great Depression and the New Deal

Page 1 of 16
[Tuskeegee, Alabama.] Photographer unknown. Photograph, 1936. Courtesy of the National Archives. (69 MP-56-1, box 5).

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, when as many as one out of four Americans could not find jobs, the federal government stepped in to become the employer of last resort. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), an ambitious New Deal program, put 8,500,000 jobless to work, mostly on projects that required manual labor. With Uncle Sam meeting the payroll, countless bridges, highways and parks were constructed or repaired.

The Federal Writers' Project

Page 2 of 16

Staff of the Federal Writers' Project. Photographer unknown. Photograph, 1938. Courtesy of the National Archives. (69 N, box 4, negative 18021).

The WPA included a provision for unemployed artists and writers: the Federal Arts Projects. If they were poor enough to qualify, musicians, actors, directors, painters and writers could work directly for the government. The New Deal arts projects made a lasting impact on American cultural life and none contributed more than the Federal Writers' Project. At its peak, the Writers' Project employed about 6,500 men and women around the country, paying them a subsistence wage of about $20 a week.

Return to Voices from the Thirties Home Page

The Federal Writers

Page 3 of 16

Next Page

Voices from the Thirties Home Page

What the Federal Writers Did

Page 4 of 16

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Voices from the Thirties Home Page

Voices from the Thirties

Page 5 of 16

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Voices from the Thirties Home Page

Memories of Billy the Kid

Page 6 of 16

Next Page

Voices from the Thirties Home Page

Forgotten Life History Interviews

Page 7 of 16

Return to Voices from the Thirties Home Page

Interviewing Ordinary People

Page 8 of 16

Next Page

Voices from the Thirties Home Page

The Benefit to American Literature

Page 9 of 16

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Fictional Echoes

Page 10 of 16

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Voices from the Thirties Home Page

Getting it Down

Page 11 of 16

Next Page

Voices from the Thirties Home Page

Ralph Ellison Practices

Page 12 of 16

Invisible Man.

Return to Voices from the Thirties Home Page

Getting People to Talk

Page 13 of 16

Return to Voices from the Thirties Home Page

Sharing Beer . . .

Page 14 of 16

Return to Voices from the Thirties Home Page

. . . and Adversity

Page 15 of 16

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What Do the Stories Express?

Page 16 of 16

Previous Page

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Voices from the Thirties:

Life Histories from the Federal Writers' Project

Bridgeton, New Jersey. June 1942. Seabrook farm. Cannery workers. John Collier. Photograph, 1942. (LC-USF34-83260-C).

See Excerpts from Sample Interviews

Federal Writers' Project: Interview Excerpts

Select a topic

All in a Day's Work: Industrial Lore

Rank and File

Hard Times in the City: Testifying

Making Do: Women and Work

Florida Titles

A

A. G. (Gus) Hartridge

A. J. Manning's Reminiscences

After some inquiry we located

Albert and Anne Denham

Albert Gallatin Philips

Albert J. Kershaw, Jr., M. D.

Alexander Mitchell, Financier

Alice Fairweather--Squatter Farmer

Anna Alden

Autobiography of a Person

Florida Titles

B-D

Bradley Kennelly

Burns Family, The

Ceceilia Patrourtsa

Charlie and Lucinda Robinson

Dan and Amelia Threet

Dave and Jeanette Bevely

Dennis Potinos

Dennis Potinos

Dr. M. Santos

Florida Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: AGRICULTURE, Including agricultural workers, tenant farmers, sharecroppers and gardeners; LOCAL HISTORY AND GENEALOGY, including Civil War reminiscences and former slaves; OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES, including tradesmen, teachers, lawyers, bankers, insurance workers, cigarmakers, watermen, mining, health care, turpentine and unemployment; RELIGION, including ministers, wedding customs, and Father Divine; POLITICS, including attitudes toward voting, woman's suffrage; HEALTH CARE, including midwifery, black physician, and blind residents; DAILY LIFE, including home furnishings, food and diet; FOLKLORE, including superstitions, songs, and dialect; and ETHNIC/NATIONAL GROUPS, including Greeks, Cubans and Seminole Indians.

Interviews were conducted by project workers M. H. Arends, Ruth D. Bolton, Mary C. Bosworth, Lindsay M. Bryan, Gladys Buck, Elvira E. Burnell, Bertha R. Comstock, Barbara Berry Darsey, Walter A. DeLamater, Paul Diggs, Bill Dowda, Mabel Francis, Modeste Hargis, Alberta Johnson, Stetson Kennedy, Henry E. Perrine, Wilbur Edward Roberts, Rose Shepherd, Lillian Stedman, F. Valdez and Dorothy Wood.

Florida Titles

E-F

Earl Guenther

Ed and Ida Gray--Farmers

Ella Lassiter (Life and Songs in Slavery)

Enrique and Amanda

Erickson Recalls Windjammer Days

Florida Squatters

Florida Squatter Family, A

Frank and Ella Merryvale

Frank Sowersby Gray

Florida Titles

G-I

Grandpa's Life

Greek Restauranteur, A

Greek Study--Pensacola Florida

Haskins Family, The

Henrietta Elizabeth Sellers

Henry and Rosa Maddox

Irene Jackson

Florida Titles

J-L

James Kerby Ward

Jane Clayton

Jaydy Asbin

John and Hannah Whitehead

John and Rebecca Boyd

John and Susan Wright

John Proctor

"Jones" Family, The

Judge Henry Bethune Philips

Judge Henry Bethune Philips

Julien Philip Benjamin

Kelsey L. Pharr, Negro Undertaker

Keystone

Keystone Estate

Lolly Bleu--Florida Squatter

Florida Titles

M

Maria Gonzales--Florida Squatter

Martin Cross, Wood and Fuel Dealer

Mary Taylor

Mary Windsor

Mike Osceola

Milledge Richardson

Miller Family, The

Miss Henrietta C. Dozier

Mister Homer

Mr. and Mrs. Fredrick Goethe

Mr. Enrique Pendas

Mr. Fermin Souto

Mr. H. P. Sedding

Mr. John C. English

Mr. John Cacciatore

Mr. Pedro Barrios

Mr. Vandegriff

Mrs. Alexander Mitchell

Mrs. Amelia Devoe

Mrs. Brooke G. White

Mrs. Eliza Kelly Brady

Mrs. Elizabeth Dismukes

Mrs. Eulalia McCranie

Mrs. Irene Lake, Pianist

Mrs. Isabel Barnwell

Mrs. John L. (Margaret Pearson) Hall

Mrs. Martha Ellen Devan

Mrs. Mattie Jackson

Mrs. Virginia S. W. Williamson

Florida Titles

N-P

Nueva Esperanza Plantation (map)

Nueva Esperanza Plantation

Old Families, Spanish Grants

Olsens (A Shrimper's Family), The

Patience Flucher & Family

Pedro and Estrella

Florida Titles

R

"Red Bank"

Red Bank Plantation

Rev. Elias Skipitares

Rev. Elias Skipitares

Rev. Harden W. Stucky

Reverend W. C. Sale

Rich and Lula Gray

Riviera "Conch," A

Robert and Rosa Lee Scott

Robert and Ruby Kellum

Robert Smith

Ruby Beach

Florida Titles

S

Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones

Slaves of Nueva Esperanza

St. Elmo W. Acosta

St. Elmo W. Acosta

Stembler Family, The

Story of Immokalee, The

Story of Juan Gomez, The

Florida Titles

T-W

Thomas Family

Three Generations

Turpentine Man

Villa Alexandria

Villa Alexandria and Jacksonville

Virginia Suffolk

Wade Family, The

Will and Julia Stembridge

William A. Platt

William and Corneal Jackson

William Felos

William F. Hawley

William F. Hawley

Florida Titles

B-D

E-F

G-I

J-L

M

N-P

R

S

T-W

Georgia Titles

A-C

Bargain House

Bea, The Washwoman

Boarding House, The

Capital City Insurance Company, The

Change of Vocation Brings Success, A

Cindy Wright

Cosmetics and Coal

Cotton and Horseshoes

Georgia Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: OCCUPATIONS, including midwives, bill collectors, educators, watermen, merchants, ministers, insurance companies, florists, hairdressers, laundries, patent medicine, paper mill workers, soldiers and WPA employees; RELIGION, including Catholic, Baptist, African Methodist Episcopal, marriage ceremonies and gambling; POLITICS, including voting (blacks and women) and military service; DAILY LIFE, including home furnishings, motherhood, working single mothers and education; LOCAL HISTORY AND GENEALOGY, including Civil War reminiscences, former slaves, early aviation, "Gone with the Wind," and the immigrant experience.

Interviews were conducted by project workers A. G. Barie, Leola T. Bradley, Ina B. Hawkes, Sadie B. Hornsby, William Jenkins, Mabel V. Jones, Grace McCune, Homer L. Pike, Ada Radford, Annie A. Rose, M. Russell, Minnie Stonestreet, Daisy Thompson, Geneva Tonsill, and Jacques Upshaw.

Georgia Titles

D-F

De Trubles I's Seen

Depression was a Republican Trick, The

E. W. Evans, Brick Layer & Plasterer

Edward Walcott

Elam Franklin Dempsey

Ernest Gerber

Family of an Automobile Worker, The

Farming Preacher-Prophet, A

Georgia Titles

G-H

Good Investment, A

Honesty and Fairness to the Bitter End

Hopes 'at Somebody Will Come Along

House of Flowers, The

Georgia Titles

I

I am Reaping in Tears

I Been 'Voted to Horses All My Days

I Got a Record

"I is a Baptist"

I Managed to Carry On

I Saw the Stars

I Want to Die in Peace

I Wanted to be a Merchant

I'm Planning to Make a Come Back

I'se a Fast 'Oman

In Lieu of Something Better

It Wasn't So Easy

Georgia Titles

J-L

Jilson Littlejohn, Preacher

Life During Confederate Days

Georgia Titles

M

Man Who Out Thought the Other Fellow, The

Merchandise on the Toboggan

Mildred Lawson

More Modest Among Us, The

Mr. Doolittle

Mr. Richard

Mr. Thomas J. Henry

Mr. Trout

Mrs. Brown

Mrs. Janie Bradberry Harris

Mrs. Lelia Bramblett

Mrs. Margaret Davis

Mrs. Margaret Davis

Mrs. Marguerite R. Thomas

Mrs. Whelchel

My Ups and Downs

Georgia Titles

N-R

New Way Dry Cleaning and Laundry

Orchid Beauty Shop, The

Patent Medicine Vendor, The

"Poppy Lady, The"

Principal of Grammar School

Recovery

Reminiscence

Reminiscences and Recollections

Reminiscence of a Negro Preacher

All in a Day's Work: Industrial Lore

Mr. Garavelli
Stonecutter

Name:

Mr. Garavelli

Age:

In his fifties

Ethnicity:

Italian

Occupation:

Stonecutter

Location:

Barre, Vermont

Interviewer:

John Lynch

Interview Excerpt:

Is the dust bad in the stonesheds?

It was tough for everybody in the early days. Lots of stonecutters die from the silica. Now they've got new and better equipment; they've all got to use the suctions. It helps a lot; but it ain't perfect. Men still die. You bet your life my kid don't go to work in no stoneshed. Silica, that's what kills them. Everybody who stays in granite, it gets...I don't get so much of it myself. Maybe I'm smart. I don't make so much money, but I don't get so much silica. In my end of the shed there ain't so much dust. I can laugh at the damn granite because it can't touch me. That's me. I ain't got no money, but I ain't got no silica either. My end of the shed don't get so much dust. It's like a knife, you know, that silica. Like a knife in your chest.

Transcript #38021309

Georgia Titles

S-W

Sunshine Lady, The

Unable to Stage a Comeback

Unwelcome Caller, The

Visit to a Flower Shop, A

Visit with Aunt Joe, A

Women and the Changing Times

Georgia Titles

D-F

G-H

I

J-L

M

N-R

S-W

Illinois Titles

A-C

American lives, Postoffice workers

Anna Novak

Big Tony

Black South in Chicago, The

"Blues" Songs

Boston Strong Boy, The

Cab drivers

Charley Banks

Children's Jump Rope Games

Christmas at Hull House

Coonjine in Manhattan

Illinois Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: OCCUPATIONS, including newsboys, cab drivers, postal workers, sign painters, bartenders, sailors, meat packers (women in meat plants) and steelworkers; LOCAL HISTORY, including the Chicago Fire and Hull House; MUSIC, including jazz, blues and vaudeville; FOLKLORE, including children's rhymes, superstititions, ghost/devil stories; and VICES, including gambling and con games.

Interviews were conducted by project workers Abe Aaron, Nelsen Algren, Betty Burke, Jack Conroy, Garnet L. Eskew, Frank Heiner, Grace Outlaw, Alfred O. Phillip, Hilda Polacheck, Jerome W. Power, Sam Ross, Ona Spencer, J. D. Stradling and Margaret Walker.

Illinois Titles

D-G

Dust

Dybbuk of Bunker Street, The

Elmer Thomas

Estelle Zabritz[ki]

Fair Booking Agency

Frank DeSoto

George F. Sims

Gertrude D.

Great Lakes Folklore

Great Lakes Sailors

Illinois Titles

H-J

Hank's Specials

Hull-House Devil Baby, The

I Sell Fish

In the basement of the building

Industrial Folklore of Chicago

Jazz Music, Chicago Style

Jazz Music (Chicago)

Jazz Music (Chicago)

Jean Solter

Jesse Perez

Jim Cole, Negro Packinghouse Worker

Julia Strikowski

Illinois Titles

L-M

Lil Shaw

Little Grandmother

Margaret Hawley

Margaret Walker

Mary Kruppiak

Mary Siporin

Mishewango, Miss'ippi's mah home

Miss Smith, the lady at the last place

Mrs. Betty Piontkowsky

Illinois Titles

N-R

Pack on my back

Pack on my back

Packinghouse workers

Philosophy of Negro Laborers

Policy players have various ways

Post office workers--Carriers

Robbins, Ill.--A folklore in the making

Illinois Titles

S

Sign painters

Singing Games

Song Games for the Small Child

Songs and Yells of Steel Workers

Spontaneous stories by young children

Sports (Swimming)

Staff conference in industrial folklore

Steel

Superstitions

Illinois Titles

T-W

This ol' man wuz 96 year old

Used t' row down Bayou Bartholomew

Vaudeville, chapter 1

Vaudeville, chapter 2

Vaudeville in Chicago

Western stories tall and not so tall

When You Live Like I Done

Where've you been Miss Simmons?

Illinois Titles

D-G

H-J

L-M

N-R

S

T-W

Indiana Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: LOCAL HISTORY, including the Civil War ("Morgan's Raid" -- Confederates in Union Territory) and an interview with a local poet.

Interviews were conducted by project workers Charles B. Milholland and Grace Monroe.

Be a Federal Writers' Project Interviewer

All in a Day's Work: Industrial Lore

Select an excerpt

Chris Thorsten, Iron Worker

Mr. Garavelli, Stonecutter

Alice Caudle, Mill Worker

Chapter I. The Evaluation

 Plan

Background:

American Memory is a corpus of electronic collections representing selected Library of Congress archival materials. The primary goal of the 1991-1993 American Memory User Evalution is to determine American Memory's "core" audience. Since the fall of 1991, 44 institutions have participated in this broad, formative study; it concluded in June 1993. During this two-year period, the Library of Congress Special Project User Evaluation Team has collected both quantitative data and qualitative data from all participating sites. Data collection instruments and methods include: user questionnaires, system transaction files, electronic "comments," telephone interviews, personal interviews, and observational data from site visits. It is from this body of data that we extract and summarize.

Participating sites were chosen from among almost 300 applications received in the spring of 1991 in response to a Library of Congress announcement in the library and educational press. Sites chosen reflect in the aggregate the broadest possible range of potential American Memory users. Although two previous smaller-scale evaluations of American Memory had been done in 1989 and again in 1990, this was the first large-scale evaluation measuring American Memory acceptance and use over an extended period of time in a wide range of institutions: schools (K-12), colleges and universities, public libraries, state libraries, and special libraries. The evaluation team, formed specifically for this purpose, selected 37 sites to participate; 7 sites that had participated in the two earlier evaluations elected to continue. The 44 participating sites are listed beginning on page i. The collections that were available during the 1991-1992 evaluation are listed beginning on page iii.

Originally planned to conclude in June 1992, the evaluation project was extended for one year to accommodate participating sites' budget and administrative cycles as well as unavoidable Library of Congress production delays. The evaluation team prepared a preliminary report (August 24, 1992) outlining the first year's findings and should be consulted for start-up details not chronicled in this more comprehensive report, covering the full two-year valuation period. Many of the trends documented here were just beginning to emerge at the conclusion of the first year.

While the primary goal of the evaluation was to determine American Memory's most appropriate first or "core" audience, the evaluation also served to collect and forward immediate problems to the American Memory developers; the two sets of prototypes (Macintosh and IBM-compatible) were modified based on user feedback. The largest body of data collected reflects the Macintosh prototype because the IBM prototypes are more limited in content and were not available until after the evaluation was well underway. Toward the end of the evaluation period, the team collected fundamental marketing data should the Library be empowered to distribute American Memory beyond the 44 test sites.

The Special Project Evaluation team is chaired by Susan Veccia, Congressional Research Service. Other members of the team include: Christine Anderson, Constituent Services; Chuck Gialloreto, Library Management Services; Mary Lacy, Collections Services; Lorraine LaVia, Congressional Research Service; Marilyn Parr, Constituent Services; Michelle Springer, Congressional Research Service; John Tarafas, Collection Services, and Dawn Thompson, Library Management Services. Jane Riefenhauser, American Memory Program Assistant, and LeeEllen Friedland, American Memory consultant, provided valued assistance. We also wish to acknowledge the work of Joanne Freeman, American Memory Assistant Coordinator, 1991-1992.

What is American Memory?

American Memory is a Library of Congress pilot program designed to reproduce selected Library archival collections in computerized form for dissemination to the nation. The program emphasizes collections of value for the study of American history and culture, especially rare materials or ones held exclusively at the Library of Congress. In addition to developing new collections, American Memory is testing the presentation of a variety of collection formats: photographs and graphic arts, manuscripts, sound recordings, books and pamphlets, and motion pictures. Begun in 1990, the first full prototypes evolved in 1991. The pilot period will conclude in 1995.

Current system design draws upon microcomputer and optical technology, using both compact disks to store digitized representations and videodiscs to store analog data or video images. Full MARC cataloging is provided, when appropriate to the collection. Textual collections provide both searchable text and facsimile page images, enabling the researcher to view the appearance of the artifact along with any noted marginalia. Some collections are accompanied by interpretive "exhibits," introducing the archival primary materials. Longer-term development will explore the possibility of online distribution via the Internet.

Evaluation Goals:

A Library of Congress Special Project team was organized in April 1991 to plan and conduct a field study of American Memory. This volunteer team, representing staff from various service units around the Library, has no formal connection to the American Memory developers. Work undertaken by this team was done in addition to each individual's regular professional duties in other Library of Congress service units. While not administratively connected to American Memory, team members, all Library staff, were mindful of problems associated with the perception of "self evaluation." Members of the team carefully collected data as impartial observers. It should also be noted that evaluation sites were themselves "self selected," by virtue of the application process.

The goals of the evaluation embraced both immediate and future development questions. For example, the American Memory developers were concerned about broad themes such as:

 Who uses American Memory?

This issue probes to the heart of what is the "core" audience for American Memory.

 What collections are used? What collections should be added?

These questions explore the suitability of the content to the intended audience.

 How are American Memory materials used?

This issue explores American Memory's application to education and research as well as how well primary source materials in general are understood.

 What supporting materials are used?

This question examines the utility of the exhibits, collection information online help, and printed documentation.

 Useability issues -- is the technology understandable? Practical?

These questions explore broad issues such as hardware platform, system performance, speed as well as many more specific issues of user preference, system features, and user expectations.

Evaluation Methodology:

Because of the wide range of issues and the evolving nature of the Macintosh prototype, a number of complementary data collection techniques and instruments were required: user questionnaires, electronic machine transaction and user "comment" files, telephone conversations, personal interviews, and selected site visits. We received 1,801 completed questionnaires; 21 of the 44 sites returned transaction/comments files. We interviewed coordinators at all 44 sites, totalling 55 staff. We visited about two-thirds of the sites, and interviewed 121 users. Over one-half of the users interviewed are K-12 school students.

Quantitative data comes from user questionnaires and transaction files. User questionnaires, designed to answer some of the questions listed above, were tabulated and entered into a database using The Survey System, by Creative Research Systems. In addition to accommodating simple questions, this survey software accommodates open-ended comments. Each time a new "version" of American Memory (disks containing updated software and new collections) was shipped to the test sites, subsequent user responses were separated from those received during the use of the previous release. This survey database system allows sorting by individual site, site type, question, and a host of other criteria.

The Macintosh prototype includes an automatically generated machine transaction file that records usage in terms of collections used, exhibits viewed, and features used. In addition, users can optionally record comments in an electronic notepad that is part of American Memory. The transactions and the comments are captured in an electronic file. Comments entered online were coded in the same fashion as the survey comments, and entered into the same database. Transactions were analyzed separately in Lotus 1-2-3.

Qualitative data came from telephone conversations, personal interviews, and site visits. Throughout the course of the two-year evaluation, team members kept in regular touch with American Memory coordinators in the participating sites. Toward the end of the evaluation, each local coordinator was interviewed in depth about a wide variety of issues that could not be measured in a user survey. These interviews were structured with prepared questions; however, team members were encouraged to get expansive answers. Most of these interviews were conducted by telephone. Individual evaluation team members visited selected sites to conduct user interviews and observe the general environment. Visits were made to sites where American Memory was frequently used as well as to sites where we had insufficient information about how American Memory was being used.

Final analysis involved all data collected. Because of the evolving nature of the prototypes, quantitative data was often inaccurate. For example, the inclusion of the New York film collection and the Civil War photograph collection later in the evaluation affects discrete analysis of which collections were most frequently used. In some cases, sites were proactive in administering the questionnaire and seeking user feedback of all types; in other cases, they were not. In all cases, we were forced to make judgements to reconcile quantitative data with observational data. The indepth telephone interviews conducted with local site coordinators coupled with site visits were in retrospect, the most effective evaluation methods used.

The analysis that follows is organized by site type: schools (K-12); colleges and universities; public libraries; other types of libraries, including state libraries and special libraries. Conclusions are summarized in Chapter VI.

The Great Depression and the New Deal

Page 1 of 16

[Tuskeegee, Alabama.] Photographer unknown. Photograph, 1936. Courtesy of the National Archives. (69 MP-56-1, box 5).

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, when as many as one out of four Americans could not find jobs, the federal government stepped in to become the employer of last resort. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), an ambitious New Deal program, put 8,500,000 jobless to work, mostly on projects that required manual labor. With Uncle Sam meeting the payroll, countless bridges, highways and parks were constructed or repaired.

The Federal Writers' Project

Page 2 of 16

Staff of the Federal Writers' Project. Photographer unknown. Photograph, 1938. Courtesy of the National Archives. (69 N, box 4, negative 18021).

The WPA included a provision for unemployed artists and writers: the Federal Arts Projects. If they were poor enough to qualify, musicians, actors, directors, painters and writers could work directly for the government. The New Deal arts projects made a lasting impact on American cultural life and none contributed more than the Federal Writers' Project. At its peak, the Writers' Project employed about 6,500 men and women around the country, paying them a subsistence wage of about $20 a week.

Previous Page

The Federal Writers

Page 3 of 16

Miss Zora Neale Hurston, African-American novelist and anthropologist of New York City and Florida. Photographer unknown. Photograph, 1935. (LC-USZ62-62394).

The Writers' Project provided jobs for a diverse assortment of unemployed white-collar workers including beginning and experienced writers--those who had always been poor and the newly down and out. Among those Federal Writers who went on to gain national literary reputations were novelists Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow and John Cheever, and poet May Swenson. Distinguished African-American writers served literary apprenticeships on the Federal Writers' Project, including Ralph Ellison, Margaret Walker, Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright.

Previous Page

What the Federal Writers Did

Page 4 of 16

Federal Writers' Exhibit. Photographer unknown. Photograph, 1940. Courtesy of the National Archives. (69 N, box 18, negative 10162).

During the Project's early years, the Federal Writers produced a series of state guidebooks that offer a flavorful sampling of life in the United States. Now considered classics of Americana, these guides remain the Federal Writers' Project's best-known undertaking; many have been reissued in the past decade. But the Federal Writers' Project also left a hidden legacy. In the late 1930s, Federal Writers recorded the life stories of more than 10,000 men and women from a variety of regions, occupations and ethnic groups.

Previous Page

Voices from the Thirties

Page 5 of 16

Farm woman with home-made jelly. Russell Lee. Photograph, 1939. (LC-USF33-12450).

People who told stories of life and work during the 1930s include an Irish maid from Massachusetts, a woman who worked in a North Carolina textile mill, a Scandinavian iron worker, a Vermont farm wife, an African-American worker in Chicago meat packing house, and a clerk in Macy's department store.

Previous Page

Memories of Billy the Kid

Page 6 of 16

[WPA Post Office Mural in Storm Lake, Iowa.] Dan Rhodes. Painted mural, undated. (Lot 3135.)

Many Americans in the thirties remembered the nineteenth century as vividly as some people now recall the Depression years. The life history narratives tell of meeting Billy the Kid, surviving the Chicago fire of 1871, making the pioneer journey to the Western Territories, and fleeing to America to avoid conscription into the Russian Czar's army.

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Forgotten Life History Interviews

Page 7 of 16

Federal Writers' Project--Personnel at work on American Guide. Photographer unknown. Photograph, undated. Courtesy of the National Archives. (69 N, box 4, negative 7238-C).

These accounts were meant to be published in a series of anthologies that would form a mosaic portrait of everyday life in America. There were projected volumes on granite carvers, western pioneers and tobacco workers, among others. But by the end of the Depression, the New Deal arts projects were under attack by congressional red-baiters. Following America's entry into World War II, the Writers' Project came to a halt. A vast store of unpublished material was housed in the Library of Congress and was overlooked until recently.

This collection of life histories does not include photographs of the individuals who told their stories. In order to illustrate the narratives in this interpretive program, we have reproduced portraits of other individuals taken during the same time period, identified as "surrogate images."

Previous Page

Interviewing Ordinary People

Page 8 of 16

B. A. Botkin. Photographer unknown. Photograph, undated. Courtesy of the National Archives. (208-PU-S-7042-4, box 11).

Most life histories were gathered under the direction of Benjamin A. Botkin, the folklore editor of the Writers' Project. Like many intellectuals of his generation, Botkin was horrified at the rise of fascism in Europe and worried about possible consequences of that trend at home. By assembling occupationally and ethnically diverse life histories, he hoped to foster the tolerance necessary for a democratic, pluralistic community.

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The Benefit to American Literature

Page 9 of 16

Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyards, Baltimore, Maryland. May 1943. Lunch time. Arthur Siegel. Photograph, 1943. (LC-USW3-23627-E).

Although Federal Writers were not supposed to do their own creative work on Project time, many found that the Writers' Project experience offered considerably more than a meal ticket. Benjamin Botkin regarded the life history narratives as "the stuff of literature" and he expected Federal Writers to draw on them as raw material. No fan of "ivory tower writing," he shared the desire of literary realists to move "the streets, the stockyards, and the hiring halls into literature."

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Fictional Echoes

Page 10 of 16

Nelson Algren. Photographer unknown. Photograph, undated. (LC-USZ62-97839).

Many Federal Writers' field research did influence their subsequent fiction. Passages in Nelson Algren's A Walk on the Wild Side echo his interview with a Chicago prostitute. Mari Thomasi, who collected life stories of Vermont granite carvers, based her novel Like Lesser Gods on that experience. Sam Ross, who interviewed jazz musicians, wrote Windy City, a novel that describes the Chicago music scene as he knew it as a Federal Writer in the 1930s.

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Getting it Down

Page 11 of 16

Mrs. Hannegan (right) runs a boarding house for girls working in war plants. Marjory Collins. Photograph, 1943. (LC-USW3-27727-D).

Federal Writers learned from the act of collecting narratives as well as from the stories themselves. The life history interviews were conducted before the days of tape recorders, so the stories had to be reconstructed from notes and memory. Botkin encouraged Federal Writers to listen for characteristic speech patterns and vernacular language.

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Ralph Ellison Practices

Page 12 of 16

Ralph Ellison, African-American author and college instructor. Photographer unknown. Photograph, 1961. Courtesy of the National Archives. (61-8989, 306-PS-A).

In his Writers' Project interviews, Ralph Ellison began to experiment with ways of capturing the sound of black speech that he refined in his novel Invisible Man. "I tried to use my ear for dialogue to give an impression of just how people sounded. I developed a technique of transcribing that captured the idiom rather than trying to convey the dialect through misspellings." A Pullman porter Ellison interviewed in a Harlem bar told him, "I'm in New York, but New York ain't in me," a refrain he later borrowed for Invisible Man.

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Getting People to Talk

Page 13 of 16

Heard County, Georgia. May 1941. African-Americans visiting on the street on Saturday afternoon. Jack Delano. Photograph, 1941. (LC-USF33-20841-M2).

Botkin stressed the process of conducting interviews, directing his Federal Writers to "make your informant feel important. Well-conducted interviews serve as social occasions to which informants come to look forward." Each Federal Writer interpreted this advice according to his or her own inclinations. Said Ellison: "I would tell some stories to get people going and then I'd sit back and try to get it down as accurately as I could."

Previous Page

Sharing Beer . . .

Page 14 of 16

Childersburg (vicinity), Alabama. May 1941. Mrs. Dutch Gross, who with her husband has opened a lunch room at Kymulga, near an entrance to the new powder plant. Jack Delano. Photograph, 1941. (LC-USF34-44423-D).

Federal Writer Stetson Kennedy recalls interviewing people in their Florida homes over a glass of beer. After establishing rapport, he would tell them "their lives were so interesting they should be written down. Most people agreed and the more notes you took, the better they liked it."

Previous Page

. . . and Adversity

Page 15 of 16

Fayetteville (vicinity), North Carolina. March 1941. A woman who lives with her family in an old street car. Jack Delano. Photograph, 1941. (LC-USF34-43326-D).

Since the Federal Writers themselves were on relief, they were viewed sympathetically and frequently accepted as equals by those they interviewed. Betty Burke recalls feeling that bond with the packing house workers she talked to in Chicago. "We were poor ourselves and these people were, if anything, even poorer, so I was very close to them. I understood every word they said with all my heart."

Previous Page

What Do the Stories Express?

Page 16 of 16

Washington, District of Columbia. June 1943. A man on the street. Esther Bubley. Photograph, 1943. (LC-USW3-32202-E).

The accuracy of most of these memories can't be confirmed, but perhaps it is more useful to ask instead, what do these stories express? Personal recollection has a significance of its own and offers a window onto the ways people shape their identity and see the world around them.

Return to Voices from the Thirties Home Page

Indiana Titles

Incidents of Morgan's Raid

Memories of Morgan's Raid

Morgan Raid, The

Morgan Renders a Service

Morgan's Raid

Morgan's Raid as Mr. Johnson Remembers

Morgan's Raid Through Ripley County

Morgan's Men at Vienna

Mr. Maston Harris

Mrs. W. C. Patrickson

Reminiscences of Dr. Charles Burdsall

Reminiscences of Morgan's and Hobson's Raid

Reminiscences of Morgan's Raid

Stories of Morgan's Raid

Rank and File

Irving Fajans
Department Store Worker

Name:

Irving Fajans

Occupation:

Department Store Employee

Location:

Union Headquarters, 112 E. 19th Street, New York City

Date:

February 1939

Interviewer:

May Swenson

Interview Excerpt:

Were Macy's employees unionized when you worked there?

Listen to Irving's response

When I first started there [at Macy's], they were just beginning to try to organize, and everything pertaining to the union had to be on the q.t. If you were caught distributing leaflets or other union literature around the job you were instantly fired. We thought up ways of passing leaflets without the boss being able to pin anybody down. Sometimes we'd insert the leaflets into the sales ledgers after closing time...In the morning every clerk would find a pink sheet saying: "Good Morning, how's everything...and how about coming to Union meeting tonight..." or something like that. Another idea we had -- swiped the key to the toilet paper dispensers in the washroom, took out the paper and substituted printed slips of just the right size! We got a lot of new members that way -- It appealed to their sense of humor.

Transcript #24020905

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Rank and File

Jim Cole
Packing House Worker

Name:

Jim Cole

Ethnicity:

African-American

Occupation:

Packing House Worker

Location:

Chicago, Illinois

Date:

May 18, 1938

Interviewer:

Betty Burke

Interview Excerpt:

Where do you work in the packing house?

Listen to Jim's response

I'm working in the Beef Kill section. Butcher on the chain. Been in the place twenty years, I believe. You got to have a certain amount of skill to do the job I'm doing. Long ago, I wanted to join the AFL union, the Amalgamated Butchers and Meat Cutters, they called it, and wouldn't take me. Wouldn't let me in the Union. Never said it to my face, but reason of it was plain. Negro. That's it. Just didn't want a Negro man to have what he should. That's wrong. You know that's wrong.

Transcript #07050602

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Louisiana Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Massachusetts Titles

A-C

Adam Laboda--Polish Textile Worker #2

Administrative Correspondence

Alan Wallace

Alan Wallace

Alan Wallace

Berkshire Fiddler and Dirt Farmer, A

Character Description

Character Sketch of Informant and Wife

Charles Monroe

Coming of Machines, The

Crazy Swede

Massachusetts Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: OCCUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES, including labor unions, strikes, unemployment, commercial fishing, shoe manufacture, rubber manufacture, wire mill, textile mill, papermill, logging and timber and agriculture (apple orchards); FOLKLORE, including superstitions, ghost stories, Irish fairy-stories, children's rhymes and games; POLITICS, including local town government; SPORTS; CRAFTS, including hair wreaths and quilting; DAILY LIFE, including clothing styles, home furnishings, child rearing, courtship and marriage, illness, suicides, death and funeral customs, cooking, and education; LOCAL HISTORY, including architecture, city vs. county/insider vs. outsider divisions; ETHNIC STUDIES, including dialects (Irish, Portuguese, Yankee) and immigrant experiences; and TRANSPORTATION, including horse and automobile.

Interviews were conducted by project workers Louise G. Bassett, Seymour Buck, Charlotte Busby, Alice Kelly, Christabel Kidder, Jack K. Leary, Mark Leiberman, Merton R. Lovett, Emily B. Moore, Clair W. Perry, Ethelda Stoddard Richardson, Rosalie Smith, Wade Van Dorn, Edward Welch, Harry Wheeler and Robert Wilder.

Massachusetts Titles

D

Dunnell #8

Dunnell #9

Dunnell #10

Dunnell #11

Dunnell #12

Dunnell #13

Dunnell #14

Dunnell #15

Dunnell #16

During the lockout in the '70s

Massachusetts Titles

E

Ella Bartlett

Ella Bartlett

Ella Bartlett

Ella Bartlett

Ella Bartlett

Elmer Robinson

Erik Jensen--Danish wire mill worker

Erik Christian Jensen #1

Erik Christian Jensen #2

Erik Christian Jensen #3

Massachusetts Titles

F-G

Frederick Savage

G. O. Dunnell

G. O. Dunnell the Yankee Merchant

George Dodge

Gor Svenson #1

Gor Svenson #4

Gor Svenson #5a

Gor Svenson #6

Gor Svenson #6a

Gor Svenson #8

Massachusetts Titles

H

His Income

House that my uncles owned in Ireland, The

Howes, The

Human Interest Snap Shots

Massachusetts Titles

I

If I Could Live My Life Over Again

In Adamsville

In one of the numerous sections

Influenza Epidemic, The

Interview with Captain Joseph Captiva

Irish Cook--Brookfield

Irish Sweepstakes, The

Italian Shoe Machine Worker #4

Italian Shoe Machine Worker #7

Italian Shoe Machine Worker, Beverly #2

Italian Shoe Machine Worker, Beverly #5

Italian Shoe Machine Worker, Beverly #6

Italian Shoe Machine Worker, Beverly #8

Italian Shoe Machine Worker, Beverly #9

Italian Shoe Machine Worker, Beverly #10

Italian Shoe Machinery Worker, Beverly #3

Massachusetts Titles

J-L

James Dowling--Pittsfield

James Hughes

Jared David Busby

Johann Schiller

John Mankowski

John Healy & wife

John W. Healey, Catherine Healey

Joseph Captiva

Laura Bickford

Life After Forty

Massachusetts Titles

M

Machines in the shoe shops, The

Many of the settlers of Colrain

Marie Haggerty--Worcester #1

Marie Haggerty--Worcester #2

Marie Haggerty--Worcester #3

Marie Haggerty--Worcester #4

Marie Haggerty--Worcester #5

Marie Haggerty--Worcester #6

Marie Haggerty--Worcester #7

Mary Anne Meehan

Mary Anne Meehan

Mary Anne Meehan

Mary Anne Meehan

Minnie Caranfa

Miss Ella Bartlett

Mr. Mankowski

Mrs. Cruickshank #1

Mrs. Cruickshank #2

Mrs. Cruickshank #3

Mrs. Zimmerman

Ms. Cora Lovell

My wandering conversation with Uncle Jimmie

Myron Buxton

Myron Buxton

Massachusetts Titles

N-R

Notes

One typical mistake

Patent Leather Shoes

Patrick Reilly

Portuguese Fisherman

Portuguese Fisherman

Portuguese Fisherman

Pulling Teeth and Hurricanes

Record of Interviews

Hard Times in the City: Testifying

Man at Eddie's Bar

Name:

Not given

Location:

Eddie's Bar, St. Nicholas Avenue near 147th Street, New York City

Date:

April 30, 1939, 8:00 PM

Interviewer:

Ralph Ellison

Interview Excerpt:

Do you like living in New York City?

Listen to the man's response

Ahm in New York, but New York ain't in me. You understand? Ahm in New York, but New York ain't in me. What do I mean? Listen. I'm from Jacksonville Florida. Been in New York twenty-five years. I'm a New Yorker! Yuh understand? Naw, naw, yuh don't get me. What do they do; take Lenox Avenue. Take Seventh Avenue; take Sugar Hill! Pimps. Numbers. Cheating those poor people out a whut they got. Shooting, cutting, backbiting, all them things. Yuh see? Yuh see what Ah mean? I'm in New York, but New York ain't in me!

Transcript #21020403

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Hard Times in the City: Testifying

Man at Colonial Park

Name:

Not given

Location:

Colonial Park near 150th Street, New York City

Date:

June 6, 1939

Interviewer:

Ralph Ellison

Interview Excerpt:

Do rich people and poor people have anything in common?

Listen to the man's response

God made all this, and he made it for everybody. And he made it equal. This breeze and these green leaves out here is for everybody. The same sun's shining down on everybody. This breeze comes from God and man cain't do nothing about it. I breath the same air old man Ford an old man Rockerfeller breath. They got all the money an I ain't got nothing, but they got to breath the same air I do.

Transcript #21020306

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Making Do: Women and Work

Mrs. Marie Haggerty
Maid

Name:

Mrs. Marie Haggerty

Age:

72 years old

Occupation:

Maid

Location:

63 Austin Street, Worcester, Massachusetts

Date:

February 20, 1939

Interviewer:

Mrs. Emily Moore

Interview Excerpt:

When you worked as a maid, did you mainly do housework?

Listen to Marie's response

But my dear, it wasn't housework I did...I was a nurse maid or a second girl -- never just an ordinary girl out to service...You got hired by your looks and even if you looked honest, they would test you out. Why, once I was making up a bed, and right beside the bed was a five dollar bill. I knowed nobody dropped that for nuthin', so I didn't know if I should pick it up and tell them, or what, but my face burnt like fire, for I knowed I was gettin' tested.

Transcript #15010211

Choose a different topic

Massachusetts Titles

S

Section of Colrain, The

Shelburne Falls

Shoe Machinery Worker, Beverly #1

Shoe Machinery Worker, The

Shoe Machinery Worker, The

Shoe Laster of Lynn #1

Sixty years is a long time

Small Town Election

Swedish Lobsterman

Massachusetts Titles

T-Y

There are numerous anecdotes

They Ain't Been Brought Up Right

Told by a Rubber Worker

Tony Washalaski

Town Meeting Government

Trip to America, The

Uncle Jimmie told me nothing

Union and Strikes

Up until last year

When you first look at Mr. McKie

William Hall--East Otis

Yankee Innkeeper

Yankee Merchant

Yankee Merchant

"Yesterdiay I wint ta the circus,"

Massachusetts Titles

D

E

F-G

H

I

J-L

M

N-R

S

T-Y

Making Do: Women and Work

Mrs. Mayme Reese
Housewife

Name:

Mrs. Mayme Reese

Birth:

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1881

Ethnicity:

African-American

Family:

Two married sons, one single son and one married daughter

Occupation:

Housewife

Location:

1 St. Nicholas Terrace, New York City

Date:

September 20, 1938

Interviewer:

Dorothy West

Interview Excerpt:

What kinds of things did you used to do when you got together with other women?

Listen to Mayme's response

Did you ever hear about quilting parties? We used to have quilting parties at least twice a year. One time we would meet at one house and one time at another; you'd keep on that way until the quilt was finished...

In the fall when they had the county fairs, sometimes we'd take our quilts out to fair-grounds for exhibition. Each lady picked out her best quilt -- the prettiest color, the prettiest pattern and the best stitches -- and took it to the fair to try to win the prize..No, it didn't make any difference if your prettiest quilt had been quilted by three or four other people. You see you already had the pattern and you'd already put the pieces together so that much was your own idea.

Transcript #25060506

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Maine Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: FOLKLORE, including superstitions, ghost stories, tall tales, children's games, folksongs; RELIGION, including Catholicism; INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS, including logging, sawmills, papermills, textile mills; SPORTS AND RECREATION, including football, cinema; FRENCH CANADIANS, including French language, dialect and bilingualism; and AMERICAN INDIANS, including crafts (baskets, dolls), canoe-building and food.

Interviews were conducted by project worker Robert F. Grady.

Maine Titles

Additional Personal History David Morin

Additional Personal History Ovide Morin

Additional Personal History of Steve Comeau

Evangeline

Extra Comment on the Life of Ovide Morin

Henry Mitchell, Indian Canoe Maker

Life of Alphonse Martin, The

Life of David Morin, The

Life of Henry Mitchell, The

Life of Mike Pelletier, The

Life of Mike Pelletier, The

Life of Ovide Morin, The

Mike Pelletier

Mike Pelletier

Mike Pelletier

Mike Pelletier (Miscellaneous)

Note

Noted French Canadian Personalities

Pelletier

Personal History of Alex Lavoie

Personal History of David Morin

Personal History of Mike Pelletier

Personal History of Ovide Morin

Personal History of Rev. Wilfred Ouellette

Personal History of Vital Martin

Steve Comeau

Visit with Henry Mitchell, A

William Green

Midwest

Indiana

Missouri

Nebraska

Wisconsin

Missouri Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include LOCAL HISTORY, including pioneer stories and the Civil War; AGRICULTURE, including locusts; and SLAVERY

Missouri Titles

Rose Wilder Lane

Montana Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: LOCAL HISTORY, including early settlement and merchants and townspeople; OCCUPATIONS, including prospectors, merchants and tradespeople; TRANSPORTATION (railroads) and DIALECTS.

Montana Titles

Aladdin Gold

C. B. and Q Placer Mine

Form

Gildersleeve Mine, Inc.

Gold Mountain Mines, Inc.

Hill Beach Mines

Hill Beach Mines

Horseshoe Group

Instructions

J. W. (Jim) King

Lee Roach

McFarland

Moose City

Nancy Lee Mining Co.

Ohio Gulch Placer Mine

Park Mountain Mines, Inc.

Pontiac Chief Placer

Poor Lode

Quicksand Placer

Ray Green

Red Elephant Group

Social Life in and about Superior

Superior Mines

Superior's Wild and Woolly Days

"The Doctor" and "The Trapper" Placer

North Carolina Titles

A-B

Alexander J. Paradis

Aline Caudle

All Our Folks was Farmers

Allen Teavis

Alma Covel

Amos Farrell

An Irascible Negro

Barning Tobacco

Begging

Begging

Belks, The

Belle and Lottie Walter

Betty Lowe

Bill Branch

Blanch Gibson

North Carolina Titles

C-D

Catherine and Will Jones

Cecil Kanipe

Clara Edwards

Cora Sigmon

Cordie Underwood

Cornfield Scotch-Irish

Dave Stephens

Day at Mary Rumbley's House, A

Deever Taylors

Description of a Mill Village

Description of Mill Village

Dewitt Hines

District Nurse

Doctor Gray

Dolph Parsons

Dunnes, The

North Carolina Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS, including religion, education and literacy, politics, voting, and women's suffrage, alcohol, race relations, marriage and home ownership; OCCUPATIONS (of Afro-American professionals), including an artist, dentist, newspaperman, lawyer, minister, banker, beautician, salesman, farmers, sharecroppers, tenant farmers, merchants, watchmaker, bootlegger, textile workers, sheriff, midwife and obstetrician and a hotel proprietor; DAILY LIFE, including home furnishings, sports/recreation, movies and movie stars, effects of the Depression, family relations, food, courtship and child rearing; FOLKLORE, including dialects; and LOCAL HISTORY, including World War I veterans and a former slave.

Places described include Charlotte, Asheville, Wake Forest, Kannapolis, Newton, and Brevard.

Interviews were conducted by project workers Louise L. Abbitt, James Beaman, Cora Bennett, Mary P. Brown, Beth Cannady, Douglas Carter, Stnaley Combs, Omar Darrow, Ethel Deal, Claude Dunnagan, William Hennessee, A. W. Long, Luline L. Mabray, Frank Massimino, T. Pat Mathews, Adyleen Merrick, Albert North, Katherine Palmer, James Larkin Pearson, Frank B. Rupert, W. O. Sanders, Annie Winn Stevens, Robert V. Williams, Mary P. Wilson, and Muriel L. Wolf.

North Carolina Titles

E-F

East Durham

Ed and Mary Jackson

Ed Currin

Edgar Wynce

Edna Lutz

Ellie Robertson

Elsie Wall

Elvira Barbee

Essie Meadows

Essie Watts

Estelle Berry

Every Penny Counts

Every Penny Counts

Ex-Industrialist

Ex-WPA Workers

F. L. Alley

Factory Hill

Factory Hill

Fannie Colbert

Farlows, The

Fisherman's Paradise

Fletchers, The

Four Families

Frank Thomas Arthur

North Carolina Titles

G-I

George and Cora Brauscom

George Horton

Glenn Kanipe

Gone to Seed

Greek Restaurants

H. Perry Davis

Haithcocks

Hal H. Norbovig

Harriet Crow

He Never Wanted Land Till Now

Henrietta Pendleton

Henry Houston

Her Ungodly Grandson

Hollifields, The

Hubert Smith

Human Kindness

Ida Allen

Ima Buckner

North Carolina Titles

J

J. H. Marshall

J. R. Glenn

Jack Gallup

Jackson Family, The

James Peak

James W. Bawser

Janie Solomon

Janitor and Odd Job Man

Jennie

Jim McDowell

Joe Matheson

Joe Penniger

John and Sarah Autrey

John Leard

John M. Thomason

John Pierce

John Polk Wallace

John Rodgers

John Sam Johnson

Jones I. Freeze

Josephine Wallace

Judge Sidney Saylor

North Carolina Titles

L-M

Lillie Craig

Lizzie Linberger

Lucille Hicks

Margie Rushing

Marshalls, The

Mary Allen

Mary Cox

Mary Elizabeth Moore

Mary Jane Brown

Mary Jane Sherrill

Mary Miller

Mary Smith

Mathis Family

Mattie Jamison

McMurrays, The

Miss Emma Willis

Miss Ophelia Mull

Mollie Mauney

Mossie Williams

Mountain Farming

Mountain Farming

Mountain Sharecroppers

Mountain Sharecroppers

Mountain Town

Mr. and Mrs. Pace

Mrs. Bessie Parish

Mrs. Daisy Barringer

Mrs. Georgia Lunsford

Mrs. Georgia Lunsford

Mrs. Laurence Long

Mrs. Lola Roberts

Mrs. Mac Mabe

Mrs. Nannie Carson

North Carolina Titles

N-R

Negro in Business, A

Nina Boone

Ole An' Broke

On the Radio

Orphans Two

Prayers that Worked

Public School Teachers

Publicity Man

Relief Client

Renns, The

Reports

Reverend Thurman F. Bowers

Robert Lee Wright

Rosses, The

Rosses, The

Roxie Owens

Ruth Kanipe

North Carolina Titles

S-W

Sarah Wall

Satisfied with Life

Schmidts, The

Schmidts, The

Schoolmaster

Shave Them

Shouting for Heaven

Small Merchant, A

Stella Dean: Waitress

Stella Wall

Sudie Holton

T. H. Phillips

Tenant Trouble

Up Hominy Creek

Up Hominy Creek

W. A. Boyter

W. D. Long

Wadsworth Wilson

Walter Smith

William A. Cooper

Winifred Morton

North Carolina Titles

C-D

E-F

G-I

J

L-M

N-R

S-W

Nebraska Titles

A

A. L. Gooden

Abram C. Hardin

Ada Case

Aleck Chambers

Allen Chrisman

Alma R. Miller

Arthur Goodlett

Arthur Goodlett

Arthur Goodlett

Arthur Goodlett

Aug Wurdeman

Nebraska Titles

B-C

Ben Noricoff

Blizzard of 1888

C. E. Kinsey

C. H. Krause

C. H. Thoelcke

C. H. West

C. P. Wiltse

C. P. Wiltse

Caesar Ernst

Caesar Ernst

Catherine Bauer

Catherine Margaret Weber

Charity B. Couch

Charles Blooah

Charles Cole

Charles Cole

Charles Gant

Charley Woods

Chas. Henry Stopher

Chas. W. Huyck

Christina Staples

Cicero R. Johnson

Clara Dunn

Col. J. W. O'Brien

Col. John Hartje

Corena Mays

Corinna Williams

Nebraska Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: POLITICS, including campaigns/elections, songs, parties (Populist Party), and Lincoln-Douglas debate; RELIGION, including weddings, funerals, revivals, music, cemeteries and Mormons; FOLKLORE, including superstitions, ghost stories, tall tales, weather lore, water witching, and folk medicine; LOCAL HISTORY, including outlawry (Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill Cody, Jesse James), pioneer stories houses, weather, fear of Indians), Civil War veterans, former slaves, and natural occurrences such as weather (blizzards, drought), fires, grasshoppers, and snakes; IMMIGRATION AND ETHNICITY, including Russians, Poles, Germans, Norwegians, English, Irish and Cheyenne, Sioux and Pawnee Indians; SOCIAL ACTIVITIES/RECREATION, including music, folksongs, square dances and calls, "literaries," "medicine shows,", poetry, ice skating, holiday celebrations, and Emancipation; and OCCUPATIONS, including cowboys, railroad workers, farmers and cooks

Interviews were conducted by project workers Harley Anderson, Albert Burks, Wilbur Cummings, Fred Dixon, Ira Dugan, J.A. Haggart, Henry Hahn, George Hartman, E. E. Holm, Bessie Jollensten, Frederick W. Kaul, L. A. Rollins, Stanley A. Kula, Cecile Larson, Fay Levos, Alma Miller, Eilert Mohlman, Harold J. Moss, Edna Pearson, Warnock Stewart, Richard Wait, Ruby E. Wilson, Jennie Everhart, Emma Milligan, Arthur T. Ricard and Mrs. N.W. Thomasen.

Nebraska Titles

D-E

Dave E. Eisele

David Holm

Diedrich Hollman

Dr. J. H. Hutton

Dr. J. H. Hutton

E. A. Houston

E. A. Houston

E. A. Jenkins

E. O. Skeidler

E. S. Gardner

Ed Grantham

Edward H. Bly

Edwin Sparks

Eliza Galloway

Eliza M. Brandes

Eliza M. Brandes

Elizabeth Kildow

Elmer Dellett

Emil P. Ronnfeldt

Esther Collins

Eustis Named for Burlington Offical

Eva Thies

Nebraska Titles

F-G

F. Fenner

F. Fenner

F. G. Wagner

F. J. Elliott

Fannie Perry

Folklore

Frank Faith

Frank Nicholas

Frank Wright

Franklin Clay Brown

Fred C. Scarborough

G. A. Gregory

G. E. Oden

G. W. Hite

Geo. Borchers

George S. Nye

George W. Bates

George Albert Pinkston

George Dunn

George Linstead

George Saunders

Grasshopper Story, A

Nebraska Titles

H-I

H. B. Thomas

H. C. Van Boskirk

Harry Green

Harry Haythorn

Hattie Zellars

Hellen Fender

Henry Hahn

Henry N. Safford

Henry Ridinger

Henry Schwindt

Henry Spann

Henry W. Black

Henry W. Black

Henry W. Black

Herbert Ruft

Hernon Kyle

Hickey Jackson

I. B. Smith

Inger Watland

Ira H. Fisher

Irving McCoy

Issac Laurence Woodward

Issac Laurence Woodward

Nebraska Titles

J

J. H. Becker

J. H. Becker

J. J. Eimers

J. J. Jackson

J. J. McCarthy

J. M. Kennelly

J. P. Scofield

J. W. Wilson

James G. Eastman

James Lemon

Jessy May

Jessy Maw

Jim Turpin

Jimmy Scott

Joe Garcia

Joe Giesler

Joe Poeffel

John Brennan

John C. Elder

John Ells

John Freeman

John W. Hartman

John W. Marshall

Josiah Waddle

Josiah Waddle

Josiah Waddle

Judge Sandall

July Miles

July Miles

July Miles

Nebraska Titles

K-L

L. A. Rollins

L. C. McBride

L. C. McBride

L. L. Goodin

Lemoyne Jacobs

Leslie Ulysses Daugherty

Lewis Knutson

Lizzie Lockwood

Lottie Bronz Brule

Louis Larsen

Louis Lutjeharms

Louis Lutjeharms

Lucy Belle Bartlett

Nebraska Titles

M

Martin's Ranch and Indian Attack

Mary E. Armour

Mary J. Doom

Mason Todd

Minor Hinman

Moses Stepney

Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Brodbeck, Sr.

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas

Mr. and Mrs. Jens Sillasen

Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Davis

Mr. and Mrs. Wolford Hopkins

Mr. Bernard E. Squires

Mr. Bernard E. Squires

Mr. Charles Weaver

Mr. Charles Weaver

Mr. Clement Flynn

Mr. Clement Flynn

Mr. Earl Heath

Mr. Earl Heath

Mr. Eli Rohner

Mr. Frank Dixon

Mr. Geo. Sterns

Mr. H. J. Pinkett

Mr. H. J. Pinkett

Mr. H. J. Pinkett

Mr. H. J. Pinkett

Mr. H. W. Sample

Mr. Harry Crigler

Mr. Harry Dixon

Mr. John Grosvenor

Mr. John Grosvenor

Mr. John Oliphant

Mr. John Oliphant

Mr. L. A. Sherman

Mr. W. M. Lanphear

Mr. Wm. McDonald

Mrs. A. S. Eager

Mrs. Albert Waybright

Mrs. Allie O. Hardy

Mrs. Alma R. Miller

Mrs. Anna Shull

Mrs. Bell Mattison

Mrs. C. A. Fruide

Mrs. C. L. Mehuron

Mrs. Chandler Wilson

Mrs. Charley Huyck

Mrs. Chas. Gaston

Mrs. Chas. Gaston

Mrs. Ella Boney

Mrs. Emma "Grandma" Mackey

Mrs. Ernie Ogg

Mrs. Etta Shaw

Mrs. Etta Shaw

Mrs. F. M. Richmond

Mrs. Frances Lindblad

Mrs. Frank (Grandma) Leonard

Mrs. Fred Brooks

Mrs. Fred Hutton

Mrs. H. C. Gates

Mrs. Hill

Mrs. Hulda Esther Thorpe

Mrs. Ida Bates

Mrs. J. A. Hall

Mrs. J. J. McCarthy

Mrs. Jessie Deane

Mrs. John Albert Williams

Mrs. John Albert Williams

Mrs. John Boler

Mrs. John Donnelly

Mrs. John Donnelly

Mrs. John Grosvenor

Mrs. John Grosvenor

Mrs. June Gibson

Mrs. Kate Jenkins

Mrs. L. A. Sherman

Mrs. Laurence Erlach

Mrs. Lon Story

Mrs. Margaret Sauer

Mrs. Marie Oliphant

Mrs. Mary Bickett

Mrs. Mary E. Jeep

Mrs. Mary J. Louis

Mrs. Mary Mathews Tolman

Mrs. McCarthy

Mrs. Mollie Castor

Mrs. Nancy E. Boslow

Mrs. O. C. Bell

Mrs. P'Etta Baker

Mrs. Rachel Hood

Mrs. Ross

Mrs. Sam (Tina) Bridenbaugh

Mrs. Sarah Hartje

Mrs. Sarah Reddick

Mrs. Spangler

Mrs. Vera Stansberry

Mrs. W. M. Lanphear

Mrs. W. P. Winchell

Mrs. W. R. Larson

Mrs. Walter Pinkus

Mrs. Will H. Berger

Mrs. Winona Sawyer

Mrs. Winterer

Mrs. Wm. Trace

Nebraska Titles

N-R

Nick Claussen

Nick Claussen

Nimrod Ross

Octavia Green

Old Records

Old Settler

P. M. E. Hill

Pat Long

Pete Farrell

Peter P. Luther

Phila J. Myers

Philip H. Smith

Preacher Tries Farming, A

R. H. Johnston

Rachel Ridenour

Recollections of a Pioneer

Recollections of a Pioneer

Rev. A. L. Reynolds

Rev. O. J. Burkhardt

Roy A. Morse

Roy F. Richards

Rudolph H. Wurdeman

Rufas Mowery Miller

Rush Myers

Nebraska Titles

S-W

S. G. Hoover

Sam Broillar

Samuel B. Farmer

Sebastian E. Marty

Sebastian E. Marty

Sheriff Salisbury

Sherman Dolman

T. L. Phillips

Thomas J. Estes

Thomas J. Hartnett

Tom Kelley

Trip from Ogallala to Big Springs, A

W. A. Potts

W. P. Adamson

Walter Colley

Walter Hayes Ewing

Will H. Berger

William Hawes

Wilton Tinsman

Wilton Tinsman

Wm. Flynn

Nebraska Titles

B-C

D-E

F-G

H-I

J

K-L

M

N-R

S-W

Return to Midwest

New Hampshire Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: LOCAL HISTORY, including vital records, elections, politics, local newspapers role in the community, female newspaper editor, and prohibition; IMMIGRATION/ETHNICITY, including Greek customs (holidays, funerals, food, Greek School), French Canadians (social activities, fraternal organizations, French language newspapers, songs, acculturation, relations with Irish Americans), and Poles (food, weddings, holiday celebrations, citizenship); and INDUSTRY/OCCUPATIONS, including textile mills, child labor, hotels, and restaurants/diners. FAMOUS PEOPLE mentioned include Carry Nation at a local fair.

First-person interviews were conducted by project workers Evanthea Keriazes, Victoria Langlois, Louis Pare, Henry H. Pratt and Julia Sample.

New Hampshire Titles

Chapter 2

Country Editor

Country Editor

Franco-American Grandmother

French Canadian Textile Worker

Greek Mother

Here We Can Be Glad #3

Here We Can Be Glad #4

Here We Can Be Glad #5

Here We Can Be Glad #6

Here We Can Be Glad #7

M. Henry Lemay

Marsz, marsz, Dabrowski

Old Yankee Innkeeper; His Story

Old Yankee Innkeeper; His Story

Polish of Manchester

Yankee Businessman

Yankee Innkeeper

Return to Northeast

New Mexico Titles

A

A. J. Ballard Family

Abran Miller

Adams Diggings, The

After returning to Texas in 1881

Agua Fria

Albert Zeigler

Alice J. VanWinkel

Alma Massacre, The

Alms Massacre, The

Ambrosio Chavez

Anna Potter Davis

Anne Brazel

Annie Laurie Snorf

Anthony

As I See It

Autobiography

New Mexico Titles

B

Ben Stimmel

Bertha Gusdorf

Bertha Mandell Candler

Bertha Mandell Candler

Billy the Kid

Biographies--J. J. Rogers

Biography--May Price Mosley

Biography of Guadalupe Lupita Gallegos, The

Biography of Guadalupe Lupita Gallegos, The

Biography of Guadalupe Lupita Gallegos, The

Blizzard of 1869, The

Buffalo Valley

Buried Treasure

Buster Degraftenreid

New Mexico Titles

C

Captain Jason W. James

Captain Simpson

Cattle Shipping and Trading Posts

Cecilia Richards Alvarez

Charles C. Geck

Charles C. Roberts and I were married

Charles D. Mayer

Charles L. Ballard

Charles L. Ballard

Child Friend of Billy the Kid

Clara Coleman

Clayborn Brimhall

Cleve Hallenbeck

Clovis First Newsboy

Comanche Indians on Chisum Cattle Trail

Cowboy Hardships

Cruz Richards Alvarez

New Mexico Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: LOCAL HISTORY, including Civil War, Indian wars/campaigns, outlaws, land grants, architecture, roads, trails, wagon trains, prominent citizens and schools; IMMIGRATION/ETHNICITY, including Hispanic (Mexican) dress, outlook/attitudes, Indians (Comanche, Navajo, Apache) raids, trade, houses, captivity narratives, travel accounts and westward journeys; INDUSTRY/OCCUPATIONS, including ranchers, cowboys, prospector mining, buried-treasure lore, tradesmen and merchants, teachers, soldiers; and RELIGION, including Catholicsm, missions, relics.

Places mentioned include Lincoln Co., NM, Chaves Co., NM, Durango, CO, and Farmington, NM. Famous people mentioned include Kit Carson, Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid, Geronimo and the writer Eugene Manlov Rhodes.

Interviews were conducted by project workers E. V. Batchler, Lorin W. Brown, James A. Burns, Marie Carter, Genevieve Chapin, Edith Crawford, W. M. Emery, Muriel Haskell, Carrie L. Hodges, Everet Houston, Joyce Hunter, Mildred Jordan, B. W. Kenney, Belle Kilgore, Bright Lynn, Lester Raines, George B. Redfield, B. A. Reuter, R. T. F. Simpson, Janet Smith, J. Vernon Smithson, Simeon Tajada, Frances E. Totty and Clay W. Vaden.

New Mexico Titles

D-E

Dave Runyan

Description of a Pioneer's Experience

"Dick" Eaton

Dr. J. R. Carver

Dr. Newton E. Charlton

Early Days Around Deming

Early Days Around Silver City

Early Days in Albuquerque

Early Days In Grant County

Early Days In Lincoln County

Early Days In Lincoln County

Early Days in Lincoln County

Early Days In Silver City, The

Early Days In Silver City and Grant Co.

Early Experiences in New Mexico

Early Life in Questa

Early Life of Elizabeth Garrett

Edward A. Cahoon

Elerdo Chavez

Elisha Leslie

Elizabeth Fountain Armendariz

Elizabeth Garrett

Enchanted Jug, The

Escape From the Indians

Escape from the Indians

New Mexico Titles

F-H

Francisco Gomez

Freighting In Silver City

George F. Blashek

George Murray

George S. Brown

Golden Image, The

Grant Co. in 1849

H. M. Pyle

Harry R. Hannum

Henry Clark

Henry Clark's "Windy" Tale

History of A Buffalo Hunter

Hot-Tamale Man, The

How R. R. came to Niobrara, Nebraska

Hugh M. Wood's Story

Humbolt Casad

New Mexico Titles

I

I was born in Austin, Texas

I was born in Grapevine, Texas

I was on my way home from Las Cruces

In my first interviews with Mr. Ortiz

Incidents of the Early '80s

Indian Story

Indian Village

Interview with Elfego Baca

Interview with Elfego Baca

Interview with Howard Roosa

Interview with Jose Garcia y Trujillo

Interview with Mrs. A. S. Hopewell

Interview with Mrs. Bella Ostic

Interview with Mrs. Bella Ostic

Interview with Mrs. Clara Fergusson

Interview with Mrs. Pauline Myer

Interview with Mrs. William C. Heacock

Interview with O. W. McCuistion

New Mexico Titles

J-L

J. H. Deam

J. Y. Thornton

James B. Read

Jim Miller

John J. Heringa

John W. Evans

John W. Poe

Jose Apodaca

Joshua P. Church

Judge Charles Rufus Brice

Judge Frank H. Lea

Kidnapping of a Rancher's Daughter, The

Killing of Charlie Bachelor

La Historia del Billy the Kid

La Rubia

Laura Hedgecoxe Cahoon

Lawrence H. Dow

Lea Rowland

Looks Are Sometimes Deceiving

Los Comanches

Los Oremus

Louie Taren

New Mexico Titles

M

Martin V. Corn

Martin V. Corn

May Bailey Jackman

May Corn Marley

May Lee Queen

Memories of Lincoln Told

Mexican Boy Captured by Apache Indians

Mogollons of the Early Days

Mollie Grove Smith

Mormon Church West of the Rio Grande, The

Mrs. Amelia (Bolton) Church

Mrs. Amelia (Bolton) Church

Mrs. Anna Brazel

Mrs. Annie E. Lesnett

Mrs. Caroline Geck Weir

Mrs. Dorothy Cleve Norton

Mrs. Dorothy Cleve Norton

Mrs. Ella Davidson

Mrs. George F. Cornell

Mrs. Gertrude (Lea) Dills

Mrs. Ina W. Mayer

Mrs. J. P. Church

Mrs. Juan Valdes

Mrs. Lena Kempf Maxwell

Mrs. Lorencita Miranda

Mrs. Louise Niemann

Mrs. Mabel Luke Madison

Mrs. Mary Burleson

Mrs. Mary E. Burleson

Mrs. Mary E. Burleson

Mrs. Mary Ellen McMillan

Mrs. O. S. Warren

Mrs. Pinkie Bourne Skinner

Mrs. Sara (Lund) Bonney

Mrs. Sarah Hughes

New Mexico Titles

N-P

Nellie Henley Barnum

Nellie Leahy

Nemecio Provincio

Noted Personalities

Old Days in Kingston Mine Area

Old Man Saunderson

Old Timer's Tales

Old Timers Dictionary

Old Timers Dictionary

Old Timers Dictionary

Old Well on Pigeon Ranch

On July 21, 1879, I was married

Otho Allen

Pat Garrett--Billy the Kid

Patrick H. Boone

Pedro M. Rodriguez

Personal Interview with Mrs. Nettie Locke

Prospector's Experience, A

New Mexico Titles

R-W

Reminiscences of Mr. Joe Prewitt

Reversed Saddle

Richard and William H. Eeisle

Roswell Chihuahua District Folk Tales

Royal Jackman

Rufus H. Dunnahoo

Rufus H. Dunnahoo

Rumaldo Aguilar Duran

Sadie Orchard

Sam Farmer

Sam Jones

Samantha Lake Brimhall

Sarah Belle Adams

Short time ago I stood on U. S. Highway 54, A

Sidelights on Events and People

Sidney L. Prager

Slavery (Indian)

Tales of the Moccasin Maker of Cordova

Tia Lupe

Tough One, A

Trial of Oliver Lee, The

Unusual Industries

Volney Potter

Wetherell's Death

William Colley Urton

William E. Kimbrell

William G. Urton

New Mexico Titles

B

C

D-E

F-H

I

J-L

M

N-P

R-W

Northeast

Maine

Massachusetts

New Hampshire

New York

Rhode Island

Vermont

Return to the WPA Life HistoriesHome Page

New York Titles

A

Abyssinia Baptist Church

Adventures of "The Baron"

Afternoon in a Pushcart Peddlers' Colony

Al Thayer

Albert Williams

Alcoholic World War Veteran

Alcoholic World War Veteran

All Exclamations

All Puffed Up

Almost Made King

Am I Right

Am I Right

Amateur Night

Ambulance Driver

Ambulance Driver's Story

American Spine, An

Andrew Johnson

Anecdotes

Angelo Herndon

Aristicratca, The

Arkansas 'Shakes', The

Auto-Biographical Notes

New York Titles

B

Baptism That Didn't Take, A

Baptism that Didn't Take, A

"Baron, The"

Beautiful Whiskers

Ben Dickstein

Bernice

Berry-Picking

Bertha Dlugatch

Bertha Dlugatch

"Betty"

Big Fred

Bits of Yiddish Folk-Stuff

Bob White's Self-Skinnin' Skunks

Bob White's Trained 'Dog-Salmon'

Boiled Ham

Boiled Ham

Bossini

Brains in Obscurity

Bronx, 1885

Bronx Slave Market

Brooklyn Streets

Brooklyn Streets

New York Titles

C

"Cabbies"

Cafe Royal

Case History

Cause for Separation

Chef Watkins' Alibi

Chief Joe-Bull's Joke

Chris Thorsten

Circus People

City Street

Cliff Webb and Billie Day

Clyde (Kingfish) Smith

Cocktail Party

Colonial Park

Commercial Enterprise

Committee From the Right, A

Communications

Communications--1st Report

Communications (Second Report)

Conscientious Objector

Conscientious Objector, A

Contempt for His Torturers

Convalescent Home

Conversation in a Park

Conversation in a Park

Cowboy and the Riveter, The

Cult Lore

Czechoslovakian Lore

New York Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: RELIGION, including cults, revivals, music, preaching, Pentecostals, Jews and Catholics; ETHNICITY AND IMMIGRATION, including dialect, slangs, jargon, rellgion, folklore, prejudices, Russians, Germans, Poles, Irish, Afro-Americans, "old country" stories, food, neighborhoods and gangs; FOLKLORE AND FOLKTALES, including tall tales, ghosts, leprechauns, children's games and rhymes, sea chanties, hucksters' cries, gambling, quilting, and union song; OCCUPATIONS, including peddlers and hucksters, store clerks, musicians and artists, bartenders, restaurant workers, seamen, mariners, cab drivers, newspapermen, telegraph operators, shoeworkers, fishermen, domestics, housekeepers, laundry workers, day workers, employment agencies, union organization, strikes, songs and poems, jargon and hospital; DAILY LIFE, including transportation, entertainment (theatres), hospitals; LOCAL HISTORY, including prohibition, World Wars I and II, Marcus Garvey and baseball.

Places described include Harlem, the Bronx, and Union Square.

Interviews were conducted by project workers Sidney Ascher, Earl Bowman, Frank Byrd, Sylvia Diner, Ralph Ellison, Augustine Fitzpatrick, R. P. Gray, Marion C. Hatch, Bishop Hathaway, Levi Hubert, Saul Levitt, Arnold Manoff, Vivian Morris, Irving Nicholson, John E. O'Donnell, Herman Partnow, Theodore Posten, Partrick Quinlan, Fred Romanofsky, Terry Roth, Sam Schwartz, Herman Spector, May Swenson, Joseph Vogel, Emanuel Verschleiser, Wayne Walden, Clarence Weinstock, Dorothy West, Ruth Widen, Ellis Williams and William Wood.

New York Titles

D-E

Da Pinga Schleep

Dancing Turkey, The

Dangerous Mission, A

Davey

David A. Lawrence

Day at N. B. C. College, A

Dead End Kids

Deep, The

Department Store

Desmond to the Rescue

Dirty Trick on the Little Horse, A

Domestic Workers' Union

Domestic Workers' Union

East Side Folk Stuff

Eddie's Bar

Elevator Strike

Erie Canal

Ethel Simon

New York Titles

F

Fatso, the Slickster

Fatso's Mistake

First Tripper

Fly Backwards

Folk Talk

Folklore of Communications

Folklore of Drug Store Employees

Folklore of Drug Store Employees

Folklore of Newspaperdom

Folklore of Stage Folk

Folklore of Stage People

Folklore of Stage People

Folklore of Stagehands

"Folklore of the South"

Folklore--Yiddish

Forty Fathoms

Forty Fathoms

Fragments

Fragments of Folklore

Fragments of Folklore

Fred Librere

Fur Workers

New York Titles

G

Gardenia Banta

Genzil for the Holidays, A

George F. Gaynor

George F. Gaynor

Ghost Story

Ginsbergs, The

Give People a Chance

God was Happy

Greenhorn Stories

"Greenie"

Grippe with Complications

Gussie Simon

Gussie Simon

New York Titles

H

Hackies' Stories (Third Installment)

Harlem

Harlem

Harlem Beauty Shops

Harlem Conjure Man

Harlem Rent Parties

Harlem Riot

Harlem Swing Club

Harry Reece (Daca)...His Story

He Man

He-Man From the West

Health Campaign

Hell, Bob An' Me Planted 'Em

Here is my Donation

"Here's a good one"

Herman Kirschbaum

Hobo Lore

Holy & Sanctified Church of God in Christ

Homey, the Vegetable and Fruit Man

Honor Student

Hopwood Reminiscences

Hospital Interview

Hospital Interview

Hospital Material

Hospital Room

Hospital Story

Hospital Talk

Houseman's Monologue

How does she come to him?

How I Made Out

How It Was

How Salton Sea Was Caught

How Snipe Hunting Was Invented

New York Titles

I

I am the Presence

I Boycott the World

I called upon Carrie Merker

I Got an American Spine

I had been sitting in the cafeteria

I See They are Lungs

I'm a Could-Have-Been

I'm a Might-Have-Been

I'm a Might-Have-Been

I'm a Reefer Man

In the Hospital

In the Hospital

International Bridge

Interne Remarks, The

Interne's Story

Interne's Story

Interview with Nurse

Introduction

Introduction to Big Fred Tells a Tall Tale

Introduction to Mr. Cooke: Reminiscences

Introduction to Reminiscences: Mr. G. Hale

Iron Ring, The

Irving Fajans

It was a hard life

It was Disappointing All Around

It's From Time Immemorial, Huh?

New York Titles

J-L

James Begley

Jewish Folk Tales

John Lamb

John Winocur

Joke on Jake

Joke on Jake

Just Like in School

K. Heisler

Kid Discusses, The

"Kingdom" Banquets, The

Kingdom Come

Kleinfeld

Knowledge Circle, The

"Landlubbers Cruise"

Laundry Workers

Laundry Workers Lunch Hour

Learning the Trade

Lee Tyler

Leroy Spriggs

Lesson in Wood-Lore, A

Letter to President Roosevelt

Life in the Harlem Markets

Lilly Lindo

Local Tobacco Road

Lore from an Autograph Album

Lore of Department Store Workers

Lore of Department Store Workers

Lore of the Lumberjacks

Lore of the Lumberjacks

Louis Jaffe

Louisa G. Dawe's Story

Lumberjack Region

New York Titles

M

Mae Berkeley

Mailroom

Manny Ardis

Manny Ardis

Marine Local

Marine Local ACA

Marine Radio Operators

Marine Workers

Maritime

Maritime Payoff

Maritime Verse

Marriage Match

Marvin Leonard

Mary Thomas

Matt Henson

Meteor' Hell, Cicero Done It!

Mine Grandfahder he was a man

Miniature Books

Minimum of Parts

Missionary Meeting, A

Money and a Wife

Moo De Mudderland

More Tobacco Road

Mother Horn's Church

Mr. Cooke: Reminiscences

Mr. J. Weller

Mr. Nelson

Mr. Paul's Story

Mr. Schaeffer

Mr. Steingart

Mrs. Ella Johnson

Mrs. Emma Ayer

Mrs. Francis Delvitt

Mrs. J. Bennett

Mrs. J. Bennett

Mrs. Larson's Story

Mrs. Martha L.

Mrs. Mayme Reese

Mrs. Tommie Clicko

Mud, Flowers and Parental Problems

My People Made the Truckin Business

My People Made the Truckin Business

My Baby

"Myer"

Mysterious Vine

Mysterious Vine

New York Titles

N

N.B. College

National Biscuit Company Workers

National Biscuit Company Workers

Needle Trade

Negro Cults in Harlem

Negro Laundry Workers

New York Hospital

"Nick"

Nicknames and their Sources--Italy

No Bluff

No Heroes

Noboddy Boddas You

Now We Know You Too

Nurse's Story

New York Titles

O

O, Happy Distances!

O, Happy Distances!

O'Brien

Obeah

Old Glendale

Old Glendate

Old Haystack Was a Grizzly

Old Huckelberry Railroad, The

'Old Jerry' Had 'Horse Sense'

Old Morrisania Town

Old Russian Customs

On the Beach

One-Man Boycott, A

Only de Troot

"Overcoat Bennie"

New York Titles

P

Patients

Pauper's Christmas, The

"Peace in the Kingdom"

Philip Dash

Philip Dash

Picketline

Playing Poker

Pluto

Poem, A

Poem and an Anecdote, A

Poetry Theatre, The

Point to Point Workers

Postal Telegraph

Postal Telegraph Operators

Postal Telegraph Operators

Price War in the Bronx Slave Market

Private Life of Big Bess, The

Pullman Porters' Holiday

New York Titles

R

Radio

Random Conversations

Random Notes

Recollections of Ridgewood

Recollections of Ridgewood

Red Sky

Religious Cult of Father Divine

Reminiscences--Mr. G. Hale

Reminiscences of a Rebel

Reminiscences of a Rebel

Reuben and his Restaurant

River and Creek Shores of New York, The

River Stories

Rivershore of New York

Rivershore of New York

Rooster's Ghost--McGuinness, The

Rudolph Dunbar

Russian Peasant Fables

New York Titles

S

Sadie Johnson

Sailor on Shore Leave

Sailors versus Rats

Sailors versus Rats

Sandhog Stories

Sea Chanties

Sea Chanties

Seamen's Stories

Seamen's Stories

Seamen's Stories

Selfish inna Majority

Shoe Worker Tells a Tale

Shoe Worker Tells a Tale

Show Business

Show Business

"Slick" Reynolds

Southern Customs

Space and John Winocur

Sparks, the Mighty Man

Starbuck Perry

Starbuck Perry

Stories, Poems, Jargon of Hack Drivers

Stories of a Cabby

Street Cries and Criers of New York

Subway Stuff

New York Titles

T

Taxi Strike

Tearing the Cat

Temple of Grace

Tenenbaum

Thank God for Columbus

Thank God for Columbus

Thank God for Columbus

Thanks to the Union

That Was a Man

That's How We Are

Them Petrified Buzzards

Them 'Toxicated Wild Geese

Three Anecdotes

Three Anecdotes

Three Hungarian Stories

Time, O Time

Time, O Time

Time Off

Tom Nolan and 'Jerry,' A Horse

Tramp Poet

Tramp Poet

Transport Workers

Twenty Centuries

Two Tales and an Anecdote

New York Titles

B

C

D-E

F

G

H

I

J-L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U-Y

New York Titles

U-Z

Under the Bridge

Unemployed Division

Unfinished Business

Union Square

Union Square Fragments

Victor Campbell

Visiting Hours

Was Born an Idea

Washington Market Blues

Waterfront

We Oughta Print Money Ourselves

West Indies

White Horse

Whites Invade Harlem, The

William D. Naylor's Story

William Mills

Woman's Viewpoint, A

Women and Cards

Wood-Lore

Workers Alliance

World, The

Yeagdom

You Can't Figure

You Can't Figure

Zenobia Brown's Story

Oregon Titles

A-D

Benjamin B. Beekman

Blacksmith Entries

Canyon City Folkways

Cat that Couldn't Be Killed, The

Circus Days and Ways

Concerning Ellendale: Ghost Town

Courting and Dancing

Crossing the Plains

Dancing in the 1880s

Oregon Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: FOLKLORE, including tall tales, ghost stories, superstitions, mining lore, folk medicine, death and burial customs and dance calls; OCCUPATIONS, including mining, logging, railroads, fur trading, circus, and fortune telling; AGRICULTURE, including orchards and irrigation; LOCAL HISTORY AND GENEALOGY, including pioneer stories, westward crossing and Wells Fargo; TRANSPORTATION, including stagecoach, automobile and railroad; RECREATION, including dances, music and songs; and ETHNIC GROUPS, including Indians, Chinese, Irish and Germans.

Places described include Portalnd, Milwaukee and Granite.

Interviews were conducted by project workers Manly M. Banister, Claire W. Churchill, Howard M. Corning, Ardyth Gibbs, William C. Haight, D. B. Rathburn, Andrew C. Sherbert, Walker Winslow and Sara B. Wrenn.

Oregon Titles

E-F

Early Days and Ways

Early Days in the Willamette Valley

Early Horticultural History and Lore

Early Oregoniana and Local Sayings

Early Pioneer Life

Early Portland Folkways

Early Railroad Travel

Early Reminiscences

Early Reminiscences--Chinese

Early Social Customs

Early Songs and Ballads

Folkways, and Social Customs

Fortune Telling

Oregon Titles

G-J

Girlhood Life in Portland, 1860-76

Gold Mining Lore

Hardrock Mining

Home Medical Practices

Irrigation in Oregon

Itinerate Religion

J. Henry Brown

Jacob Ernst, Pioneer of Columbus

James E. Twadell

Oregon Titles

L-M

Life and Folkways of the Old Aurora Colony

Life in Oregon in the '80s

Maddest Man in Town, The

Mining Life in Oregon

Mining Lore of Waldo

Mr. William Kraus

Mrs. Ella Burt

Oregon Titles

O

Occupational and Social Life of Granite

Occupational Customs and Early Horse Racing

Occupational Lore

Old Time Dance Calls

Oregon in the Early '70s

Oregon Mines and Mining Life

Overland Trail Lore and Early Life

Oregon Titles

P

Pioneer and Gold Mining Lore

Pioneer Day Stories

Pioneer Life

Pioneer Life and Customs

Pioneer Life and Personal Dream Lore

Pioneer Life of Tabitha Brown

Pioneer Railroad Life

Pioneer Reminiscences

Pioneer Reminiscences

Pioneer Reminiscences and Incidents

Pioneer Reminiscences and Incidents

Portland in the Gay '90s

Oregon Titles

R-W

Reminiscences of Mrs. E. W. Wilson

Reminiscences, Early Days on French Prairie

River Town Life

Rural Life in the 1870s

Rural Life in the 1880s

Selling Violins and Organs in the '80s

Small Town Customs

Small Town Folkways

Small Town Life

Smalltown Folklore

Social Life

Social-Ethnic Trends

Steamboating

The '70s in Lake County

Thomas Cox

To Rev. F. C. Cazeault

Violin-Making and Local Politics

Western Work Gangs

Oregon Titles

E-F

G-J

L-M

O

P

R-W

Be a Federal Writers' Project Interviewer

Rank and File

Who would you like to interview?

Anna Novak, Packing House Worker

Jim Cole, Packing House Worker

Irving Fajans, Department Store Worker

Rhode Island Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: FOLKLORE, including dialects and dances; and OCCUPATIONS, including the fishing industry, the textile industry, unemployment and French Canadian textile workers.

Rhode Island Titles

French Canadian Textile Worker

Tiverton Fisherman

Tiverton Fisherman

Tiverton Fisherman

Yankee Fisherman

South Carolina Titles

A

Ain't It So, Corrie?

Alexander W. Matheson

Alice Buchanan Walker

Always Agin It

Always Flowers

Anecdotes

Apartment House Business

At Christmas times

South Carolina Titles

B-C

Bad sperrits

Beef Stew

Belated Rest, A

Ben Adams

"Bessie Reed"

Better a Tent than a Mortgage

Burning of Mt. Zion A. M. E. Church

Chester County

Chillun Home

Christmas Story, A

Clouds Beyond, The

Coal Fields to the Cotton Mill

Coffee Grounds Woman, The

Collins Family, The

Community Man, A

Companionship on Etiwah

Conyers Elliott Frasier

County Health Nurse, The

Customs and Traditions

Cynthia M. Coleman

South Carolina Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Subjects include: OCCUPATIONS, including agricultural workers, teachers, railroad workers, medical workers, clergy, textile workers, firefighters and unemployment; POLITICS, including elections and voting; LOCAL HISTORY, including the Civil War, World War I, the "Red Shirt" movement, slavery and former slaves; RACE RELATIONS, including lynching and the Klu Klux Klan; FOLKLORE, including dialect, ghost stories and superstititions, holiday customs and celebrations, and quilting; RELIGION AND MORES, including liquor, gambling, movies, birth control, manners, courtship and marriage and education; and DAILY LIFE, including home furnishings, clothing styles, automobiles and radio.

Places described include Charleston, Columbia, Edisto Land, Marion, and Winnsboro.

Interviews were conducted by project workers F. Donald Atwell, Genevieve Chandler, L. E. Cogburn, Annie Ruth Davis, W. W. Dixon, John L. Dove, John P. Farmer, Phoebe Faucette, Lucille Clarke Ford, Ruth D. Henderson, Mattie T. Jones, Verner Lea, Muriel A. Mann, Chlotilde R. Martin, David L. Methewes, Chalmers S. Murray, Martha S. Pinckney, D. A. Russell, Stiles M. Scruggs, Helen Shuler, Caldwell Sims, Cassells R. Tiedman, Elmer Turnage, Charles A. Von Ohsen, Bess Long Wilburn, Margaret Wilkinson, R. V. Williams and Rose D. Workman.

South Carolina Titles

D-F

Day with the Pattons, A

Did He Love Adventure?

Doughty Family at Home, The

Dr. Samuel B. Lathan

Elizabeth Vanderville Darby

Ella E. Gooding

Etiwan Island and Its People

Evening in the Smith Home, An

Experiences of a Farm Owner, The

Fairfield County

Fighting Ben

Fish, Hominy and Cotton

Flowing On

From Farming to Politics

South Carolina Titles

G-H

George Mehales

Ghosts

Got to Go Crik

Grady Weldon

Greatest of These is Charity, The

Growing Up with the Automobile

Happy Family, A

Hardy Family, The

He and the Old Woman

Hell Hole Farmer, A

Holiness Preacher, A

How Branson's Bulldog Courage Won

How Branson's Bulldog Courage Won

How Mr. Queen Became "King"

How Mr. Queen Became "King"

How Mrs. Redmond Came to Be

South Carolina Titles

I-J

I was born in Barnwell County

I was made to be a preacher

I Wouldn't Exchange

I Wouldn't Exchange

I'm Not Lonesome

"In Abraham's Bosom"

In-Laws and T. B.'s

James E. Coan

Jane Hutchinson

John B. Culbertson

Johnsons Build a House, The

Joseph Stewart

Judge J. H. Yarborough

Judge Walter L. Holley

South Carolina Titles

K-L

Kate Flenniken

Kellys on Williams Street, The

Ku Klux Stories

Ku Klux Stories

Lazarus, Mary and Martha

Life of a Fireman

Living By Faith

Living By Faith

Living on His Knees

Living on the Richards' Farm

Longstreet Gantt

Lula Demry

South Carolina Titles

M

Man Who Was, The

Manners Will Carry You

Martha Joint, Occasional Servant

Mary Gunnaway

Mary Watkins and her Family

Mattie Hammond Harrell

Merchant Wizard, A

Merchant Wizard, A

Miss Lucy

Miss Lucy

Miss Sallie's Cook

Mistress of Magnolia Hall

Mistress of Magnolia Hall

Mother Heart

Mr. W. S. McLure

Mrs. Addie Patterson

Mrs. Brown's Diamond Ring

Mrs. Brown's Diamond Ring

Mrs. C. G. Richardson

Mrs. Glasson

Mrs. I. E. Doane

Mrs. Jennie Isabel Coleman

Mrs. Lula Bowers, I

Mrs. Lula Bowers, II

Mrs. Martin, Public Health Nurse

My Negro Friends

South Carolina Titles

N-R

Old Man from Horry, An

Oliver Johnson, D.D.

One Freezing Morning

One of Ophelia's Reminiscences

Ophelia do spirits ever follow you?

Ophelia Jemison

Ophelia made the statement

Pickin Off Peanut

Pile of Sawdust, A

Po-Buckra

Present day young people

Records of the Past

Red Fiah Dress

Registered Nurse

Reminiscences

Reminiscences: Ku Klux

Robert Joseph Gantt

Robert Solomons, Sr.

South Carolina Titles

S

Sam Lewis

Sam Lewis

She's Just Done Well

"Singin' Praises Dat's My Life, Lawd"

"Singin' Praises Dat's My Life, Lawd"

Skippers, The

"Small Town Doctor"

State Editorial Identification Form

Story of Ellen, The

Street, The

South Carolina Titles

T

"There's Money in Hawgs"

There's No Place Like Home

Thomas C. Camak

Thomas M. Cathcart

Tie That Bound, A

Tom Bird

Traditions

Tricked by Gypsies

South Carolina Titles

B-C

D-F

G-H

I-J

K-L

M

N-R

S

T

U-Y

South Carolina Titles

U-Y

Veteran Negro Janitor, A

W. S. McLure

Warren Harvey Flenniken

We Follow the Sea

We Follow the Sea

When she was a young woman

When Sherman was ravaging

When you dream

William Donald Mitchell

Windmill Orchard

WPA Road

Yes, Jesus: I am fixing to go

You Can Do What You Want To

South

Florida

Georgia

Lousiana

North Carolina

South Carolina

All in a Day's Work: Industrial Lore

Chris Thorsten
Iron Worker

Name:

Chris Thorsten

Birth:

51 years ago, on board a fishing boat moored to a dock in New Orleans

Ethnicity:

Scandinavian

Education:

No formal education

Occupation:

Iron Worker

Location:

Union Hall, 84th Street, New York City

Date:

January 31, 1938, 1 PM to 3 PM

Interviewer:

Arnold Manoff

Interview Excerpt:

Is your job dangerous?

Listen to Chris's response

You ain't an Iron worker unless you get killed...Men hurt on all jobs. Take the Washington Bridge, the Triboro Bridge. Plenty of men hurt on those jobs. Two men killed on the Hotel New Yorker. I drove rivets all the way on that job. When I got hurt I was squeezed between a crane and a collar bone broke and all the ribs in my body and three vertebrae. I was laid up for four years.

Transcript #22032106

Texas Titles

A

A. Harry Williams

A. M. Garrett

A. P. Townsen

Adventures of a Dynamiter

Albert K. Erwin

Alexander Beaton

Andre Jorgenson Anderson

Andrew Jackson Hale

Annie Hightower

Auberry A. Akin

Aunt Mary Davenport

Avery N. Barrow

Texas Titles

B

B. R. Pearson

Bailey Bell

Becky Sanford

Bedford Caperton

Belle Little

Ben Kinchlow

Ben Mayes

Ben Thompson

Billy Robinson

Blessed Candle, The

"Blue John" and Pony

Bob Keys

"Bones"

Bones Hooks

Booger Red

Booger Red

Brook Campbell

Bud Brown

Buster (Dad) DeGraftenried

Texas Titles

C

C. E. Stetler, Jr.

C. M. Crenshaw

C. O. Edwards

C. S. Bradley

Cacique of the Tiguas

Calvin Roberson

Capt. H. C. Wright

Capt. John R. Hughes

Carl Wilson

Charles L. Weibush

Charles W. Holden

Charlie Weldon

Clifton Bonner

Clint Padgitt

Cow That Fell Into the Dugout, The

Cowboy Life

Cynthia Ann Biffle Sweeney

Return to Texas Home Page

Texas Home Page

WPA Life Histories

Places described include: the counties of Real, Uvalde, Grayson, McLennan, Tarrant, Lamb, Erath, Borden, Coryell, Lubbock, and more; and the towns of Lampasas, Waco, Amarillo, Fort Worth, Reagan, San Angelo, Brandon, Eldorado, Coleman, Wichita Falls, Waxahachie, Stephenville, Palestine, Maverick, Ballinger, and more.

Interviews were conducted by project workers Florence Angermiller, Mrs. Edgerton Arnold, Sam Champie, C. May Cohea, Lucille Cope, Effie Cowan, Nellie B. Cox, Ada Davis, Mary Agnes Davis, Nita Davis, Lottie DeCraffeneid, Ethel Delaney, Elizabeth Doyle, Elliot and William V. Ervin, Charles R. Fuller, Sheldon F. Gauthier, Walter F. Hale, Mable M. Hamilton, Alice Hampton, Claudia Harris, Ann B. Hill, Martha S. Jennings, Marjorie Key, Richard Lamb, Mary E. Liberato, Emma McAden, Annie McAulay, Delise McGuire, Lettie Major, Gladys Marshall, Mrs. J. O. Miller, Ruby Mosley, Lois Osburn, Josie Fay Peck, Woody Phipps, Mildred Ridenbaugh, William E. Smith, Edward Townsend, Ivey G. Warren, Ruth Wood and Mrs. Wyndham.

Texas Titles

D

Dan J. Wilson

Dave E. Burns

Dave Hoffman

Dave May

Dee Cook

Dee Cook

Doc Larken

Dr. A. S. Rattan

Dr. Curtis Atkinson

Dr. Ed B. Smyth

Dr. J. H. Reeves

Dr. W. A. Wood

Dr. William W. Wood

Texas Titles

E

E. F. Forsgard

E. J. Handley

E. L. Murphy

E. R. Blocker

Earl Horne

Earnest Cook

Ed Bell

Ed Crawford

Ed Rawlings

Eddie McGregor

Edw. E. Jones

Edward T. Pruitt

Edward W. Riley

Eem Hurst

Elario L. Cardova

Elbert Croslin

Elizabeth Roe

Ellis Petty

Ernest Marshall

Ernest Spann

Evan Jones Walker

Ezekiel Paris

Texas Titles

F-G

Farming with Oxen

First Residents

Floyd Bridges

Fogg Coffey

Folklore

Forest Clark

Frank Keeny

Frank March

Frank Perciful

Fred W. Whetaker

Futha Higginbotham

Futha Higginbotham

G. F. Boone

Garland McAulay

Gaston Fergenson

George Bede

George L. Flanders

George S. Stiers

George S. Stiers

George T. Martin

Granville Mashon

Texas Titles

H-I

H. P. Cook

H. P. Walker

H. S. Lewis

Half Moon Valley Massacre

Hardy Jones

Harry Buffington Cody

Harry Pearson

Henry Young

Henry Young

Hillard J. Hay

How Snakey Joe Got His Name

Hugh Campbell

I'm a cowgirl

Ignatio Moran

Indian Atrocities

Irvin Cumbie

Isaac T. Davis

Texas Titles

J

J. B. McCutchen

J. C. Hess

J. C. McCracken

J. D. Shannon

J. F. Henderson

J. F. Smith

J. G. Mooring

J. H. Bennet

J. H. Hurley

J. H. (Jake) Byler

J. H. Smith

J. H. Yardley

J. J. Woody

J. K. Millwee

J.L. Tarter

J. M. Brown

J. P. Benard

J. R. Meers

J. R. Walkup

J. S. Buchannan

J. T. Gardenhire

J. T. Smith

J. W. Hagerty

J. W. Hagerty

Jack Robert Grigsby

Jack W. Patterson

Jacob Bennett

Jago's Store

James Bolivar Billingsley

James Cape

James Childers

James Childers

James E. Shultz

James H. Childers

James M. Mooney

James McGuire

James Reed

James Thomas Wood

James W. Mathis

Jap Adams

Jeff Amburgey

Jeff Waggoner

Jesse Jolly

Jim Howard

Jim Kirk

Joe C. Woody

Joe McFarland

Johanna July--Indian Woman Horsebreaker

John Burns

John H. Fuller

John H. Robertson

John Hardgreaves Crawford

John J. Baker

John M. Hardeman

John Maines, Jr.

John Raines

John Robinson

John S. Davis

John T. Cox

John T. Milwee

John Z. Means

John W. Fletcher

Jonathan Sanford Ater

Jones Miller

Juanita Hermandes Garcia

Judge J. Faudie

Judge J. J. Dillard

Judge P. F. Brown

Judge W. D. Crump

Texas Titles

K-L

Killing of Bird Tracy

L. E. Smith

L. H. Williams, Jr.

L. M. Cox

Lee D. Leverett

Lizzie Powers

Lois Newman

Lone Wolf, The

Louis Bousman

Luther C. Hart

Texas Titles

M

M. C. Manuel

M. L. Reasoner

Margurite Rast

Mart Banta

Martin Henry Kilgore

Max Richter

Memoirs of Early Grayson County

Milton Wylie

Miss Gula B. Foote

Miss Martha Mather

Miss Mattie Mather

Miss Nancy Stewart

Mother Hoover

Mr. A. W. Cobbs

Mr. and Mrs. Edward D. Miller

Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Sheen

Mr. B. E. Jenkins

Mr. Ben E. Jenkins

Mr. Bud Carpenter

Mr. C. S. Bradley

Mr. Daniel Boone Sinclair

Mr. Delzell

Mr. Ed McCullough

Mr. Edgar Dyer

Mr. Edwin Punchard

Mr. Eugene McCrohan

Mr. George Ogden

Mr. George Ogden

Mr. George W. Storey

Mr. J. C. Montgomery

Mr. J. W. Minter

Mr. John Riding

Mr. Leroy Dean

Mr. Louis Bartula

Mr. Mancell W. Cabiness

Mr. N. B. Self

Mr. Obe Adams

Mr. Porter Mullins

Mr. R. A. McAllister

Mr. Titus Westbrook

Mr. Tom Morgan

Mr. W. B. Odle

Mr. W. T. Pickett

Mr. William McNeill

Mr. William P. Jones

Mrs. A. E. White

Mrs. A. M. Woodward

Mrs. Amanda E. Lockered

Mrs. Amelia Steward Christoffer

Mrs. Annie Shaw

Mrs. Arthur B. Duncan

Mrs. C. C. West

Mrs. C. F. Jackson

Mrs. C. G. Landis

Mrs. C. H. Arcineaux

Mrs. Cicero Russell

Mrs. Eleanor Ervin

Mrs. Ella Cox

Mrs. Elvira Hobbs Law

Mrs. Emma Falconer

Mrs. Emma Kelly Davenport

Mrs. Ernestine Weiss Faudie

Mrs. Fannie Bray

Mrs. Fayette Randal

Mrs. Frank Mitchell

Mrs. Frank Montague

Mrs. G. J. Nunn

Mrs. George C. Wolffarth

Mrs. George Fowler

Mrs. George R. Bean

Mrs. George W. Jones

Mrs. H. E. Chestnut

Mrs. Hattie Vance

Mrs. Helen Ketchum

Mrs. J. A. Kemp

Mrs. J. B. Mobley

Mrs. J. C. Fountain

Mrs. J. D. Rylee

Mrs. J. W. Britt

Mrs. Jack Miles

Mrs. Jim Bolton

Mrs. John Coleman

Mrs. John Dean

Mrs. Kate Longfield

Mrs. Laura Jones

Mrs. Lucinda Permien Holze

Mrs. M. B. Willis

Mrs. M. J. Cannon

Mrs. Mary Green

Mrs. Mary Jane Ward

Mrs. Mary Leakey Miles

Mrs. Mary Jennings

Mrs. Mary McNeill

Mrs. Mary McNeill Faye

Mrs. Mary Snider

Mrs. Missouri Borders

Mrs. Nettie Falconer Allen

Mrs. Ollie Sisco

Mrs. Phoebe Arnett

Mrs. R. A. Wyckoff

Mrs. R. L. Dunman

Mrs. Richardson