Now Hear This! Oral Histories at the Historical and Museum Commission
Written by Matthew Magda in the Oral History Feature category and the Summer 1980 issue Topics in this article: oral history, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum CommissionSomething very healthy is happening in the field of American history which will profoundly influence future writing and thinking about our past. Oral historians are helping to change our sense of the social fabric of the country. In fact, it is difficult now to measure the meaning of our nation’s and Pennsylvania’s past, or the quality of American life, solely in terms of the experiences of a single region, race or ethnic group. No longer is it possible to think America has a single “way of life,” for oral historians have uncovered the various ethnic and work cultures and traditions which have molded different attitudes toward education, political participation and work. The many oral histories which now exist prove that Pennsylvania’s, and indeed America’s, social life is too complex to be described in absolute terms.
These oral historians are asking important questions: Why did most immigrants and workers perceive America, and especially Pennsylvania, as a land of opportunity and equality? What was it like to grow up in places like early twentieth-century Chester County, Pennsylvania, or to be a female or non-white in Pittsburgh over sixty years ago? What are the historical origins of present patterns of religious and family life? Why did people settle in ethnic ghettos in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh? What role did kinship networks and local group ties play within the population of Pennsylvania’s cities? How did workers organize a union?
In addition, oral historians are helping to supplement the written records of prominent political and business leaders which, up to now, have been the main sources for reconstructing our past. Oral histories help to preserve much that might otherwise be lost, particularly now with the increased use of the telephone and the decline in letter writing and the keeping of diaries. Oral history tapes provide us with unusually intimate glimpses and frequently contain “inside information” about political and business dealings and leaders which is often missing from the written record. They help to unveil notable men and women and portray them as human beings with very real character strengths and weaknesses. These oral history interviews contribute to a better understanding of how great or famous Americans are molded, how they rise to prominence and how they influence our lives.
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Aware of the immense value and potential of oral history, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) has collected approximately 1,000 taped interviews from over twenty oral history projects conducted throughout the Commonwealth over the last decade. Most of these interviews are with “common” people, predominately elderly from varied backgrounds: European immigrants and their descendants; southern black migrants; Hispanics; coal, steel and factory workers; urban and small-town Pennsylvania Dutch; WASP’s; and women domestics, secretaries and teachers. Also within this comprehensive oral history collection, however, is a substantial number of interviews with professionals and members of Pennsylvania’s political, economic and intellectual elite.
The oral histories in the collection represent the diversity of life in Pennsylvania. Tapes of certain projects contain interviews from the coal-patch towns of Washington, Luzerne and Lackawanna counties; the large and medium-sized cities of Pittsburgh, Scranton, Bethlehem, Harrisburg and Philadelphia; and the small towns and villages of York, Chester and Tioga counties. Some of these oral history projects were initiated and supervised by PHMC personnel; some were begun and conducted by other individuals and institutions with only conceptual and technical guidance from the Commission. A third series of interviews, in classrooms and communities, was run independently of the PHMC.
Although each oral history project formulated its own questionnaire to suit its particular needs and goals, almost all of the oral histories are biographical. Most interviews are life. history narratives, beginning with questions about the interviewee’s early life and family background with subsequent questions following chronologically, tracing the narrator’s life to the present. The particular aspects of the narrator’s life which are touched upon or emphasized (childhood, family life, religion, education, work experiences, political and social activities) depend upon the focus and goals of each project. The quality and length of each interview varies, of course, depending upon such factors as the narrator’s talkativeness and memory, the interviewer’s training and skills and other intangibles, such as the moods of the narrator and interviewer and the relationship which developed between them at the time of the interview.
These oral histories are a valuable resource for those interested in any area of Pennsylvania and, indeed, in American social and political history. The collection contains a wealth of information about European immigrants (Poles, Slovaks, Italians, Germans, Czechs, Serbs, Croatians, Greeks, Jews, Carpatho-Rusins, Russians, Irish and Scotch-Irish); their migrations from Europe to America and Pennsylvania; their problems of settlement; their work experiences; their neighborhood and community life within large cities and the preservation of their traditions. There is interesting oral testimony by blacks about sharecropping and tenant farming in the South; their settlement and creation of northern urban communities in cities like Pittsburgh and Harrisburg; and the preservation of distinct black cultural traditions. These interviews further reveal inspiring stories about black Americans’ courageous struggles against racism, discrimination and segregation.
Also in the collection, women talk about their lives as housewives and their impressions of marriage, motherhood and other wider social roles. The tapes further disclose the restricted avenues of opportunity for women, the conditions and wages of women’s work and their relationships with men both at home and at the workplace.
Anyone consulting these oral histories – scholar, high school teacher or local history buff – will discover rich material on such topics as farm, factory, mill and mine work; strikes; rural life and folklore; barns and barn building; and material about many historical events such as World Wars I and II. the Great Depression, the New Deal, the 1919 Steel Strike in Pittsburgh and the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, especially the creation of the United Steelworkers Union.
Another section con ta ins interviews with many Pennsylvania local and state politicians, state government officials and newspapermen who either associated with these officials or were active during their administrations. Among the prominent figures interviewed are former Governors Arthur James, John S. Fine, David Lawrence, George Leader and William Scranton, and former United States Senators Joseph S. Clark and Hugh Scott. The oral histories contain detailed information on the lives and careers of these politicians and government officials; important political elections, conventions and intra-party battles; the enactment of laws; and the operation of state government departments and bureaus, and municipal governments.
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At present, the PHMC staff has processed the bulk of the tapes and a portion of the collection has been transcribed. Many of the oral histories have been summarized and indexed, making use of the tapes relatively easy. For some projects, such as those conducted in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Chester County, summaries and transcriptions are more complete. Collateral materials (diaries, photographs and relevant articles) are also available for some of the interviews. A majority of the tapes and transcripts are open for research; others may be used under special conditions.
The PHMC’s Division of History is compiling a comprehensive guide to its oral history collection. Completed sections of the guide are now available for use by patrons researching these oral histories at the state archives in Harrisburg. In the near future, the PHMC also will publish a pamphlet on the oral history collection describing each project and reviewing the major historical topics covered in the taped interviews. In addition, the PHMC Oral History Office offers consulting and other services to institutions and individuals who are interested in launching oral history projects or who want to write community histories based upon material from the oral history collection. Researchers using the material from the collection are also encouraged to submit articles based upon that material to the Oral History Office to be considered for publication as Oral History Features in Pennsylvania Heritage.
Questions concerning the oral history collection, or information about other materials that might be housed at the PHMC, should be directed to the Commission’s Oral History Office, Division of History, Bureau of Archives and History, Box 1026, Harrisburg 17120, or call (717) 787-3253.
Matthew S. Magda, a doctoral candidate in American history at the University of Connecticut, works in the Oral History Office of the PHMC. Previously, he served as the Administrative Assistant and Chief interviewer for the Ethnic Heritage, Peoples of Connecticut Oral History Project.