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E–J

Browse Our Interviews

The alphabetical ranges contain an annotated list of the projects in the Center for Documentary Research and Practice archive,1968 to the present. On these pages, the projects are listed alphabetically by project title. Each annotation includes the year(s) the project was conducted, the number of interviews, the major time period(s) covered by the interviews, the interview’s access status, and a list of subjects discussed by the interviewees. The project title hyperlinks to our new finding aid at Archives.IU, where you can find more information about the project and each interview in that project. The project number hyperlinks to our previous finding aid at Archives Online. Both finding aids contain the same basic information, but the new finding aid has corrections and updates.

Copy Costs

The Center can make copies of interviews upon request, in most cases. Please contact the office before sending payment for any interview copies to ensure that we can fulfill your request. Additional information for obtaining a copy of an interview can be found on our Copy Costs and Policies page.

Statement on Potentially Offensive Language

At the Center for Documentary Research and Practice’s Oral History Archive, we are committed to using inclusive and non-derogatory language when compiling finding aids and catalog records. The Center for Documentary Research and Practice’s Oral History Archive and Indiana University in no way condone the use of racist or otherwise offensive language. Because of this, acknowledge that some of our collections may contain language that can be viewed as potentially offensive or damaging to the people and communities that are described within them.

Additionally, because of the nature of our collections, you may encounter potentially offensive material that has deliberately been left intact for historical and contextual accuracy. Our reason for this is that the original content and language are important to understanding and interpreting the bias and racism that was present at the creation of the resource. However, when content within our finding aids and/or metadata is identified as potentially offensive, and we believe it was recorded by an archivist, it will be updated to reflect current standards of practice.

If you encounter language or content in this collection’s finding aids or metadata that you find offensive or damaging, please contact us at this email.

Our statement was written with guidance from the statements at the following links:

Additional Resources:

Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia, Anti-racist Description Resources

Santa Clara University “Statement on Harmful Materials”

Princeton University “Statement on Language in Archival Description”

Temple University Libraries “SCRC Statement on Potentially Harmful Language in Archival Description and Cataloging”

E

Early Women Workers At the Bloomington RCA Plant (1990), #105
9 interviews. Time Period: 1940s until plant closing in 1978. Work life. Unions. Family life. Job descriptions. Brown County farming. World War II. Immigration. Bloomington.

Economic Development in Indiana (1996-1997), #040
29 interviews. Time Period: 1960s-90s. Changes in Indiana economy. Deindustrialization and economic restructuring in northwest Indiana. State and local economic planning. Diversification. Environmental and land use issues. Education. The labor movement and economic development. Economic development in southwest Indiana. Social and cultural factors. Political dimensions of economic development. Public awareness and involvement in planning. Urban revitalization. Brownfield redevelopment in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago.

Economic History of Indiana in the Twentieth Century (1976-1980), #041
162 interviews. Time Period: 1920s-70s. Interviewees are all manner of Indiana labor: agriculture, industrial, service, business. Management-labor relations. Farming. World War II. Depression. Avanti Motors. RCA. Showers Brothers. Life as a worker.

G

Generations of Auto Workers: Anderson, Indiana, 1930-1982 (1982), #042
28 interviews. Time Period: 1930s-80s. Interviewees were workers in 1930s and 1970s. Generational differences. Unions. Meaning of “community.” Strike of 1936-37. Worker attitudes and expectations. Changing nature of work. Work at Guide Lamp division of General Motors. Women workers.

H

Hamburg University Nursing Home Study (1981), #083
8 interviews. Time Period: mostly late 1970s. Bloomington Convalescent Center. Perceptions of nursing home life. Sense of community in nursing home. Generational differences. Treatment of the elderly in society.

Historic Preservation in Indiana (1982), #044
12 interviews. Time Period: mostly 1950s-60s. People and institutions involved in preservation. People’s relationship to the past. Views of local history. Specific projects in cities’ historic preservation movements.

History and Development of Girls’ High School Sports (1989), #043
27 interviews. Time Period: 1920s-80s. Athletics. Girls. Indiana High School Athletic Association. Community. Sex roles.

History of Business (1971), #046
1 interview. Business methodology. Intersections of business history with different areas of historical study. Books and authors. Challenges of studying new history. Administrative history. Biographical history. Research statistics.

History of Indiana (1971-1980), #047
12 interviews. State prisons. Education in Indiana. Lutheran church in Indiana. Town histories. County histories. Local politics and economy. World War I. World War II.

History of Middle Way House (1996), #048
3 interviews. Time Period: 1970s. History of one Bloomington social service agency as it changed from a multi-service drop-in center to a domestic violence shelter. Topics include securing funding, building community support, relationships with the police and press, and issues faced by changing Middle Way’s services.

History of New Harmony, Indiana (1977), #049
8 interviews. Time Period: 1910s-70s. Interviewees born turn of the century. History of restoration of New Harmony. Community study. Historic preservation.

History of Saint Meinrad Archabbey (1980), #050
3 interviews. Benedictine order. Religious training and education. Daily monastic life. Business ventures of the abbey. History of the abbey. Vows and roles of priests and monks. Abbey’s place in Roman Catholic Church hierarchy.

History: Calumet, Michigan (1971), #051
9 interviews. Time Period: 1920s-70s. Community life. Unions. Deindustrialization. Mining. Ethnic communities.

History: Indiana Humanities Council (1993), #052
10 interviews. Time Period: 1960s-90s. Development of Council. Changing role of humanities toward public: from issues to participation. Private fundraising. Government involvement. Interaction of academy and general public.

History: Indiana University (1968-1981), #053
90 interviews. Time Period: 1900s-80s. Student life in early 1900s to 1920s. Department development. Professors’ histories. Administrators’ contributions. Bloomington in early 20th century. Black students in 1940s-50s. WWII veterans at IU.

History: IU Center on Philanthropy (1993), #054
23 interviews. Time Period: 1930s-90s. Fundraising School. Philosophy of philanthropy. Developing classes. Fitting into university as a program. Studying philanthropy in society. Professionalization.

History: Kinsey Institute for Sex Research (1971-1972), #055
27 interviews. Time Period: 1920s-60s. Societal values toward sexuality, marriage and deviance. Development of the Institute. Institutional responses to Kinsey’s challenge of those values. Impact of Kinsey’s work on values and views of sexuality.

History: Modern Theatre (1978-1980), #056
5 interviews. Time Period: 1930s-70s. Life histories of interviewees. Acting techniques and training. Directing techniques and training.

History: Paoli, Indiana (1988), #057
40 interviews. Time Period: 1920s-80s. Variety of ages in interviewees. Generational differences. Disintegration of local community. Awareness of national issues. Changes in values. Changes in women’s and men’s lives. Education. Farming. Wars. Furniture factories. Decline of small business. Depression.

History: Pike County, Indiana (1976), #023
1 interview. History of Pike County, Indiana.

History: Starke County, Indiana (1986), #058
12 interviews. Time Period: 1910s-80s. Interviewees born turn of the century. Rural life. Communities in the county. Town life and customs. Rural vs. urban life. School. Depression.

History: Stringtown, Indiana (1976), #059
16 interviews. Time Period: 1910s-70s. Interviewees very old to the youth of the community, though predominantly mid-life. Concerns of Indianapolis working-class community of Stringtown. Community values and interactions. Family ties. Crime. Police. Home ownership. Churches.


I

Immigrant Groups in Indiana (1978), #060
15 interviews. Time Period: 1910s-70s. Most interviewees born turn of century or ca. 1935. Life histories from members of different ethnic groups in the state: German, Latvian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Hungarian, and Turkish.

Indian American Communities in Fort Wayne (1999-2000), #067
18 interviews. Time Period: 1960s-90s. First and second generation Indian-Americans in Fort Wayne. Family. Challenges of immigration to the U.S. Religion. Community ties. Raising children.

Indian American Communities in Indiana (1999-2000), #065
21 interviews. Time Period: 1960s-90s. First and second generation Indian-Americans in Indianapolis and Bloomington. Family. Challenges of immigration to the U.S. Religion. Community ties. Raising children.

Indian American Communities in the Hoosier State (1999-2000), #066
12 interviews. Time Period: 1960s-90s. First and second generation Indian-Americans in Indianapolis and Bloomington. Family. Challenges of immigration to the U.S. Religion. Community ties. Raising children.

Indian American Diaspora in the Hoosier State (1999-2002), #068
21 interviews. Time Period: 1960s-90s. First and second generation Indian-Americans in northern and southern Indiana. Family. Challenges of immigration to the U.S. Religion. Community ties. Raising children.

Indiana Automobile Industry (1982), #061
2 interviews. Time Period: primarily 1920s, with some reflections on current conditions. Adjunct to the “Perspectives of Indiana Economy” project. Decline of auto industry in Indiana. Family-owned businesses in the 1920s. Workers and labor relations in the 1920s. Indiana’s diversified economy. Indianapolis business community’s relationship with the automobile industry.

Indiana Labor History Project (1996-1997), #062
21 interviews. Time Period: 1960s-90s. United Auto Workers Locals 1166, 685, and 292. Labor movement in Indiana in the past 30 years. UAW Region 3. Women and work at Delco. Labor in southwest Indiana. Coal mining and the United Mine Workers. Unions and family life. Women and work at the Potter & Brumfield Company in Princeton.

Indiana Medicine (1992-1993), #063
59 interviews. Time Period: 1930s-90s. Interviewees born in ‘teens and 20s; some earlier. Reasons for going into medicine. Changes in medicine. Training. The Depression. WWII. Medical practice in ’50s and ’60s. Patient relationships. Perception by patients of doctors. Values. General practice vs. specialization. Changes in medical technology.

Indiana Politics (1969, 1976, 1978), #064
3 interviews. Time Period: 1940s; 1930s; 1970s, depending on the politician being interviewed. Three Indiana politicians. Reminiscences about famous national politicians (Willkie, Dewey, Truman, Eisenhower, R. Taft). Democratic Party machinery.

Indiana University History Department Centennial (1994), #045
9 interviews. Time Period: 1950s-60s. Decision to become a historian. Academic community life. Teaching at IU. Dealing with the administration. Changes in the history department.

Indianapolis Blues (1985), #069
5 interviews. Time Period: 1920s-40s. Interviewees were African-American blues musicians in segregated Indianapolis. Mostly retired businessmen at time of interviews. Racism. Everyday life. Playing with famous musicians. Making a living. The “face” of Indianapolis during this time.

IU Folklore Institute (1987), #070
43 interviews. Closed until 2015. Time Period: 1940s-80s. Stith Thompson and early years of folklore at IU. Richard Dorson and his impact on the field. Growth of program and of study of folklore. Folksong revival. Professionalization of discipline. See articles by Jeanne Harrah-Conforth and Eric Montenyohl listed in MLA Bibliography for information on the findings of this project.

IU Oral History Archive (1991-2001), #072
194 interviews. Time Period: 1940s-90s. Change and growth at IU. Personal memories. Student life and government. Mission of state university. Fundraising. Racism. WWI and WWII. Depression. Student protests of 1960s. Suggestions for future of university.

IU School of Music (1983), #071
One interview. Time Period: 1920s-80s. Bain’s life story (b. 1909). His influence on the Music School. Influences on him as a musician and educator.

J

Japanese American Community in Indiana (2003-2005), #114
10 interviews. Time Period: 1950s-80s. Japanese American Citizens League. Wartime internment. Language and education. Migration to Indiana. Ethnic identity and community. Japanese American Society.

Jewish Life in Indiana (1974-1981), #019
7 interviews. Faith. Community involvement. Anti-Semitism. Jewish-owned businesses. Americanization. World War II.