1
10
5
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Growing Up In Mobile: Depression & Wartime, 1929-1949
Subject
The topic of the resource
Mobile during the Depression and World War II
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Judy Walton, MPL Youth Services,
Erin Kellen, MPL Youth Services,
& George Schroeter, MPL Local History & Genealogy
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Mobile Public Library
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1983
Contributor
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USA Photographic Archives,
Spring Hill College,
Mobile Historic Development Commission
Format
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pdf
jpeg
mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Rights
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This file may be freely used for educational uses as long as it is not altered in any way. No commercial reproduction or distribution of this file is permitted without written permission from this institution.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Paper
Text
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Descriptions of Proposed Project: The project has two goals: to introduce young people to the humanities and then, with this consciousness of the humanities, to involve them in a project in which a collection of materials relating to the history of Mobile in the 1930s and the 1940s will be gathered. Humanities professionals in the fields of oral history and architectural history, and other qualified staff, will supervise intensive workshops in the research methods of their areas of expertise for approximately fifty young people between the ages of 12 and 18. The young people will be acquainted with what the study of the humanities means, especially as it relates to their study projects. Then the young people will do field work to collect the materials to support the general theme of the project, which is "What was it like to grow up in Mobile in the 1930s and 1940s?" Eventually, the information will be made available to not only the youth population of Mobile, numbering 80,000, but to all of the public libraries patronage.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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National Endowment for the Humanities Grant Application & Project Description
Subject
The topic of the resource
Grant application
Description
An account of the resource
Grant application; background, methodology, objectives, and plan for Architectural Study and Oral History projects for "Growing Up In Mobile: Depression & Wartime" project
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Erin Kellen
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Mobile Public Library
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1983
Format
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pdf
Language
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English
Identifier
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Growing-up-in-Mobile-NEH Grant Application-1983
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Growing Up in Mobile: Depression & Wartime Project
architecture
Brookley Conference Center
Dallas Baillio
Elizabeth Barrett Gould
Erin Kellen
George Schroeter
grant
Great Depression
Historic Development Commission of Mobile
James Kennedy
Judy Walton
Mike Thomason
Mobile
Mobile Planning Commission
Mobile Public Library
National Endowment for Humanities
oral history
Patricia Harrison
Rosemary Canfield
Spring Hill College
University of South Alabama
World War II
-
http://digital.mobilepubliclibrary.org/files/original/9650596ce00b1d511587da8e1d402abf.pdf
0c9d4ad395c8c5455a14d4eac3bb188d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Growing Up In Mobile: Depression & Wartime, 1929-1949
Subject
The topic of the resource
Mobile during the Depression and World War II
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Judy Walton, MPL Youth Services,
Erin Kellen, MPL Youth Services,
& George Schroeter, MPL Local History & Genealogy
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Mobile Public Library
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1983
Contributor
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USA Photographic Archives,
Spring Hill College,
Mobile Historic Development Commission
Format
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pdf
jpeg
mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This file may be freely used for educational uses as long as it is not altered in any way. No commercial reproduction or distribution of this file is permitted without written permission from this institution.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Paper
Text
Any textual data included in the document
Descriptions of Oral History Interview Tapes
Dorothy Bivens
-father's business - black - owned coal yard
-children's games and pet pig Timmy, city ordinance forbidding in city livestock
-her girlfriends
-neighborhood and Mobile descriptions
-overcrowding in Mobile - soldiers everywhere
-deterioration of race relations as a result of war build-up
-segregation
George Taylow
-childhood on the Eastern Shore-Montrose
-first car family owned
-lived in Mobile after marriage
-in Merchant Marine before and during war, torpedo-ed 3 times
-lived in New York, different perspective on Mobile for a black man at this time
-black apprenticeship and place in shipping, going to sea as a very young boy, father was a sailor
Mrs. LeFlore
-living in a little, mostly white neighborhood on the (then) outskirts of town. Whites and blacks were friendly with one another
-segregation
-Civil Rights
-Mardi Gras (Joe Cain)
Col. Lockett
-white middle-class neighborhood description
-neighbors knew each other because people walked instead of driving
-streetcars
-talks extensively of his wartime and Army career, service in the Pacific during World War II
-short interview - 30 minutes - one side only
Frank Fields (no photo)
-description of pre-World War I black neighborhoods
-hard work for blacks, low pay
-mail carrier, highest pay available to blacks
-worked at Scottish Rite Temple
-segregation - Civil Rights
-member of the Knights of Pythias, a black fraternal organization
-joined Army towards the end of World War I, does not see action
-organized picnics in Africatown, every week, remembers seeing Cudjo Lewis
GROWING UP IN MOBILE; DEPRESSION AND WARTIME. 1929-1939
Oral History Interviews
Summer, 1983
Walter Lee Allen
Date of birth: July 1, 1922
Date of Interview: June 22, 1983
Interviewer: Reve Carlson
Assistants: Tom Oberding
Frank McCloskey
Joaquin M. Holloway, Sr.
Date of Birth: January 27, 1908
Date of Interview: June 27, 1983
Interviewer: Lalie Felis
Assistants: De Juan Kidd
Patricia Harrison
Dorothy Steele Bivens
Date of Birth: November 23, 1925
Date of Interview: June 20, 1983
Interviewer: De Juan Kidd
Assistant: Joey Brackner
Robert Hunter
Date of Birth: 1920
Date of Interview: June 25, 1983
Interviewer: Frank McCloskey
Assistant: None
(Two tapes)
Elizabeth Vickers Courtney
Date of Birth: February 2, 1930
Date of Interview: July 1, 1983
Interviewer: Lalie Felis
Assistants: Sherrie Chavis
Rebecca Harrison
Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb
Date of birth:
Date of Interview: July 14, 1983
Interviewer: Frank McCloskey
Assistant: None
Susan Randolph Crichton
Date of Birth: October 8, 1896
Date of Interview: June 23, 1983
Interviewer: Reve Carlson
Assistant: Frank McCloskey
Col. Herbert S. Lockett
Date of Birth:
Date of Interview: June 24, 1983
Interviewer: De Juan Kidd
Assistant: Joey Brackner
Frank Fields
Date of Birth: August 26, 1900
Date of Interview: June 30, 1983
Interviewer: Joey Brackner
Assistant: None
(Two tapes)
Edith Eliza Thompson McClain
Date of Birth: January 6, 1904
Date of Interview: June 24, 1983
Interviewer: Frank McCloskey
Assistant: None
(Two tapes)
Ann Battle Hawkins
(Mrs. Donald A. Hawkins)
Date of Birth: August 27, 1912
Date of Interview: June 21, 1983
Interviewer: Lalie Felis
Assistant: Sherry Chavis
(Two tapes)
Elizabeth Barbour Pipes
(Mrs. R. Ford Pipes)
Date of Birth: January 30, 1918
Date of Interview: June 20, 1983
Interviewer: Lalie Felis
Assistant: Sherry Chavis
Mary Frances Young Plummer
Date of Birth: October, 1913
Date of Interview: June 21, 1983
Interviewer: Reve Carlson
Assistants: Tom Oberding
Frank McCloskey
Delores Jenkins Taylor
(Mrs. George O. Taylor)
Date of Birth:
Date of Interview: June 22, 1983
Interviewer: Jeffrey Hunter
Assistant: Sherry Chavis
George O. Taylor
Date of Birth: July 23, 1915
Date of Interview: June 22, 1983
Interviewer: De Juan Kidd
Assistant: Joey Brackner
Arch R. Winter
Date of Birth: September 13, 1913
Date of Interview: June 23, 1983
Interviewer: Lalie Felis
Assistant: Sherry Chavis
Patricia G. Harrison
Coordinator - Oral History Project
Notes:
The general theme of the oral history interviews was "Growing Up in Mobile: Depression and Wartime, 1929-1949." Many of the questions pertained to the Depression or to World War II. However, many of the persons interviewed were young adults during the Depression or World War II. Some of these interviews, therefore, are valuable in illustrating what it was like to grow up in Mobile during an earlier period.
The young people prepared a standard interview. They adapted this interview to fit the individual.
Two of the interviews - those of Elizabeth Vickers Courtney and Robert Hunter - pertain to growing up in Spring Hill . Robert Hunter also includes some information regarding Spring Hill College. He also discusses historic preservation in Mobile.
The interview with Mrs. Edith McClain contains information relating to black Episcopalians in the South. She also discusses black leadership in Mobile. She was the first black librarian with a degree in Mobile.
Mrs. Dorothy Bivens was interviewed in her office at Bishop State Junior College. A central air conditioner ran during the interview. The tape is audible. However, this tape is not as clear in portions as are most of the other tapes.
Walter Allen did not grow up in Mobile., He states that he grew up "out in the country". He was drafted into the army in 1942. Tom Oberding, the assistant, began interviewing Mr. Allen when the interview was underway. The Young Interviewees were not always able to change their prepared interviews when the subject did not fit the pattern. This is apparent in parts of this interview.
Most of the remaining interviews pertain to Mobile during the Depression or World War II. Many of the interviews are excellent and are historically valuable.
Mrs. Teach Beck LeFlore (Mrs. John L. LeFlore, Sr.) was interviewed during this project. Unfortunately the recorder malfunctioned or some other problem prevented this tape from being audible. Joey Brackner who assisted with the interview has included some notes relating to this interview.
The interviews were conducted during the summer of 1983.
Project Coordinator: Patricia G. Harrison
Research Assistants: Joey Brackner
Sherry Chavis
Frank McCloskey
Young people working on oral history project:
Reve Carlson, age 11, Leinkauf School
Lalie Felis, age 14, Daphne Jr. High School
Jeffrey Hunter, age 14, Palmer Pillans Middle School
De Juan Kidd, age 12, St. Mary's Middle School
Tommy Oberding, age 10, Aquinas Academy
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Descriptions of Oral History Interview Tapes
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interviews
Description
An account of the resource
Summaries and notes for the oral history interviews
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Patricia G. Harrison
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Growing Up in Mobile: Depression & Wartime Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Mobile Public Library
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1983
Format
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pdf
Language
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English
Identifier
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Growing-up-in-Mobile-Descriptions of Oral Histories-1983
Ann Battle Hawkins
Arch Winter
De Juan Kidd
Delores Jenkins Taylor
Dorothy Steele Bivens
Edith Eliza Thompson McClain
Elizabeth Barbour Pipes
Elizabeth Vickers Courtney
Frank Fields
George Taylor
Great Depression
Herbert Lockett
Jeffrey Hunter
Joaquin Holloway Sr.
Lalie Felis
Mary Francis Plummer
Mobile
oral history
Oscar Lipscomb
Patricia Harrison
Reve Carlson
Susan Randolph Crichton
Teah LeFlore
Tommy Oberding
Walter Lee Allen
World War II
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Growing Up In Mobile: Depression & Wartime, 1929-1949
Subject
The topic of the resource
Mobile during the Depression and World War II
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Judy Walton, MPL Youth Services,
Erin Kellen, MPL Youth Services,
& George Schroeter, MPL Local History & Genealogy
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Mobile Public Library
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1983
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
USA Photographic Archives,
Spring Hill College,
Mobile Historic Development Commission
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
pdf
jpeg
mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This file may be freely used for educational uses as long as it is not altered in any way. No commercial reproduction or distribution of this file is permitted without written permission from this institution.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
The following are excerpts from the diaries of some hypothetical persons who grew up in the Toulminville area during the 1830s and the 1930s and 1940s. The first two excerpts come from the diary of Bill Bates, a slave owned by the Bates family who lived in Toulminville between 1838 and 1839. The last four excerpts come from the diary of Bill Bates V, a descendant of the earlier Bill Bates. These four excerpts explore the life of a young black person during the 1930s and 1940s. Some of the situations and ideas in these excerpts may not be completely factual but they are based on factual information. The purpose of this is to give people an idea of what life was like during certain periods of time, particularly during the Depression and World War II.
January 5, 1838
Today my family and I left Mobile with my master's family and came to our new home in the country . Our home is near a large creek (Three Mile Creek) and there is a lot of wide open space surrounding my master's house. The Bates home (1) is a large two story house with the first story made of brick and the second story made of wood with very high stairs leading to a porch hanging out from the second floor. The brick bottom story was built by my father and some other slave masons about a year ago. The ceiling of the bottom floor is very tall which makes the house seem even larger to me and there are two chimneys. One last thing about the house is the big open "galerie" across the back which allows the Bates family to come out and admire the beauty of their land. My house is in back of the master's house near the kitchen (2). It is nice but much smaller than the big house.
As we came into this new community today I didn't see any schools but it wouldn't matter to me anyway since it's against the law for slaves to be educated. The only reason I can write is because the master's son, my white friend, taught me. My friend is taught by the mistress in the big house since there is no school. Although I didn't see any school, I did find out that there are other rich families in this area other than the Bates family (3). There are the Toulmin lands to the east, the Goldthwaite lands to the northwest and the Files family home on St. Stephens Road which runs north and west (Appendix II). I'd better go now because I have to collect wood for the master's fireplace and the kitchen stove.
July 5, 1838
At this time of year the outside doors of the big house are left open so that any wind can flow into the hall of the house and the kitchen by way of the breeze-way which connects them. The rear "galerie" and second floor porch allow air to also cool the top floor. Each day I have to go to the creek and bring water back to the house for drinking, washing, and cooking. Later today I hope I will have time away from my work to take a swim in the creek. It's a lot of fun and it makes it easier to live in this heat.
There is no church in this area (the first known church in Toulminville was built in 1846) (4) but that doesn't keep us from talking to God and tomorrow a group of us will get together to sing and pray.
July 20, 1930
This morning my family moved into a small house in an area north of Mobile. My new address is 1760 Stone Street (Appendix III). From the outside the house looks long and narrow and has a small porch. It has four windows along each side of the house and there seems to be an extra room at the back of the house which has been added on since the house was built a few years ago. Although the house seems a little closed in because of its size, the porch with its beautiful column designs gives me a feeling of welcomeness (6). When I'm ar home I can play on the side of the house or in the backyard where there is a lot of room. This house we moves into today is smaller than the house we had been living in but we had to move into this house because my father lost his job and couldn't afford the other house. We do have electricity (7) in this house but we don't have running water because we couldn't afford it. Times are hard and it's too bad that many hard workers (laborers) like my father are the first to lose their jobs.
December 3, 1936
This morning after waking up and getting dressed I walked to school with some friends. I had to walk down St. Stephens Road past Gorgas School (Appendix IV), a school for white children, past Finch Avenue all the way to Andrews Street where I go to class at Toulminville School (Appendix V), the school I've been going to since I came to Toulminville.
Our church had a special gathering planned for today so after school I walked down St. Stephens Road pass Craft Highway to Greer Autry and Sons, a small grocery store, and then further down the street to Butler Sea Food Store where I picked up some things for the church picnic. About an hour after I got home my family was ready to go to the picnic. Before going to the church we drove to the Big S Station (2) on St. Stephens Road north of Craft Highway. There my father bought a couple of dollars worth of gas which had to last him for the whole week. Then we drove all the way back down the road until we for to St. Charles Avenue where we went to meet the other members of Ebenezer AME Church. Then the whole congregation drove down to St. Charles Avenue to Stone Street and then to Davis Avenue where we stopped for our picnic at Davis Avenue Playground. After the picnic my family and I went back to our house on Stone Street and brought an end to a very nice day.
January 7, 1942
Today was the day that our family moved into our new house (Appendix VI). The new house is just across the street from our old house on Stone Street but it seems a little bigger than the old house and now we have more yard space. Our new address is 1711 Stone Street (7). We were able to move into the new house because now that my father has a job building ships to be used in the war, we can afford a nicer home. Also, as a result of the growing business and industry in the Mobile area many people have begun settling in Toulminville. Our new house seems bigger because the rooms are spread out more than those in the house we had before with one room right after another. Another nice thing is that now we have electricity as well as running water which we didn't have before (8). The house has a small porch, three windows, and a door in front. There are two windows on each side, and additional room in the back, and a chimney on one side. On the same lot there is another building which can be used for storing things or for extra rooms and between the two buildings is a lot of space to play.
After we got most of our things moved in this morning it was time to do to church so the family piled into the car and we drove to Ebenezer AME Church on St. Charles Avenue (9). After church I decided to have a little fun by going to Davis Avenue Playground to play basketball. So I went home, changed, and walked all the way down Stone Street to Davis Avenue. There is another park that is easier to get to, but black people aren't allowed to go there. It's the Toulminville Recreation Center on St. Stephens Road and it's only a few blocks from my house. Anyway I had a good time at the park and now I think I'll call it a day.
April 8, 1942
This morning I got up and walked down Stone Street to Davis Avenue where I go to Dunbar High School, a school only for blacks. After school was out for the day I walked up Stone Street, cut through St. Charles Avenue and went up St. Stephens Road until I reached Richardson's Grocery. This is where I work each day after school. Today I moved and unloaded boxes and packages and collection and scrap metal to be used for machinery in the war. After working late I went home and that about finishes up my day.
Critique
John Adams's Project
Using an imaginary diary to give an account of growing up in Mobile between the two World Wars was an excellent idea. It would be appropriate to use the word "imaginary" in the introduction, or whatever other word John might like, in order to clarify in the reader's mind what is fact and what is used to portray the facts.
The narrative is interesting, moves smoothly and is well written. There are some mechanical factors that need correction. Since John has presented his sources for the facts interwoven with the narrative, they should be footnoted, even though a real diary would not have done so. The footnotes at the end should be numbered and related to the same number within the body of the text. In that way there can be no doubt in the reader's mind of the authenticity of the material presented. John seems to have gone through his text and marked in red where he wanted the footnotes to go but they did not all relate to the proper references. There was also no distinction in the red corrections to indicate the difference between footnotes and the illustrations. I have tried to indicate in a green pen where these problems occur. Again John may feel that such details would not be included in a real diary, in which case he could give the information in the introduction, leaving the text of the diary without references.
It would be a good idea to put a "c" before the dates of the 20th century houses since the precise dates were not established by chain of title of tax records. Thus c1936 indicates to the reader that the time of construction was about that date but might be off by a few years. I would not be surprised if the 1936 cottage were not earlier, based solely on the style.
The word "galerie" is a French term used in architectural descriptions to mean a porch and is used in connection with styles that have evolved out of an earlier colonial tradition. It is thus distinguished from the gallery of a theater or art museum. It should be written in italics but if not then indicated by " ".
If the map, indicated by the number VII, were intended to be a reference for the location of the Toulminville Recreational Center, mentioned on the next to last page of the Diary, it should have been marked on the map. There was a small 7 placed above this reference in the text but it was not differentiated as to whether it was a footnote or an illustration. These two reference sources should be indicated differently, the footnotes by a simply number above the reference and the illustrations by (ill.VII).
In conclusion, the project was well developed. The research was ably explored for the time interval allowed. I hope that John will continue to study the area as no definitive information has ever been written about the neighborhood and it has a long and interesting history for which prime resources go back to the early 18th century French land grants.
John Adams, a black male, aged fiftenn, chose to do an architectural study for his "Growing Up in Mobile - Depression & Wartime" project. He chose several houses in a Toulminville neighborhood in which he lives as the subject of his study. Until recent years, Toulminville has been a white neighborhood. John focused his report on black residents, nevertheless, which contributes somewhat to the interest of his report.
Notes
1 Bates (Schusse) house description from Mobile Landmarks Inventory, Mobile City Planning Commission.
2 Description of kitchen with covered walkway to the Bates house and adjoining slave quarters from letter to Dot Webster, Webster Realty, to Nancy Holmes, Mobile Historic Development Commission.
3 Information concerning families or property near Bates home from letter from Mobile Historic Development Commission to Dot Webster, December 7, 1971; from Landmarks Survey, Mobile City Planning Commission, Chain of Title, November, 1974; and from "Toulminville One of Oldest Neighborhoods," News Herald, 21 September 1978, p.6.
4 First known church in Toulminville built 1848 . Ibid.
5 Address of house at 1760 Stone Street, Mobile City Directory, 1936. Description of house from photographs, appendix III.
6 Information concerning water service and electrical power from Alabama Power Company.
7 Locations of Gorgas School, Toulminville School, Autry Greer and Sons, Butler Seafoods, Big S Station, Ebenezer A.M.E. Church and Davis Avenue Playground from 1936 Mobile City Directory.
8 Address of house at 1711 Stone Street, Mobile City Directory, 1942.
9 Ibid., Alabama Power Company.
10 Locations of Ebenezer A.M.E. Church, Davis Avenue Playground, Toulminville Recreation Center, Dunbar High School and Richardson's Grocery from 1942 Mobile City Directory.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Bill Bates & Bill Bates V Imaginary Diary Entries - John Adams Project, with Evaluation - 1983
Subject
The topic of the resource
Toulminville history
Description
An account of the resource
Imaginary diary entries for hypothetical persons Bill Bates and his descendant, Bill Bates V, written by 15 year old John Adams as part of his Growing Up in Mobile: Depression & Wartime project, with critique by historian Elizabeth Barrett Gould
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Adams
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Growing Up in Mobile: Depression & Wartime, 1929 - 1949
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Mobile Public Library
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1983
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Elizabeth Barrett Gould
Relation
A related resource
Appendix I - "The Bates House" - John Adams Project
Appendix II - Toulminville one of oldest neighborhoods - John Adams Project
Appendix III - 1914 Stone Street - John Adams Project
Appendices IV & V - St. Stephens Rd. & Andrews St. - John Adams Project
Appendix VI - 1865 Stone Street - John Adams Project
Stone Street Map - John Adams Project - 1983
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Growing-Up-in-Mobile-John Adams Diary Project-1983
1838
Andrews Street
Bates House
Bill Bates
Bill Bates V
Davis Avenue
diary
Ebenezer AME Church
Elizabeth Barrett Gould
Great Depression
John Adams
Mobile
slavery
St. Stephens Road
Stone Street
Toulminville
World War II
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Growing Up In Mobile: Depression & Wartime, 1929-1949
Subject
The topic of the resource
Mobile during the Depression and World War II
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Judy Walton, MPL Youth Services,
Erin Kellen, MPL Youth Services,
& George Schroeter, MPL Local History & Genealogy
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Mobile Public Library
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1983
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
USA Photographic Archives,
Spring Hill College,
Mobile Historic Development Commission
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
pdf
jpeg
mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This file may be freely used for educational uses as long as it is not altered in any way. No commercial reproduction or distribution of this file is permitted without written permission from this institution.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Reeve Carlson
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Mary Francis Plummer
Location
The location of the interview
The Haunted Bookshop in Mobile, AL
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Cassette tape
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
19 min. 39 sec.
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
R.C. : Today is June 21st, 1983. This is Reeve Carlson. I'm interviewing Mary Francis Plummer at the Haunted Book Shop. This interview is part of the Growing Up in Mobile Oral History Project. Tommy Oberding is assisting with the interview today. We're going to be talking about Ms. Plummer's experiences growing up in Mobile during World War II. We'd like to thank you for talking to us today about your experiences during the time you were in Mobile. To begin, would you state for the records your full name and when you were born.
M.F.P. : My full name if Mary Francis Young Plummer and I was born in October, 1913.
R.C. : Who were your parents?
M.F.P. : My mother was Frances Fuller Thompson, my father was James Madison Young, and they were in Henderson, North Carolina.
R.C. : What were their occupations?
M.F.P. : My father was a druggist and my mother kept house.
R.C. : Did you have any brothers and sisters?
M.F.P. : I had three brothers and one sister. My sister was older than I and my three brothers were younger than I.
R.C. : When did you move to Mobile?
M.F.P. : In September of 1940.
R.C. : What was Mobile like when you moved here?
M.F.P. : When I came, I knew only one person, he was the Episcopal minister at Christ Church, and I was going to be the Director of Religious Education at Christ Church. I knew most of the people in Mobile at that time soon after I was here for a week. But every time I would go to town I would see nobody I knew, and it was a strange feeling.
R.C. : What are some of your memories of World War II?
M.F.P. : Well, first of all, as I said, I knew practically mobody and then all of a sudden I knew everybody in town. I was given a map of the city and a list of parishioners, and told to call on the people, and I knew everybody, and I would go to the post office and I would see my friends, and I'd go through the park and I'd see my friends, and all of a sudden World War II came along and we were flooded with strangers.
R.C. : Do you remember any changes during this time?
M.F.P. : Loads of changes. You couldn't find a house to live in; you couldn't find food to eat; you couldn't find tired to put on your car; you couldn't find gasoline to ride around on. Everything was short, and Mobile just began to grow and grow and grow.
R.C. : Did you know any of these newcomers who came during World War II?
M.F.P. : I met quite a lot of them. Brookley was established and a couple of people from Brookley Field would come in the Haunted Book Shop. I might back up a little bit and say that at Christ Church my husband was a Boy Scout master over there and I married him, and I left my job as Director of Religious Education to help him with the Haunted Book Shop. And there I met a lot of strangers.
R.C. : Did any of the newcomers move into your neighborhood at this time?
M.F.P. : Well, our Book Shop was in the little building over on Conception Street with a driveway through it. Upstairs we rented rooms to people who came to work at the shipyard, so we saw lots of people.
R.C. : Did people in your neighborhood rent rooms to newcomers?
M.F.P. : Yes, they did. One night we went out, we were going to dinner with a stranger who was in Mobile, showing him the city, and we just walked out and left the door open to the Book Shop. When we came back we found a sailor in there selling books. He had taken over, the money was all in the cash register and everything was fine. He said he had a grand time running the Haunted Book Shop for us while we were out. Never saw him before.
R.C. : How did people feel toward the newcomers?
M.F.P. : I think there were mixed emotions. My husband and I, we used to enjoy meeting them and sometimes we would take them home for the weekend. I remember one of my prettiest china dishes, a boy from Australia was fixing us a Sunday dinner, and he sat this platter on the stove and it cracked. But, we used to take people out to ride and all the girls would go down to the USO Hall and entertain the soldiers and dance with them and feed them. All in all, we tried to make them welcome.
R.C. : Were the fathers and mothers of any of your friends in the military or working at Brookley Field during this time?
M.F.P. : No, I had a brother in the military service, but he was stationed in Germany. He never did get to Brookley Field.
R.C. : Do you recall seeing a lot of servicement or military personnel during this period?
M.F.P. : Yes, they were all over the streets of Mobile and the stores would stay open late at night, and you'd see them on Sunday. The town was just floating with military people.
R.C. : Did you know anyone who worked in the shipyards or in other defense industries?
M.F.P. : I did indeed. One of the girls that I lived with just before I was married (I had an apartment), she was a welder at the Mobile shipyard. Some people would think that she was just as pretty as she could be and she was doing a patriotic job, and other people would say "I don't think that women ought to be in the shipyard welding."
R.C. : At this time were you working here at the Haunted Book Shop?
M.F.P. : Yes, I was.
R.C. : Do you remember people in Mobile volunteering for war work?
M.F.P. : Yes, as a matter of fact, before I was married, when I was working at Christ Church, I used to work all day and then I would go down to the Scottish Rite Building, for the "Command Center" (we called it), and we would plot airplanes and where they were, and we'd work there every night from nine until twelve o'clock.
F.M. : I have a question. Since you worked at Christ Church, do you feel that religious involvement is greater now or less now than it was when you first came to Mobile?
M.F.P. : In my particular church I think it's less than it was. Caper Thadley (Capers Satterlee?) was a very civic-minded person and he had a nursery school upstairs for the mothers who were working during the war. The church parish house was always open to organizations that wanted to meet there, entertain the soldiers, or have dinners. The people from the auxiliary were made aware of the men being in town and were really working for them.
R.C. : Do you remember any of the rationing during World War II?
M.F.P. : I surely do. You couldn't get tired and you couldn't get gasoline. My husband had tuberculosis, and right after we were married he went to get some insurance and they told him his other lung had gone bad on him. My minister advised us to go back to the doctor who had done the surgery on him to begin with, which was in Tennessee, and I can remember crying all night long because I didn't have enough gasoline to go and I couldn't get enough gasoline to go back to Tennessee. Finally, I guess my heart took over, and people loaned me stamps, which, of course, was strictly against the rules, you didn't borrow ration stamps, but I did and we went to Tennessee to see the doctor.
R.C. : What was Mardi Gras like?
M.F.P. : There was no Mardi Gras during the war. It was completely stopped.
R.C. : Do you recall any unusual or outstanding persons in Mobile?
M.F.P. : I don't know that you would call them unusual, it seemed rather queer to me though. I remember distinctly a man coming in one day to buy some Pocket books, and while I was selling him Pocket books he was telling me about wanting guns out of Mobile into the foreign countries. Another funny story was, a girl was working for us in the book shop and somebody came to my husband and said "Do you know this girl? She's a spy," and so my husband felt duty-bound to go over to the FBI and talk to them about the girl working there and tell them that she had been reported as a spy. It turned out the girl was working for the FBI.
R.C. : Do you remember any other ways in which the war affected everyday life in Mobile?
M.F.P. : Yes, everybody went to the seventh grade at Barton Academy, and of course every seventh grade child knew every other seventh grade child, and after the war the schools sprang up all over Mobile. Not only was there just one big Murphy High School or one bid seventh grade, there were many different schools. Now there were a lot of people that didn't even know each other any more.
R.C. : What were some of the changes in the appearance of Mobile?
M.F.P. : Well, every business place was busy, the LeClede Hotel was where I move d my shop from Conception Street to Government Street. It was a busy, buzzing street. The old courthouse was there, the Alabama Hardware and Sears Roebuck. Of course they tore down the Alabama Hardware, they tore down Sears Roebuck and moved it over on Royal Street. Then, in the sixties they built that Springdale Plaza and all the stores from downtown, Sears Roebuck and Hammels and Kaysers and Raphaels, and all of those stores moved out to Sprindale Plaza. And then of course they built Bel Air Mall right across the road from it, and downtown was almost a ghost town.
F.M.. : Mrs. Plummer, why did you move your shop the first time?
M.F.P. : Because the building we were in on Conception Street was leaking, and water and books don't mix very well. So we found out that Government Street, on account of where the Railway Express Company had been at Government and St. Emmanuel Street, was available, had enough space and it was a good location.
F.M. : And how long were you there?
M.F.P. : Twenty seven and a half years.
F.M. : How did your bookstore get its name?
M.F.P. : My husband and Adelaide Trigg, Adelaide Marsten Trigg, opened it in 1940, and about that time Christopher Morley was a very popular writer. He wrote his first book, Parnassus on Wheels, an old book-seller had a book shop in a covered wagon, and they traveled up and down the eastern seaboard selling books. They could produce the right book for the right person at this right time. When he married, he and his wife settled in Boston, and they ran the Haunted Book Shop and it was haunted by the ghosts of all great literature. They lived in the house and the books were right there; it's a good spy story because they had a wall in the Haunted Book Shop and a spay came in and left messages for other spies. Quite entertaining, you ought to read it sometime. We wrote him and asked him if we might name our shop after his story and he wrote back a real cute letter and said other shops had tried it and they'd all gone broke but it'd be brave to try.
R.C. : Did Mobile look different or seem different after the war?
M.F.P. : Very different. With the coming of the war there were so many people. When you;d drive through the Bankhead Tunnel they had built a school over there called Blakely School, and they had built houses all over there, people lived on Blakely Island. Of course, after the war they tore the houses down, and people all moved out on the western side of town, but there were houses all down Conception Street and people actually lived right downtown. Now of course people would come down in hats and gloves, and meet at the Battle House.
R.C. : What kind of hats did the ladies wear?
M.F.P. : Good, big, floppy hats with flowers on them, and gloves.
R.C. : Were feathers on the hats popular at that time?
M.F.P. : No, I think there were flowers more than feathers.
R.C. : Did Mobile change during the war?
M.F.P. : Changed very much.
R.C. : What things changed and stayed the same?
M.F.P. : To tell you the truth, I don't know that anything stayed the same. Goldstein's is still downtown, and the Haunted Book Shop is still downtown, and Gayfers, I think they're the only things that are still here that were here before.
R.C. : Did you or your friends ever discuss the war?
M.F.P. : Oh we would get together and talk about it, in fact, we still do get together and talk about going riding on Sunday afternoons and taking the soldiers and working at Interceptor Command and some of the things that used to happen down there.
R.C. : Did you know any of Mobile's writers or artists?
M.F.P. : I expect I know most of Mobile's writers. Caldwell Delaney has written a good many books, in fact most people give his book Remember Mobile, as a gift book to people who come to Mobile, move away, and they want a gift to take with them. But, he has written about ten different books. Evelyn Dahl wrote a book called Belle of Destiny, and Judy Rayford used to write books ( Judy died about a year ago), but he was known all over the United States. Eugene Walter has written books and he lives here now and writes for the Azalea City News. Mobile has always had a lot of writers; Erwin Craighead and Ernest Spinoloza, and Kathleen Johnston; of course, now they have Terri Cline and Roy Hoffman, Jay Higgenbotham; we have quite a lot of authors.
F.M. : Did you know ......?
M.F.P. : Yes, indeed I did. In fact, my husband offered to build a building for him to store his papers in if he would just let Mobile have them, he never would agree to let Mobile have them. I'll tell you another story about him: he sold the Gutenberg bible in New York, which was not a Gutenburg bible, and it sort of ruined the name of mobile booksellers for a while.
R.C. : Are there other things from the war you might want to add?
M.F.P. : Right this minute I can't think of anything except the only thing we're sure of is change.
F.M. : The boys here were fascinated with the blackouts and that sort of thing. Why don't you add one or two things about air raid drills and so on.
M.F.P. : All the cars had black paint over the top half of the lights. Of course, you would have to turn your lights out at certain times. You could hear a whistle going off and you'd run for shelter. It was quite exciting.
R.C. : Was there were an air raid?
M.F.P. : Not an actual air raid, just practices/
R.C. : How many air raid drills were there in a day?
M.F.P. : There would only be one in a day, in fact they would only have on in maybe a month. But sometimes, they would have an air raid and the sirens would go off and you'd have to lock up your business and go out of town. They had evacuation routes, and they'd tell you which streets you could go out and where you were to meet. Then you would leave.
R.C. : What would happen if you were in an airplane at the time when the siren went off?
M.F.P. : I never had that experience, I don't know. Of course, we were all supposed to keep a certain amount of food on hand in case anything happened, to be ready.
R.C. : Were you ever caught in a car when an air raid siren went off?
M.F.P. : No, I was usually in the book shop. I did have to close the book shop and get in the car and go to the edge of town.
F.M. : Where was the edge of town?
M.F.P. : I think I went to Spring Hill, I'm not sure.
R.C. : You've been very kind to give us your time and to share with us your memories of World War II. Listening to you will add to our record of this time. Thank you very much.
M.F.P. : Thank you for coming, it was a joy.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Mary Francis Plummer Interview - 21 June 1983
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interviews
Description
An account of the resource
Oral history interview of Mary Francis Plummer at the Haunted Bookshop
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Mobile Public Library
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Growing Up in Mobile : Depression & Wartime, 1929-1949, Interviews
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Mobile Public Library
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1983
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tommy Oberding
Frank McClowsky
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp3
pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Growing-Up-in-Mobile-Mary Francis Plummer Interview-1983
Relation
A related resource
Descriptions of Oral History Interview Tapes
Brookley Field
Caldwell Delaney
Christ Church
Erwin Craighead
Frank McCloskey
Haunted Bookshop
Jay Higginbotham
Mary Francis Plummer
Mobile
rationing
Reeve Carlson
Tommy Oberding
World War II
-
http://digital.mobilepubliclibrary.org/files/original/ea76f95b570158eb97a888a568ca0419.mp3
4e7f0b0a9185e48bfba17214cde7fdc7
http://digital.mobilepubliclibrary.org/files/original/1d2185dd5d687f2cf71c8da451a2cd4d.pdf
5c8d0c024ef9d8b171c7f2a9477f3b71
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Growing Up In Mobile: Depression & Wartime, 1929-1949
Subject
The topic of the resource
Mobile during the Depression and World War II
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Judy Walton, MPL Youth Services,
Erin Kellen, MPL Youth Services,
& George Schroeter, MPL Local History & Genealogy
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Mobile Public Library
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1983
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
USA Photographic Archives,
Spring Hill College,
Mobile Historic Development Commission
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
pdf
jpeg
mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Rights
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This file may be freely used for educational uses as long as it is not altered in any way. No commercial reproduction or distribution of this file is permitted without written permission from this institution.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Elizabeth Vickers Courtney
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Cassette tape
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
27 min. 4 sec.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Lalie Felis
Location
The location of the interview
27 Hillwood Drive, Mobile AL
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Lalie: Today is July 1, 1983. This is Lalie Felis. I'm interviewing Ms. Courtney at her home at 27 Hillwood Drive. This interview is part of the Growing Up in Mobile Oral History Project. (?) is taping this interview today. We're going to be talking about Ms. Courtney's experiences growing up in Mobile during World War II. We'd like to thank you for talking to us about your experiences growing up in Mobile. To begin with, can you state for the record, your full name and when and where you were born?
E.V.C.: Elizabeth Vickers Courtney. I was born in 1930. Do you want the date? February 2nd, 1930. I was born in Mobile.
Lalie: Who were your parents and what did they do for a living?
E.V.C.: My mother was Gene Inmas Vickers; my father was Marion Richard Vickers. My father was an attorney and my mother was a housewife.
Lalie: Did you have any brothers and sisters?
E.V.C.: Yes, I had one brother. His name was Marion Vickers, Jr. He is 5 years younger than me.
Lalie: Where did you live in Mobile when you were growing up?
E.V.C.: Well I was born, when I was born we lived on Houston Street, then we moved to Old Government Street, then we moved to Ashland Place, and then we moved out to Springhill and I lived in this house next door here, my mother's house, when she still lived, we were there since 1936, I was 6 years old when we moved here.
Lalie: Where did you go to school?
E.V.C.: I went to Visitation Academy through the 6th grade, and I went to Springhill School, which was a public school by Mary B. Austen, and then I went to Murphy, and then I went off to school after that. I went to Washington D.C.
Lalie: What was your favorite subject?
E.V.C.: I guess Math.
Lalie: Who were some of your favorite teachers?
E.V.C.: Well, Ms. Mary B. Austen was our teacher in the 7th grade. [...] She died in the middle of the year when we were in 7th grade. She was a great person, she was absolutely one of my favorites. And I had some good teachers at Murphy, Ms. Edith Murphy taught me math and she is also pretty famous in Mobile. She died about 3 or 4 years ago and she loaned me a couple of books and I guess it was her father that Murphy High School was named for, I'm not sure, or her husband, I forgot, anyway she's related to the man that Murphy was named for. Ms. Gay (?) was a Latin teacher at Murphy that I liked, and Ms. Bragg (?) was my Science teacher. I guess that's about, well let's see, that's about all I can think of.
Lalie: What did you want to do when you grew up?
E.V.C.: Um, I guess, I just wanted to get married and have children. We didn't think about having careers as much at that time, you know, girls just kind of [...]
Lalie: What were some fun things that you did when you were growing up?
E.V.C.: We used to climb trees, we used to build pine straw huts. Our favorite thing was to go to the pumping station and go swimming, where the reservoir is over there and they had these big swimming pools that came from a waterfall that came out of the reservoir and that was the big thing.
Lalie: What were the things that your family, that you and your family did for recreation?
E.V.C.: Well, let's see, we used to go over the Bay, sometimes, and...I can't really think of too much that we did as a family. We took a few trips, not too many. We used to go to Chattanooga, we went to Lookout Mountain a couple of times, my grandmother used to live out there.
Lalie: Did you have any hobbies?
E.V.C.: Um, I used to play alot of badminton, that was the big thing when I was a teenager. We had a court up there. And, um, I was one of the Girl Scouts, I did alot of work with them.
Lalie: Who were some of your best friends?
E.V.C.: Um, Sally Title(?) was a good friend of mine, she used to live about 3 or 4 houses up on Hillwood and she's still a good friend of mine. (?)Phillipson (?) in fact she's on the library board [...] and Nettle Grier (?) was a good friend, her name is Simpson(?) now. Nettle was a real good athlete, she still is, she used to have a horse, we used to have a real good time riding her horse, I wasn't that good at it but she was and we used to play alot of baseball and football, we played with the boys alot, there weren't too many girls at Springhill, everybody kind of just got together and we did whatever the boys wanted to do really and...what was your original question?
Lalie: Who were some of your best friends?
E.V.C.: Oh yeah, and Mary Cook was a good friend of mine, she moved out here I think when we in the 7th grade and she was also really good friend of mine, she works for the CIA...and that's about it I guess.
Lalie: Did young people at this time gather in any certain places?
E.V.C.: Um, no, not at Springhill, we just played in the woods or at somebody's house, some people had little, what they called playhouses, they were kind of like doll houses, you know, they were just a little room that was built separate from the house, alot of people had those, and we would do that but most of the time we really played outside.
Lalie: What were some of your favorite places in Mobile? E.V.C.: Well, we used to go to the Country Club, and swim and hang around up there alot and uh, I thought I had written some other place down here, of we used to go to Weinacker's and get milkshakes and sodas and things like that. Do y'all know where Weinacker's was, it's not called Weinacker's anymore, but it's on the corner of Government and Catherine Street, I think it's a Delchamps now, it was a drugstore and that was kind of a favorite hang out. And also Van Antwerp drugstore downtown, was a big hang out, they used to have a lunch counter, we used to go down there and that's where we would eat.
Lalie: What was your favorite music when you were growing up?
E.V.C.: Well, of course the Jitterbug was popular at that time and the big band [...] big band music, and later we got into show tunes.
Lalie: Who was your favorite sports figure?
E.V.C.: Good question, well, I remember Joe DiMaggio, baseball, Babe Ruth, and Joe Lewis, I remember him real well in boxing, heavyweight champion, um, Bobby Jones I guess, in golf, that's all I can think of off hand.
Lalie: What styles of clothing were popular?
E.V.C.: Well, when you're saying the 30's and 40's, you know, you're taking a large period of time into consideration, so, if you start back in the 30's, uh, you were just coming out of the roaring 20's and just coming out of the Charleston era. In the 30's the skirts went down, you know, and then the new look came along in the 40's, and we wore these full skirts and everybody wore half the petticoats under the full skirts, I mean just daytime clothes, you know, like a wool skirt, real full, with a plaid petticoat, you always had to have a plaid petticoat, something that showed, you know. And the new look was a little short jacket and a scarf and that was not exactly when the new look came out but I think it was like in the middle 40's. The 30's were kind of a dull period, the dresses were very drab, after the 20's you know when they were real short, and then flash to the 30's it was kind of dull.
Lalie: What was your favorite food?
E.V.C.: Spaghetti and meatballs, I guess. We didn't have pizza in those days, I think it was unheard of, I think the first I ever had any was when I went to Europe in 1954, I had some then.
Lalie: Did you have a favorite rest or eating place in Mobile? E.V.C.: Um, the Dew Drop, it's been good all these years, y'all know about the Dew Drop? And, uh let me think, Constantine's was downtown at that time and it was good. We didn't have very many restaurants in those days.
Lalie: What was downtown Mobile like when you were growing up?
E.V.C.: Well, it was just like a small town, you know, that you would go through, I guess. Dauphin Street was the big, the prime property, you know like Fountain Square, and we had 3 or 4 good stores down there, and Constantine's was a good restaurant and Van's was a (?). The Square was alot prettier then than it is now, not so many bums hanging around, it was a nice place to go. It was kind of like any small town.
Lalie: Where did people shop?
E.V.C.: Well downtown we had Gayfer's and Hammel's and Goldstein's, that's a jewelry store, and (?), that was a shoe store, and Cress's (?) was a 5 & 10 cent store, they were all in the same area right on the Square. Madison's (?) was there, it was a men's store. We had, I guess a line of them.
Lalie: Where was the edge of town?
E.V.C.: The edge of town was really I guess you'd say where the Loop is and, uh, I guess maybe Florida Street before you really got into Crichton, Crichton was kind of a separate area.
Lalie: What kind of transportation did you have besides cars?
E.V.C.: When I first moved to Springhill there was a trolley, it came out and tracks ended up there near where Mary B. Austen's School is and it came at kind of an angle from Springhill Avenue, it didn't come by the same route that the roads are on, it just came kind of through the woods. But it wasn't, that didn't operate too long, I can't remember when it stopped but probably in the late 30's and then they put in a bus there. We used to ride the bus to Murphy and back, well we rode it home, my father used to take us to school. We always rode it home, buses were alot safer then than they are now, although they were still crowded, of course there were certain [...]. Most families you know had the one car, I mean it was kind of, I can't remember when we got our second car, it was I guess, I think it was in the 40's when we got our second car, most families just had one.
Lalie: What are some of your memories of World War II? E.V.C.: Well I can remember the rationing. Sugar was rationed, shoes were rationed, we got 2 pair a year, which wasn't too bad for the grown people but if you had growing feet, you know, it got bad. And whiskey was rationed, and oh gas, I guess that was the big thing, you know, it didn't bother me too much, because I wasn't driving. It was really though, if you wanted to go somewhere and you had to save up your gas tickets or borrow some from somebody else or get em someway or another. It was hard to have enough to get where you're going.
Lalie: Do you remember any changes in Mobile during this time?
E.V.C.: Brookley Field, you know, was built in Mobile at that time and that was a big thing , you know, because of the big installation it was, they hired alot of people, and they had alot of military personnel.
Lalie: Did more people move to Mobile during this time? E.V.C.: Oh yeah, alot of people. When the shipbuilding industry built up and like I said Brookley hired alot of civilian help, besides the military personnel. We had a big [...]
Lalie: Did you know any of these newcomers?
E.V.C.: Yeah, we knew the General at Brookley, General Molass(?) and his daughter was in my class at school. I guess my parents knew some others, I can't think of any offhand.
Lalie: Were there any newcomers moving into your neighborhood?
E.V.C.: Yes,uh, this is during the War that we're talking about? Housing was kind of hard to get during the war, you know [...] One of our good friends, Carter Smith, I think she's the one that told y'all to contact my mother and probably me too, she has alot to do with the Historical Society and historical thing in Mobile, but they had been living in St. Lewis and they moved back to Mobile at that time and they weren't able to find a house, you know, that they wanted, on this street or anywhere near, they finally bought one over in Springhill, not Springhill Manor but Country Club Village. Springhill Manor and Country Club Village were two of the housing projects that were built during the war and they were supposed to be temporary housing but they're still standing. People have remodeled and added on to them. So they moved in there, I remember that. Oh, we really didn't have too many newcomers on this street, because everybody that lived here had, you know, lived here for a long time, there were not too many people moving and like I said not many houses were available during that time.
Lalie: How did people feel towards these newcomers?
E.V.C.: Um, I don't remember any ill feelings towards the newcomers. Maybe some in the older generation might have had some but me, I've always been glad to meet new people, it was fine with me, I liked it.
Lalie: Did you have alot of new students enrolling in your school?
E.V.C.: I guess we did. I don't remember any crowded situation in the school. I'm sure we had more because there were more people moving in but I don't remember any great crowding.
Lalie: Were the mother and fathers of any of your friends in the military or working out in Brookley Field?
E.V.C.: I would say no. We had met, like I said, the Molasses(?) but they weren't really close to us.
Lalie: Do you recall seeing alot of servicemen or military personnel?
E.V.C.: Some, not much.
Lalie: Do you remember people in Mobile volunteering for war work?
E.V.C.: Oh yeah, I remember we knitted sweaters for the Red Cross at the Mary B. Austen School. We knitted little bitty sweaters, size 4, and size 2 I can remember doing a couple of those, and they were sent to, you know, people overseas that needed supplies. And we knit squares, we knit afghans I think, to send to people in the cold who needed some cover, we knit squares and sweaters. Alot of people did volunteer for the Red Cross and all kinds of things like that.
Lalie: What about women employment? Did they work anywhere?
E.V.C.: Well I'm sure they did, you know, hearing about Rosie the Riveter and everything, but I was too young to really pay that much attention to it and of course my mother didn't work and you know the people that I knew very well did, but you know I'm sure there was alot of that.
Lalie: Do you remember any of the ways in which the war affected everyday life in Mobile?
E.V.C.: Well, of course the rationing, you know, was a big thing and of course I remember each day being so interesting in the news. Well, alot of our friends had sons that were killed, things like that, and of course you were always on edge wondering who was going to be next. My family didn't have anybody that was really in the service directly connected with them so we didn't, we don't have anybody that close to us but we had alot of friends who had loss.
Lalie: Do you remember the blackouts and the air raid drills?
E.V.C.: Yeah, I remember those vaguely. I don't remember how many we had but I do remember them.
Lalie: What were some changes in the appearance of Mobile?
E.V.C.: Well, I can remember, Springhill was just really in the sticks and when we moved here, this street wasn't paved out here and my mother had you know landscaped her property over here and livestock kept coming in the yard and tearing up and stepping in this new [...] and tore it up so she built a cattle gap, built this fence out here. Y'all know what a cattle gap is? It's iron bars, like see where the driveway is up there, where the opening is in the fence, you put these iron bars and you cement them into the ground and they're about this far and they're about this wide, and the cattle can't go across em because if they step, you know, they would go down in it, and so that was to keep the livestock out. In fact there's a cattle gap right here, between [...] that's what that was too, although that's a draining system now but originally I think it was, we've always called it a cattle gap. So it was quite different out here than it is now. This really went way out in the woods.
Lalie: Did Mobile look different or seem different after the war?
E.V.C.: Well of course it built up, so I'd say we were in the sticks before the war and then, I can remember when Airport Boulevard was called Grant Street and it was just a two way street. There was hardly anything on it between the Loop and out here. At that time, when I first started driving, which was probably about 1946, I guess, my mother always said, "Don't go to Grant Street, it's too lonely." Can you imagine Airport Boulevard being lonely? But it was, there was nothing on there. So we'd always come Old Shell Road, and of course Dauphin Street wasn't there. Old Shell Road was more populated so we felt safer driving out on town, can you believe that?
Lalie: What things seemed to stay the same?
E.V.C.: Oh dear. Some of the buildings downtown, you know, like the Merchant's Bank, that's been there forever. Well you know, the whole plan of the city stayed the same, just built up, some of the old homes, Government Street, in a way, it's the same, in a way, it isn't, it's been so commercialized but still alot of the old homes are still there and the beautiful old trees. Everything else pretty much stayed the same except for the shopping centers and traffic is so much worse and of course South Alabama being built out here, you know, changed it a whole lot. That's all I can think of on that.
Lalie: Did Mobile remain dry after prohibition?
E.V.C.: Um...hmmm, do you mean during prohibition or after it was repealed?
Lalie: During prohibition.
E.V.C.: During prohibition. Well, everybody was kind of, getting it from somewhere. I don't want to incriminate everybody but there was plenty of it around, of course I was too young. I can't remember when prohibition was repealed, but I think it was, I can remember my daddy having kegs in the attic, and that was after we moved down here and that was 1936. I don't remember exactly when it was repealed but it was going around.
Lalie: What were the differences between Mardi Gras now and then?
E.V.C.: Well, of course, they used to have the coronation on the wall on the waterfront, I never did see that, that was before my time, my mother talked to me about that all the time. So that was quite different. And it was just on a much smaller scale than it is now. Basically, you know, everything was still, we'd still have the same coronation.
Lalie: What did you do for Mardi Gras?
E.V.C.: What did I do for Mardi Gras when I was young? Well, we used to go downtown and I remember one of the best times I had was when I went down with just 2 or 3 friends and I had just [...] and my momma let me go by myself. We didn't do a thing, we'd just walk around town and have lunch at Morrison's and you know it was just so much fun being on my own.
Lalie: Did you and your friends ever discuss the war?
E.V.C.: Well, I guess we did, you know, I just don't remember that too well, and like I say, I'm sure we, most every family had somebody that was in the service that was connected [...] get by without being affected by it. I don't remember. I remember when, the day that Roosevelt died and that made a big impression. I remember coming home on the bus that day and finding out. I can't remember exactly which year he died but I was at Murphy then so I guess it was probably early 40's, 43 or 44.
Lalie: How was your family affected by the war?
E.V.C.: Well, not a whole lot, as I said, because we didn't have anybody in the service, but of course we were affected by the rationing and things like that but, you know, it didn't affect my father's business, you know, he was a lawyer. It affected us in some ways because of the transportation, because of the gas rationing, because we did live out here in the sticks and we weren't able to just drive into Mobile anytime we wanted to like y'all can do now, like we all do.
Lalie: Are there any other things from the war you might want to add?
E.V.C.: I can't think of anything.
Lalie: You've been very kind to let us interview you today. We'd like to thank you.
E.V.C.: Well, thank you, I've enjoyed it.
Lalie: This interview will add to our record of this time. Thank you very much.
E.V.C.: Okay.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Elizabeth Vickers Courtney Interview - 1 July 1983
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interviews
Description
An account of the resource
Oral history interview of Elizabeth Vickers Courtney at her home at 27 Hillwood Drive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Mobile Public Library
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Growing Up in Mobile : Depression & Wartime, 1929-1949, Interviews
Publisher
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Mobile Public Library
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1983
Relation
A related resource
Descriptions of Oral History Interview Tapes
Format
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mp3
pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Growing-Up-in-Mobile-Elizabeth Courtney Vickers Interview-1983
Brookley Field
Constantine's
Dew Drop Inn
Elizabeth Vickers Courtney
Mary B. Austen
Mobile
Murphy High School
oral history
rationing
Weinacker's
World War II