Colorado -- Social life and customs Archive Search Results
Showing
81 - 100
of 108
, query time: 0.02s
Format:
Voice Recording
James and Ida Jaenicke talk about moving to Loma, Colorado in 1937 as part of the US Farm Security Administration’s resettlement program for Dust Bowl refugees. They speak about aspects of farm life in Loma, such as relying on ditch water for drinking water. They remember running a dairy farm with 30 cows and 125 chickens. They recall people and stores in Fruita, where they shopped. James talks about his life in the congregation of the United Presbyterian...
Format:
Compound
In a three-part interview conducted over three days, Luisa Landini describes her childhood in Montale, Italy and her life after immigrating to the United States. In part one, she talks about life in Italy, working on a farm and in the fields, and her immigration to the United States via ship at the age of twenty-two. She talks about coming to America to marry Pete Landini and her homesickness for Italy when she arrived. She speaks about the family’s...
Format:
Compound
Glenn McFall discusses downtown businesses and business owners in Grand Junction, Colorado, as well as the shoe store he worked at for nine years, McConnell-Lowes. Glenn also talks about the involvement of the Ku Klux Klan in the Grand Valley area, the Mesa County Pest House and Smallpox outbreaks, the social scene and where people went to go dancing, the Mesa County Fair, horse racing and gambling, bailing rowdy cowboys out of the local jail, Eddie...
Format:
Voice Recording
Anna Foster describes the history of her family, her life as a school teacher, and the history of the town of Mesa, Colorado. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society.
Format:
Compound
Harold Kissell talks about being born in a coal camp near New Castle, Colorado, his career working as a coal miner and foreman in Cameo, and his father’s career as a coal miner for the Colorado Fuel and Iron company. He tells the story of the Vulcan Mine and the mine explosions that killed many men. He recounts the superstition that women inside a mine brought bad luck. He speaks of the diverse workforce in local coal mines, including African-Americans...
Format:
Compound
Bessie Jane Milholland talks about her childhood growing up on a ranch in Molina, Colorado and how her family earned a living selling butter and other dairy goods. She describes trips to Grand Junction in horse and buggy, trading and selling handmade goods, and her education at the rural Molina School. She talks about her eventual move to Grand Junction after marrying her husband, Danford Wheeler, their life there, and the tasks of a homemaker. She...
Format:
Voice Recording
Loyd Files talks about his early life in Kansas, moving to Colorado with his family via covered wagon in 1914, and the process of filing for a homestead. He remembers homesteading with his parents in Lamar, Colorado, and with his brother in Glade Park in 1920. He recalls working on the crew that built the Serpents Trail over the Colorado National Monument, meeting John Otto, and helping build Rimrock Drive over the Monument. He speaks about his marriage...
Format:
Compound
Ann Stokes talks about her father-in-law Walter Stokes and his involvement in Nineteenth century labor strife as a union coal miner in Colorado. She describes his establishment of the Stokes Mine after he moved to Mesa County and describes the mine’s operations. She speaks about early phone service in Palisade. She discusses her mom’s job as a nurse in rural areas, which included tasks like housecleaning, cooking, and sewing baby clothes for new...
Format:
Voice Recording
Loudene Humeston talks about her teaching career in the Collbran School, and about the fire that took the top floor off of the original building. She also discusses town dances, teaching Sunday school at the Collbran Congregational Church, the history of town buildings, and aspects of Plateau Valley history. This interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado....
Format:
Voice Recording
Kenneth Thompson describes his life growing up on a farm on Glade Park, Colorado during the early 1900s. Kenneth also discusses the working conditions while employed for the National Park Service during the early days of the Colorado National Monument, the slow pace of life and the social aspects of living on Glade Park, hunting and killing a bear, and stories of the Indians who lived in Mesa County. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County...
Format:
Voice Recording
Anna Foster talks about teaching at the Mesa School, beginning in 1908. She remembers some of the teachers and students at the school, and going sledding with them for fun. She speaks about the role of the Mesa’s Methodist church in providing community for people of all Christian faiths. She describes stagecoaches that delivered between towns, traveling the old Hogback Road from Palisade, and the building of the Plateau Canyon Road. She recalls...
Format:
Compound
Marjorie Thomas describes her childhood on a homestead in the New Liberty area of Mesa County, Colorado. She talks about the difficulty of getting across the Big Salt Wash near Fruita when it flooded. She discusses Sunday school and religious services that existed in the community for twenty-one years, until the lack of leadership caused people to drive to Loma for church. She speaks about the history of the New Liberty School and about social clubs...
Format:
Voice Recording
James Earl Shaw and Creston Ralph Bailey talk about the history of their families in Mesa County, and discuss their families’ roles in the automobile and grocery businesses respectively. They mention people and places important to Grand Junction. They also reminisce about their experiences at the Presbyterian church camp on the Grand Mesa, and all the antics they pulled while growing up. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History...
Format:
Voice Recording
Armand de Lavillette de Beque lectures about the history of theater in Mesa County, Colorado in a meeting of the Mesa County Historical Society. He talks about productions put on in DeBeque and Fruita, and about the general audience. He discusses his teaching career and how many plays he directed as an educator. This interview also includes speeches from Nina Brouse and Hellen (Hawxhurst) Young. These ladies talk about how they helped produce plays,...
Format:
Voice Recording
Laird Smith talks about his grandfather Frank Smith’s severe case of Tuberculosis that caused the doctor to move with his family to Grand Junction, Colorado. He describes the apartment next to a saloon where the family lived on Main Street, where drunken men would sometimes crawl in through the windows by mistake. He discusses his father Silmon Smith’s “spartan” upbringing, his camping alone on the Grand Mesa for long stretches when he was...
Format:
Voice Recording
To mark the centennial celebration of the town of Grand Junction, Colorado in 1981, the Mesa County Oral History Project wrote and recorded several radio plays about local history. Beginning on September 26, 1981, local radio stations KSTR, KREX-AM, KREX-FM, and KMSA broadcast the plays. Authors of the plays used interviews recorded by the Mesa County Oral History Project as inspiration. This archival recording contains the play Immigrants and Homesteaders.
This...
Format:
Voice Recording
Ruth and Charlie Benson talk about running a hunting camp near Parachute, Colorado for several years and tell stories about foolish hunters. They remember songs they sang and games they played as children. Charlie talks about irrigation and building fences. Charlie speaks about his youth on a dairy farm in Parachute and on a nearby homestead. He recalls helping to build the Granlee Trail in the 1960’s. Ruth recalls the Granlee School, where she...
Format:
Compound
Dudley Mitchell discusses his childhood in Leadville during the early Twentieth century, and historic mines and railroads in the Leadville area. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Format:
Voice Recording
During a Mesa County Public Library program, Michael Husband speaks about the many cultural activities in early Grand Junction and Mesa County, Colorado, including music, dance, and theater. He names top performers who came to Grand Junction, including the Russian Ballet, John Philip Sousa, the New York Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony. He discusses the role of Walter Walker in supporting and promoting the arts. He lists the many venues that...
Format:
Compound
Levi Morse discusses the history of Mesa County, Colorado, including fruit growing, drinking water from the Gunnison River and its link to typhoid fever, the YMCA, and the creamery business. He also talks extensively about social events such as the Mesa County Fair, and gives a firsthand account of the first motion picture showing in Grand Junction. June Morse talks about teaching at Fruitvale High School, community organizations and social gatherings....