Westfield Historical Society's Oral History Project

What is Oral History?

Oral history is the tape-recording of reminiscences about which the narrator can speak from first hand knowledge. Since it is unlikely most people will preserve their memories by writing memoirs, oral history affords the subject to the opportunity to set aside a small amount of time to tape record the whys and hows of their efforts in order to preserve a more current history of the community.

Is This the Society's First Endeavor?

No, a prior project, in conjunction with the Westfield Memorial Library, yielded 51 interviews, 19 of which still need to be transcribed. With the help of professional transcribers, we anticipate transcriptions being complete by February of 2002.

The current project begun in the Fall of 1997. To date, we have identified 64 people to interview. We have a group of 10 developing oral historians working to interview these people within the next 3 years.

Special Thanks:

The Westfield Historical Society's Oral History Program is made possible in part by a HEART Grant (History, Education, Art-Reaching Thousands) from the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders, Daniel P. Sullivan, Chairman.

How Can I Participate?

Contact Darrick Sampson, Oral History Project Leader by e-mail at darrick.sampson@alumni.ey.com, telephone at 908/ 317.2760 or surface mail at Westfield Historical Society, P.O. Box 613, Westfield, NJ 07091-0613. We have assembled training materials and a communications package to assist our members with the Project.

Transcribed Interviews

Below is a list of Interviews available to you via e-mail. To request a Transcribed Interview from the list below, please send an e-mail to Darrick.

Note: You will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader in order to read the Transcribed Interviews which will be sent in .pdf format.
Click Here to download Adobe's Acrobat Reader.

TRANSCRIBED ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS OF THE WESTFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY:

Andrews, Helen Dawson (aka Peg)

Atkins, Helen

Bailey, Charles P

Brown, Jesse Plant

Brownell, George

Ditzel, Raymond

Fink, Mary Elizabeth

Forster, Henry F.

Fort Nightly Club (Whitcomb, Helen)

Gordon, William H.

Hamilton, Dr. Henry

Hely, Dr. Charles

Hope, Robert A Jr,

Lee, Walter J.

Montgomery, Charlotte N.

Pelton, Kenneth

Pierce, Elizabeth Tremaine

Platt, Hugh

Platt, Kathryn Nicholas

Plinton, Hollis O.

Pollard, Beatrice Plumridge

Randolph, Catherine Lipton

Simonetti, John

Stuart, Byron D.

Taylor, Russell Davis

Thompson, Grace Lee

Tubby, Ruth

Valentine, Margot

Whitlock, Edward

Winter, Ernest

Wittke, Edward

Wright, Shirley L.

Yorgenson, Estelle Wilcox

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