11 10 1775 https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/f47d0e5b73bb5d65fe2d0e3fbaa7fd5f.mp3 386f7e04bf514426c5a9cfafac14db1c https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/45ec1e7f01012ee3ed7ec53d4c179a4e.mp3 633094c42297d285387d7a16a60e1c3c 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 Broome County Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource Broome County -- History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Description An account of the resource The Broome County Oral History Project was conceived and administered by the Senior Services Unit of the <a href="http://www.gobroomecounty.com/senior">Office for the Aging</a>. Funding for this project was provided by the Broome County Office of Employment and Training (C.E.T.A.), with additional funding from the Senior Service Unit of the National Council on Aging and Broome County government. The aim of this project was two-fold – to obtain historical information about life in Broome County, which would be useful for researchers and teachers, and to provide employment for older persons of a limited income. The oral history interviews were obtained between November 1977 and September 1978 and were conducted by five interviewers under the supervision of the Action for Older Persons Program. The collection contains 75 interviews and transcriptions, 77 cassette tapes, and a subject index containing names of individuals associated with specific subject terms. One transcribed interview does not have an accompanying audio recording. In 2005 Binghamton University Libraries’ Special Collections Department participated in the New York State Audiotape Project which undertook preservation reformatting of the audiotapes, and the creation of compact discs for patron use. Several interviews do not have release forms and cannot be reviewed. See the <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">finding aid </a>for additional information. Acknowledgment of sensitive content Binghamton University Libraries provide digital access to select materials held within the Special Collections department. Oral histories provide a vibrant window into life in the community. However, they also expose insensitive, and at times offensive, racial and gender terminology that, though once commonplace, are now acknowledged to cause harm. The Libraries have chosen to make these oral histories available as part of the historical record but the Libraries do not support or agree with the harmful narratives that can be found in these volumes. <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/libraries/about/collections/digital/">Digital Collections</a> are created for educational and historical purposes only. It is our intention to present the content as it originally appeared. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright  Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ben Coury, Digital Web Designer Yvonne Deligato, Former University Archivist Shandi Ezraseneh, Student Employee Laura Evans, Former Metadata Librarian Caitlin Holton, Digital Initiatives Assistant Jamey McDermott, Student Employee Erin Rushton, Head of Digital Initiatives David Schuster, Senior Director for Library Technology and Digital Strategies Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1977-1978 Relation A related resource <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections, Broome County Oral History project</a> Template: Simple Audio Player with Transcription This template displays an audio player by Amplitude.js with a scrollable transcription which is loaded from the "Transcription" metadata field. This template displays an audio player with the first attached image file as the 'cover image'. For its audio source, the template looks for the first attached audio file. If additional audio files exist, they should be combined using audio editing software, or a separate Omeka item should be made for each part. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Perhach, Michael M. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Politylo, Nettie Date of Interview 1978-07-12 Collection Broome County Oral History Project Date of Digitization 2016-03-27 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 25:51 Minutes ; 6:25 Minutes Streaming Audio Streaming URL <a href="https://eternity.binghamton.edu/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE55995">Interview with Michael M. Perhach</a> Subject LCSH Perhach, Michael M. -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Binghamton (N.Y.); Pharmacists -- Interviews; Albany College of Pharmacy; National Association of Retail Druggists (U.S.); New York State Board of Pharmacy; Junior High Pharmacy; Binghamton Exchange Club; Binghamton Recreation Commission; Kalurah Temple; Russian Orthodox Religion Accessibility Copy/Paste below: Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound, or alternative text from a visual medium Broome County Oral History Project Interview with: Michael M. Perhach Interviewed by: Nettie Politylo Date of interview: 12 July 1978 Nettie: This is Nettie Politylo, talking to Michael M. Perhach of 17 Crary Ave., Binghamton, NY, on July 12, 1978. Michael, will you tell us about your life and experiences in the community? Michael: Where do you want me to start? Do you want me to start with my mother and dad, where they were born and everything? Good. My father was born in Varinov, Austria-Hungary on March 4, 1877 and he came to America in May 4, 1894a—went to American schools—went right to Wilkes-Barre and became a choir director in Wilkes-Barre in 1896—at the salary of twenty dollars a month. I happen to see some old notes here that he wrote about 65 or 70 years ago and I translated. It is written in the Russian language, very nice handwriting, and I translated it from the Russian to the English. He was ordained a Reader in 1905 by the late Patriach Tihon—ordained a deacon May 22, 1909—and the following day, May 23, 1909 he was ordained a priest by Metropolitan Platon of New York City in New York City. The reason he waited until 1909 he was serving with Archpriest Toth who was one of the first who accepted Orthodoxy in America. Father Toth was a priest in the Wilkes-Barre parish, at that time, and he made the remark at one stage, I know, my dad used to tell me that he said, "I don't want you to be ordained a priest until after I die." Well, Father Toth wanted him to remain to be as his psalomshchik or his choir director and reader. But, Father Toth died on May 9 and sure enough, two weeks later my father decided then to be ordained a priest. He received many many nagradi or promotions what we call for his services to the Orthodox Church. His first parish up in Canada—Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In fact, at the time he was ordained he had three children, my oldest sister, Alexandra, Nicholas and John - and my sister, Lydia, was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and then from there we went to Jacob's Creek, PA. That's where I was born—that's some 66-65 years ago and from Jacob's Creek we went to Brownsville, PA. He had parishes at, then, at Bayonne, NJ, and finally in Binghamton, NY, where he had his last parish—when we came to Binghamton, NY, why, that is the reason why I am in here. I came to Binghamton back in 1927. My mother, however, was born in America—was born in Wilkes-Barre Sept. 26, 1887. She just passed on last November at the age of ninety. My dad passed on will be 25 years this August, August 29. I started to talk about my dad's various promotions, now he received the Bereda, soft Bereda in 1916, then the hard Bereda or the kamilavka, as we call it, in 1917 and became an Archpriest in 1925 and he received a Palitza in 1938. The Palitza is one of the great honors given typical profound zeal for faith and for work for Orthodoxy and is conferred on the record, more or less on the record of honor. I told you, I have two brothers and two sisters and I am the youngest of all of them. We came to Binghamton, of course, because of this parish. My dad then retired. I went to grammar school in Brownsville, PA, then we went to Mingo Junction. I skipped Mingo Junction, Ohio, where I went to grammar school—then we went to Bayonne, NJ—we were there for a period of nine months. I went for one year of high school then came to Binghamton in 1927. I had two years of high school here, graduated from Binghamton Central in the year of 1930. I stayed out of school a year—in fact, I worked at the Carlova Perfume Factory and while working at the perfume factory—why—my dad wanted me—first he asked—if I wanted to become a priest. I said, "No," I said, "I'll think about it"—although I was close to the church—and all—I was directing the choir at the church when I was fifteen years old and I had a fairly good voice, so, I was singing in the choir, also. My dad said, "All right, stay out of school a year and then decide what you want." In the meantime, my uncle, John Yosack, in Wilkes-Barre was a undertaker. He wanted me to be an undertaker, so, I was to choose between an undertaker and a priest. Well, I stayed out of school a year—got a job with Carlova Perfume Factory and going to work at 7:30 o'clock in the morning till 4. One morning (winter) when I was going to work in the snow I decided, I said, “Well, this is not for me.” So, I came home told my dad–well, incidentally, my brother, Nick, was a pharmacist—”I think I will go into—pharmacy.”  The following September I went to Albany College of Pharmacy. In that time that was a three year course and I graduated Albany College of Pharmacy in 1934. I was born in Jacob's Creek, like I said, I was graduated from Albany College of Pharmacy in 1934. I came to Binghamton, naturally. I was living in Binghamton. I worked for one year and a half at the Junior High Pharmacy, at the time it was owned by Everett Crone—Crone Pharmacy and after year and half I bought the store, that's in 1936 in February. I've been in business—since 42 years or 43 years. I've been very active in the pharmacy profession. I was a member of Alpha Theta Chapter of Phi Delta Chi Fraternity. In 1949 I took a partner, Charles Jakaitis, we call him, Chick, as a junior partner. One time we had two stores, then three stores, then two stores and now, we just have one store, Junior High Pharmacy. I was president of the New York Pharmaceutical Society in 1953 and 1954, I think it was, and was member of the Executive Committee for about 12 years, and then decided to go to the National Pharmaceutical Politics so, I was a member of the National Association of Retail Druggists Executive Committee became its president 1968-1969. The National Association Retail Druggists is a organization composed of independent pharmacies, some 32 to 35,000—which took me away from the business for a while—for a whole year—was making trips to various pharmaceutical state conventions and also to other meetings and all with the association. The headquarters are in Chicago—at the present time the headquarters are in Washington, D.C. I'm past president, I've also active with the Federated Russian Orthodox Clubs, commonly known as the "R" Club. I was president of the Federated Russian Orthodox Clubs in 1941-1942 for two years. I was also about three or four years later a member of the Metropolitan Council which is the council of the composed of a priest and three lay persons in the Orthodox Church of America. At that time, the late Metropolitan Theophilis was the Metropolitan. I was also active with the Exchange Club and a past president of Binghamton Exchange Club, past Exalted Ruler of the Elks No. 852 in Binghamton. In the city, I was on the Recreation Commission appointed by the late Walker Lounsberry some 30 years ago—I served on that commission for about 24 years, and four different times I was its chairman, active in many of the civic and community projects. I’m a member of the Binghamton Lodge Masons #177, Otsiningo Consistory and the Kalurah Temple (Shrine). Also, this marks my 50th year singing in our choir in the St. Mary's Assumption Church on Baxter street. Also, I sang with the Otsiningo Quartet for 10 years. I found in addition to this, I found time to run my business and all and I might say a very successful business. I have one son who is 26 years old now, like his dad, also, went to Albany College of Pharmacy—graduated in 1975—he's a licensed pharmacist and he is taking over most of the management of the business, now. Nettie: Michael, I think you wanted to add something to this— Michael: Yes, I married the former Julia Sabol on February 27, 1949. I mentioned we have one son, 26 years old. The story goes—I was married on February 27, 1949 and our son was born on February 21—that was three years later—I am happily married. Is there anything more you want to hear? Nettie: I was asking you what you think of the generics they are talking about these days. Michael: Well the generic substitution law, I think you mean, that went into effect April 1st. Nettie: Yes. Michael: Well, the generic substitution law was a law that was supposedly, a consumer-oriented law, hoping to save the consumers—pharmacy, drug—consumers—money. But, really, it doesn't work out that way. It is added a burden on a lot of pharmacies because they have to duplicate the inventory and it's true, some of the drugs you might be able to buy some of the drugs for $7.50 per 100, you can get a generic for $2.50. But there are good and bad generics. There are some generic houses, in fact, the health department came out with a book—a green book—about 30-40 pages, in which they said these drugs are permissible to substitute and yet, they are not obtainable. Manufacturers, we never heard of, some of the manufacturers—some of the "bathtub"—so-called "bathtub" manufacturers—now some of the drugs don't even dissolve in the system—they’re not absorbed in the system. And the reputable stores, like our own, we handle about 20-25 of the most commonly generic drugs. For example on the diuretic which would be Diuril—hydrochlorothiazide. We handle Park Davis, which is a reputable company, and there is a saving of about 1/3 on what you would pay for your regular brand of the Diuril. The same is true on Librium—chlordiazepoxide. We do have generics on that, and which is quite a saving—where the physician now on all these blanks he has a permission granted for generic substitution or not—if he signs on the left—you must dispense as written and if he signs on the right—then we must substitute. The physician is supposed to discuss this with the patient, of course, physicians are busy. A lot of them do, some do and some don't. However, if they do sign on the left we must dispense as written—if he signs on the right it's not our choice, it's not the customer, patient's choice, we must substitute—if its substitutable and if we don't have it in stock we just have to give the prescription back and have to go to a store where they can obtain it.  It brings to my mind, a man came in with crutches just got discharged from a hospital—he had a chipped bone in the ankle or so. He came in with prescription for a pain pill—the doctor said to substitute—at that time I didn't have a generic—cheaper generic—he said, “I'm in PAIN, I don't care what it is—I want my medicine—I'm not going to go from store to store." Well, I had him sign on the prescription, which is illegal, sign on the prescription, he said, "I’m in pain,” said, “I told the pharmacist to give me the brand drug"—which I did. It only cost him $2.50, how much could he have saved when the man is in pain? So, the generic law, really, isn't all what it ought to be—it has its good points and but it also has its bad points. Now there are some ah—ah—pharmacies, I don't think we have them in our county—somewhere in New York City and other cities who will use the cheapest drug and they still charge for expensive drug—that has been happening—we find that out time and time again. I'm a member of the New York State Board of Pharmacy appointed by Board of Regents. We had many many cases that come before us when we have—5%, maybe less than that, who ruin a profession like just like it’s true of any profession. There are less than 5% of the doctors are bad and 98% are good and that's true with the dentists or any profession—and it’s too bad that is true but it's happening—to be a fact way of life. But as far as the generic law—then the interpretation of the law when it was first passed, April 1st—the Board of Pharmacy interpreted the law to mean in the event we did not have the drug we can could give another, we can give the brand name. Well, Rosemary Pooler who was very consumer oriented, in fact, she is on the payroll, and a fellow by the name of Haddad who was on Assemblyman Stinegood's payroll and consumer oriented—they said, the Board of Pharmacy is trying to protect the pharmacist and not the public. So, with all of the ballyhoo they said it was not the intent of law, Assemblyman Stinegood said it was not intent so it was not written in the law right so, as long as it was not the intent—why we then interpreted that in the event we have a pharmacist does not have the generic—why then of course, they have to refuse the prescription which is a hardship on the consumer, themselves. But that is the way they want us to interpret. Now, if you have any questions on the law itself— Nettie: Michael, I think you covered pretty much about everything I asked you to. Is there something you want to add? Michael: Well, as I said I'm on the Board of Pharmacy and my term expires next June 1979. It is very interesting work and we have hearings in New York City and Buffalo—most of them are in New York City. It is very interesting—talking about three or four days a month. Incidentally, since the first of January, why we have two consumer members on the Board of Pharmacy and one of them happens to be Jim Staley, Legislature right here in Broome County and the other consumer member is a lady from down Long Island. They sit in with us, except they sit in with us on the Board of Pharmacy everything except with the Board Examination and all, which is of course they know nothing about. They, Board of Pharmacy, we do give exams for candidates, I think, this last June we had, it would be a shot in the dark, they had 800 candidates for Pharmacy. Pharmacy is now a five year course and after a pharmacy student, after third year they apply for internship and he had to have three months between his third and fourth year, three months between his fourth and fifth year at which he will be eligible to take State Board. The State Board is divided into three parts—Part 1-2-3. Part 1 is a written examination—a lot of it is multiple choice—that is made out by the State Education Department of Testing. Part 2, combination of laws and also pharmacy and pharmacology, and that is made up by members of the State Board. Part 3, practical application which you are actually in a laboratory all and it also has to deal with interaction—drug interaction, telephone prescriptions, anything pertaining to the practice, itself. Parts 1 and 2 can be taken without before you can take internship, immediately after graduation, but Part 3 you have your 6 month internship. If you pass your exam, you of course become licensed in the State of New York. Being licensed in the State of New York you, then after practicing for one year you can reciprocate with any state in the United States except Florida, Alaska, Hawaii or California—those are the four states. However, someone, like myself—I took the Florida board ten years ago—I'm licensed in the State of Florida, also by examination. Examinations are according to the candidates—seemed to be rather tough, but they're not—a lot of them pass and a lot of them don't. After all we have to—Board of Pharmacy, of course, for the protection of the health citizenship state—not for the protection of the pharmacist or for the students. Have you any other questions? Nettie: No, that's quite interesting, I think very much so. Michael, I just have one more question—I'd like to have you explain the differences in pharmacy, say 20 years ago or so and now.  Michael: Yes, it was quite different when I went into business some 42 years ago. At that time we used to make our own capsules and pills and powders. I used to make a lot of different solutions—some stores even made their own citrate magnesia—we'd make our alexo-phenobarbatal and all, and now of course we buy those in gallons—capsules and tablets in the hundreds or in thousands. We depend on manufacturers on these. At the time, of course, there weren't the number of drugs that we have now. Now we do have so many drugs and with all the new ones coming up chances of interaction is greater—what I mean of interaction is that you taking one drug and if the physician prescribes another drug why either will inhibit the action of this one drug and might in some cases cause death or bleeding. An example is coumadin, which is blood thinner—one person cannot take aspirin with coumadin because they will bleed more. There are cases on record where they have taken aspirin with coumadin where they bled to death. So, there's other interaction between various drugs that we have to know, the more drugs that we have the more naturally there is a possibility there are of interactions, that what our pharmacologists in various laboratories and various manufacturers have to contend with. When they come out with a new drug, the pharmacologists have to test it against all the drugs that are out to see whether there will be any interaction or any danger in taking the drug in conjunction with another one. Of course, the pharmacy itself is a pharmacist’s—the old drug stores, we knew it was a common meeting place where all people meet and everything and they carried all their first aid supplies in addition to lot of sundry items. Nowadays, of course, your larger pharmacies especially our chain stores they have everything, even paint, pickles and everything which, of course, I don't approve of—but we do have a lot of pharmacies that just do stick to the first aid supplies, prescriptions and over the counter items, drugs—but they do have good nice cosmetic outlets—also, good card section, good candy sections, boxed candy and all which of course goes with a neighborhood pharmacy, especially in all. So, the difference of course, in the practice of pharmacy is really changed, we counsel patients now where we did not before. Prescriptions, forty years ago, cost 35¢—you just ring it up, say goodbye, and that was it—and now the same prescription cost is $1.85 in all, but the pharmacists in most good pharmacies talk to the patient and ask them if they are taking any other drugs and warn them for example—tetracycline—you should not stay in the sun too long when you take any tetracycline, which is Achromycin—any tetracyclines. Also, penicillin should be given on an empty stomach either 1 hour before meals or 2 hours after meals—should not take any milk or any dairy product with tetracycline—least 1 or 2 hours apart and all these things—we counsel the patients and customers what to do where years ago that was never done. We’d talk to them and ask how the family is—but as far as discussing the drugs itself, why—it was not done, of course, with Labeling Act we have to label all our prescriptions now and everything is labeled and everybody knows the name of the drug that they are taking—so years ago why when we made four or five ingredients to make one preparation, one powder, why we could not label the drugs and say what was and all. That's about the difference then and now. Nettie: Thank you, Michael. Michael: You’re welcome. Rights Statement This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. 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 Interview with Michael M. Perhach Subject The topic of the resource Perhach, Michael M. -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Binghamton (N.Y.); Pharmacists -- Interviews; Albany College of Pharmacy; National Association of Retail Druggists (U.S.); New York State Board of Pharmacy; Junior High Pharmacy; Binghamton Exchange Club; Binghamton Recreation Commission; Kalurah Temple; Russian Orthodox Religion Description An account of the resource Michael M. Perhach talks about being involved with the church during his youth as his father was an Archpriest in the Russian Orthodox church. He talks about the many places his family lived before moving to Binghamton.  He graduated from Albany College of Pharmacy and operated the Junior High Pharmacy in Binghamton. He speaks of his involvement in the community organizations such as the Binghamton Exchange Club, Binghamton Recreation Commission, and the Kalurah Temple.  He speaks of professional organizations he is a member of, such as, the National Association of Retail Druggists and N.Y.S. Board of Pharmacy. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Recording 48 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Perhach, Michael M. ; Politylo, Nettie Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-07-12 Date Modified Date on which the resource was changed. 2016-03-27 Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Broome County Oral History Project Extent The size or duration of the resource. 25:51 Minutes ; 6:25 Minutes https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/e42f4e22150aeb27d56d119ae9263248.mp3 737882d320fccabacbf91dfdff4caed7 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 Broome County Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource Broome County -- History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Description An account of the resource The Broome County Oral History Project was conceived and administered by the Senior Services Unit of the <a href="http://www.gobroomecounty.com/senior">Office for the Aging</a>. Funding for this project was provided by the Broome County Office of Employment and Training (C.E.T.A.), with additional funding from the Senior Service Unit of the National Council on Aging and Broome County government. The aim of this project was two-fold – to obtain historical information about life in Broome County, which would be useful for researchers and teachers, and to provide employment for older persons of a limited income. The oral history interviews were obtained between November 1977 and September 1978 and were conducted by five interviewers under the supervision of the Action for Older Persons Program. The collection contains 75 interviews and transcriptions, 77 cassette tapes, and a subject index containing names of individuals associated with specific subject terms. One transcribed interview does not have an accompanying audio recording. In 2005 Binghamton University Libraries’ Special Collections Department participated in the New York State Audiotape Project which undertook preservation reformatting of the audiotapes, and the creation of compact discs for patron use. Several interviews do not have release forms and cannot be reviewed. See the <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">finding aid </a>for additional information. Acknowledgment of sensitive content Binghamton University Libraries provide digital access to select materials held within the Special Collections department. Oral histories provide a vibrant window into life in the community. However, they also expose insensitive, and at times offensive, racial and gender terminology that, though once commonplace, are now acknowledged to cause harm. The Libraries have chosen to make these oral histories available as part of the historical record but the Libraries do not support or agree with the harmful narratives that can be found in these volumes. <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/libraries/about/collections/digital/">Digital Collections</a> are created for educational and historical purposes only. It is our intention to present the content as it originally appeared. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright  Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ben Coury, Digital Web Designer Yvonne Deligato, Former University Archivist Shandi Ezraseneh, Student Employee Laura Evans, Former Metadata Librarian Caitlin Holton, Digital Initiatives Assistant Jamey McDermott, Student Employee Erin Rushton, Head of Digital Initiatives David Schuster, Senior Director for Library Technology and Digital Strategies Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1977-1978 Relation A related resource <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections, Broome County Oral History project</a> Template: Simple Audio Player with Transcription This template displays an audio player by Amplitude.js with a scrollable transcription which is loaded from the "Transcription" metadata field. This template displays an audio player with the first attached image file as the 'cover image'. For its audio source, the template looks for the first attached audio file. If additional audio files exist, they should be combined using audio editing software, or a separate Omeka item should be made for each part. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Petras, Louise Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Caganek, Anna Date of Interview 1978-07-15 Collection Broome County Oral History Project Date of Digitization 2016-03-27 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 23:11 Minutes Streaming Audio Streaming URL <a href="https://eternity.binghamton.edu/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE55999">Interview with Louise Petras</a> Subject LCSH Petras, Louise -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Immigrants -- Interviews; Household employees -- Interviews; Chenango Bridge (N.Y.); Farms Accessibility Copy/Paste below: Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound, or alternative text from a visual medium Broome County Oral History Project Interview with: Mrs. Louise Petras Interviewed by: Anna Caganek Date of Interview: 14 September 1978 Anna: I am Anna Caganek, dating to viewer, talking to Mrs. Louise Petras. 234 Clinton St., Binghamton, New York. Date is September 14, 1978. Louise: Louise Petras. Louise Petras. Breginsky! [sic] Anna: Mm-hm. Louise: I came up here Anna: My mother and father, yes. Louise: My father came - 1900. My sister came - 1901. And my mother came - 1903. The youngest one. And my other sister, I came - 1905. And my other sister came - 1906. Came, we livin’ on Pennsylvania - that’s near Harrisburg. I was working, it was about, it was [unintelligible] Anna: Mm-hm. Louise: I was working at Good Samaritan Hospital six months, and then I went to Buffalo to my aunt, and I was working in a hotel. When I was 16 years old, I got married…like a crazy. You write that? Then I still was working houses all the time. Was working over and over…housework. I never work in a factory. And then I came to Binghamton. My husband, he was working up here, and I was cleaning houses for everybody. For Mrs. Hamlin, I was working 14 years; Mrs. Smith; Dr. Kane, John; Dr. Kane, Paul. I did - and Dr. Gregory. I can’t think if he was living on a, on a…knick…doctor, doctor…mm, I, I can’t think of his name now. Anna: Tell me what, though, when you came to Ellis Island what they did. Louise: And then I came here from the ship. So I went to…now [unintelligible] Anna: Ellis Island. Louise: Ellis Island. And I stay there overnight. Anna: They look you over…? Louise: They looked me over. Then next morning, I went on a tra, trantor [sic] living on Pennsylvania. Anna: What was the name of the - you came, the ship? Louise: Kaiser Willhelm. I came on Kaiser Willhelm. And [laughs] [foreign], we sleep over and [foreign]. Anna: Mm-hm. Louise: And I tell you, I never see so many people in a ship. And I got lice now. I tell you. [laughs] So when, when I came to, to Lebanon, my mother first was doing my hair. Clean my hair. So I didn’t have any no more. Anna: Do you know when you got married, or where you got married? Louise: Oh, I ain’t got married ‘till - ‘cause I was 13 years old. And then I went up to Buffalo and I was working up there in a hotel, in a kitchen. Anna: Mm-hm. Louise: And then I was - I have typhoid fever. I was, eh, for 11 weeks I was sick. And I thought, “I’m gonna go.” But, I guess they didn’t want me up there. So then, you know…I have kids after kids - kids after kids. So when I moved from Buffalo to Lebanon - back to Lebanon [Pennsylvania] - I still was working. And…[foreign] I wanna say something, you know…I was working in Buffalo, housework, every place. Then I went back again to Victor, Buffalo. And I was working up there, I don’t know how many years. That was my job. And here I was, working all over the doctors. I was working, I guess, 14 - 8, 16 years after Mrs. Hamilton, and she had the drug store. But, housework. And then for John Smith’s wife, I was working housework. Dr. Kane, John, I was working housework. Dr. Paul Kane, I was working…Mrs. - Dr. Marino, I was working up there year and a half. Then I went back… Anna: And what’s the name of the…was, uh, the doctor? So I didn’t even know…? Louise: Dr. Pollmak, over two years. I was working hard, you know. I never worked in a factory because I didn’t understand factory. So I was working housework. Anna: Hm. Louise: And you know how that is when you have kids after kids. I have 14 kids. I have 11 boys and, and 2 girl - 3 girls. Now, I got two boys left and one girl. They, all of them died when they was 15…22. Then I was on a farm. I liked it in a farm up on Chenango Forks. We was up there only 10 years, and then move again, [unintelligible] Anna: Well, tell ‘em how nice the people were in those days. Louise: And that not, that time, the people was very nice. They help each other. If you need help, the people help you; if they need help, you help them. We never fight. ‘Cause they, they always was nice. Nadda, not like nadda. Anna: No. Louise: You won’t get any help now for them. And everything was cheap. So my mother paid $3.50 rent - we had five rooms. But they had water water outside - you had to carry it. I tell you: The people so nice to you. God, if you need this - if you need money, they lend you. If you need help, something like, uh…do you know how much we pay for a pound of pork chops? We pays $0.10 pound of pork chops; $0.04 a hot dogs pound; and $0.06 of beef for soup. How you like that? $0.25 for dozen eggs. The, we used to buy 100 pounds of sugar for $4.00. And 100 pounds of flour because my mother used to bake bread. Now, see how, how people was that time? How they helped each other? But now, lookit: They don’t pay any attention to nobody. I can’t understand how that’s gonna come. And I tell you this much: My grand, grandmother was 96 years when I went here. And she told us what’s gonna happen. And it’s coming! And nobody gonna wanna believe it. And it’s gonna be worse than it is. Because people don’t care; they don’t help each other like they used to do. I can understand why. There are still the kids stealing, they are killing. That’s what my great-grandmother said, that that’s what’s gonna come, and this is the year [it]’s coming. Now, believe me or not. Too bad I am not up there so I can tell you the straight how is it. But, nah. We paid, you know how much we paid for shoes? $0.50 a pair and $1.50 for the good one[s]. And $0.03 a yard for good, for make new clothes. Now, isn’t it nice up there that time? Anna: That was probably the 19…eh, the 20s and 30s. Like that. Louise: Yeah. Anna: Like, uh…19, uh… Louise: That was, that was what? Anna: 1920s? Louise: Not 30…? Yeah. Anna: 1930s…and, yeah. Louise: Yeah. That’s, that…people helped each other. Anna: 30s. And up to 19…um, uh, 40s, wasn’t it? Louise: Yeah. Everything - believe me, if you buy coat? $75.00. $75.00, or that was, was the best one. And when the hairdre- when the lady made dresses, she charge you $0.50 for dress. $0.03 for pound; $0.03 a yard, we bought. And then we had everything like that. You don’t believe that, and that’s true. It’s too bad that I can’t do it right straight, you know. To tell them what it what - what we went through. And in the summertimes, you should see the people. They was, my sister’s husband [laughs] was playing accordion and, eh, was dancing outside. Help each other, no- not like now. This is, this is awful what they’re now. [unintelligible] Yep, that’s, that’s true. That’s a, that’s a thing that I can…’course, I went a few days to school. A school home - Mrs. Lee used to teach us. And Ms. Hess come up, you know. Anna: That’s when you got your paper [proof of citizenship]? Louise: That’s when I got my paper. Anna: 1934? Louise: 1934, I guess. Yep. All the people was nice each other that time. That’s, I don’t think that never gonna happen no more. No. ‘Cause now, you’re afraid to go out. Outside. Anna: No cars then, days, so no… Louise: They didn’t have any - so much cars. There was few of them, but… Anna: Mm-hm. Louise: Boy, I tell you… Anna: How did you go, get to the farm? On the car, then? They, uh… Louise: We, we have a car; we have a truck on a farm. Anna: What did you do on the farm? Louise: We wha-farmer, and we was selling milk. And potatoes…and I took eggs: $0.25 a dozen. So…then I pick up the white…I went in a field. Pick, pick up the mushroom - the white ones, the early one. Bushels. I went up there every morning; I went up there, I came up the Main Street, and I said, “Here: Divide it. How much you want? How much you want?” Now sometimes, I made butter. When the flood hit, we didn’t have any, any place to get the milk, so…I made butter. That’s, that’s the way was my life. So…and I liked it ‘cause there was people. Anna: Everybody was happy. Louise: Everybody was happy and there was a people nice. They appreciate you when you come up there, but now? Look at now. I can understand. And believe me or not, it’s gonna be worse. You say, “I can understand.” Anna: What year did your husband die? Louise: My husband? Oh, he was, uh… Anna: He used to build houses. Louise: He used to build…my husband was a builder - he used to build, uh, houses. Stucco houses and every kind of, uh…that’s why he built, uh…up here, up on the six- Anna: Sokolovna? Louise: Huh? Anna: Sokolovna? Louise: Yeah! This, this one. Anna: Tell ‘em, tell ‘em. Louise: This, this…or… Anna: Tell ‘em. Louise: Well, they’re gonna, they’re gonna have to see this up there. My husband build that. Anna: Yeah, the Sokolovna. Tell ‘em. Louise: The Sokolovna up here, yes. Anna: Tell ‘em. Louise: Yes. Anna: Tell ‘em. Louise: My husband was good builder and everybody likes him. Even Father Cyril, when he was fixing something in a church. But, now? They won’t pay any attention to nobody. Anna: What did you go…? What did you do? Like, did you go out for a good time in Ithaca? Louise: Oh, no. Anna: No. Louise: We didn’t go for good time. We went with somebody got married - the wedding. But, we didn’t go to dance or something like that. Anna: Vacation? Louise: No, no. Never, no- Anna: But, you were happier, though? Louise: We was happy, I don’t care. But not, not like now. You gotta be scared now when you go out. Well, this is awful - everything. Believe me or not, and it’s gonna get worse. And believe me or not because I read the Bible - all Bible and there everything said. Anna: So, don’t…? Louise: Yeah, that’s true. That’s not, I’m not lying because I never lie, and I was working at rich people - doctors, everything. I never touched nothing. Anna: What church you go to? Louise: Uh, eh…what church we went? Anna: What church you go to? St. Cyril? Louise: St. Cyril, I’ll go. And then I was living on, uh, Rotary Ave., we went down, St. Thomas. Yes. And the people was happy. Now? Gosh. I don’t think take care of street, people across street on Rotary Ave. But now, you have to be afraid to go out. That’s why I don’t go out - because I’m afraid. One thing, um, [I’m] already 86 years and 6 months - 5 months. And I can’t see very good, so I have to sit in house. That’s…so there you are. That’s my story. Too, too bad I don’t know how to write. Because I went to school - we used to have the school home, you know. Twice a week, Mrs. Lee used to teach us. Anna: And what’s, eh…when you came to this country, you were how old were you when you came to…? Louise: I was 13 years old when I came here to this country. Nyet. Then I got a job down at Good Samaritan Hospital. Anna: Hm. Well, you came from Czechoslovakia, off, it was at that time Austria-Hungary. Louise: Yeah, that was, eh…it used to belong to Franz Joseph, that time. Anna: Yeah, yeah. Okay. Louise: But I, I came up here on, uh…what was the ship I told you? Anna: Yeah, you did. Louise: So not the way…well, be better for me if I sent somebody intact. Anna: Mm-hm. Could you think of anything else? Louise: I was in a hospital…I don’t know how many. The first, I was in that old, old hospital that was on a fifth floor, and we got out first. When was that? That storm? That, that come. Anna: Oh, you mean, like the…the big storm? Louise: Yeah, storm. And that, that building went like this. Anna: Shaking. Tell ‘em. Louise: Shaking [laughs]. Yeah. I used to tell the nurse how to supposed to clean and mass- Anna: You mean the City Hospital? Louise: And massage. Anna: City Hospital? Louise: No. Down, down…at City Hospital, I, uh… Anna: Wilson Memorial…? Louise: Wilson! Yeah. But, that was the old, old…that’s a long time- Anna: Uh-huh. Louise: -because I was up there. I don’t know how long. I used to massage the woman [sic]. You know? Anna: Yeah. Louise: And there was this one nurse, she said, “What are you doing?” I said, “So what? If she asks me, and her backs hurts, why not?” I used to help how much I could, and then I got so sick. Then I, five weeks. Fi- I think five weeks. Five weeks, I didn’t even talk to nobody, I didn’t even, any…just feed me by the, the tube. ‘Cause I have…wait a minute, what I did I have? Anna: Typhoid fever? Louise: No. Anna: Scarlet fever? Louise: Something I, I do know… Anna: I thought you had one of those. Louise: I forgot already. But, uh… Anna: Typhoid, didn’t you say? Louise: The, the first one…that was on my story - oh! I have ulcers. Anna: Oh, ulcers. Mm-hm. Louise: Yeah, the first one I was up there. And I used to, used to laugh at them, you know. I said, “Do you clean? Did you call this clean?” I said, “Gee, I could clean it for a few minutes and it look awful nice.” ‘Cause I’ve brought like that when I was in Europe, when I, when my mother left me, I was eight years old. And I started work, you know? And that’s why, that’s why I’m…if I clean, I clean. If I don’t, I don’t. I’ve been bragging, but everybody likes me. Especially when I make the home noodles. [clears throat] Anna: Tell ‘em. Louise: I used to make home noodles. Anna: Mmm. Louise: Up to Smiths? Boy, you should see. Anna: You ought to give me some if you’ve got ‘em so I can show the girls. Louise: You should see how they fight about it. God, I, for five eggs. I’ve, I made noodles for them. Anna: Mmm. Louise: Then I put hot butter on it? Oh, you should have seen them. No, I’m not bragging, but I tell you: Every place I was working, they likes me. Everybody, no matter who was. Yes. Anna: And that’s all? You can’t think of anything else? Louise: And that’s right, I can’t think of any-[laughs]. Anna: Are you sure? Louise: Yeah. But, don’t put me in a jail. Anna: Oh, okay. Louise: ‘Cause I don’t wanna go to jail now because there’s lots of- Anna: [chuckles] Louise: -bad guys up there. Anna: Well, you want me to stop it now? Louise: That’s okay. [foreign] Anna: [foreign] Louise: [foreign] Anna: [foreign] Louise: [foreign] Anna: Yeah, go on. Louise: 67…$67.00. 67 years old when I went for the first time for my Social Security. You know, when you get the money. Anna: So, Social Security? Louise: Social Security, something. I went in the court, and I asked the man, I said, “Are you sure this belongs to me?” I said, “I don’t wanna go jail.” And then he said, “Well, they need woman up there cook for them and clean.” I said, “Boy, if I go up there, they gonna be quiet.” [laughs] So the, two months later, they call me up. He said, “I got $280.00 for you.” I said, “No, I don’t, not want it. I don’t wanna go to jail.” And they started laughing. He said, “Don’t be afraid; that belongs to you.” ‘Cause I was 62 years, I didn’t went up there, asked, ‘till I was 57. Anna: 67. Louise: 67. So there you are. But, you know? It’s hard to talk now, this way. But, if I was with you? I, maybe I could have better one. Anna: No, that’s alright - you’ve said everything. Well, that’s it then, huh? I’ll shut it off now. Rights Statement This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. 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 Interview with Louise Petras Subject The topic of the resource Petras, Louise -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Immigrants -- Interviews; Household employees -- Interviews; Chenango Bridge (N.Y.); Farms Description An account of the resource Louise Petras talks about emigrating to the U.S. from Czechoslovakia at the age of thirteen, her work cleaning houses for a variety of people, and living on a farm in Chenango Bridge. She also discusses obtaining her citizenship papers. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Recording 49 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Petras, Louise ; Caganek, Anna Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-07-15 Date Modified Date on which the resource was changed. 2016-03-27 Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Broome County Oral History Project Extent The size or duration of the resource. 23:11 Minutes https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/137134ed55d700a93f9f06ef171f748a.mp3 6ca72646c329d32f82d13afcd4932890 https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/4d956c0161c37f66750e6f48cb63a05c.mp3 3d403180cca00615621c6586362fc382 https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/85d33821d20ae8651bb0036fde35ef0a.mp3 2822a9d7a5ef6cb03d9ccf004c940a6e https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/70a4d035ccc30f397276258c6bde9685.mp3 b3629bcb161497d458c00affb8a43cd5 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 Broome County Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource Broome County -- History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Description An account of the resource The Broome County Oral History Project was conceived and administered by the Senior Services Unit of the <a href="http://www.gobroomecounty.com/senior">Office for the Aging</a>. Funding for this project was provided by the Broome County Office of Employment and Training (C.E.T.A.), with additional funding from the Senior Service Unit of the National Council on Aging and Broome County government. The aim of this project was two-fold – to obtain historical information about life in Broome County, which would be useful for researchers and teachers, and to provide employment for older persons of a limited income. The oral history interviews were obtained between November 1977 and September 1978 and were conducted by five interviewers under the supervision of the Action for Older Persons Program. The collection contains 75 interviews and transcriptions, 77 cassette tapes, and a subject index containing names of individuals associated with specific subject terms. One transcribed interview does not have an accompanying audio recording. In 2005 Binghamton University Libraries’ Special Collections Department participated in the New York State Audiotape Project which undertook preservation reformatting of the audiotapes, and the creation of compact discs for patron use. Several interviews do not have release forms and cannot be reviewed. See the <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">finding aid </a>for additional information. 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Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright  Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ben Coury, Digital Web Designer Yvonne Deligato, Former University Archivist Shandi Ezraseneh, Student Employee Laura Evans, Former Metadata Librarian Caitlin Holton, Digital Initiatives Assistant Jamey McDermott, Student Employee Erin Rushton, Head of Digital Initiatives David Schuster, Senior Director for Library Technology and Digital Strategies Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1977-1978 Relation A related resource <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections, Broome County Oral History project</a> Template: Simple Audio Player with Transcription This template displays an audio player by Amplitude.js with a scrollable transcription which is loaded from the "Transcription" metadata field. 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Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Planck, Elodia de Hoyos Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Politylo, Nettie Date of Interview 1978-08-14 Collection Broome County Oral History Project Date of Digitization 2016-03-27 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 34:06 Minutes ; 4:11 Minutes ; 14:48 Minutes ; 36:19 Minutes Streaming Audio Streaming URL <a href="https://eternity.binghamton.edu/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE56002">Interview with Elodia de Hoyos Planck</a> Subject LCSH Planck, Elodia de Hoyos -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Immigrants -- Interviews; Binghamton (N.Y.); Endicott Johnson Corporation -- Employees - -Interviews; Cigar industry; Nearly New Shop; China Painting; Patronesses Ladies of Charity; Mexican culture Accessibility Copy/Paste below: Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound, or alternative text from a visual medium Broome County Oral History Project Interview with: Elodia de Hoyos Planck Interviewed by: Nettie Politylo Date of interview: 14 August 1978 Nettie: This is Nettie Politylo, interviewer, talking to Elodia de Hoyos Planck of Glenwood Road, Binghamton, NY, on August 14 ,1978. Elodia, will you please tell me about life and experiences in the community? Elodia: I came to the United States in 1931 with my parents, two brothers and sister and we came to San Antonio, Texas. We lived there three years and then a friend of my father's that lived in Endicott asked him to come here because he thought, that during the Depression, and he thought it would be better for us to be here and we, he sent a taxi, a limousine taxi after us. We started to work, my sister worked as a nurse's aide, I started to work in the cigar factory and my brother worked in the restaurant. My dad worked wherever he could, and of course, he worked for EJ for a while. I met my husband in 1933 and we got married in 1936, and since then I have been living here in Binghamton, for, since 1931. What would you like to, what else would you like to ask me, Nettie? Nettie: At this point, I would like to ask you, you say you had worked in the cigar factory, what did you do there? Elodia: I used to be spotter—they used to call them spotters. I used to spot the bad cigars and, then, throw them out and see that they were perfect. Nettie: How did that procedure go about? Elodia: They had boxes with trays on them, and each tray consisted of so many cigars, 24 cigars, and then I would see that every one was perfect and then they, of course, would send to different parts of the world, you know, United States and even out of the United States. Nettie: I mean, what would you do if you saw something wasn't just right? Elodia: I throw it away—we usually, they would sell them for as not perfect, imperfect. Nettie: All you would have to do is to spot them if they are good or bad, right? You didn't actually have to fix the cigar? Elodia: No, no. Nettie: Just have to spot them. Elodia: Just to spot them. Nettie: Where was that located? Elodia: That was on Emma Street where later on—ah—ah—Ansco took over because the cigar factory—ah—ah went out of business. Nettie: What was the name of the cigar factory? Do you remember? I asked several people and they just cannot remember the name. Elodia: I could find out for you from a friend, her father was a foreman there—I can't remember the name of it. I go back and look at my records. Nettie: Did you work there very long? Elodia: No, I think I worked there three years and then, of course, when they closed why then I went to work for EJ. Nettie: I think most people did that, didn't they?  Elodia: Yes, that was a Godsend—EJ was a very good place to work for, at those times. I worked at different jobs—stitching and different jobs. Then let me see—I was going to tell you—I went to school in Endicott—night school for a year and after that I taught myself to read and write. My mother and dad lived in Binghamton, then, of course, when I got married and lived in Binghamton, since then. Nettie: How many children did you have? Elodia: I have three children. One is in Ann Arbor and he is an engineer, and then, I have one is in Mexico City who work for—sh—someone some company who is connected with United States they sell hospital things—he's like a market researcher and my youngest son, Ernest, is an engineer—he worked for Ansco. He was laid off and now works for Universal Instrument. He has two children, also and let's see I became involved after—I became involved after my children left home. I became involved with the Ladies Patronesses—Ladies of Charity is an organization that helps the community—especially the First Ward—and we do various things like—ah—we have a store, clothing store, that we help the poor with also we give good to the needy, and we do eye exam—not examinations—but it's the—ah—we go and test the children in schools for eye defects, among other things, that's we do we help—we are associated with Catholic Charities. I was president in 1972 and then I became involved with china painting and I do that as a hobby, also, sometimes I sell it in order to get more china. I enjoy that very much. Nettie: Elodia, how did you get involved in this china painting? Elodia: Well—friend of mine asked me if I would like that. There was a teacher in Hillcrest, Mrs. Gregory of Gregory Avenue and she is 87 years old. She is one of the best in the country. I took probably between four and five years with her and she is unable to paint now but she's one of the best. Nettie: What is the procedure of your china painting? How do you go about this china painting? Elodia: OK—china painting—I get the green china—it is not the green china—I get the china from the different factories—stores, rather out of town. First, I put my pattern on with a special pencil, then proceed with painting. Some patterns you have to fire them three or four times or more and china is getting very high price now—of course, gold is very expensive, so we are trying not to paint with gold—the way they used to do years ago. It is very intricate work and of course, we like to say that we are porcelain artists not china painters—we are porcelain artists because we do it—on porcelain. I go to seminars, you know, in different places like Syracuse or wherever they are near once a year to see other teachers paint and it is a very lost art which is coming back quite rapidly, which is quite interesting. Nettie: Elodia, where was this started this art from England—the history about this? Elodia: Well, as far as I remember it was started in England in 1500s—I think it was (if you could give me a minute I can look it up). Nettie: No, we do not need to know exactly. Elodia: All right—what they used to do—they used to be very secretive about it—they didn't want anyone to know about it and they started to do china painting mostly with decal and then they would gold it or paint shadows on it and they they would gold it—and then there was one vase that Louis XV had—even when he died it was worth like $2200 and that has been—since then, of course, there had been lot of painters that have come mostly from England and France, Germany, but we are rapidly becoming one of the first in this business—Americans, we are really going strong on that. Nettie: Now, when you make your paintings, do you do this free hand or—? Elodia: I can—most of the times I do—lot of times—sometimes if I want to copy some very old pattern—I can—put some, you know, from that pattern I want. I rather have my own patterns because then it is so much easier than if I am trying to copy it—copying is much harder than doing it yourself. Nettie: When you do it yourself, it is more you, right, or it is original. Elodia: Yes, yes—authentic. I am very interested in doing lamps. I'm trying to match old lamps, painting the globes. I have had very good success with making four of them and I find that some of the colors are very hard to copy—there isn't the color as they used to be—because some of those red colors require lot of gold in them so they are very hard to fire—if you fire them to a higher degree than your cone specifies you can have a disaster—they'll melt with even 50° over it—so it is very complicated when it comes to glass. Nettie: When you are painting—are the paints made out of vegetables? Years ago they did— Elodia: No, the paints are—isn't that funny I read it when I was studying—it's gotten away from me but they are in powder form—then we have a special oil that we mix it with then we paint with oil and turpentine along. Ah—let me see what I can tell you anything else about it—painting— Nettie: Is this lady, Mrs. Gregory, originally from England? Elodia: No, Mrs. Gregory was born here, right on Gregory Ave. They had a farm there—her and husband—and let me see—she started when she was 14 years old and she's 87 years old now—so, she painted up to about two years ago when her heart—she had a heart attack but she still paints. Every once in a while—she still paints and she took lessons from—ah—ah—Mrs.—again I have to look in my notes—anyhow this woman that she took lessons from went to NY and took lessons from Mrs. Provost, her name was, she took lessons from a woman in NY—she stayed a week and it cost her $500—at that time—which was about 65 years ago, something like that. When he came to Binghamton, Mrs. Gregory took two year lessons and she is—she is just an artist—a very gifted person and could draw very good without getting any education. The same teacher had her paint—you know—whole sets of dishes, painted a whole lot of sets—now she put patterns on two of my set of dishes. One is in—the boy in Mexico City has it—he had it—now it’s for 7 er 8 place setting and of course, platters sugar, creamer, etc. He had it appraised and they offered him $8000 in Mexico. He was so proud, he wanted to insure it and but he wanted to know just what it was worth and he insured it—they told they would gladly give him $8000. So I'm very proud of that. I have three sets myself—you know, of course my other son has a set that I did for him. Nettie: Sounds interesting. Elodia: It is—and of course it is very relaxing like some people relax with crochet and others with you know, knitting, you know and I relax with china painting. Nettie: Elodia, since you came from Mexico it is always intriguing to me to ask something about the customs of Mexico. Elodia: Well, let's see we have three—uh—three kinds of people—elite, middle class and poor. Even today, they still have the same customs and I know some foreigners, some people, think we are cruel because we had maids—but we always take care of the maids—my mother never had less than three maids—of course, at the time when we were there—why they were very cheap to have—like $20 a month plus room and board—but my mother always saw that they were taught to read and write and she always gave them a day off—she clothed them—she made clothes for her whenever she could or bought clothes for her—at those days most of them were done by hand—the sewing and that’s one of the customs—they are much harder to get now because they are going to factories—but the factories are taking advantage of them because knowing they are ignorant—you know—they take advantage of them and really they are much better off being a maid in people's houses. Now, my son has a maid—she made the mistake by having a child out of wedlock but my son built a little room for her with a shower and, you know, shower and bedroom—he takes care of the child—same time she is—maid in his home. So, you know, some of the poor are alleviated that way—now you know, people go to Mexico and they say, "Oh, there is so much poverty,'' but it isn’t true because in a sense this government cannot instruct them or get through to them that they will help them if they need help. They'd rather beg than accept government help. Now in the past 20 years Mexico has progressed in education very well—the universities in Mexico are free—like universities—like the college here like SUNY and Broome—and they are free but naturally they have to still pay room and board but free tuition. Now—there still—especially in the small cities they're still ten years behind United States. Of course, we have imitated you in a lot ways because of course, your ways are better. I find Americans are very willing to help us—to help the Mexican people. One of the things—I admire about the Americans they are not selfish—they are very unselfish and well we have learned a lot from you and I think—I—we have a lot better relationships than we had years ago. Customs—let's see we still have the elite—still marry with the high class of people—sometimes for convenience, not all time—I think they're changing too—where the girls couldn't go out without a chaperone, now they could go—alone—now and they're no more lenient towards that—but we still have a lot the customs we had before—like we still wear black if someone dies for two or three months according to relative—we are very close families—we always have uncles, aunts, cousins, second cousins, third cousins—we are very close together—we keep track of each other—usually when we have gatherings, we—it’s usually just the family—because it’s so big—because we always say, “oh well, it’s the third cousin—we have got to have him.” Now let me see—Northern Mexico is very arid—very hot—the middle part which is Mexico City and up to the coast of Acapulco is very lush—then you have Yucatán and Degalt, also very arid—is very hot and lot of poverty—a lot of poverty in that region—they're trying to—you know—make life better for them—well, it takes years and years especially, the Indians, they still live in little huts, you cannot make them change because they think the hut since it is made with palm hedged roofs—why they think it is much cooler and they go through the same thing that their grandfather, their great grandfather taught them to do and they till the land with such primitive tools. You just can't change them—they just don't want to change—some do come to the city, they're miserable when they come to the city—people will say, "Gee, look at those poor things”—they're not poor—they like to be themselves—this is the way they were taught by their parents—they just don't know any other way. If they have enough to eat and a roof over their heads they don't care for anything else. Nettie: Elodia, tell me something about the social life. Elodia: Of the government or of the people? Nettie: The social life of the people. Elodia: Well we have, of course, the fiestas like you have—like the 4th of July—this comes in which is 16th of September, there. We have fireworks, we have parades, we have almost the same things that you have. Our most important time is Christmas time, of course, Easter time too. They are two special events for us. They are, Christmastime 16th to 24th, we have a custom that we go from—different families get together and we go to Mass at 6 o'clock—we have special ceremonies and then after that we have a late supper—a 12 o'clock supper—like a 12 o’clock supper—that goes on until the 24th and on the 24th we have, of course, have a big feast like we have here. Now we have trees but before we had altars because it was hard to come by. It is very religious time. Even now they have about 80% are Catholics—there is quite a few Protestants now but predominant are Catholics. We have—in the part that I come from they have a little celebration 5th of May—it is the beginning of the crops—and all the Indians or the poor people there's a group of people, just like the Knight of Columbus, they get together, dress like the Indians used to, they have a Mass—in fact my mother donated like a little grotto to the out of town so they could have their feast there—and they still dance all those dances—they are colorful—this is only for the 5th of May and they bring their bread and some of the legumes, some of their crops to be blessed by the priests. All day long they have different dances—they have like a carnival atmosphere—you know, this is very important—they have mariachis which—a mariachi is a fellow—is group of young men or men who play different tunes of Mexico—usually they are primitive dances, you know, primitive dances—primitive music. They still are going on with all that. Nettie: For social life— Elodia: We still have dances at home or in halls, always with music. They still have serenades. They still serenade their girlfriend and if they are engaged why they bring three or four musicians and they sing under the window. Then of course, is is the custom the parents ask the young man and the musicians in for chocolate or something like that. Nettie: It Is romantic! (Laughing). Elodia: It's romantic—and it's always two or three o'clock in the morning because by then they had two or three drinks and are, of course, feeling gay and romantic and sing to them. Of course, we have the bullfights. Some people think it’s very cruel—but those bulls are trained just for that—they trained them—they bring them from Spain, sometimes—they train them to be very ferocious—a man has to know what he is doing in order to defend himself from the bull—of course, it is customary to kill the bull. The meat is always sent to the prisons which if there is another— (interruption). So anyhow the custom—oh—the meat goes to the jails—which is another thing another disgrace in Mexico—the jails are bad—but in each nation something has to be bad, that is one of the things that are bad in Mexico which has been in the papers lately, you know, how bad they are but I tell you they don't have the vandalism, murders that they have here—because when they say that they—shoot them if they find them in an act of vandalism or act—like abducting somebody—or stealing or killing somebody—they kill them on the spot, they don't have a trial for them—in this way America is very lenient. I'm very sorry, it is a very bad mistake—so, we have very bad conditions in the jails but believe me they think twice before they go to jail. Before, they, you know, commit something like when they started here to rebel, all those student started to rebel in Mexico City—also they wanted to do the same thing they did here. The President said, “OK, if you do that we'll start with cannons we will not fool around—we'll start fighting right away and they did—and they killed a few of the protestors and there never was another demonstration. It isn't that Mexico has a dictatorship—yes, they had quite a few presidents, bad presidents—that is the one of the reasons why we came here—the government was corrupt—my father got into politics—that's another story but they have had a very bad governmentship—how do you say—government and we have had ups and downs, past history revolutions and all that—what is better? To be strict with the people and show we have authority or let people get away with things? Nettie: That's right. Elodia: I may be wrong but now the politicians here are not any more corrupt than in other countries—in fact, I think that they are not as corrupted as in other countries. They are doing the best they can—I find that people demand too much from the politicians—they're human beings like we are—sure, they get big salaries but on the other hand look at the risk they—taking—they are our leaders, they should be able to make more money—as they are the leaders—they take a lot responsibility—oh well, so they find this politician that politician took a little money from this or that—well, maybe they don't get enough money to represent the people like the people want to represent them—like, for instance, it takes money to be dressed the way supposed to be dressed, to live in luxurious homes—they have to live in luxurious home—they are the representatives of United States. I do think they should be—the people that have beautiful homes so that other countries will say—well look—all right, I think they should be treated equally in some instances but they also are to be treated with respect because we are the people who elected them so, they should have a certain kind of aura towards them, you know, something like, not that they are better than we are but they do have a better position because that's the way we want them to be—they have to be. Is there anything else? Nettie: Well, Elodia, I'm always interested in foods and recipes of Mexico. Elodia: In the first place, the Indians taught us to use the maize—the corn that is the staple in Mexico—they would, the kernel of the corn, they would grind, now, years ago, they used to grind by hand in a stone made for that purpose with, sort like a rolling pin but made of stone. Now, of course they have machines that grind the corn and make into dough—that dough is made into a tortilla, like a pancake, and is cooked like a pancake and from the tortilla we make, we stuff them we call it a taco because, “let's call it a bite to eat"—the tortilla can be cut into 5 or 6 or 8 pieces—could be used as like a piece of bread to eat with a meal. Now the tortilla is very essential in Mexico. The scientists have found out that Mexicans have very good teeth because the corn when is eaten does not leave a residue that is left by bread—so, that is why they think the Mexicans have good teeth. Now, beside the tortilla, like I said, we have chili which is very hot, we use them in sauces. We don't—the restaurants cook very spicy with very hot peppers but the people don't have that hot stuff—they make a sauce, of course, it is up to each individual to use it—now we have the tacos—tacos are fried, beans are fried, the meat is made into a like a stew—you put in tortilla and you then roll it—you call it a taco—also, we use that for an enchilada. The enchiladas have another procedure—we put them through with a sauce made of chili powder which is not hot—chili is made with dry peppers for that purpose and then sometime we use it as they are but it's ground to the powder—the tortillas pass through the sauce and then you put the fried onions with cheese, roll them and bake in the oven 10 minutes—you call them enchiladas. The tamales are a very long—intricate procedure—it takes a long time, it’s not complicated but takes a long time. The tamale is made into ah—right—the meat is cooked with garlic and spices and ground and then the dough is made with meat juice—broth—soup. You make it into a stiff dough and then you make it into a corn husk and then put your meat in the middle, roll it, and then you cook it—probably for one half hour because the meat has been cooked already. The masa, which is the dough, is cooked in about 20 minutes—which is called the tamale because it is cooked in the cornhusk—and it is a tradition which comes from years and years. We eat very little pastry. They do now, in Mexico City, you find the most famous bakeries in the world—they use a lot of pastries, but only at night. The Mexicans have a very good breakfast which consists of sausage, eggs, sometimes pork chops and even steak. Then the meal, main meal, between 2 and 3, they have a big meal first comes the soup, then comes rice—we fry our rice—then comes the meat, it’s either made into roasted charcoal or in the oven. After the meat comes the vegetable or the salad and we very seldom have pies or cakes—we have fruit piece for dessert, it’s plentiful there. This is 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock now at night when people come to visit you it is usually between 4 and 6 and the custom is to serve chocolate and little bit hojarasca—which is a cookie made very rich—that's what we offer them, you know, between 4-6—now the supper which we call dinner here is very light usually is a sweet roll and hot chocolate or milk or coffee—it is always 8-9 o'clock—a very light meal, of course, they have their meal at noon. That's it. The spices we use are entirely different than the Italian or Americans use. We use cilantro—which is cardamom seeds—no—I can't think of the name in English—we have cumin seeds—we use in rice or meats—we use a lot of almonds to cook with our meats which is cooked into a paste, thickened like meatballs or like in stew. The chili con carne which is so popular is not done as it is done here—probably it is Americanized. The way I was brought up I was cutting tiny little pieces of pork or beef, we fry that then of course, we cook the pinto beans which is cooked ahead of time and then when the meat is done we put the pinto beans along with chili powder, garlic & onions and then we simmer for a long time and that is our chili con carne, which is a little different than they make here. It's good here too, but I mean, but it has been changed some, but that was the original chili con carne. We use pork in our tamales—when we make our tamales—or we make like you would call a stew with green peppers and sauce of green peppers entirely—for pies and cakes there are few recipes, we use flan, quite a bit, which is like a custard only is a little bit sweeter, it’s almost like a custard, we have it at night, sometimes, when we do that. We also make, here we go again, buñuelos—it's a very thin like a pancake—put one over our knees—put on knees—proceed to pull—until it becomes very, very thin—and we fry that out—sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. This is the custom that we usually make them at Christmas because the weather is hot—now Christmas it is cooler so we make them that time of year so we call them buñuelos. What else could I tell you about Christmas? We take a roast beef—you know—you say, “what am I going to do with a roast beef?”—so you make it into a loaf, hash, or meat patties. Our meat patties or croquettes as you call it, we use them different, we take the leftover meat, grind it—then put into—eggs with peaks—beaten egg whites with a tiny bit of flour—then we fry and using leftovers we make a sauce with tomato, garlic and onion—put sauce on top of croquettes—(meat patties leftovers with)—we always have—most of our meals are with rice, meat and beans—even on the hottest day we have soup. The soup consists of a bone with meat, throw in whole carrots, a half cabbage, cut into quarters, pear, apple, tomato and onion. We don't use garlic on soup—soup of the day—sometime—we have corn soup and cream soups—but this is our popular one. Nettie: Elodia, this sounds interesting—sounds like a cookbook. Is there anything else you want to add to this? Elodia: No, unless you want to go into custom dress— Nettie: That would be interesting to know. Elodia: I'm, all right, making too many ahs—I've got to make my thoughts together. We, every state in Mexico has different custom—costume. The custom of the whole country, whole republic, is embroidered blouse which is white, very pretty embroidery—skirt is made of green—because the flag is green, white and red and we have an eagle in the middle of our flag—usually custom of the whole country—colors are exactly like the flag on we painted by hand or embroidered by beads and very colorful—as I say, each state has their own costume—towards the Yucatán Peninsula—they have entirely different like a muumuu—not too white—like a muumuu embroidered on top, then they have a skirt embroidered with white and then they have another with lace and that is the custom of Indians—they usually, even now, they dress all the time. Now—toward the Tampico—Veracruz—which is another port is near the Gulf—they have all white made of very tiny plants—and is in layers—one after another. We have folklorico—a group of dancers—dance of every state—it's different—when it comes to New York, if anyone hears about it should see it—it's beautiful, colorful being handed down from generation to generation—it's authentic—from the primitive stage to now. The poor people of Indian people still have a custom to put their shawl around their shoulder and then cross it and they carry babies on their back. Now I can see the Americans with their carriages on their back—carriers, almost like that—child sleeps and is  comfortable because next to mommy or when carried in her stomach when they're tiny—that's only the poor people. Naturally, rich people have maids to carry babies like that in a carriage. Now we are clothes conscious—now we might not have a beautiful furniture or the house elegantly furnished—but we are careful how we dress, for instance, like in the afternoon when we go to the plaza which is a circle, its middle made of concrete. The middle of plaza there is a band concert—always a band—since we have hot days, at night we go and listen—government pays for that. Gee, I have been getting away from everything, Nettie—I have told you so much and yet I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted to—my mind goes from one thing to another thing. Nettie: You told me quite a few things. I understand you belong to a charity—sounds quite interesting. Elodia: Patroness Ladies of Charity that is a group of ladies of charity that—uh—is an association of charity of ladies of the United States. It was formed in 1960 and became one of the 43 countries in the world to have its own association. We—the Patronesses are devoted to do good for the community—right here in Binghamton. We have a store on the corner of Jeanette and Clinton St. Anybody in need of clothing can come with a letter or note from either their priest, minister or social worker. Even though we are Catholics we serve everyone that comes or anyone that come and says, "Look, I am in need of clothing," or, "I'm in need of groceries—because either my husband is sick or is not working,” and we try to help all we can. We have—we also sell clothes and other articles—with the money that we acquire from sale we put back in to buy shoes for the needy children as they start school. Sometimes, we help people in need that have no money—we help them for one week or so until they can go to their own church or social services or go to Catholic Charities to be helped. We have done this quite often—we have a Sister Genevieve who works with us—she is tremendous help—she goes to houses when she finds out they are in need of something—sometimes we pay the electric bill so the electricity is not turned off—or the gas bill or other necessities or we buy their drugs because, maybe they haven't gone through Medicare and like that for them.  Nettie: I say you have an interesting project that you are in. What was the name of the store? Elodia: Patroness Lady of Charity, Nearly New Shop, Clinton Street, 797-2033. If you have no way to come down, sometimes we can delegate someone to come after you and you can pick out clothes you need. They, also, take you home—it has to be—people who can't get there—we try not to emphasize this because so many people have a cousin, nephew or a niece who can bring them down. Now we have certain hours—we close Saturday in the summer. Other days, Tuesday and Thursday 10-3 o'clock. Now if by some reason or other you have to have clothing, as I say, you can call the shop and we'll send someone after you and we'll get you there, somehow. Nettie: That's wonderful work you're doing for the people. Well, Elodia, I must say that was a wonderful interview. Thank you very much. Elodia: You're very welcome. Rights Statement This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. 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 Interview with Elodia de Hoyos Planck Subject The topic of the resource Planck, Elodia de Hoyos -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Immigrants -- Interviews; Binghamton (N.Y.); Endicott Johnson Corporation -- Employees - -Interviews; Cigar industry; Nearly New Shop; China Painting; Patronesses Ladies of Charity; Mexican culture Description An account of the resource Elodia de Hoyos Planck talks about her birth in Mexico, arriving in the U.S. with her family and eventually arriving in Binghamton, NY. She discusses working in the cigar factory as a spotter, in the Endicott-Johnson Corporation as a stitcher, getting married and having three sons who became engineers. She speaks about her hobby of china painting, her volunteer work in the community, membership in the Patronesses Ladies of Charity and as an volunteer in this organization's store, the Nearly New Shop. She also explains customs, dress and food of the Mexican culture. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Recording 50A ; Recording 50B ; Recording 50C ; Recording 50D Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Planck, Elodia de Hoyos ; Politylo, Nettie Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-08-14 Date Modified Date on which the resource was changed. 2016-03-27 Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Broome County Oral History Project Extent The size or duration of the resource. 34:06 Minutes ; 4:11 Minutes ; 14:48 Minutes ; 36:19 Minutes https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/b95df1eaf662d4e4f881efde7fa32246.mp3 9e4263b73886217b4e37fc51f8a62be5 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 Broome County Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource Broome County -- History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Description An account of the resource The Broome County Oral History Project was conceived and administered by the Senior Services Unit of the <a href="http://www.gobroomecounty.com/senior">Office for the Aging</a>. Funding for this project was provided by the Broome County Office of Employment and Training (C.E.T.A.), with additional funding from the Senior Service Unit of the National Council on Aging and Broome County government. The aim of this project was two-fold – to obtain historical information about life in Broome County, which would be useful for researchers and teachers, and to provide employment for older persons of a limited income. The oral history interviews were obtained between November 1977 and September 1978 and were conducted by five interviewers under the supervision of the Action for Older Persons Program. The collection contains 75 interviews and transcriptions, 77 cassette tapes, and a subject index containing names of individuals associated with specific subject terms. One transcribed interview does not have an accompanying audio recording. 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Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright  Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ben Coury, Digital Web Designer Yvonne Deligato, Former University Archivist Shandi Ezraseneh, Student Employee Laura Evans, Former Metadata Librarian Caitlin Holton, Digital Initiatives Assistant Jamey McDermott, Student Employee Erin Rushton, Head of Digital Initiatives David Schuster, Senior Director for Library Technology and Digital Strategies Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1977-1978 Relation A related resource <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections, Broome County Oral History project</a> Template: Simple Audio Player with Transcription This template displays an audio player by Amplitude.js with a scrollable transcription which is loaded from the "Transcription" metadata field. 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Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Riggins, Olga Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Caganek, Anna Date of Interview 1978-04-27 Collection Broome County Oral History Project Date of Digitization 2016-03-27 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 27:45 Minutes Streaming Audio Streaming URL <a href="https://eternity.binghamton.edu/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE56008">Interview with Olga Riggins</a> Subject LCSH Riggins, Olga -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Children of immigrants -- Interviews; Endicott Johnson Corporation -- Employees; Hotels -- Employees Carlova Perfume Factory; Hotel Billingshurst; Christ the King Church Accessibility Copy/Paste below: Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound, or alternative text from a visual medium Broome County Oral History Project Interview with: Mrs. Olga Riggins Interviews by: Anna Caganek Date of interview: 27 April 1978 Anna: I am Anna Caganek, the interviewer, talking to Olga Riggins. 302 Kent Ave, Endwell, New York. On April 27, 1978. Okay, so…now you could tell me about your life and your experiences. Olga: Well, my parents were born in Europe. See, my father came from Uhersky Brod. He was born in 1884, and my mother was born in Holicek [sic], 1896. Her maiden name was Konecny. They had a 5 year courtship in Europe, before they were married. Then they settled down and had a grocery store. Two children were born in Europe and my father came to this country in 1910. And one of his first jobs was working in the Fairbanks for about 7 dollars a week. And they moved in with some relatives - I remember that. It was very reasonable - I remember that. And let’s see…after that… I don’t know his other jobs, but…oh, one boy was born in America, he lived to be about a year old. And there was a cholera epis-epidemic at the time. So he died. And then about a year later, I was born. And I was born right on Glenwood Ave. And downstairs was a grocery store and that my mother was working there, too. What else for now…? No? [foreign] Well, let’s see…where else do we go from there? Anna: Take your time. Olga: Well, my father had an education in Europe - a business course. So he was a businessman, even in Europe. So when he came to this country, he started up a store on Clinton St. I think the number was 186 at the time…and then I think at that address, two more brothers were born. And he had the store, and he framed pictures, and he sold religious articles, and all kind of foreign cards in all the First Ward, very popular store. And then much later, he had another store on 60 Glenwood Ave. And at that address, my sister was born; she was the last of the six children. Let’s see, after she had six children, um…yeah, my parents not only had a store - they also had an icehouse. And that was very interesting because all the children helped, including myself. I almost forgot about that…that was really good. Yeah, and everybody came with their cars and wagons, business was good. We really, really enjoyed it. It was a gold mine. Anna: How much was the ice then? Olga: Oh! Well, the ice? 50 cents for 100 pounds, and I think 10 cents for 25 pounds. I used to enjoy working there. That was really fun. Anna: A time when there was no refrigerators? Olga: Yeah, there was no refrigerators at the time, so that was good. And you, there was a nice hotel across the street from us, a, a hotel. Hutta’s Hotel. That was really nice; I remember that. And where a beautiful garden there was around there. And the people across the street would get their beer, they go with pitchers, buy their beer across the street. That was really nice. Now there’s a gas station. Let’s see, after that? I’m trying to think…well, I got married when I was living on Glenwood Ave. I met my husband in a shoe factory, and we have one son. Let’s see…I think I stayed about 3 years in E. J.’s [Endicott Johnson]. And then, um…before then or afterwards, I worked in a restaurant as a short order cook for about 2 years. And at one time, I put in a couple years at Carlova Perfume Factory. That was interesting. Anna: What did they do there? Olga: At Carlova’s? Anna: Mm-hm. Olga: Well, we were packing things. Some of them filled powder boxes, some filled the perfume bottles. I remember packing bath salts, packing bath salts and putting them in boxes. That was interesting work, but that was just part time. And I was also a maid in a Hotel Billinghurst, which is gone now. That was interesting work, too. Anna: What were you doing? Olga: I was a maid. I was a maid in the Hotel Billinghurst for a couple years. And I spent a lot of time working in a store. See, I enjoyed selling things; I helped a lot in the icehouse and in a store. That kept me pretty busy. And let’s see, what else? Dan? Dan, my husband, was a furnace man - he installed furnaces. That was good work. And he retired…oh, I guess he was, you know, 62. Only 62 years old, he retired. Anna: And what does your son do? Olga: Oh, yeah. Our son has a good job. He works in the Gas and Electric Company. He went to Broome Tech. for 2 years; that was his education. And he is doing doing very well working for the Gas and Electric Company for the last, about 11 years now. Anything else now? Um, that’s our tape, our tape. What about my sister? Well, we don’t care about her - she getting [unintelligible] Anna: You could tell ‘em. Olga: Well, let’s see…should I tell ‘em about my brother’s [unintelligible]? They don’t care about that. Let’s see…the second oldest brother died. He worked in Links. He died about 5 years ago, and then almost 2 years ago, a younger brother died. He worked for the printing company: Hall Printing. He died. The rest of us live. Anna: And you could say that! Olga: And the rest of us live. Well, only 2 died and there’s 4 out of 6, so that isn’t so bad. Anna: How many children did your mother have? Olga: 6 - well, one died, so that was actually 7. 7. Anna: 7. Olga: There was 7, so there’s 4 survivors. And my father had interesting work. when the people want to send money to Europe, he was very handy. He had a business with a bank in New York, and the people would bring their money. He was a very good, experienced man - a good writer and a businessman. So they would pay him a small fee and he would send their money to Europe. That was a good service for the people in the First Ward. They enjoyed sending a little money to Europe and he liked to do that for them. And he was one of the first people to have a car. We lived on Clinton St. Nobody else had a car. His first Ford…boy, that was, everybody liked that. They would go for a ride. Anna: You don’t know what year, right? Olga: Oh, I’m trying to think if it was 1923? Anna: Mm. Olga: About 1923 ‘cause I’m standing on the train and I was born in 1916. Let’s see…he did that, what else did he do? Of course, back to Europe again, it’s too late for that. Anna: No. Olga: Too late? While my mother was in Europe, her father had a good job.  He was like an overseer, sort of like a plantation, and my mother was a young girl. And she used to weed out the sugar cane. I remember her telling me that. Anna: Mm. Olga: She was very active and liked liked to help out, so she enjoyed weeding out the sugar cane; that was one of her jobs. And then her mother wanted her to learn how to be a good cook and learn outside things, so she was hired out to a school teacher in Europe. So she cooked for a school teacher and lived in a very nice place. They had peacocks and everything there - I remember that. And lot of these fancy dogs. So my mother was, um, learning how to cook. And she was housekeeper and cook in this nice home. And after she got married, and my father told her she can’t work there anymore, so she enjoyed that. And when the school teacher took sick, my mother took over the class. She let her take over. This must’ve been a lower grade, I guess so. Any, elementary school. So my mother was smart enough to take over when the lady couldn’t make it. Anna: Mm-hm. Olga: That was a good job. There’s a lady here in Binghamton that worked for the same household: Mrs. Mizule. [sic] She worked for the same household. Yeah…and I always thought I could go to Europe sometime, but I don’t know…still hoping. And I, well, they don’t have to know about that cousin that, she died. She was the one that encouraged me to come. Yeah, she encouraged me to come. My cousin, Anna Kocecny. She really wanted me to come and the poor soul, she died Easter Day. She told me if I came to Europe, she’d show me where my grandparents lived, where they’re buried, all the interesting things. And especially, I’d like to see that castle where she had been working as a hostess. Someday, maybe I’ll still get there. ‘Cause I still have a few cousins there. Anna: About the baths? Olga: Oh, they have these mineral baths in Europe that, a lot of the Americans go there. And I heard so many people that go to Europe tell me about those mineral baths - the Health Baths. Now, that’s one of the places I’d like to go. The Health Bath…that would really be something. Anna: Is, is that the one that’s in Carlsbath, or…? Olga: No, that’s, uh…the one, um…it’s near Trnava. It’s, um…who has - Trnava, and what’s that other town? Oh, oh, I’ve heard of them. Anna: [unintelligible] Olga: No, no, no, I’ve heard it because they’ve been there. I can’t think of it now. [unintelligible] You know, those mineral baths, and it’s…their climates are so different there, their summers come early. And Americans come to this castle to be entertained. Someday, I gotta go there, see for myself all the things I hear about. And the same cousin said if I don’t get there, that our children and her children should get together and look over our European country where our ancestors came from. Anna: Mm. Olga: Gee, that’s a long tape. Anna: Yeah, it’s some [unintelligible] gonna say [unintelligible] Olga: Goodness. What else is new? Anna: And about your husband, what does he do? Olga: Well, he’s retired now. Anna: No? Olga: Well, he’s retired, but yeah…Dan’s re-Dan’s retired. Anna: He never worked in - oh, yeah! He worked in E. J. Johnson, right? Olga: Oh, yeah; 20 years. Yeah, Dan worked in E.J.’s 20 years and he got no benefits at the time. There was no Social Security, nothing. No retirement. 20 years for nothing. Very, you know, cheap labor, yeah. He put in 20 years. Then he worked for the various different, um, heating companies: Glenwood Heating and Statewide Heating. He worked for all of them. So he was very well-experienced with the, all kind of heating problems. Anna: Mm-hm. Olga: And he was very efficient around the house ‘cause anything breaks down…yeah, he could fix everything. Anna: And what, what did you do for entertainment? Olga: For entertainment? Not much. Anna: [laughs] Olga: Watch TV. No, I’m the kind that likes to go places and do things. I do a lot of volunteer work, I go to state hospital every month… Anna: Tell me about that. Olga: What, the state hospital? Anna: About when you come there and… Olga: What we do in the state hospital? Anna: Yeah. Olga: Well, I enjoy it because every month, we do something different. Now, I have lot of fun there because I never bowled in my life, and now I went bowling again. That was fun. And, uh, I’ve never been to a hayride. You go to the state hospital as a volunteer, I really enjoyed doing the things that the patients do. And they get to know you after a while. Then I go to Western Broome, made a lot of friends within the year. I got lot of friends in Western Broome because we have trips, and dinner dances, cover dish. And we have a lot of good times and I met a lot of nice people there. Anna: What ch-? Olga: Oh, and of course - what church? Anna: Not, no, what church did you go to? Olga: Well, I belong to Christ the King in Endwell, and I belong to Legion of Mary, Altar Rosary, uh, Golden Age. Very busy lady. Anna: [chuckles] Olga: I really enjoy being with people, and helping people, and being useful. Helping out anybody that needs help. And I know the senior citizens get phone numbers for all these things, so I tell people, “You can get help here, you can get help there.” So it’s good to be a senior citizen. Anna: Mm-hm. Olga: How long is the tape? [chuckles] Anna: Oh, God. Olga: How much longer? Anna: We got a lot more. Olga: I see like a, oh. I thought, I thought, oh… Anna: 90 - 92 minutes. Olga: Oh, I’m talking too fast. Oh, ours is only one hour, see. One hour. And you got, like, 10 minutes. This is a really, really big one. We talk a lot. Something else that won’t be blank? Anna: No. Olga: Let’s see…all the interesting things…well. We, we have a s-grandchild, my husband’s grandchild. Anna: Where do they live? Olga: Oh, the grandchild? They live in Littlestown, Pennsylvania. I married a widower who has 2 sons. The older one is a widower, and the younger one is remarried and has this, only grandchild that we have. Of course, our boy is still single, still looking. And he’s a very good boy - helps his parents any way he can. Anna: [unintelligible] Olga: Oh, lots of properties. Yeah, he’s a young fellow, but he likes to invest, so…he’s got investments for his old age. Let’s see… Anna: What were some of the most interesting things you like to do? Olga: My most interesting? Oh, nothing. Anna: Traveling, huh? Traveling. Olga: Traveling? Well, I enjoy going to, um, these religious - I enjoy going on these religious trips to Fatima near Canada because that’s the only way I got to Canada - by going with the church group. Anna: How about a place where they, where the people were dressed differently? Olga: I didn’t go there, you didn’t take me to such a town. You didn’t take me there, you didn’t take me. Now, where was I? I was talking about something…about my trips. Anna: Yeah. Olga: Yeah, if the churches and senior citizens didn’t have these trips, I probably wouldn’t go anyplace. My husband likes to drive, but not too far. I don’t know. He likes to go for a ride but not too far. So by going on these different excursions and bus trips, I’ve been to a lot of places like Mount Airy Lodge. I probably never would have got there if it wasn’t for the Senior Citizens - it was very reasonable. And I went to Niagara Falls, I think 2 or 3 times already. He never took me - I had to take myself to go to Niagara Falls. Let’s see, where else do I go…? Anna: You like animals? Olga: Oh, animals? Oh, yeah. I like animals. Yeah, we have a cat - she must be 12 or 13 years old. Florence, she’s such a nice cat kitty. Anna: [chuckles] Olga: She’s really a pleasure, and she’s so smart like a dog. You walk out the house, she follow you. And she’s a lot, a lot of pleasure. ‘Course, we used to have a dog, but that’s old stuff. Anna: You ever go to the circus? Olga: Oh, that? Yep. We care about that? Anna: Yeah. Olga: I thought just history - this ain’t history. Well, I enjoyed the circus, and I used to go when they had ‘em in the tents, Stow Flats. Anna: Well, it’s history in a way. Olga: [laughs] Anna: ‘Cause you go there and, you know… Olga:  Yeah. Well, they had, uh, circus in a tent. But now they have an arena, it’s so much nicer, and cleaner, and easy to get to. Buses run. We have very good, very good bus travel here - I enjoy riding the buses. And now that I’m a senior citizen, I get a discount. That’s nice, too. That discount, I enjoy that. And, let’s see..I guess they’re going to improve our Ross Park. I’ve been going there practically all my life, and it is better than it was before, but they’re making improvements all the time. That’s one of the places I love to go. Anna: Did you ever go there on that, on a streetcar? Olga: Yep, I went on a streetcar, but I must have been about 10 or 12 at the time. Because I remember the streetcars, vaguely. And Recreation Park, I passed it the other day. And I used to take care of my sister, and walked with a carriage, I loved Recreation Park. That hasn’t changed - that’s still nice. Anna: Mm-hm. Olga: Oh, I do love our parks. And I’ve been to state parks since that’s changed over. State park has changed over, and what’s nice is that senior citizens don’t even have to pay now. If you go on a weekday - not a, not a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday - you don’t even have to pay. Which is very nice. Anna: You worked in E.J., didn’t you? Olga: Yeah. Did I say that? 3 years. Yeah, I said 3 years E. J.’s, and 2 - yeah. I’m a dander. Anna: Oh. Olga: 3 years in E. J.’s and 2 years in P. J.’s. [chuckles] P. J.’s Restaurant. Anna: Well, how much, you weren’t - how much were you making then, when you first started? Olga: Oh, good heavens. It was a day work job, I don’t even know. I was working day work - I didn’t put in that many years to compare. Anna: You weren’t making much income? Olga: No, I don’t know how much, but it wasn’t much. Anna: You wanna tell ‘em about E. J.’s? How nice they were. Olga: How nice were they? In what way? Anna: They held, they gave the parties, and… Olga: Oh, E. J.’s? Well, while I worked in E. J.’s, I went - when my department, everybody went in, whoever went into service were all, they had a party, went to all the parties. That was nice. Anna: Mm-hm. That was for a dollar, you would say… Olga: Oh, the banquet? Well, E. J.’s was a very nice company. I will never forget ‘em because they had the E. J. banquets and I went to quite a few, and my gosh. For a dollar, you got your money’s worth. That was really something. Anna: Mm. Olga: Dad didn’t go, but I used to go with the other people. I really enjoyed going. And our son has a cottage - we like to go there. You know, being senior citizens, it’s a nice place to go, and it’s so quiet, it’s so nice there. And Dan’s pretty smart; he fixed up, um, a motor, and he hooked on to a car battery. And you don’t have to row the boat - it just takes you for a ride. The boat goes around the lake, and it’s so nice and so peaceful. All white birch trees - a lot of ‘em. That’s why it’s called White Birch Lake. White Birch in Windsor; nice place to visit. Anna: [unintelligible] Olga: Well, everybody else has been there, yeah. We haven’t been around, we go. Yep. And it’s…Joey modernized it: He has a little water bed there now. And one bedroom is all finished; the other bedroom isn’t finished yet, but it’s really nice. And when the blackberry season comes - I went once, I’d like to go again - people can pay, I forgot, not very much, and you can pick your own blackberries. So a couple years ago, I was picking blackberries there. That made it nice. Anna: Did you ever pick blackberries way back when you were a kid? Olga: Not, not that I remember. Oh, a little bit. When Tommy was small, I took care of Tommy. He used to go picking things. [unintelligible] Anna: When we went to the [unintelligible] play. Olga: Oh, that? Well, I don’t know what year, I don’t know what year that was, but a friend of mine - should I talk about this? Anna: You could. Olga: Well, Anne Cagenek, my friend from way back, we had a chance to be actresses on a stage. They had a Passion play, and we were Jewish ladies - Arabian or Jewish ladies. And we even had costumes, and make-up, and we played for 3 matinees. 3 matinees - that was something. Imagine being on the stage. Anna: And you were in the Passion show? Olga: The Passion show. Yeah, it was the Passion play, and we were on a stage. We played for 3 matinees. Anna: [unintelligible] Olga: Before the, just before the Capital Theatre was torn down. So we certainly miss, uh, that Capital Theatre. We miss it because that was such a show. Being on a stage, that’s once in a lifetime thing. And I enjoyed going there with my mother because they had vaudeville. Now, that was something. We don’t have vaudeville anymore - I do miss it. Wish we had the Capital Theatre, but now there’s a big parking lot for the bank. Theatre is gone. And, let’s see…oh, I used to belong to St. Cyril’s Church way back. And that was remodeled and torn down. Now, there’s a brand new church there. I went there all my life. And of course, now I go to Christ the King on Davis St. It’s a very small church, but very friendly - you get to know half the church. And, uh, we have Monsignor Frieze [sic] there and Father Walsh. So, it’s…oh, and our church, uh, once a month, we have this Golden Age which is very nice. It only started a few years ago, and I’m one of the members. Also, my husband is a member. We all bring a cover dish, and, um…first, we have our mass. And then we go downstairs and have our dinner. And then we have entertainment. Sometimes musicians come in and play for us, sometimes we have bingo, and they do give door prizes. And it’s, it’s very nice for the older people to get to. And we didn’t have that too long, so…we like that. And Dan isn’t a church member, but this, he does go with me. It’s one way to get him to church. He really likes that. group it’s very nice I belong there, I started a few years ago I belong there, I’m one of the members also my husband is a member. Anna: You’re, you’re a young senior citizen. Olga: I am? Anna: Aren’t you? Olga: Well, the bus driver says, “Senior citizen?” I says, “Yeah, I’m not ashamed to say I’m young senior citizen - 62.” I said, “Being a senior citizen, you do have a lot of nice breaks that I didn’t have before. I’m gonna go to Phase then, I understand that if you, lot of card, you can get a discount on any Phase products. I didn’t know that. You go to Kent’s? You don’t get a discount - only on the prescription - because anybody that walks in says that it’s already marked down.” No, you can only get a discount only on the prescription. With Phase, you can get a discount on anything in the store has the Phase label. You know, there’s washing supplies and cleaning things, or whatever you wanna buy at Phase, you do get a discount - you look into that. And what else? I was smart enough to get some of my mother’s receipts, I have a whole book of my her recipes. So [clears throat] a lot of the things she cooked and baked, I could read the book and do it just like my mother did. That’s something. Yep. Anna: How long did you live in Binghamton? Olga: How long have I lived in Binghamton? Well, all my life; I’ve never lived anyplace else. Binghamton’s my hometown. Born in Binghamton and probably die here [chuckles]. Anna: And where do you go? Olga: Yeah, well, I go on little visits - not big ones. But, yeah. Binghamton is my hometown. And I’m watching it change. Some of the things are pretty good. ‘Course, the old-fashioned things we miss, but [clears throat] we’re having a lot of little, nice improvements. Walking through Court Street, I see all the buildings get a new front. I see the work - oh, they’re cleaning up Binghamton. It’s really nice. I like the little park they have around by by the river: Benches and trees. They’re really improving Binghamton - I could see it change in all these years. Well, we’ve been here 62 years, that’s quite a while. I don’t think I’d like to live anyplace else…yep. I really care about Binghamton. Anna: [unintelligible] Olga: About our cemetery? Well, we have a nice cemetery. It’s, uh, Saint Cyril’s Cemetery. Saint Cyril’s. Anna: And is that where your family…? Olga: Yeah, your family. Don’t I know…Well, I’m looking forward to May 18. I’m going to Rochester. I hope the lilacs are open by then. In Rochester…I did do go there a couple years ago. We went to the Kodak Mansion, where the first cameras and the first pictures were made. That was really, really interesting. And then we went to a conservatory, saw all kinds of Oriental plants. And, uh, Hawaiian plants that we don’t even see around here - hope I go there again. And of course, we always stop at some nice restaurant. Those trips are really - I’m looking forward, I expect to go. Spring is here, but I’m gonna be traveling all summer: Every chance I get. So May 18 is my first trip. And maybe I’ll go to Canada again…I like that, too. And Niagara Falls, you never get tired of that. They don’t care that I went to [unintelligible] Anna: What? Olga: That I went to [unintelligible]. That I’m very lucky. You gonna put all that in the book? Anna: Well, there’s something worth saying there. You can tell ‘em. Olga: Well, they call me lu- they call me lucky. I don’t know why because I win this and that. Not everything, but almost. Anna: Almost. Olga: Even at the Senior Citizen, we have bingo. And I won yesterday, and I won last week. And when I went to the dinner dance, I won a door prize there. It won two fancy handkerchiefs. Anna: Oooh. Olga: It was 300 people, or not…was it 300? 125 people and only 6 people won. It was 125, and I was one of the 6. [chuckles] They see me walking to the thing. [clears throat] Anna: You went to the WMBF? Olga: Oh, WMBF? Let’s see, they didn’t give me a television. WMBF? Anna: But you won a lot of things. Olga: Well, I won that AM/FM radio I won on WMBF, and WNBR, a black and white television. And when the Oakdale Mall opened, I was lucky I won a television in the Citizens’ Savings Bank. And then a long time ago…we won - or actually, Dan - the BB store had a grand opening, so that actually, that was Dan’s television. Hm, they call me lucky. I wonder why? I must live right. That’s what they tell me. Every time I turn around, something nice happens. Yeah, I guess there is something to it: If you live right, it really pays off to live right. Anna: [unintelligible] Olga: [chuckles] God bless America. [laughs] Anna: And that’s it. Thank you, Olga, for the interview. Olga: You’re welcome, Anne. 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 Interview with Olga Riggins Subject The topic of the resource Riggins, Olga -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Children of immigrants -- Interviews; Endicott Johnson Corporation -- Employees; Hotels -- Employees; Carlova Perfume Factory; Hotel Billingshurst; Christ the King Church Description An account of the resource Olga Riggins talks about her parents' courtship and emigration from Europe to the U.S. She talks about her father's store and the ice house he operated. She tells of her variety of jobs - the Endicott Shoe Corporation, Carlova Perfume Factory, Hotel Billingshurst as a maid, and working in her family's store. She speaks about how she occupies her time, dedication to her church, Christ the King, and the various church activities she is involved with. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Recording 51 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Riggins, Olga ; Caganek, Anna Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-04-27 Date Modified Date on which the resource was changed. 2016-03-27 Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Broome County Oral History Project Extent The size or duration of the resource. 27:45 Minutes https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/97c02042ed74f06130a242024fe5d37e.mp3 d3bcb433718454073e81d409357d62e7 https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/faf1d380697d97db773ca15507e3ff25.mp3 0e5b4abcee1e8e7e7aa2e49fd4426c8d 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 Broome County Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource Broome County -- History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Description An account of the resource The Broome County Oral History Project was conceived and administered by the Senior Services Unit of the <a href="http://www.gobroomecounty.com/senior">Office for the Aging</a>. Funding for this project was provided by the Broome County Office of Employment and Training (C.E.T.A.), with additional funding from the Senior Service Unit of the National Council on Aging and Broome County government. The aim of this project was two-fold – to obtain historical information about life in Broome County, which would be useful for researchers and teachers, and to provide employment for older persons of a limited income. The oral history interviews were obtained between November 1977 and September 1978 and were conducted by five interviewers under the supervision of the Action for Older Persons Program. The collection contains 75 interviews and transcriptions, 77 cassette tapes, and a subject index containing names of individuals associated with specific subject terms. One transcribed interview does not have an accompanying audio recording. In 2005 Binghamton University Libraries’ Special Collections Department participated in the New York State Audiotape Project which undertook preservation reformatting of the audiotapes, and the creation of compact discs for patron use. Several interviews do not have release forms and cannot be reviewed. See the <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">finding aid </a>for additional information. Acknowledgment of sensitive content Binghamton University Libraries provide digital access to select materials held within the Special Collections department. Oral histories provide a vibrant window into life in the community. However, they also expose insensitive, and at times offensive, racial and gender terminology that, though once commonplace, are now acknowledged to cause harm. The Libraries have chosen to make these oral histories available as part of the historical record but the Libraries do not support or agree with the harmful narratives that can be found in these volumes. <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/libraries/about/collections/digital/">Digital Collections</a> are created for educational and historical purposes only. It is our intention to present the content as it originally appeared. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright  Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ben Coury, Digital Web Designer Yvonne Deligato, Former University Archivist Shandi Ezraseneh, Student Employee Laura Evans, Former Metadata Librarian Caitlin Holton, Digital Initiatives Assistant Jamey McDermott, Student Employee Erin Rushton, Head of Digital Initiatives David Schuster, Senior Director for Library Technology and Digital Strategies Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1977-1978 Relation A related resource <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections, Broome County Oral History project</a> Template: Simple Audio Player with Transcription This template displays an audio player by Amplitude.js with a scrollable transcription which is loaded from the "Transcription" metadata field. This template displays an audio player with the first attached image file as the 'cover image'. For its audio source, the template looks for the first attached audio file. If additional audio files exist, they should be combined using audio editing software, or a separate Omeka item should be made for each part. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Sargent, Clealand A. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview O'Neil, Dan Date of Interview 1978-04-26 Collection Broome County Oral History Project Date of Digitization 2016-03-27 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 33:49 Minutes ; 17:02 Minutes Streaming Audio Streaming URL <a href="https://eternity.binghamton.edu/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE56011">Interview with Dr. Clealand A. Sargent</a> Subject LCSH Sargent, Clealand A. -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Richford (Vt.); University of Vermont; Orwell (Vt.); Physicians -- Interviews; Health officers -- Interviews; Syracuse (N.Y.); Food adulteration and inspection; Vaccination Accessibility Copy/Paste below: Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Rights Statement This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound, or alternative text from a visual medium Broome County Oral History Project Interview with: Dr. Clealand A. Sargent Interviewed by: Dan O’Neil Date of interview: 26 April 1978 Dan: Doctor would you give me ah your life and experiences, working experiences in the community, starting back to when you were born and where you were born? Dr. Sargent: Well I was born in Richford, Vermont. R-I-C-H-F-O-R-D, Vermont—it's right on the Canadian border. My father was took before the Customs, that's how we happened to be there. I graduated from Richford High School in 1912, June 1912 and entered the University of Vermont that fall in 1912 and I graduated in Medicine there in June, yeah in June 1918. Served my internship at the Mary Fletcher Hospital in Burlington, and ah that was during the War, I came—then I started in private practice at Orwell, Vermont. Orwell, Vermont, which is on Lake Champlain. They asked the college to send a physician there because they had lost two, so I went there and had 5 towns to cover in the practice, practice of medicine and ah I certainly enjoyed it and expected to stay there but in December in 1923, I had pneumonia and it was a very bad case with many complications and eventually from December 11 to April, I didn't do anything and then discovered I had pulmonary tuberculosis so I didn't—I had to quit private practice entirely. I received a fellowship with the Rockefeller Foundation. Now briefly, the Rockefeller Foundation was started in 1919. John D. Rockefeller gave 200 million dollars for public health service from the advice of his minister. He read the Bible and said the next time he came to Heaven—what did I do, so he told him just start out—do good with your money and that's your home. So he established the Rockefeller Foundation with 200 million dollars ah and also with that they named, they established a training station for physicians to go into preventive medicine. They built a medical school in Peking, China—they built the finest Medical College in University of Chicago and ah this fellowship I started on my birthday, January 13, 1925. I started as a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation in Andalusia, Alabama ah my first I was there under training by men who had, doctors who had worked various stations throughout the world from the very beginning—in fact, in fact they had the United States. My first experience was with the control of malaria. For a boy born in Vermont, we didn't see very much malaria. I, we were thoroughly trained by men who very well experienced it. Ah as an illustration we started out in the morning - we were given a dose of Atabrine then we were given a thing to put on our wrist like a wristwatch but it had no bottom to it. You were supposed to catch mosquitoes—crawl under houses and what not, get mosquitos and put them under here (pointing to wristwatch) have ‘em eat. Dan: Incubate? Dr. Sargent: Feed on your, feed on your skin to keep them alive until you get back to the laboratory because they had to determine what type of infection they had and ah after malaria experience, I was taught to control the hookworms disease and hookworm disease starts by a worm that burrows through the soles of the feet goes up into the bloodstream coughed up and swallowed and attaches itself to the intestinal tract—causes slow hemorrhage. We have taken, while I was there, we as a team—a nurse, a doctor, a nurse and a clerk and go in this school and we got feet for examination and ah if found hookworms, got permission to advance and treat these children and we have taken away as many as 2000 hookworms from one individual. Dan: Is that right? Dr. Sargent: And it is a very serious affair. Well from that, the State passed, they assigned somebody to help establish school health programs in the northern part of the State of Alabama. I was sent up there with a very well trained public health nurse—Rockefeller Foundation and then there was an outbreak of diphtheria at Muscle Shoals and I was sent up to work at Florence, Tuscumbia, Columbia, Sheffield, Ford City in control of diphtheria and while I was there we let the water through the flues to start with—the electric power for the State of Alabama—it was very interesting work there. Well ah we did some roundworm control later and then I was assigned to the City of Montgomery, Alabama diphtheria control and while I was doing that, there was an outbreak of smallpox at Columbus, Ohio and I was sent to Oberlin to establish a control program for the outbreak of this smallpox and we were there about 6 weeks because after we vaccinated several thousand people ah against smallpox and things bought under control, they asked me to stay and help the Health Officer with diphtheria control program. Well being nice about it—children against diphtheria and then they asked me to go to the State of—well they gave me a choice of either going to to Panama or to West Virginia—black lung disease area or Springfield, Ohio or to the State of Delaware and in checking the various areas I chose Delaware because they had several serious and interesting health problems—one of the most interesting was infant mortality. Nearly, at that time, nearly a fourth of all the babies died before they got to be a year old and when we—course the first thing to do when we got there was to study the situation and find out why this occurred and we found that outside of Wilmington, 90% of the babies were delivered by illiterate midwives. Most of them could not read or write. They were either colored or from the southern borough, whatnot. Well after we made our study and got the information we needed, we went to the State Legislature and asked for authority to establish a code and ah they gave us that authority and we examined and tested all the midwives and as a result, we eliminated about 50% of it. They couldn’t read nor write and every midwife was under the direction of one of our public health nurse—she had to report to us when she was engaged on a case. The public health nurse followed the case until the delivery and we brought the infant mortality down to 20-25 per thousand we brought it down to 20 but while we were doing this, the State Health Commissioner asked me if I would do something about diphtheria control because they had it typed over 400 for 1000 population—so we set up clinics—I have a picture of one of them right there where I was working (points to photo) Wilmington, Delaware and we immunized 80,000 against diphtheria—practically eliminated it. Then they had a bad typhoid situation and we started in on a sanitation program—building pit privies and whatnot—sanitarians to control typhoid. Well it was all very interesting ah but I had an opportunity then to go to Johns Hopkins with the Rockefeller Foundation and take some courses in public health that was the school of hygiene and I have two Diplomas from Hopkins besides one I have from the University of Vermont. Well then I, after leaving, got a ride into New York State and I didn't know it at the time but Commissioner Moses of the Parks—State Park Commission was working with Canada to establish the seaway, St. Lawrence Seaway and I had charge of syphilis control along Erie, Lake Erie from Canada to Pennsylvania. Had headquarters in Buffalo and ah it was the most interesting experience. We eventually had about 70,000 blood tests which were recorded by Russel Soundex. We worked at all the hospitals—blood donations and things like that. I worked at Erie County penitentiary which was as large as most State prisons—worked with the Doctor there with control among the prisoners. Then and I also worked at Attica prison every Wednesday—Erie county every Tuesday—only had a day but Wednesday. Attica was most interesting because ah at that time the United States Public Health service had a representative in 150 different foreign cities and if we found a ah sailor or another person there from jail who had syphilis and could name the prostitute or contact in any city of the world, we would notify the State Health Department who would notify the Public Health Service who would notify his representative and we found active cases a far away as Hong Kong. Dan: Is that right? Dr. Sargent: Then ah—I can't remember what happened then, I ah, Oh there's a series of disease known as titseal. They're caused by a bug that burrows in the skin and ah causes a disease like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Well there’s a disease known as "tutsi magutsi" which is a titular disease imported from Japan and it appeared on Long Island and ah I was taken out of, well we've been about 5 years in the census control program and we had clinics well established so on and so forth. I thought my assistant could carry on so they put me down on Long Island and we hired hunters to kill rabbits so we could get the ticks out of the ears of the rabbits and we hired donkeys to roam the countryside, then we catch the donkeys at night and get the, get somebody to get the ticks out of the donkey's ears to bring to our laboratory. Dan: That was the source of the disease? Dr. Sargent: To determine what kind of ticks we had. Dan: I see. Dr. Sargent: There's different kind of diseases caused by various ticks. Well, while I was there ah the man who, the Doctor who had charge of the State Regional office in New York City retired and they asked me to take it over—the State—that’s how I came to being employed by the State of New York and I had supervision over all of Westchester County and all of Long Island and also a $400,000. The State paid New York City for its child health clinics—we had to check that to see if it was spent properly. Well then I got, I got some requests for training assignments and the State gave me permission to take and it was extreme interesting because I think I learned more than I gave my students. I, because on Wednesday nights I went to University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, gave a 2 hour lecture every Wednesday night and many of the students were from foreign countries and they had a lot of experience—I had run into that at Hopkins so that I was made aware of some of the problems of foreign countries. Well then on Thursday mornings I gave a 2 hour lecture at New York University Medical School out there. Thursday evenings I gave a 2 hour lecture at the school of Administration and that was interesting at Washington Square. Then Friday morning I gave a 2 hour lecture for University of Columbia and I had my area covered—everything from Montauk Point top of Westchester County and it was farther from Montauk to my office than on up to Albany, so I had all city driving—I lived in Ossining and commuted 6 days a week in the worst traffic in the world. 9 o'clock in the morning to 5 o'clock at night.  Dan: Gee. Dr. Sargent: And ah I thoroughly enjoyed it but then I got tripped up—I got a coronary. an: Uh huh—what year was this Doctor? Dr. Sargent: That was in 1921 and ah I didn't work from August until April at all ‘cause I had other complications along with other complications and when I had pneumonia, I got collapse of the lower lobe of my right lung and this is tuberculosis—so everything stacked up against me. So the State assigned me, after I could get back to work, they assigned me to the City of Syracuse. First as District Officer which included 5 of the counties upstate. Simply—supervision over the work of the local health officer. Well then the Mayor of the City of Syracuse asked me to take over the job as Commissioner of Health of Syracuse—I didn't want any part of it and said I wouldn't take it. Dan: A little too strenuous? Dr. Sargent: Pardon? Dan: A little too strenuous? Dr. Sargent: No—too much politics. Dan: Too much politics. (laughter). Dr. Sargent: And ah I said I’d have no part of it at all. When I left his office—came out on television that (I have a hiatal when I talk too much—it chokes me) ah it came out on television that I was going to be the next Health Commissioner and ah I said I didn't want it—so I called the Mayor said, "I'll do it as long as I'm in it because my son is in college; when he gets through, he and I are going to run our apple orchard up in Vermont and I'll do it until he gets straightened around," because I thought I’d last just about that long. He's got some real problems and I wasn't going to stand for it. Dan: Uh huh. Dr. Sargent: Now somebody watching it—straighten out some of their problems. Well I took the thing over and found out that first of all—well I wrote to the census bureau and Syracuse has 32 census tracts and in my work you have to know conditions before you can have any programs or do anything. Well I had heard rumors—I knew roughly what the situation was but I wanted facts. So I wrote the Census Bureau and I got the last 5 census figures for the 32 census tracts and asked to name the population as of that date. Then we figured the various for date mortality rates by census tracts and we centered all of our working 10 census tract 5 all downtown—all bunched by downtown and ah first thing which we did was start a housing program which had not been done in this State except in the middle of New York City. I went to Washington and discussed it with them and they assigned a man by the name of Traboney, who had a lot of experience in that field and he came to Syracuse and established a school in the health department to teach sanitary units how to do good building inspections—home inspections and of course we trained our own inspectors—we had several men from other cities come there so we did quite a bit in housing and then they—we got some trouble with food outbreaks, which we didn't like at all and we traced it largely to a salmonella infection from poultry. Then we went at the poultry business ah after the poultry business and ah as a result we were the only place in the State which barred New York dressed poultry and New York dressed poultry in those days all they did was kill the bird and pick the feathers off. Sold it to you with the intestines and everything in. Well that was where we were getting in trouble, so we stopped the sales of New York dressed poultry and then salmonella stopped ah but ah we then, they had a tuberculosis case funding program in which each year they x-rayed all employees of various factories over and over again year after year and it cost about $4500 to find a case of tuberculosis that way—so we went into the tuberculosis problem and we studied very carefully by census tracts, by age groups, by occupation and we found that the bulk of our cases were in the middle age group among food handlers and bartenders—so we stopped examining the factories—we required all food handlers to have chest x-rayed at our expense every year and we, our case load then was quite heavy to find new cases cost us less than $500 against $4500 other way. We also x-rayed all the people once a month at the Onondaga Penitentiary because they had drifters from everywhere. When we found a case that didn't belong to us we notified their Health Officer and we worked our local jail, x-rayed people down there for the same reason. We picked up people we had and gotten away from us and weren't under treatment—so we had intensive tuberculosis control program and housing program. Then we went into air pollution control and again working with Washington, set up an air pollution control program—I think we were the first in the State outside of New York City that was doing that and ah I tried to get rid of meat inspection because they weren't inspecting meat for anything—that we'd be infected by—I couldn't, there's too much influence through the meat people I couldn't—there's some big ones up there.  Dan: This is all in Syracuse now? Dr. Sargent: Yeah and ah there's an interesting thing—I don't want to take your time though. Dan: No, you're not taking my—I've got all the time in the world so you go right ahead Doctor. Dr. Sargent: Well let me illustrate what I meant by wanting to get rid of meat inspection. We had eight slaughterhouses when I worked there and I went to the mayor—was Costello and ah said, "I don't want anything to do with meat inspection—that's Ag and Markets business." I said, "Don't look for anything that infects human beings anyway"—it was just a lot of headaches. The meat men had too much influence and too much money, I couldn't do it. But anyway, I found that every inspector in every plant was working for the guy he was supposed to be inspecting. Dan: Is that right? In cahoots with the slaughterhouse.  Dr. Sargent: So, I, I started raising hell about them, said, "Well if you don't pay me enough money so I can live"—I’ll cite one instance—a burly fellow came to me one day—he need, now we needed another inspector because one of them quit so he asked for the job and I gave it to him and he had a little experience and one of the sanitarians came one day and he says, "You know what your inspector is doing up at such and such slaughterhouse he's a buyer." Well he had only seen me once—he didn't know me very well so I thought I'd go up and see if it was true. I went up—instead of being on the kill floor watching the slaughtering like he was supposed to, he had a straw hat on and a long white coat and was in this little cubby hole—so I recognized him, he didn't recognize me. I went over to him and said, "If I had a load of pigs to sell, who would I see?" He says, "See me, I'm the buyer." Well I said, "I'm your boss—now you don't have a job." Well he hemmed quite a ruckus anyway. Finally I got that straightened. I got, fortunately, there was a Doctor Jackson who had worked for public health for the Ag. and Markets in Washington for years as Veterinarian and ah he was retired. He lived in Syracuse—people lived there—so I asked him if he'd come back to work for us. Dan: Uh huh. Dr. Sargent: And ah first he said "No,” said, "I worked in Syracuse." Well he did eventually come back to work for us. But anyway we had a rendering plant in Syracuse that made an awful lot of smoke and bad odors and so forth and so the inspectors said, "We can't do a thing with them." So I always followed up inspection work and I went down to this particular rendering plane and I told them we had a lot of complaints and ah asked if they wouldn't stop it—they would do something to stop it but he didn't so I went back again about a couple months, I said, "Now if you don't stop it we’re going to have to close the plant," and he kind of smiled, said, "I'd like to see that."  "Well,” I said, "I don't think you would."  "Well what I mean,” he said, "I'd like to see you try it." Said, “Do you know who owns this plant?" I said, "I don't give a—"  “Well,” he said, Swift and Co owns it."  I said, "Well I've already arrested Swift and Company's men 2 or 3 times a year for bumping meat.” Now do you know what bumping means? They get federally inspected meat—they have a stamp on it - beet juice stamped. Circulars going up to Newark to an uninspected slaughterhouse and buying quarters of beef—bringing them down—bumping them against the one that was federally inspected—now you couldn't tell which one, both marks were smeared. Dan: You mean, you mean transferred from one carcass to the other? Dr. Sargent: Yeah and hang two together like this—just put the good one with the bad one and bump them together and this would come off on the bad one and you couldn't tell which was which so we arrested them for that and then another time they sold 1800 pounds of pork shoulders and shaved off the Federal mark and my inspector called on a Sunday morning, he says, “What'll I do?” I said, "Tell the storekeeper he has a choice of one of two things—one, he can pour kerosene on them in his store or out in the yard.” So he said he thinks he wants it done out in the yard so he had to do that but ah I'm glad. Dan: Pretty rough. Dr. Sargent: And the milk inspection was even worse, so when they had change of change of administration ah they didn't want me around anymore. Dan: How many years was now that you spent up there—you went there in 1941? Dr. Sargent: Well I was up there from ‘41 to ‘54. Dan: ‘54. Dr. Sargent: But part of the time I was with the State and part of the time as Health Officer. Dan: Uh huh. Dr. Sargent: Well I wanted to go to the farm and work with the boy but I—my orchard wasn't developed to the point where I—I wanted to be the guy to solve the problems—let the boy run the farm but they hadn't reached that point—later it did, we were shipping 20,000 boxes of apples but then it didn't so I was mulling things over and ah Dr. Dickson, he's dead now, used to be here. Remember him?  Dan: Umhm. Dr. Sargent: He was acting Health Officer—Dr. Tudor had left and we were at a meeting in Syracuse and Dickson said ah, "Well if you aren't going to stay in Syracuse, why don't you come down to Binghamton—we need somebody badly." Well I looked things over and came down. I think I better do something, I can't go to the farm, I’m too young to sit around and do nothing, so I came down and saw Kramer and he ah offered me the job and I took it. Dan: He was Mayor at that time? Dr. Sargent: Umhm. John Burns was his assistant. Dan: Umhm. Dr. Sargent: Well we had some of the same problems as we had up there ah but ah it wasn't as bad. The thing that we did have down here—I came here in ‘54 and ‘56 had a bad outbreak of polio and I had quite a lot of experience in polio because the City Hospital in Syracuse and had a lot of cases up there—so we started a vaccination program here—we got excellent cooperation from everybody. We had two former school teachers who came in and offered their services as clerks at teen clinics—my wife went down to help them file away the records and all of our nurses, not exception, volunteered to work on our clinic teams. Every Monday and every Thursday night we had a polio clinic—vaccination clinics. We didn't use the—I never liked the, in fact I used Salk vaccine which you had to inject instead of a drop on sugar for this reason—Salk vaccine was a killed virus and would do no damage. Sabin vaccine was a live virus and had started as epidemics. In institutions, they would give it to kids and in the sewer system the live virus would come through and they'd get trouble. The Sabin never has done that so I stuck to polio Sabin vaccine. Dan: You stuck to Sabin? Dr. Sargent: Oh, No, no. Dan: To Salk. Dr. Sargent: Salk—I wouldn't touch the Sabin with a ten foot pole. Dan: Now which one is it you have on a lump of sugar? Dr. Sargent: Sabin. Dan: Sabin. Dr. Sargent: Salk is the one. Salk came out originally—it is a killed bacteria. Dan: Yeah—were you Health Officer at the time that they had that testing program? I think you were? Dr. Sargent: Sure. Dan: Where all of the ah ah participants—the children were vaccinated and they were vaccinated they didn't know whether they were getting the real vaccine or a placebo. Dr. Sargent: No I don't think I was here that time. Dan: You were never here then? Dr. Sargent: I probably. Dan: ‘Cause I know that my oldest daughter participated in that program—now she's 31 now and— Dr. Sargent: I think it must have come after we left because we vaccinated—oh gosh I forget how many but we used to do 15 to 1700 a night and nobody was barred. A third of our cases came from Pennsylvania and we had some we had one family came from Wales—we had some families from California and we never barred anybody because clinical disease doesn't know any boundaries for one thing. Dan: Right. Dr. Sargent: Another thing was I was under State aid—in other words the State paid half of my salary and half of all my nurses' salaries. All the city had to pay was one half of what it cost and all vaccine was paid for by the Red Cross so I didn't hesitate taking anybody. Dan: Yeah. Dr. Sargent: So we did that and ah we had oh so many requests from school people and ah people under unemployment for the vaccination records that people asked us—we had very complete records. In fact it stopped it—we haven't had a case since. So that was interesting and then—remember the salt? Dan: General Hospital, yes. Dr. Sargent: I don't like to— Dan: It's all right it's confidential. Dr. Sargent: I'll say this—I had a director of nurses and her assistant I had an agreement with them—one of them stayed there all day long watch that nurse—all day—the other would stay all night and watch her. Dan: Umhm. Dr. Sargent: What we saw and learned—I asked the State Health Officer—I had no authority to do anything better—I asked the State Health authority we wished to be privileged—they wouldn't take away that person. Dan: They wouldn't? That made—that was nationwide publicity it got—Life magazine and everything. Yeah, that was a terrible thing. Dr. Sargent: Yeah, of course what happened—they disobeyed all regulations and the colored maid went down to the kitchen—instead of getting the sugar in the sugar barrel, she got into the salt barrel. Dan: Yeah, yeah. Dr. Sargent: They got the salt—it wouldn't have happened if they had helped me out but they wouldn't. Dan: Yeah, yeah. Dr. Sargent: Everywhere you turn you have to deal with (tarb) Dan: Umhm. Dr. Sargent: And sometimes if you get the cooperation of the community, you can get along very nicely. Dan: Yeah, yeah. Dr. Sargent: Ah Tom Corcoran, in Syracuse, was one of the nicest men I ever knew and he never turned me down on anything I wanted to do and when I wanted to stop the sale of New York dressed poultry ah I told him among other things I said, "These poultry people are putting water into the breasts of turkeys and freezing it so they'd weigh more but they aren't too careful and are infecting the turkeys and people who cook them take care of them—now I want to stop salmonella infection I've got to stop that too. Well he hardly believed me he told me afterwards he was taking his daughter up to Rochester to a party. Her boyfriend was with them—he was telling him this as a joke cause that's no joke, "That's my job, why I inject turkeys with it.” So Tom helped me in every way to bring this end about. It was very interesting but we did air pollution control. First we started out we hired a young lad with a tractor to mow all of the vacant lots in town—we asked to mow them all down. We mowed so to get rid of the ragweed and then we had the ah physician in town to cooperate with us to do pollen counts—published everything in the papers and ah I think our best bet was the centering our problems right in the central part of the city the 10 census tracts and our nurses concentrated their efforts there. When I went there, a nurse visited every home where there was a newborn baby, regardless of whether they got a million dollars or no money—so we stopped that. We had them visit people in 10 census tracts then we sent postcards to other people saying if you want the nurse, all you have to do is let us know. But it let the nurses concentrate their work in the 10 census tracts where our problems were and ah it had its effect very definitely and very interesting. Dan: How about the mortality rate as far as the infants were concerned—did that go down? Dr. Sargent: Yes it went down and then wasn't awfully high but it was higher we wanted. It’s always too high. Dan: Yeah, that’s true. Dr. Sargent: But the thing that concerned us the most in Syracuse ah was the sloppy way the inspectors were operating and the tuberculosis control program wasn't wanted at all and this salmonella infection thing in poultry gave us a lot of things to—in other words, in my field of work, there are plenty of problems to look for but sometimes it's difficult to get the authority to handle it. Dan: What year did you retire Doctor? Dr. Sargent: ‘63. Dan: ‘63 so outside of the ah few years you were in private practice, all your life has been devoted to public health service. Dr. Sargent: That’s right. Dan: And in your private practice days, I suppose you made house calls. Dr. Sargent: Uh absolutely—I was the local health officer. Dan: (Laughter) So what would you say would be the difference in the practice of medicine today as compared to when you first started out? Dr. Sargent: Please—don't. Dan: Please don't get you started, huh? (laughter) It's the age of specialization. Dr. Sargent: Well I could show you some—I've kept information every few days at Johns Hopkins and University of Vermont and so forth—publications and the older men I think are pleading, pleading so as to teach medicine. Pleading with them. This one fellow graduated at same time I did at Johns Hopkins—he had a letter in recent publications says, ''Why can't you go back to teaching medicine?" Dan: Yeah—wasn't it true though in your day too that you had your own pharmacy—no such thing as drugstores? Dr. Sargent: Well there was drug stores. Dan: There weren't too many of them though. Dr. Sargent: We dispensed a lot of medicine. Dan: Dispensed a lot of it yourself. Dr. Sargent: And we didn't have—I have a nephew who is the Vice President of (inaudible) Drug Company. They started, they were American boys and they went to London because they were the first ones to put powders in paper and wrap them up but these boys put them in custom made pills and they went to London to do that and were very successful so they came over here and started a branch station New York Burroughs Co. Well he went to work for them when he was a young pharmacist just out of Temple—he's now Vice President. His job is to fly to Switzerland where all this monkey business comes from through drugs—I don't have the faintest what it is today, I'm taking drugs I haven't the faintest idea what the devil they are—I don't think the Doctor knows either. But ah when there's something new they think is startling comes out. He thinks company policy goes over to Switzerland and talk and see if he thinks it's any good but I guess he's a pretty good pharmacist because he goes over and he twists an arm to find out really ‘cause my job depends on what I tell my people. Dan: Yeah. Dr. Sargent: So if he thinks it's good then he goes to London, where the headquarters really are for his offer and he gets their approval to go on with it. Then he flies to Washington to get approval down there to OK to make it—then he has to fly to his home office here and tell everything is OK to go ahead and make the pills. But ah he tells me—I asked him one day I said, "Why can't you do something so the Doctors know what they're giving their medicine—more about it," said, ''Why we spend a million dollars a year putting into every package of tablets we send out just exactly how we spend our money and how it comes out." Dan: You know I think the public today are getting so confused that every day it comes out in the paper that no matter what you're eating, soft drinks or anything else, it's causing cancer. Now I've got sugar myself and I 'm not supposed to eat sugar but I'm substituting saccharin—now they come out and say saccharin is going to cause cancer so what am I supposed to do—crawl in and cover up? (laughter). Dr. Sargent: Well this cancer thing is ah humm. Dan: Now what medical school did you go to Doctor? Dr. Sargent: University of Vermont. Dan: University of Vermont Medical School and the University of Vermont. Dr. Sargent: For pre-medical work. Dan: Uhhuh and how old are you now Doctor? Dr. Sargent: I was born in 1893 Dan: 1893. Dr. Sargent: 85 years old last January. Dan: And how many children do you have? Dr. Sargent: Two. Dan: Two—boy and a girl and the boy is up in Vermont. Dr. Sargent: No the boy is in Watertown—he and his wife have quite a busy ceramics business. Dan: I see. Dr. Sargent: And the girl lives in Fairport and teaches in East High School in Rochester. Dan: I see. Dr. Sargent: She's married and has three daughters and ah she has—I've asked her to quit many times. She has a class, I think they're idiots—they're assigned to her by the Courts—they can't get along in school or anything else and they kick them out of school so the court makes them go to our daughter's school. Well she's been hit in the face by them, she’s had her foot broken by stomping on her feet. Dan: My God. Dr. Sargent: But she—I think she enjoys it because she gets hold of these—most, a lot of them are colored and she says she had one big bruiser the other day, I think 18 or 19 years old and ah he threatened to haul off and paste her—if he did he might have killed her but ah she likes it because she thinks that's worthwhile. All of them can't read a thing as high as 18, 19 years old—that's about the limit. So whatever she does is clear gain and she has to visit their homes and ah she thoroughly enjoys her work—she's going to retire in June. Dan: That is good—so you never got the farm up in Vermont with the apple orchard? Dr. Sargent: No, no so sold it—no we sold it ah my wife, my son's wife came from Syracuse and she got kind of homesick up there in the country—she lived there 16 years. She wanted to go back to Syracuse so they left for Syracuse and I sold the farm but ah it got to be a very productive farm—sold 20,000 boxes of apples a year. Dan: Gee. Dr. Sargent: And they—the man we sold it to told me 1st summer, told me, "I was offered twice what I paid for it." Dan: Uh huh. Dr. Sargent: And ah it's 150 acres and said for 70 acres he was offered $100,000 no buildings, but it is a very good productive orchard. But the kids, my wife didn't want to stay there and I'm too old to handle it. Dan: Yeah. Dr. Sargent: Sold it. Dan: Have you received any awards in your work through the years Doctor? Dr. Sargent: Yes, I've got one from Syracuse, honorary, ah fraternity from Syracuse School of Medicine, Maxwell School in Citizenship and I'm an honorary come out and I’ll show you (goes out on side porch and shows Dan diplomas) Dan: Is there anything else you'd like to tell me? Dr. Sargent: If you shut that off, I'll tell you. (meaning tape recorder) Dan: Ah well for the record I'll shut it off, sure but I mean is there anything else that you can think of as far as your career is concerned before I shut it off? Dr. Sargent: Yes I had some wonderful opportunities. In the State of Oregon, when I was doing syphilis control work in Rockwell County. State Health Commission asked me to go to New York City at the annual meeting for the entire country and sell our program, with our nurses and all—so what we were doing. Twenty-three States asked for our records and so forth and the State of Oregon asked me to come there. They said they'd give me a month’s salary—they'd pay all my expenses and so forth if I'd come up and set up a program there. They wouldn't let me go because I was—had nobody to replace me and ah they called Remington Rand—the stinkers patented my records and one day six or eight months afterwards, a young lad came into my office—spread out some records looked very familiar to me and he says, "Of course you can use these all you want to," says, "I am using it," says, "You can't let anybody else use it—they're ours—they're patented." They patented my own records. Dan: (Laughter) My God. Well would you like me to play this back for you Doctor? Dr. Sargent: No. Dan: No. Dr. Sargent: No. 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 Interview with Dr. Clealand A. Sargent Subject The topic of the resource Sargent, Clealand A. -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Richford (Vt.); University of Vermont; Orwell (Vt.); Physicians -- Interviews; Health officers -- Interviews; Syracuse (N.Y.); Food adulteration and inspection; Vaccination Description An account of the resource Dr. Clealand A. Sargent speaks about his upbringing in Richford, Vermont, premedical and medical education at the University of Vermont, and his private practice in Orwell, Vermont and why he had to give it up. He discusses entering the public health field, relating his experiences with different diseases and control programs in states in which he was a health officer. He also describes taking advanced courses at Johns Hopkins Medical School and teaching classes at various New York universities, and notes the differences in medical practices from the start of his career to the current day. He discusses his position and experiences as the Health Commissioner in Syracuse, NY. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Recording 52A ; Recording 52B Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Sargent, Clealand A. ; O'Neil, Dan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-04-26 Date Modified Date on which the resource was changed. 2016-03-27 Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Broome County Oral History Project Extent The size or duration of the resource. 33:49 Minutes ; 17:02 Minutes https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/bd119431ff04aa9bb893691a2b2c167a.mp3 bc6ed778975dd1fe0849046e03d0def6 https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/e3e47b652b3d98a6958ee96ab92083d8.mp3 ce429ad9439b815a71122f3073bd484b 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 Broome County Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource Broome County -- History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Description An account of the resource The Broome County Oral History Project was conceived and administered by the Senior Services Unit of the <a href="http://www.gobroomecounty.com/senior">Office for the Aging</a>. Funding for this project was provided by the Broome County Office of Employment and Training (C.E.T.A.), with additional funding from the Senior Service Unit of the National Council on Aging and Broome County government. The aim of this project was two-fold – to obtain historical information about life in Broome County, which would be useful for researchers and teachers, and to provide employment for older persons of a limited income. The oral history interviews were obtained between November 1977 and September 1978 and were conducted by five interviewers under the supervision of the Action for Older Persons Program. The collection contains 75 interviews and transcriptions, 77 cassette tapes, and a subject index containing names of individuals associated with specific subject terms. One transcribed interview does not have an accompanying audio recording. In 2005 Binghamton University Libraries’ Special Collections Department participated in the New York State Audiotape Project which undertook preservation reformatting of the audiotapes, and the creation of compact discs for patron use. Several interviews do not have release forms and cannot be reviewed. See the <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">finding aid </a>for additional information. Acknowledgment of sensitive content Binghamton University Libraries provide digital access to select materials held within the Special Collections department. Oral histories provide a vibrant window into life in the community. However, they also expose insensitive, and at times offensive, racial and gender terminology that, though once commonplace, are now acknowledged to cause harm. The Libraries have chosen to make these oral histories available as part of the historical record but the Libraries do not support or agree with the harmful narratives that can be found in these volumes. <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/libraries/about/collections/digital/">Digital Collections</a> are created for educational and historical purposes only. It is our intention to present the content as it originally appeared. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright  Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ben Coury, Digital Web Designer Yvonne Deligato, Former University Archivist Shandi Ezraseneh, Student Employee Laura Evans, Former Metadata Librarian Caitlin Holton, Digital Initiatives Assistant Jamey McDermott, Student Employee Erin Rushton, Head of Digital Initiatives David Schuster, Senior Director for Library Technology and Digital Strategies Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1977-1978 Relation A related resource <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections, Broome County Oral History project</a> Template: Simple Audio Player with Transcription This template displays an audio player by Amplitude.js with a scrollable transcription which is loaded from the "Transcription" metadata field. 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Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Sedlak, John Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Politylo, Nettie Date of Interview 1978-02-03 Collection Broome County Oral History Project Date of Digitization 2016-03-27 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 33:56 Minutes ; 11:52 Minutes Streaming Audio Streaming URL <a href="https://eternity.binghamton.edu/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE56015">Interview with John Sedlak</a> Subject LCSH Sedlak, John -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Endicott (N.Y.); Children of immigrants -- Interviews; Endicott Johnson Corporation -- Employees -- Interviews; Johnson, George F. (George Francis), 1857-1948; Life insurance agents -- Interviews; Shoes; Italians; Russians; Polish Accessibility Copy/Paste below: Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound, or alternative text from a visual medium Broome County Oral History Project Interview with: John Sedlak Interviewed by: Nettie Politylo Date of Interview: 3 February 1978 Nettie: This is Nettie Politylo, interviewer, talking to John Sedlak of O'Day Drive, Endicott, New York on Feb. 3, 1978. John, will you tell us about your life and experiences in the community? John: Well, to begin with I'm the first generation in this country, my folks having come from Czechoslovakia about 1907 and I was born on Oak Hill Avenue and delivered by a midwife, one of seven children with the exception of one, all of us were delivered by midwives—ive of us are living—two brothers died shortly after birth. On my folks when they came to this country they did not come from Czechoslovakia, it was known then, as Austria-Hungary. As a result, they both spoke and wrote Hungarian as well as Slovak. And many times during our youth when they didn't want us kids to know what they are talking about—they would speak Hungarian. They even sang in Hungarian, that he's—I used to remember some of them but I can't say them now because I can't remember them. But, I believe my first recollection I have as a youth, I lived on Oak Hill Avenue up to a age of twelve—here our next door neighbors were Italian. They came on the same boats as the rest of the foreign people those days and yet, our parents, even though they were different nationalities we would have a good relationship with the Italian people by sign language if nothing else or with a few words of English that we learned at work and we had good relationships with these foreign neighbors who, when I say foreign neighbors, we were foreigners, too, or our parents were. And I recall, as a kid, Endicott Johnson was mainstay of this community, they were the biggest, the best and you thought nothing of, rather, you thought, not of going to work somewheres else, your ship was sighted towards gonna work for Endicott Johnson, unless you were going to be a professional person which was a rare thing so—we—ah—ah see what I want to say ah. I just want to recollect that the great benefactor, that the Mr. George F. Johnson, was because, as a youngster it—we were benefited with sleds, wagons, parks, and as I recall every school that went up in the community the Endicott Johnson Corporation or George F. Johnson himself was grant maybe about half the payments for school which reduced the tax for all the people in the community. Christmas time he gave shoes to all the school kids and it didn't make any difference where your parents worked he got a pair of shoes free. Great humanitarian! And occasionally maybe you ought to stop that thing. Nettie: Take your time—relax—we'll just keep it going. John: Well, no, I'm relaxed—the only thing I'm just trying to think what I should inject in your machine and it is picking up our conversation. (Laughing). I was just gonna say that I would recall the honesty of the working people. I have a good example of my own. One day my mother wanted to wash my clothes, I was then about 10 years old, I had picked up a couple of combs at the dime store which I didn't pay for. To make a long story short, my father said, "Take your pants off and give them to your mother to take them to scrub them on a scrub board at that time.” I took these combs out of my pocket and he saw them and asked me, "Where did you get them?" I had to tell him—I stole them. Well, he told me to change my clothes and he took me all the way down Oak Hill Ave, stood in front of dime store and he said, "Now, you go in and put them in—put them back,” and that's what I had to do. Now that was the greatest lesson of "not stealing" that I ever had because it put me in good stead because all my life after that I never had to worry about a job if—I—-handle a lots of money. I wasn't tempted to walk off with any of it because—it just didn't—he put that lesson so clearly to me—that your name meant so much—poverty isn’t that bad—as long as you had a place to sleep and you had enough to eat. I don't care what you ate, you can get by in this world, get by with soup every day of the week. You don't have to have steak, potatoes—so that rubbed off on me so deeply that I am now 66 and I never forgot that incident and haven't touched anything since. I don't mean to throw stones on anybody else—but I certainly used that as a comparison that you can get by—by working and saving and the things of life which you really need first, the other pleasures come when you have the money—if don't have ‘em—don't worry ‘em but enjoy your neighborhood, your friends close by. You don't have to travel the world over—in other words to think you're missing something, if you don't go to Spain, France or something—someplace like that. If you can, fine, like to go and got the money—go—really—but what I'm just saying—the best thing in the world, as far as I can see is to make friends in your immediate neighborhood, your community and enjoy them. And I wanted to mention something else, and we moved on the farm about 1923 because of my mother's health but that didn't work out too well. It was too far for my father to travel to work—Endicott Johnson so we moved back to Endicott on North Street, this time, from there I developed to adulthood. Nettie: Is this about the time you were entering into the insurance business, John? John: No, no I did not enter into insurance business until I worked for about 8 years with Endicott Johnson as a shoe clerk. I started on Washington Ave transfering to Johnson City for 2 years and from there I was transferred to a new store, which opened up on Odell Ave… They needed someone who could speak the Slav languages. Well I didn't like to take the job in the first place because actually there was a reduction in pay—at least they told me there wasn't gonna be—finally it turned out it was and I stood with it—but for five years but after I got there the work turned out to be very, very good, very interesting. The people would speak Slav or they understood me, anyway if they were Russian, or Polish, we would get by. But the greatest thing I can remember from that, that experience, rather, working in that shoe store was mostly this—that I had an Italian lady who recently had come from Italy, I say recently, she may’ve been here a year or so she had been in tie shoe store numerous times and after time she would ask for me and she would always speak in Italian. The manager was Italian but she didn't want him, I guess because of his forceful sales methods, his forceful way of selling a shoe. She didn't like it—she always, when she came in the door—she would tell me in Italian that she wanted me—I can even repeat that—"Beaj ju va" [sic]—and that was a strange relationship because I would talk to her—I knew how to say colors, like I could ask her if she wanted black, brown or white shoe. I'd sit her down, measure her feet and I'd even tell her the price in Italian and I got so, I was, that much I can get by with and she appreciated that much and we got along very well. And the reason I brought up this incident is the fact you show some compassion towards people and they responded in kind and it didn't make any difference what your nationality was as far she was concerned, made no difference to me that she was Italian. I just felt wonderful with that experience, here's a person in that store that speaks as well as good Italian as she could but she preferred me, of a Slav descent and she knew it. Though, that was one of the experiences I had in life there and as time went along I wanted to leave the store and go to the Washington Avenue store which I had started in many, many years back. There was a vacancy there—and it would pay me almost 50% more in pay and I got the OK from the district manager but then he referred me to the vice president of the company, Lawrence Merle and when I sat down and talked with him he said, "We built the North Side Store for North Side people—if I take you from there and put you down on Washington Avenue you’re going to pull some of that trade down there and we can't do that." I got up on my haunches about then and said, "Mr. Merle, most companies pay a person more money because they can speak more than one language and you are penalizing me." He says, "No, no, no." By that time I got up and in spite of this man's vice presidency in that corporation and overall command of all the stores in United States, I FELT PROUD BECAUSE I could get up and say what I thought. About a year later, I left the store because I figured that wasn't the proper treatment. When I gave my notice about a week before I was to have my final days, I got a phone call asking me if I would take the manager's job in Cleveland, Ohio which I refused because I had given Metropolitan a—my OK that I was coming to work for them.  And even, there, I was hired because I could speak more than one language—they needed an agent who could speak other than English, In other words, the Slav language. And there again, it was in the same area as the shoe store. I got wound up with what they used to call it a debit in those days—a debit meant you had accounts, that were weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi or yearly and you collected mostly your money from the people on scheduled calls. I found out when I got the debit it wasn't as much Slav as I thought. I had almost as much Italian accounts but there again those same people were going to the shoe store, and they knew me, and I had a reasonable amount of success in the business of selling, regardless of what nationality there were. As I mentioned before you had we were not in full Depression at that time that, and this was in 1938, and still the country was not in a rosy condition either. We did have to collect some accounts every week, some people paid 2-3 dollars every week, those were big accounts. You try to equate that today, 2 - 3 dollars a week would mean about 20 dollars a week at least and those were pretty good size accounts, when you analyze them on today's market. Some of the experiences there were—oh—let's see I had something in mind, Nettie—and I can't think of what I was going to mention—Oh—I recall—yes—I had a man who I always had a hard time collecting from him—seldom home and drank a lot and lots of times I let his account go—after stopping there—I would let it go until the last day and I would go 2 or 3 times, see if I could catch him home. This one night I decided, well, I've had it, I was going home. I had stopped previously there, he lived on the third floor. Before I came to—on my return trip home which was almost 9 o'clock that night I've had a glass of wine at the last place I collected, and just one glass. I didn't know how to drink too much anyway, I came up to this fellow and he was giving me a hard time and I guess he could smell I had something to drink. We weren't supposed to drink. But this was the case, as I said, where the man—always giving me a rough time and here I was stopping, figuring I was going home, it was on my route home so I stopped because I could see a light on the third floor. I went up, I guess he paid me but don't remember that either except I do recall the next meeting, Friday of that week, we generally have meetings every Friday, the manager got up and he mentioned without mentioning names, he said, “One of you was reported to have been drinking this week. And I don't like that and this man didn't like it.” So I thought, "Ho, I bet they're talking about me." So when the meeting did break up, I did go into the manager·'s office and asked him if it was me. I gave him the circumstances. He says, "Johnny, we all drink but he says we never drink while you work.” He did tell me it was me. He didn't want to mention the man's name and I told him if it's this man and I told him the circumstances and what type of man that man was. We shook hands and that was it, the boss realized he just had a crank situation on his hands and told me to disregard it, he wasn't going to to make no report to the home office on that, so that's the way that situation ended. Now as far as selling the foreign born, most of them came to this country not knowing what insurance was. They didn't have no such things in Europe in those days. If a person passed away there, the village carpenter in the smaller communities, made a pine box and they were buried. However they paid for in those years—in those countries, I don't know. So we had to instill into the minds of people that just came into this country that you had a little different process here—you had the undertaker, you had the priest to pay or the minister as the case may be, because in many European countries the priest or the ministers were paid by the state so they didn't have any of that outside expense. Here, they had to uphold their own churches, and as a result you had to pay the priest, as I said again, the minister so the convincing—was sometimes hard, sometimes these people came were little above average, they had to be, they were pioneers, see—they must’ve been brave, leaving their mother country and come these thousand of miles away, not knowing the language, customs. Just picture ourselves, if we had to do this—even in our country transplant ourselves from here to the west coast, and all our other relations are here. It takes bit of forethought and courage to go out and do it—especially if you are close to your family and that was so in those days, our people came to this country they were close to their mothers and fathers and brothers—and they came from common stock and nobody was actually professional—not as we see the many foreign people come to this foreign country today—have a education, they are professional—it is easier—welcome better and they have a generally—they know there gonna to travel, they try to get books, that they can at least translate and get by until they make up their minds if they will go into further studies and be more proficient in the language. They can at least get by translating or reading the—other book—where our parents, with a limited educations—over there. My father told me he was—he went to school ‘til he was twelve years old and that was it. Here's this man that knew two languages at that time and he went up to the third or fourth grade. So, sometimes I used to, as a young man, take a hold they didn't know nothing. I look back they knew lot more. They knew the land, they knew how to work the land, they knew seasons, they knew what the seasons represented—by that, I mean—ah—if it was gonna be cold—they knew it by looking at things that natures provided—for them—in other words—they had a first hand course of their parents who, that would teach ‘em—all about these things—like for example, grafting a tree—I seen my father doing that as a kid. Here I am a high school graduate, years of experience in this community, I don't know how to graft a tree. That's what I mean. They knew how to put in a good garden—and why it did grow or not grow—they could tell you, without a formal education from nobody—so most of it came from their parents from their experience they were shown and they did. My father, when he came to this country, most people that left school and wanted to be for example, to be a tailor, they would go—work as an apprentice with a tailor. And so many years afterward—before he was granted some sort of a written certificate, I presume—someday he could come out and be a tailor on his own, either be hired in the industries or set up his own shop. That's the way they began life and some of ‘em prospered by it—especially those who came to this country which ways. We knew so little because so little was written about our country. Nettie: John, what kind of policies did they have at first? John: Oh—did digress away from the insurance business. Nettie: Oh—that's quite all right. John: When I began, actually most people paid insurance either by the week or by the month—most people had a hard time if you wrote them a policy to pay 6 or 7 dollars every three months—with the size of their families being large they felt it would be better if you wrote it by the week. But as things improved, you started writing more policies by the month—otherwards—I said, I began in 1938 and I recall that I had a break in there in 1944—I was drafted into military service and even in 1944 the economy had improved and you were writing more insurance that people were paying by the month—but again—that might not run over 5-6-7 dollars a month and it wasn't until after World War II when you started to write people 8-9-10 dollar premium a month plus what they already had—and these plans of insurance vary—most of our people did like to have a policy where they paid all their life. Even though, life policy was less expensive and they were having more protection for their dollar. They didn't feel they should be paying when they couldn't work any more, for example, So they would prefer a 20 payment life. We sell more of that—but the younger generation got better educated—some from service—realizing that—eh—why not be insured for $10,000 instead of let's say, 5 or 6 thousand under 20 payment for practically the same premium. So the people—as you educated people to understand insurance better and telling them—well, look if you take a whole life and can't pay it all your life that doesn't mean you are going to lose that money—say you come to 65 and you want to stop paying and you want to take what they call a reduced paid up insurance policy for over $6000 or whatever the case exact may be, without a rate book I'm just guessing here, but anyway they could see that instead of paying $15 a month for a $10,000—20 payment life they could pay maybe $9.00 for a whole life for the same protection. My company will pay the same whether you pay $9 or $15 but the only advantage was after 20 years you didn't have pay anymore, but again it took $15 instead of $9 out of your pocket. And, if you had a larger family and had other obligations, which most people did, something would have to give, unless income in 70 went up and in those years there wasn't that steady income, that steady increase in wages, as some of the industries are getting today. There was no such thing as every year you got a increase, you could get a decrease for a lack of work. The situation as you see today. Nettie: John, may I interrupt at this time? When you are talking about increases maybe you can tell us the difference between Endicott Johnson and IBM—when it came to wages at that period. John: Well, back in—when I graduated from High School in 1930—you been better off going to work for Endicott Johnson because Endicott Johnson had a full medical program and IBM or at that time known as ITR, did not. They made about the same wages excepting in the tanneries where you made bigger money than working in ITR and ITR as I said, had no medical program, as I recall, but EJ or Endicott Johnson did—you went to a hospital you didn't have to worry about a nickel, went to see their doctors, got a prescription filled, had your eyes checked, the only thing I can remember after after your getting your eyes checked—you had to pay for your glasses if you could afford it. If you couldn't, even there, Endicott Johnson would pick up the tab. I remember instances, where people got hurt in car accidents on the highway and Endicott Johnson would send a plane to pick up these people and bring them back to the local hospital at no expense to these people. I seen people at instances where they needed special medical care that was not furnished locally, again—Endicott Johnson would furnish the plane to the patient as well as a family member to fly ‘em to a destination and when were through with their treatments bring them back. And all this and even the living expense of these people was absorbed by Endicott Johnson. However, after World War II IBM became a different ball game—they started to really prosper—you can't say today that they don't have good benefits—they have tops—Endicott Johnson, of course, is also a good corporation today to work for. Does that cover it? Nettie: John, how about going back to the Slovak people? I think it would be interesting if you told us some of the traditions—I think— John: Oh—well—see—what we can—like Easter? Nettie: Yes that would be interesting. John: Well—of course Easters back in our day—when we were kids, especially bring some recollections of the Lent season. First of all, we did not eat meat—generally on two days of the week—Wednesdays and Fridays at all and that was all during the 40 days then during the—course—also those who were of age were generally from 18-60 were supposed to fast—and that is one full meat meal a day and the other just light lunches you might say but that was just what many other religions did too—the Orthodox probably even stricter than the Roman Catholics in their upholding of their Lent. When Easter came there is a custom we want to bring out is that was I would get the pussywillows and my father would braid these pussywillows in a form of a short switch and it was a custom that on Easter, although they tell me in Czechoslovakia it was on Monday, where the men run around and they sort of whip the women, this is sort of reminiscent when Christ being whipped by the Jews before being crucified. It was done in a playful manner when you whipped the girls and the following day on Tuesday, was the girls’ day·to do the same. And this naturally, being a youngster, you go out to see your relatives and close friends, you switch the women folk even some times, kids your age or some little older—naturally would run from you because they didn't want to be beaten but sometimes you get a little too carried away and hit too hard, and the man of the house would naturally give you an egg or an orange or money—a few pennies but—was fun—was fun—because we didn't have much money if we got a few cents at the end of to go to a movie we thought we did pretty good. Matter of fact, this custom we did every year—I had an Italian friend who was very close to us—and he kept asking us if he could go along, finally, one Easter we took him out, then we got him a whip, and, my dad a few extras and he went with us too. (Laughing).  I can still remember the boy's name, I don't know if you want names—but Tony Fanara—neighbor practically to Helen's there—and I can still recall that. Then another custom was at Christmas time—which we would go out—oh—before I go on Christmas. I just want to mention one thing about the young adults—we sort of switched from that switch—that's going to be confusing now on tape but instead of the kobachis we used to call it—we started to using water—we used—seltzer bottles. So I recall we didn't have too many cases where you could do that but we had, I remember Margaret Gondek's folds—she was up to date on these things—wouldn't want us to miss her house so we get up early Sunday morning—Easter morning—and she'd leave the house open so we'd walk in and we knew where the girl's bedroom was already—so we'd go up daybreak and pull the covers and swish the seltzer bottle— Nettie: Good ol’ days. John: Yeah—yeah—but somebody had a wet bed—you call that good ol' days—but maybe they didn't like it—they say they didn't like it—but again—I'm sure but what would you do with a wet bed? Take days to dry out. Nettie: That was youth! John: But that was the fun of youth—yeah—we enjoyed doing that. Next day the fellow—generally the girls took it over the following day—which as I said—the custom was Sunday and Monday—in Europe it was Monday and Tuesday. No… But other than that—oh—church dances when they used to have festivals—like in October—they would have a harvest festival then they would dance in native costume—native dress costumes of the Czechoslovakia. They were different costumes different, depending of what part of Czechoslovakia you came from, seems as though every town had its own style of costumes—kroys—I think they called them. I even got away from term insurance—I never mentioned that yet— Nettie: Do you want to mention it at this time? John: Well, you’re gonna have this interlaced with costumes and other—so you will have to adjust. Nettie: That's all right—you want to mention this term insurance—it's all right. John: You asked a question about the term insurance as I mentioned a—a—on previous discussion—term insurance is insurance that has no cash value at any time—as long as you pay for it—you have the coverage once you cease paying on it, the coverage ceases and that's not immediately because if you paid the current month you don't pay until the next premium, you have 30 days or 31 days—after that all coverage ceases because you didn't pay the premium. Now very few people at the beginning would buy this type of insurance but back in—oh—I think following World War II it became more prevalent because all these servicemen became acquainted with term insurance because that's what we bought as servicemen from the government, term insurance—and that of course, the government said when you got out you can convert to other forms of insurance—which today you can buy almost any type of insurance you want—even with the government you have been in service, so you can have your policies paid up as at a given time—you know—whole life policies which would build up cash reserves. Now that's mainly the difference—much of your—again—another idea of having to understand term insurance, is insurance most industries carry for their employees—is term insurance—builds up no cash reserves. Those who die along the way—their families would benefit by that and those who live have very little coverage in their older years of their life. Nettie: Now some of these insurances you had—was there a high rate of lapsing? John: No, no—because there again—that depended on the agent and how he explained things and how forceful he was to oversell ‘em—and that's how many agents were overzealous with—talk a man into a large amount than he can pay for. So the man may struggle for with one year—or or maybe a 6 month—and the first thing you know lapsing—his policy and couldn't afford it so I was always watchful of that—because I thought—look—I might better sell this man a smaller contract now with the hopes things, if things would improve for him or he can handle this he would not hedge against buying additional coverage as he got a little older. You might have to pay more—but again he knew what he could handle—in other words it's one step at a time. If you use that philosophy I think you found—I found at least that they did better with their insurance program. I didn't have—I never had a high lapse ratio like some of the agents. I was never the top salesman as some of these men were but amount of lapse. I often wondered how they were rated that high but they—I guess— Nettie: John, you told me quite a few interesting things but do you still have any more recollections toward our interview?  John: Well, I really don't think so—I'm not here to—you can't bring EJ back to life like the way it was—we've seen the community replaced by IBM instead of Endicott Johnson—I believed I mentioned in previous discussion all Endicott Johnson did before and if we could have another benefactor like—Endicott—like George F. Johnson—this community—and every community in the United States—it would be wonderful. This man didn't die forgotten—at least in my mind—I've always thought of this man and I always have prayed for this man. He was just a beautiful man—he's a man more people should try to copy. Nettie: Ok—John—thank you for your interview and it was very interesting. Rights Statement This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. 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 Interview with John Sedlak Subject The topic of the resource Sedlak, John -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Endicott (N.Y.); Children of immigrants -- Interviews; Endicott Johnson Corporation -- Employees -- Interviews; Johnson, George F. (George Francis), 1857-1948; Life insurance agents -- Interviews; Shoes; Italians; Russians; Polish Description An account of the resource John Sedlak discusses his upbringing in Endicott as one of seven children of Czechoslovakian immigrants, his work for Endicott Johnson stores as a shoe clerk, where he learned to understand Italian, Russian, and Polish. He tells of his work for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, including working with immigrants. He compares benefits of Endicott Johnson workers and IBM workers before WWII, and emphasizes the charitable work of George F. Johnson and the Endicott Johnson Corporation. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Recording 53A ; Recording 53B Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Sedlak, John ; Politylo, Nettie Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-02-03 Date Modified Date on which the resource was changed. 2016-03-27 Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Broome County Oral History Project Extent The size or duration of the resource. 33:56 Minutes ; 11:52 Minutes https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/756555be9fe142ef8a5ab43065ad3508.mp3 e51b373fded5afc08371db916a889524 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 Broome County Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource Broome County -- History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Description An account of the resource The Broome County Oral History Project was conceived and administered by the Senior Services Unit of the <a href="http://www.gobroomecounty.com/senior">Office for the Aging</a>. Funding for this project was provided by the Broome County Office of Employment and Training (C.E.T.A.), with additional funding from the Senior Service Unit of the National Council on Aging and Broome County government. The aim of this project was two-fold – to obtain historical information about life in Broome County, which would be useful for researchers and teachers, and to provide employment for older persons of a limited income. The oral history interviews were obtained between November 1977 and September 1978 and were conducted by five interviewers under the supervision of the Action for Older Persons Program. The collection contains 75 interviews and transcriptions, 77 cassette tapes, and a subject index containing names of individuals associated with specific subject terms. One transcribed interview does not have an accompanying audio recording. 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Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright  Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ben Coury, Digital Web Designer Yvonne Deligato, Former University Archivist Shandi Ezraseneh, Student Employee Laura Evans, Former Metadata Librarian Caitlin Holton, Digital Initiatives Assistant Jamey McDermott, Student Employee Erin Rushton, Head of Digital Initiatives David Schuster, Senior Director for Library Technology and Digital Strategies Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1977-1978 Relation A related resource <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections, Broome County Oral History project</a> Template: Simple Audio Player with Transcription This template displays an audio player by Amplitude.js with a scrollable transcription which is loaded from the "Transcription" metadata field. 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Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Shaughnessy, Mary Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview O'Neil, Dan Date of Interview 1978-01-24 Collection Broome County Oral History Project Date of Digitization 2016-03-27 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 32:48 Minutes Streaming Audio Streaming URL <a href="https://eternity.binghamton.edu/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE56019">Interview with Mary Shaughnessy</a> Subject LCSH Shaughnessy, Mary -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Binghamton (N.Y.); Cigar industry; Endicott-Johnson Corporation -- Employees; Nurses -- Interviews; Tuberculosis; Hull Grummond; St. Mary's Church; Irish; Wilson Memorial Hospital Accessibility Copy/Paste below: Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. 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Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound, or alternative text from a visual medium Broome County Oral History Project Interview with: Mary Shaughnessy Interviewed by: Dan O’Neil Date of interview: 24 January 1978 [Note: Telephone rings in middle of interview, and Mrs Shaughnessys' sister, Mrs. Winifred Walsh of same address, enters room and is included in conversation and hereafter referred to in this transcription as Winnie.] Dan: Ah Mary will you relate to me your life and working experiences in the community starting with the early days on Henry Street? Mary: Yes. Dan: OK. Mary: Is it on? Dan: Yes, you go right ahead. Mary: Oh I was born at 208 Henry Street. It was an Irish settlement and ah most almost all girls that were around my age went into the cigar factory around there and ah we made we would get a $5.00 gold piece for our pay—we made around $5.00 a week and it was usually given in a gold piece and ah of course we walked to work and we walked back because there weren’t any cars then. Dan: What cigar factory was it? Mary: It was Hull Grummond. Dan: Hull Grummond. Mary: Corner of Water and Henry. Dan: And you say you were paid $5.00 a week in a gold piece? Mary: Around that amount—a little change maybe we had besides that. Dan: Yeah, what was your job in the— Mary: Rolling, setting the wrapper around the cigar. Dan: OK. Mary: By hand—no machines. Dan: And this was you're paid so much a week or were you— Mary: No, they counted how many cigars we done. Dan: In other words it was piecework. Mary: Yeah, piecework, that’s right. Dan: OK so in other words this $5.00 a week in a gold piece they gave you that and whatever change over and above that, that you made in the piecework. Mary: If I remember it, that was the way it was. Dan: Uh huh, how were the conditions there, the working conditions? Mary: Well they were good. We had ah they were nice people to work for. Some of them were from originally from Binghamton and some came with the company from out of town. Dan: And you say you were how old when you started to work there, Mary?  Mary: Ah about 14. Dan: 14—OK. Mary: Well I worked just a little while at on Wall Street—they had a factory there but then we went to Hull Grummond later. Dan: Was this one on Water Street also Hull Grummond? Mary: No that wasn't.  Dan: Another factory. Mary: That was another factory. They were mostly from out of town—the bosses were. Dan: And you worked there for how long—just a year—Hull Grummond? Mary: Probably 2 years. Dan: 2 years OK and you were a roller. Mary: Yes. Dan: And ah you ah you don't know how the tobacco industry started up here do you? Mary: How it was started? Dan: Yeah. Mary: No I wouldn’t know that. Just that we were glad that there was a place come to town that we could work. The only other work there would be was working in a home and you lived in with the people but ah I never I had gone in and helped sometimes in a great while but someone who needed help. Dan: OK—now after you left Hull Grummond, where did you go Mary? Mary: I went to Endicott Johnson shoe factory with the CFJ building—Charles F. Johnson building. Dan: And what did you do there? Mary: Heeling er ah putting ah heel lining in the shoe by hand. Dan: Uh huh—OK—now how long did you work there? Mary: Ah well probably I think about a year and a half or so. Dan: A year and a half OK and from there what did you do? Mary: Well I was home for a while—my husband was ill—he had tuberculosis. Dan: Now you say you were 14 when you went to work in the cigar factory and you worked there 2 years—that would make you 16 right? Mary: Yeah. Dan: And then a year and a half at EJ? Mary: Yeah. Dan: That would make you 17 ½.  Mary: How long—I was 24 when I got married. Dan: Oh you were 24 when you got married. Mary: Yeah Dan: I see. Mary: We went together of course. Dan: Oh but you said you had to leave EJ because your husband was ill. Mary: Yeah and he worked there too. Dan: He worked there too. Mary: Uh huh. Dan: So you must have worked at EJ more than a year and a half though, Mary. Mary: Yeah I think around that Haha. Dan: Yeah because if you got married when you were 24— Mary: Yeah almost 25, I think. Dan: Almost 25, yeah OK—so you left there when your husband got ill. Mary: Ah I left EJ and went in the mountains to be near my husband and took a job at the hospital and just helped out there. Dan: What, what mountains were they? Mary: Well, in the line of nursing but not, not too much so because I wasn't trained but I did help out and he said that he hoped I could be a nurse and of course I always remembered it. [Phone rings] Dan: Will Winnie get that? Mary: Yeah. Dan: Go ahead Mary. [Phone rings again] Mary: Winnie. Winnie: I’ll get it. [Phone rings again] Dan: Now, you were there how long in the mountains—how long was he sick? Mary: Oh he ah let’s see he was sick about he was first he went to Chenango Bridge he was 18 months up there in the TB Hospital and then he went to ah—well he worked for EJ, so we went to an EJ place they had in the mountains—not way up in the mountains—at the foothills of the Adirondacks and I went up there and worked until he died. I came home the day that he died that evening. I came home the next morning. Dan: Then you weren’t married too long, Mary. Mary: Oh no and we didn't live together too much because he was in the hospital a lot. Dan: Yeah, so how old were you when he died. Mary: Ah, let’s see oh around 30. Dan: Around 30. Then what did you do Mary? Mary: I went back to school and studied and went back to school. I went to East Jr. and took some subjects there that gave me credit and ah everybody was very nice and ah and ah let’s see I went to Buffalo for a short time. Dan: Why don’t we turn this off? [Recorder] Mary: Yeah. Dan: Now Mary you said you went to East Junior. Mary: Yeah. Dan: Finish school? Mary: What? Dan: Finish school? Mary: Well I went ah I had—Winnie, Winnie, don't talk. [Winnie enters room] Dan: That’s all right, that’s all right, that’s OK. That’s all right—now that’s all right. Winnie: Did you want me? Dan: Oh sure, sure. Mary: You’re registered on here [Tape Recorder]. Dan: That’s all right, that’s OK. That’s all right—it makes it more interesting. Mary: I ah remember. Dan: East Junior is only ah East Junior High School is only about a year—that you went there. Mary: Oh I studied subjects from Central but I didn’t go there, I studied them privately and took the examination. Dan: What examination was this? Mary: Well ah History I think was one. I went to night school for a while I can't tell you how long and ah. Dan: Now is this in preparation for your becoming a nurse Mary? Mary: Well I suppose yes. Winnie: Had to get the credits. Mary: I wanted to get credits. Dan: Yeah, how far had you gone to school when you went toward—at when you first went to work? Mary: When I went in training? Dan: No, no, when you first went to work, you know at 14, when you first went to work at 14. Mary: Yeah. Dan: How far had you progressed in school at that time? Mary: Oh to the 7th. Dan: 7th grade? Mary: Because you had to go to another building to the 8th grade see—down on Washington Street where the police used to be, remember? Dan: Police, police station? Mary: Police station on Washington. Winnie: It used to be Washington Street school. Dan: Oh Washington Street school, yeah, yeah, a little before my time (Chuckle). Yeah so OK, so then by going to night school, East Junior and Central, you got more credits. Mary: Well you only had to have a year then but it changed considerably. Dan: A year, a year outside of high school. Mary: Ah a year of high school. Well you could get your ah credits for whatever way you got them, if you passed and received them from Albany you know you had a year’s credits. Dan: In other words your training, th schooling— Mary: Then I trained for two and a half years. Dan: Oh you trained in a hospital. Mary: In Wilson Memorial. Dan: For two and a half years. Mary: And graduated there. Dan: And graduated in their nursing class, I see. In what year was that Mary? Mary: 1931 Dan: 1931 Ok and what did you do? Mary: Private duty for a while between Lourdes and City Hospital and Wilson wherever a patient might ask for a nurse and ah we put our names down and they'd call us if they wanted us. Mostly at Wilson and ah then I went from there to Psychiatries on No. Winnie: You went to Windus’ first. Mary: I went to Windus’ I went took care of a private patient and ah I was with him 8 years. With him and his wife of course. Dan: What was his name? Mary: I lived right in with them. Dan: What was the name Mary? Mary: Windus. Dan: Windus. Mary. Very well known around here. Dan: How do you spell that? Mary: W-I-N-D-U-S. Dan: W-I-N-D-U-S. Windus, OK what address was that do you remember, Mary? Mary: Well they owned a home on Chenango Street. Dan: Chenango Street. Winnie : On Helen Street. Mary: Win, not them, no. Winnie: Allen Street. Mary: Allen Street in Johnson City. Dan: Allen Street in Johnson City and you were with them 8 years and then you went to where—to psychiatric. Mary: Yes, I think so—well I went to medical upstairs. Winnie: She had trouble with her hands—couldn’t use the back rub. She got eczema on her hands. Dan: So where was this medical upstairs—where? Winnie: On Clinton Street. Dan: Oh the annex you're talking about. The Wilson Memorial Hospital. Mary: Yeah, I worked over there. Dan: That, that psychiatric—oh I see. Mary: Yeah. Dan: And how long did you work there, Mary? Mary: Oh I can't remember—I retired from there. Winnie: ‘61 I think. Mary: Must have been. Dan: ‘61, so you were over there quite a few years—must have been over there about over 20 years then. Mary: No it wasn't that long. Dan: It wasn’t that long. Winnie: Probably about 8 or 10 I think don't you? 8 or 10. Mary: I worked in two different, I worked on medical over there. They had medical and psychiatric. I worked on medical for quite a while and ah we used to they used to send patients up on the Hill you know up to he State Hospital and I used to take them up in the ambulance then. Dan: Could you give me an idea of the typical day in nursing back when you first started Mary so we could compare it to the present day methods? Mary: You mean of how— Dan: Nursing, you know like the medical profession has progressed quite a bit since the early days since when you know you graduated. Mary: Yeah. Dan: I was wondering if you could give me a capsulized— Mary: I remember with the paperwork today. Dan: Pardon? Mary: There’s an awful lot of paperwork today. Dan: A lot of paperwork today. Mary: Oh yes on account of this— Winnie: Insurance. Mary: You know Social Security and everything - it’s a lot different. Dan: Now outside of the paperwork, how did it differ? Mary: Well not too much. Winnie: Well when the patients left you had to do the beds. Mary: Of course some of the nurses that I worked with had worked at Wilson when they had to go downstairs and take care of the fire at night—that long ago see if the furnace was going. Dan: Oh was that right? Mary: Which that doesn't happen today. Dan: And that was what kind of heat—was it coal? Mary: Oh I imagine so, yes it was coal. Dan: Didn't they have a superintendent to take care of that? Mary: Well maybe it was the night he was off—I don't know. Winnie: It was just a house then. Mary: I wasn't there then—that was before my time. Dan: Before your time. Mary: That was in the old wooden building which is gone now. Dan: Yeah, but more of your time was taken up as far as patient, nurse to patient relationship. Mary: Yes, much more time with the patient than there is I think today. Dan: Today they have nurses’ aides and etc. to do the— Mary: No they didn't and you had to do a lot of ah keep the utility rooms cleaned and all that, that you, a lot of things that have changed today. Dan: Now how many were in your family Mary—how many brothers and sisters? Mary: Oh there was 6 children in all—one was born dead. Dan: One was stillborn. Mary: Ah there’s 5. Dan: 5 children—you said you had to go to work at 14, did your father and mother the ah did your father die at an early age? Mary: No he was 84. Dan: He was 84. Mary: 83. Winnie: He was sick a lot. Dan: He was sick a lot so that would account for your having to go to work at an early age. Winnie: Yeah, but you went to Pine Street School, grade school before you went. Mary: It was Pine Street Grade School where Pine Haven is or Pine Haven. Dan: That’s where you started in school? Mary: Oh yes, I started in there. Dan: And went to the 7th grade, is that right? Mary: I left in the 7th grade. I don't think I quite finished it—I don't remember too well. I think that ah it was the 7th—that’s all they had there. Dan: Anything about the neighborhood life or your family life at that time ah Mary that ah would be of interest? Winnie: Well was mostly Irish on Henry Street then. Dan: Mostly Irish Winnie. Mary: Beautiful flowers and ah yards. They kept their yards up very nice—lovely. Dan: About what year was this ah Mary? Mary: About what year? Dan: Yeah. Mary: Oh dear. Winnie: 14 take 14 from her age 14. Mary: I think so. Dan: 14 from what? Winnie: 86. Dan: 14 from 86 would be 72 yeah so your dad died when he was 84— Mary: 83. Dan: 83 uh huh and did your Mother live after or did she predecease him? Winnie: She died in ‘25. Dan: She died in 1925. Mary: By that time the rest of the children went to work and my sister was very good to my mother and she went to EJ and she was there when they gave the big bonus and she saved that money and they built a home on Oliver Street later. Dan: Now going back to Hull Grummond, you say you worked there about a year and a half, is that right? Mary: I think about that. Winnie: I don't remember. Mary: No—she was awful young then. Dan: You were employed as a roller on a piecework basis. Ah Mary, do you know of anybody else that’s living today that worked in the cigar factory? Winnie: Fannie, Fannie the German woman. Mary: Who? Winnie: Fannie. Mary: Oh yeah. That’s a girl over in the hospital now—she isn't a girl anymore but she's a German—she came from Germany and ah I don't know her last name now—when she married of course, she has a grown husband. Winnie: Is it Winkler? Mary: Huh? Winnie: Is it Wlinkler? Mary: I don't think it’s Winkler—I'm not sure but anyway she was ah about my age and she ah is still living and ah oh— Winnie: Mabel is still living. Mary: Mabel, yeah, Mabel Fry lives in Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio. I have been to see her different times. She's ah she was my age and she worked in Barnes and Smith, which was another cigar factory by local people. Dan: Yeah, but you don't know why they went out of business, do you Mary? Winnie: I think cigarettes were, don't you? Dan: Cigarettes—well I heard that the Union—they tried to unionize it. Mary: Well yes I think that did have something to do with it. Dan: Why did you go from Hull Grummond to EJ Mary—was it an increase in salary or something? Winnie: Yes there was more money from the cigar factory to the shoe factory. Mary: Huh? Winnie: From the cigar factory to the shoe factory there was more money. Mary: Oh yes, yes that’s right. Dan: In other words what prompted you to change jobs? Mary: Yes, yes. Dan: Yeah OK and you met your husband when you were there. Mary: Oh I, he was in our neighborhood—I knew him when I was in the lower grades in school. Dan: He worked in EJ too? Mary: Yes he did. Dan: OK, then you were only married a year and a half when he got sick. Winnie: He was sick 5 years. Mary: He was sick 5 years about that I think. Winnie: He died at 33. Dan: Anything else Mary that you can think of that would be of interest at all? You mentioned in your class at Wilson ah there were some Griffin girls, the Griffin girls. Who were some of your classmates at Wilson? Mary: Ah. Dan: That took training—went into training with you. Mary: Oh there was quite a few then. Winnie: They were also were younger. Mary: They were a lot younger than me you know. Dan: Yeah. Mary: Yeah ah Tom McAvoy’s wife she was she sat next to me in class and ah then she took up anesthesia and she was an anesthetist when she married. Winnie: Dr. Occhino’s wife was in your class. Dan: What year was this class here—1930? Mary: 1931. Dan: 1931 and how old were you when you graduated from this class, Mary? Mary: About 36 wasn’t I or 37? Winnie: I think you were about that. Mary: I went in and I didn't quite have credits enough and I had to go back and get more credits. That’s when I took some subjects at Central High School—I can’t think of that teacher’s name. Dan: But you only needed to qualify to go into training a year of high school? Mary: That’s right. Dan: Is that right? You had a year of high school and then you went right in the hospital for 2 ½ years in training—right. Mary: Tender, loving care. Dan: Tender, loving care and then you were awarded your certificate or whatever your license to register—a Registered Nurse, right? Mary: Yeah. Dan: Anything, any one of your patients very famous at all in the community that you nursed? Winnie: Well there were some ministers. Mary: Huh? Winnie: Didn’t you take care of some ministers? Mary: Ah who? Winnie: Any of the ministers in Johnson City. Mary: Oh yeah, Mr. ah Noah. Winnie: You were working on the floor then. Mary: Noah I know him very well only he worked in the—he was in and out of the hospital a lot—he was a friend of mine is all. Mr. ah an Episcopal minister. Winnie: You took care of Leonard Steed’s wife’s mother. Mary: You know Edith Steed? Dan: I’ve heard of her. Winnie: The boys that are doctors. Dan: Yeah, yeah, Actually the one that stands out would be this Windus. Mary: Yes, Mr. Windus. Dan: Mr. Windus who lived on Allen Street in Johnson City. Winnie: Do you tell him he was President of the Bank, Mary? Mary: He was Vice-Pres—when his brother died, I think he was President. Dan: Mr. Windus was—he was Vice Pres. Mary: They started the bank down there. Winnie: Workers’ Trust—Vice-Pres. Dan: Vice-Pres of Workers’ Trust. Mary: They started the bank down there, they started down in Hallstead and had a bank up there Hallstead or Great Bend and they were from around ah I went through their town one time—can’t think of the name of it. Winnie: Well you know the Behan house on Riverside Drive? Mary: He owned that but he didn’t want to live in it. Dan: He’d rather be in Johnson City. Mary: He owned that beautiful, that beautiful home in Hillcrest. That’s where we were. Winnie: Romy Haskell’s home, the big white home up there. Dan: Huh. Mary: That’s where she was sick so long. Dan: Yeah. Mary: But I didn’t take care of her there. I didn’t take care of her at all, but she had nurses around the clock for 16 years. Dan: Is that right and you went to St. Mary’s Church, Mary? Mary: Well I don’t go there now. Dan: No I know you don’t go there now but did at one time. Mary: Yes. Dan: On Henry Street but ah things have changed quite a bit now. Winnie: Well when we lived on the East side we still stayed with St. Mary’s. Dan: Still went to St. Mary’s, yeah, kind of get used to it you know. Winnie: Yeah I know. Mary: I ah could tell you something amusing about that. They called it Old St. Mary’s. Dan: Is that right? Mary: So I got up one night at a meeting and I said, “Well I don't like to say this but ah it is not Old St. Mary’s. I was baptized in Old St. Mary’s on Chenango Street—a skating rink that was made into a Church on Sunday—they brought the altar in and it was across from where St. Paul's is now and ah you walked up and carried the baby or the godmother did and the godfather and ah walked back. They thought nothing of walking and ah that’s where I was baptized and that was the first St. Mary’s Church. Dan: That was right across from where St. Paul’s is now? Mary: Across the road. Dan: What was it—a wooden building? Mary: They took it down long ago. Winnie: I think it was a garage and they had a fire or something. Mary: Yeah. Dan: So in other words they carried the all the the altar appointments up there and ah had the Sunday Mass there before they built St. Mary’s? Mary: These priests don't even know that I don't think because they were young men. Dan: This was prior to—let’s see the cornerstone on St. Mary’s Chuch I think is around 1890 something ‘92—this would be prior to that wouldn't it? Winnie: Just before that. Dan: Just before that. Winnie: You were born in ‘91. Mary: Dick was one of the first babies baptized in St. Mary’s. Winnie: John and you were baptized up there. Mary: Father Hughes called him “Richard the Third.” Dan: Father Who? Mary: Father Hughes. Dan: “Richard the Third.” Mary: He called my brother “Richard the Third.” Dan: Oh, Richard the Third. Winnie: He was named after his uncle. Dan: Was Father Hughes the first Pastor of St. Mary’s? I think he was. Winnie: When I was here— Mary: I think so, Father Drummond. There was a Father Drummond Pastor but I think he was after. Dan: Who was the priest that used to take a and have Mass across from St. Paul’s before St. Mary’s was built? Mary: I don't know that. Dan: But you were baptized in that church. Mary: I was baptized in that church. Dan: And that church was across from St. Paul’s. Mary: It was a church on Sunday and a skating rink all week. Dan: Must have been quite wide open wasn't it? Mary: Haha there’s a lot of changes. Dan: A lot of changes I guess so. Mary: Now they've got their second viaduct. Dan: True, true. St. Mary’s has changed too. Winnie: Oh I don't know anybody—about 2 or J people. Dan: Well is there anything you would like to add Mary that you think would be of interest at all? Mary: Dear, I'll probably remember them after you go. Dan: Well if you do, call me up and I’ll be glad to come back. Mary: Haha, all in all my memory is pretty good you know considering I'm 86. Dan: 86. Mary: But I’m very active although I fall. Dan: Well that’s wonderful, it’s remarkable I mean years ago ah you know starting out at $5.00 a week you know was big money.  Mary: Yeah. Dan: Big money—you know kids today they think, “Oh Gee it's nothing.” Well Mary I’ll play this back for you and if you should think of anything that you'd like to add, why we can just turn it on again—how will that be? Mary: OK that’s good. Rights Statement This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. 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 Interview with Mary Shaughnessy Subject The topic of the resource Shaughnessy, Mary -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Binghamton (N.Y.); Cigar industry; Endicott-Johnson Corporation -- Employees; Nurses -- Interviews; Tuberculosis; Hull Grummond; St. Mary's Church; Irish; Wilson Memorial Hospital Description An account of the resource Mary Shaughnessy talks about her birth and upbringing on Henry St. in Binghamton, NY, in an Irish settlementan Irish settlement area. She speaks of working at the Hull Grummond cigar factory and later working for the Endicott Johnson shoe factory.  She recounts completing the nursing program at <a href="http://www.uhs.net/locations/uhs-wilson-medical-center/">Wilson Memorial Hospital</a> to become a registered nurse, as well as her training there. She then discusses working occasionally as a private duty nurse, and what a typical day was like in nursing, compared to the present day. She recalls her experiences with her religion and church as well. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Recording 54 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Shaughnessy, Mary ; O'Neil, Dan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-01-24 Date Modified Date on which the resource was changed. 2016-03-27 Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Broome County Oral History Project Extent The size or duration of the resource. 32:48 Minutes https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/224373b701eafe101745b3af2ab1f633.mp3 877e5b79914363ff4cea8024ec22a1eb https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/881c7eeeaaa83d369c667aa26d8e89f6.mp3 b7ff858c65c2996ce4df1b4c80e76612 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 Broome County Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource Broome County -- History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Description An account of the resource The Broome County Oral History Project was conceived and administered by the Senior Services Unit of the <a href="http://www.gobroomecounty.com/senior">Office for the Aging</a>. Funding for this project was provided by the Broome County Office of Employment and Training (C.E.T.A.), with additional funding from the Senior Service Unit of the National Council on Aging and Broome County government. The aim of this project was two-fold – to obtain historical information about life in Broome County, which would be useful for researchers and teachers, and to provide employment for older persons of a limited income. The oral history interviews were obtained between November 1977 and September 1978 and were conducted by five interviewers under the supervision of the Action for Older Persons Program. The collection contains 75 interviews and transcriptions, 77 cassette tapes, and a subject index containing names of individuals associated with specific subject terms. One transcribed interview does not have an accompanying audio recording. 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Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright  Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ben Coury, Digital Web Designer Yvonne Deligato, Former University Archivist Shandi Ezraseneh, Student Employee Laura Evans, Former Metadata Librarian Caitlin Holton, Digital Initiatives Assistant Jamey McDermott, Student Employee Erin Rushton, Head of Digital Initiatives David Schuster, Senior Director for Library Technology and Digital Strategies Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1977-1978 Relation A related resource <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections, Broome County Oral History project</a> Template: Simple Audio Player with Transcription This template displays an audio player by Amplitude.js with a scrollable transcription which is loaded from the "Transcription" metadata field. 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Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Smith, Jean Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Wood, Wanda Date of Interview 1978-05-02 Collection Broome County Oral History Project Date of Digitization 2016-03-27 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 33:40 Minutes ; 18:44 Minutes Streaming Audio Streaming URL <a href="https://eternity.binghamton.edu/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE56022">Interview with Dr. Jean Smith</a> Subject LCSH Smith, Jean -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Chenango Bridge (N.Y.); Women physicians -- Interviews; Syracuse University; World War, 1939-1945; Vaccination; Chenango Valley Central Schools; Chenango Valley Medical Group; State University of New York at Binghamton Clinical Campus; Polio Accessibility Copy/Paste below: Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound, or alternative text from a visual medium Broome County Oral History Project Interview with: Dr. Jean Smith Interviewed by: Wanda Wood Date of interview: 2 May 1978 Wanda: This is Wanda Wood interviewing Dr. Jean Smith of Highover Rd. in Chenango Bridge. The date is the second of May, 1978. Doctor Jean, you've recently retired as a family physician after twenty-some years in—a our community and we're interested in your life experiences in—a this Broome County area. A—would you begin by telling us where you were born? Dr. Jean: Well, I was born and raised in Syracuse, but both of my parents came from Broome County and they were born and raised in Windsor, New York, where my grandfather was a dentist. My mother and father both went to Syracuse to—to—a college and—a they later settled there. And I spent my summers in this area, so that I was always interested in coming back here. And when I finished my training I came to Chenango Bridge and started practicing in family practice with my brother, who was already here in family practice. Ah—I wanted to be a doctor as long as I could remember. I do remember when I was in—a high school, we had to write a paper on—a “My Vocation” and I wrote about nursing, but I looked into nursing schools and decided that I wouldn't be an ordinary nurse, I would be the very best, so I told my brother I was going to Yale and get a Master of Nursing and—a so he said, "Well how long will that take?" (Laughing) I said "Six years." And he said, ''Well in seven years you could go on to medical school, you—" and so that clinched it. I knew that's really what I preferred. But I went to school at Syracuse in—a during—it was during the war years. And there were four girls in the class and about forty-five fellows and they were all in the service, except one. And—a so they were on the gravy train. They had their tuition paid and their books and their microscopes and—a a nice fat check which they used for gambling! (chuckles) We told them that if they used that money they could pay our way through too, but they didn't like that idea too well. But we did have a good class and we had lots of fun and—a people ask me today if I had trouble—being a woman in medical school or in medicine. I guess I was just too naïve to know that if there was trouble I didn't find it. But I hear the women libbers today and realize that I wa—probably was discriminated against in many small ways, but I just ignored it and it was no problem at the time, but I am sympathetic with the girls who are trying to get real equality today and opportunities. Wanda: Well, when you came to—to this area, how many women physicians were in practice? Dr.Jean: There were five or six here at the time and I can think of six of us now who are retired and—a I'm not aware of more than two or three in the area that are practicing now. There's a real—I think there's a real need for women physicians in the area now. But surprisingly enough there were about five or six at that time. Wanda: Dr. Mary Ross was one of them, wasn't she? Dr. Jean: Yeah—Dr. Mary Ross was a—family physician for a lot of people in the area; Dr. Myrtle Wilcox who just recently retired; and—a Dr. Florence Warner who retired a few years ago, but she's still doing the Well Baby Clinics; and Dr.Connie Vitanza came just after I did in pedia—pediatrics—she retired last year; and there was an allergist, Dr. Vencko I think her name was. She's still around but I don't know if she's doing allergy or not. Her husband's a surgeon. Wanda: So when you—when you came here your brother who was known as Dr. Bob, and you are known as Dr. Jean— Dr. Jean: That's right. Wanda: —a—he was, he had already—a—been in practice for a couple of years, wasn't it? Dr. Jean: Yes. He graduated from med school about six years before I did, but he was in the service for a while. He'd started practicing in Chenango Bridge—was only here about a year, when Pearl Harbor occurred and he went in the Navy and then came back to Chenango Bridge after the war. So he'd only been back about a year—or maybe two—when I finished and joined him. But we both liked the area a lot. I think one of the reasons was—a it was a mixed practice of rural and suburban. We had the feeling that we (were) really needed in the country—the farmers and the country people—and—and yet we had the stimulation of suburban people. And—a—a—we both enjoyed our work with the school because we made friends and a good percentage of the administrators and the teachers were our patients and friends and that was very stimulating, and has been over the years. I've enjoyed that. Wanda: Now you speak almost casually about this rural practice, but (laughs) I seem to remember a lot of your calls were done in the back hills, so to speak. Dr. Jean: Well, we made a lot of house calls in those days and—a we got to know the families—a real well—traveled in a lot of snow and a lot of mud. I remember it was always a challenge and fun to drive up in the country in all kinds of weather but I did have to rely on friends every now and then in the middle of the night to help out. I used to call on Bruce Russell or Ron Brown or somebody to drive with me on some bad nights. I think they enjoyed it, too. Sometimes we had to call the ambulance and the ambulance drivers would complain and say what a terrible time they had getting up there, and they'd suddenly realize that we were there too, and had been there (laughs) for a while. But it was—it was an exciting time. It was just the beginning of antibiotics then, too. I remember going up into the country and giving some of the first shots of penicillin in the area. Nowadays they give about a million units of penicillin a day and we used to—a have little tablets of ten thousand-unit penicillin and we'd dissolve 'em and put ‘em in the syringe and (laughs) we used to get good results. We'd cure pneumonia with just a little bit of penicillin. It was terrib—pretty expensive at that time, too, so we didn't use much. It was hard to get. In fact it was so close to the beginning of antibiotic—era—1947 was when I came to Chenango Bridge—penicillin had not been out long. I think it was about 1940 or 1942 it was first used. And—a in the thirties was the first that they had sulfa even. Before that I remember neighbors that died of pneumonia and infections and a lot of the kids I knew had big mastoid operation scars because they didn't have any other real way to cure their infections. And—a in fact my brother's wife died when he was a medical student from—a infection that today would be considered just a—a—a nuisance, post-operatively, and a shot of penicillin or a few antibiotics would take care of the situation. And—a so when you think that all—all of this—a advance in medicine that has come in, not only in my lifetime but in the few years that I practiced—it's pretty amazing. And—a— Wanda: How about—a polio? Was that—at the time you started practice there was no—a nothing that could be done actually to prevent it, was there? Dr. Jean: No—every summer we used to dread—a summer coming on when the kids first started to have symptoms of headache and vomiting and th—it was always a big worry as to which ones were going to develop polio—and there were always a few every summer. Some summers there were more than a few and I think it was about 1954 that—a we had our first—a program for polio vaccine and the kids were called polio pioneers 'cause only half of them got the real McCoy and half of them got a placebo-type of shot, and they were just doing—a their first big public health studies in—to the value of polio vaccine and it was so successful that—a I think it was 1955 that we—a had another project where we were giving the real McCoy and—a to just as many youngsters as we could reach. I remember—a we had—a large clinics at the schools through Broome County. It seems to me with the shots it was all done through the schools then later when we had the oral vaccine, it was—had big polio Sundays where the entire population could come. But that first year it was just available for a certain age group, um, kids that were most susceptible and—a it was just done through the schools, it was not available for adults in that year. Wanda: Now at that time—a you were probably—had been appointed the school physician for Chenango Valley, hadn't you? Dr. Jean: Um-hmm, yeah I was Chenango Valley School Physician—most of those years. That was the same year that I got polio myself in—a, I think it was—a September or October. I—a was treating a little five months old baby at home and—a about—a few days later I came down with polio and I was laid up for a few months and went back part-time on—with—a crutches and braces, but kept at it—a my physiotherapy and got along real well and now I have practically nothing—to show for it. Wanda: Nothing to show for it ... (both chuckle) that's the way to do things... Is there anything else you'd like to say about—a the school—um health programs? Dr.Jean: Well one of the—a—a most satisfying parts of my work in the school was working with the school nurse—teachers who were—a all very well trained and very dedicated people and our school administrator—a Mr.Galloway, was very interested in school health and we had a—good program where we really tried to identify youngsters who needed special attention and special services and see that they got them. And the nurses were given the time and the help to work with the families and see that they followed through with any recommendations that we made. I really enjoyed that part of my work. Wanda: You've—a—probably the—the larger part of your practice has been with a—obstetrics and pediatrics, hasn't it? You've always enjoyed working with babies and I think that's what you're remembered for mostly around here—is your excellent care— Dr. Jean: Well, I've probably delivered well over a thousand babies or maybe fifteen hundred babies in that—a length of time, and—a took care of most of them and—a yes—I took care of the whole family and I enjoyed knowing the whole family and—a I—a I like to think that I—that I am a family physician, and I'm really proud that I've always belonged to the Academy of General Practice, which is now the Academy of Family Practice. And it was one of the first groups that required post-graduate—a—a courses to maintain your membership. Right from the beginning I've always taken a lot of—a courses. We've had to have a hundred and fifty hours, at least, every three years and that—a—I'd combine that with travel. I'd go to different medical centers throughout the country and get acquainted with them and keep up to date on things and—a in 1971 I took the two-day board examination to become a specialist in Family Practice. That's the most recent specialty in the United States as far as having—a a specialty board and special certification, and happily many of the younger physicians today are beginning to go into that specialty, since it's taken on—a little more respectability. And many other specialities in some states now are requiring—a approved post-graduate hours and—a followed our leadership in that. I've been active over the years, too in the American Women's Medical Association and on their scholarship committees. It's interesting going over the scholarship applications today. The budgets of the girls in medical school are—it costs ten or twelve thousand dollars a year now, to go to medical school. And I used to beg, borrow or steal—two hundred dollars four times a year to pay my tuition (laughs) and I lived at home, so that wasn't any problem. But—a it's amazing that—a these youngsters are not discouraged. They go right ahead and do the same thing—beg, borrow or steal, I guess. There are ma—many of them, their parents aren't supporting them anymore in graduate school and they're going in debt for 20 or 30,000 dollars in—a—with government loans and scholarships and they're just thinking nothing of it. Wanda: Would you—a advise young people to go into this—general practice rather than a specialization these days? Dr. Jean: Well I think it depends a lot on the—a the individual and where their interests lie. I would say it would be one of the most rewarding—a—a specialties certainly because—a you're dealing more in the—in the—breadth of problems—the family problems, the medical problems rather than the—than going deeply into one area, but it involves the, the emotional health and the social well-being of the family as well as their medical problems and it's—it's really fascinating and very, very rewarding to get to work with the family as a whole. And—a I—it's a whole new ball game in medicine today, however. There's so many new special areas—a that one needs to be familiar with and a lot of social changes that—a necessitate changes in the way one practices, and it—a— Wanda: So the Family Physician is—is a specialty in this age? Dr. Jean: Yes. It really is, yeah. A family physician has a lot of special knowledge about the family—about the individual problems of families and various ages and various kinds of problems that families have that a specialist—a wouldn't be expected to know. So a family physician has a lot to offer now—a that a specialist in—a, for instance surgery or neurology or something else—a—a would really be out of his bailiwick. Wanda: Do you want to tell us something about the development of the Chenango Bridge Medical Group? A—first there were you and your brother—Dr. Jean and Dr. Bob—and—a practicing in his home? Dr. Jean: Um-hmm. That's right. Then—a we had—a, Dr.Howard came and joined us, and there were three of us practicing from—a Bob's home. Then Bob went back to take his specialty training in surgery and—a Dr.Peterson, I think, was the next one to join us. Anyway, over the years we've gradually enlarged the group, but we've tried to keep it—a, basically a family or primary care—a group and just added specialists as we felt there was a need for them. Wanda: When you first—a went into the building on Chenango Bridge Road—when was that built? Dr. Jean: (laughs) Gee, I don't remember, I should have checked on some of the dates— Wanda: Well, it was shortly after the two of you had taken on another doctor in the group, wasn't it? Dr. Jean: Yeah. I think there were four of us when we built—a the original building and we've added on to that twice and—a now with the most recent addition there are facilities for twelve physicians. We've never had that many.  Wanda: Plus the X-ray and the medical lab. Dr. Jean: X-ray, lab, physiotherapy and—a with room for expansion—a. As I say, we could take probably—a two or three more physicians, as far as the space is concerned. But the offices—a—the business office takes up quite a little space now, too, with all the paperwork involved in the practice of medicine. We need a secretary for various special areas. We have one who does almost all Workmen's Compensation and on that does mostly—a Welfare and Medicare and Medicaid, and there's all kinds of billing machines and things that our professors never told us about when we were in medical school! Wanda: That's another specialization, isn't it? Dr. Jean: Yes. Yeah it is. We have a full time business manager and he's in charge of—I don't know how many employees—eight or ten, anyway. Wanda: Well this—a group has—a filled a great need in this community because—a when Dr. Bob first came here, of course there was no physician in this particular area of the Town of Chenango and—a with the post-war growth of housing around here and the consequent baby boom—a your services were greatly appreciated in this community, I remember. Dr. Jean: Well, we've enjoyed trying to provide that service and enlarging the Group as we needed to. I was thinking about the switchboard at the office. It has—a, of course, many extensions and—a we have to have—a a girl at our switchboard all the time and I remember when we first started. Remember the old town switchboard and Lilian Pierson was the operator? And we'd—I'd go on a house call up around Chenango Forks, a—ten o'clock at night and before I'd left there the phone would ring and the switchboard—I mean the—a telephone operator down in Chenango Bridge—where was it, over the old railroad station or post-office? Somewhere down there— Wanda: Yeah. Dr. Jean: —anyway, she—she'd follow me around the country and tell me the next—a, next—a house call to make, 'cause somebody'd call in and she'd know right where I was, I didn't have to tell her. And—a that was kinda fun to keep in touch that way. And of course we didn't have anybody at night—other than the doctor's wife usually, that answered the phone. Wanda: How about emergency services? When—when you started and—and compared with what they are today with our present set-up in the Town of Chenango?  Dr. Jean: Well, when there were two of us we alternated nights and weekends, all year round there was always one of us on—a—hopefully available. We tried to be available. And—a with the Group, we have rotated the various specialities. There's always been a surgeon and a medical person on call in addition to the general physician on call, but—a in recent years the—a ambulance service and the hospital emergency rooms have been very well staffed with medical people and paramedical people. And so I'm sure the service is very much better than it was at that time—a, but they have a lot of sophisticated equipment to work with, which—a of course we didn't have, we did the best we could.  Wanda: It was simple but it was good. Dr. Jean: Some of the new sophisticated equipment is—a raising some ethical questions that are going to be very difficult to deal with and—a I can see that we're going to need a lot of help from other fields—a beside medicine, in solving the ethical problems that are arising. A—for instance, I myself carry a card—a which states that I don't want to be kept alive by all of our fancy equipment if there’s no reasonable hope of recover—recovery physically or mentally. And—a this is not a legal document but—a—it—it lets my family and my physicians know how I feel about it and—a—a—I'm very much concerned about some of the so-called advances in medicine which are miraculous and really great where they're—where they should be applied, but the question is when and where should they be applied? Wanda: (Would that) be in any particular case, such as older patients who are—have lived their useful years and are ready to go? Dr. Jean: Right. We used to say pneumonia is the friend of the aged, and—a I can think of a number of elderly people who—a died fairly quickly, quickly and easily at home with pneumonia, after various other problems, but today we're almost forced to use antibiotics if someone has pneumonia because it's something we can cure. But—a I'm—it's very difficult to make decisions as to a—when to—a limit your treatment in an older person or a terminal person. These are some of the things that the younger physicians—a are having to face and—a are—a… These kinds of things are beginning to be incorporated in the medical curriculum to realize that—a physicians aren't gods and—a we don't have the answers and we need help in making decisions. One—a thing that I am quite pleased about recently—it seems to me that people in general are beginning to take more responsibility for their own health care, both preventative medicine and in deciding what they—how far they want to go in treating their illnesses, and I think that's as it should be. Physicians should present—a the available resources and—a the family and the patient and the doctor together should decide what they want to do with the things that are available. Wanda: How about this—a modern craze, it seems, on—a health foods and natural—a nutrition. What do you think about that? Do you have any thoughts about it? Dr. Jean: Yes. It's a—there are two sides of it that—a, it seems to me, that the young people today—a who are interested in taking care of their bodies and eating properly and exercising and—a taking some responsibility for themselves—a that, that's very good, but I'm really alarmed at some of the information that they are getting from faddists and—a—a all the books that are being written for profit, and—a where it's very difficult for—a people to make up their minds as to what is legitimate and what is 'quacky.' And—a I think we have to rely a lot on the—a whole scientific community and their—a the dietetic associations and people that have really studied nutrition over the years, instead of just picking up the first book on the newsstand and thinking it sounds like it's gonna be the answer to everybody's prayers. Wanda: Can you remember any instances—a during your practice when you—a had problems with people who were trying to cure themselves? Dr. Jean: No, not too much, I think they probably didn't—a—a—confide in me what they were doing if they—if they did. I remember running into a few·mushroom poisonings, where people would go out and get a beautiful batch of mushrooms and get a couple—a bad ones. That always—a was rather alarming, but I've noticed today there's a lot of courses in mushroom identification, so maybe people know more about it than they did. Wanda: Well now that—a you are retired, what are your…what are your activities going to be in the next—a few years? Dr. Jean: Well I retired—a not because I planned to, but for health reasons and—a I had many interests and hobbies in photography and traveling, and taken up some new ones—sculpture, and been going to some—a workshops in counseling and—a personal growth and so I've got a lot of interests. I had thought that I might do some volunteer work in medicine, but I have discovered that there are a lot of other areas in this world that I never even heard about before, that are well worth looking into and—a I'm really enjoying exploring new areas. Never had time for it before. So I—some of the  volunteer things in the medical field are—are having to wait at the moment; I don't know whether I'll get back into that or not. Wanda: You are involved with the—the new medical program at SUNY? Dr. Jean: I have been on—a the curriculum committee for the new clinical campus. The clinical campus at SUNY is a—a new development and they’ve appointed—a—faculty already. We have a Dean, Assistant Dean, and some educators that are planning a program. What it actually is, is half of the junior and senior medical school classes from Syracuse will be coming to the Binghamton area for their clinical training and—a they're not coming until, I believe 1980. There will be twenty students. We already have some Fifth Pathway students that are working in the hospitals here. These are students who have had—a their medical education overseas and are fulfilling some special clinical work here. And we're developing the faculty and—a hopefully we'll have some training in teaching for our local people. Um—these programs are being set up now, well ahead of the time the students are going to arrive. And it's been a real stimulation to the medical community here and I'm sure it'll continue to be now. Um—the emphasis, I think, is going to be on primary care, although all the specialties will be involved and—a I…it seems to me that it's getting off to a very good start. There's some good people involved in the program. Wanda: Well, is there anything else that you'd like to have put on this tape while we're at it? Dr. Jean: I think we've covered quite a little ground here already. Maybe another day we'll come up with some special topics. Wanda: Well if you have anything to add later on we can still—a do that, however I want to thank you for the time you've taken this morning and for your service to this community. Dr. Jean: It's been fun. Rights Statement This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. 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 Interview with Dr. Jean Smith Subject The topic of the resource Smith, Jean -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Chenango Bridge (N.Y.); Women physicians -- Interviews; Syracuse University; World War, 1939-1945; Vaccination; Chenango Valley Central Schools; Chenango Valley Medical Group; State University of New York at Binghamton Clinical Campus; Polio Description An account of the resource Dr. Jean Smith speaks about her motivations for becoming a physician and why she settled in Chenango Bridge, NY.  She received her education at <a href="http://www.syr.edu/">Syracuse University</a> during World War II and went into practice with her brother, Dr. Robert Smith.  She discusses several aspect of her career, including house calls and early use of penicillin and antibiotics. She also discusses working with <a href="http://www.cvcsd.stier.org/">Chenango Valley Central Schools</a> as a school physician and in the field of family practice, the development of the Chenango Bridge Medical Group, and emerging ethical questions in regard to modern medicine. She describes her interest in current medical practice and natural food, some of her post-retirement interests, as well as the beginning of the clinical campus program at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Recording 55A ; Recording 55B Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Jean ; Wood, Wanda Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-05-02 Date Modified Date on which the resource was changed. 2016-03-27 Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Broome County Oral History Project Extent The size or duration of the resource. 33:40 Minutes ; 18:44 Minutes https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/a026c848f6e3bd2213ebc627be84019c.mp3 8beb37ece1ef40e96c92d26f61034fd2 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 Broome County Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource Broome County -- History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Description An account of the resource The Broome County Oral History Project was conceived and administered by the Senior Services Unit of the <a href="http://www.gobroomecounty.com/senior">Office for the Aging</a>. Funding for this project was provided by the Broome County Office of Employment and Training (C.E.T.A.), with additional funding from the Senior Service Unit of the National Council on Aging and Broome County government. The aim of this project was two-fold – to obtain historical information about life in Broome County, which would be useful for researchers and teachers, and to provide employment for older persons of a limited income. The oral history interviews were obtained between November 1977 and September 1978 and were conducted by five interviewers under the supervision of the Action for Older Persons Program. The collection contains 75 interviews and transcriptions, 77 cassette tapes, and a subject index containing names of individuals associated with specific subject terms. One transcribed interview does not have an accompanying audio recording. In 2005 Binghamton University Libraries’ Special Collections Department participated in the New York State Audiotape Project which undertook preservation reformatting of the audiotapes, and the creation of compact discs for patron use. Several interviews do not have release forms and cannot be reviewed. See the <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">finding aid </a>for additional information. Acknowledgment of sensitive content Binghamton University Libraries provide digital access to select materials held within the Special Collections department. Oral histories provide a vibrant window into life in the community. However, they also expose insensitive, and at times offensive, racial and gender terminology that, though once commonplace, are now acknowledged to cause harm. The Libraries have chosen to make these oral histories available as part of the historical record but the Libraries do not support or agree with the harmful narratives that can be found in these volumes. <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/libraries/about/collections/digital/">Digital Collections</a> are created for educational and historical purposes only. It is our intention to present the content as it originally appeared. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright  Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ben Coury, Digital Web Designer Yvonne Deligato, Former University Archivist Shandi Ezraseneh, Student Employee Laura Evans, Former Metadata Librarian Caitlin Holton, Digital Initiatives Assistant Jamey McDermott, Student Employee Erin Rushton, Head of Digital Initiatives David Schuster, Senior Director for Library Technology and Digital Strategies Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1977-1978 Relation A related resource <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections, Broome County Oral History project</a> Template: Simple Audio Player with Transcription This template displays an audio player by Amplitude.js with a scrollable transcription which is loaded from the "Transcription" metadata field. 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Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Sovik, Mary Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Caganek, Anna Date of Interview 1978-04-10 Collection Broome County Oral History Project Date of Digitization 2016-03-27 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 35:00 Minutes Streaming Audio Streaming URL <a href="https://eternity.binghamton.edu/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE56026">Interview with Mary Sovik</a> Subject LCSH Sovik, Mary -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Children of immigrants -- Interviews; Binghamton (N.Y.); Endicott Johnson Corporation -- Employees -- Interviews; Babysitters -- Interviews Accessibility Copy/Paste below: Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound, or alternative text from a visual medium Broome County Oral History Project Interview with: Mary Sovik Interviewed by: Anna Caganek Date of interview: 10 April 1978 Mary: My father was born in Austria-Hungary and he came to America in 1891, and my mother didn’t hear from him for quite a while, so she packed up, just with the clothes she had on left my two brothers over there, came to Jamaica, Long Island in 1894, because he wasn’t sending her, any money, and she wondered, if he was dead or alive. So then she said, “I’m not going back no more.” It took her too long to come here, thirteen days on the boat, no clothes only just, what, she had on so in 1895, I was born. My father had been in the bread line that’s why he didn’t hear, that’s why she didn’t hear from, him. Cleveland was president at that time and there was a depression, and my father worked in Jamaica, Queens, Long Island, on a farm, where they were raising vegetables, to take to New York. They called it a Truck Farm. So then a year later, so then my brothers came from Austria-Hungary, one was 20 years older than me, and the other was 19 years old. The reason they were so much older than I because two children died, in Europe, while my father was in America, they had the cholera. That’s what they died from and then my brothers came and they heard someone crying, my mother was giving me something to eat, they heard a baby crying. They said, “Who is that?” My mother said, “You got a little sister, we forget to tell you.” So that was me. Well then we lived in Queens, my brothers worked on the farm, too, carrots, cabbage and all that, it was [illegible] farming, so then we, moved to Rockland Lake, and my brothers worked as dynamiters, making that route one from Florida to Boston route, and they worked, there as dynamiters, then we moved from there to Johnston, NY, when I was 8 years old, and I went to school in Johnstown, I went there ‘til 1909 and I quit at the age of 14 years and went to work. In the glove factory, I worked at 10 cents an hour for 8 hours a day, so putting thumbs in and tying them with the other part of the glove. And I could hardly wait ‘til I would be 16 years old so I could work 10 hours a day, dollar a day. So then I went on piecework and I worked on a machine. First I pulled ends, you call it end pulling, it’s that silk, in the back of the glove 3 cents a dozen. Then I went there three years later, and I thought well I’m going, to go to that factory, where I used to work, and I went, to look for the employers and I asked, “How much do you get a dozen?” It was about 5 years later, they were getting 40 cents a dozen for the same work the same work that I was getting 3 cents a dozen. And I was making 25 dollars a month. So then I went to Europe in 1913 and I went to, on a boar the name was the Kaiser Wilhelm, it was called the Kaiser Wilhelm, with a cousin, that lived in Gloversville, I went to her parents with her and our boat costs us 58 dollars one way, just on the boat. She came up to the factory, she just came to say goodbye, to me. She says, “Mary I’m going to Europe, my mother wants me to come home. Why don’t you come with me?” “Wait, I’ll go home and ask my mother if I can go,” and I went home, and my mother said, “What are you coming home so early?” I said, “Netty’s going to Europe. Can I go with her?” She says, “Are you crazy? Going over all that water.” So we went to Cloversville, we got the tickets it costs us 58 dollars on the boat one way, and we went to Bremen, and we rode, on the train to Pressburg, and then I went to Malacky, where my aunt lived and we went to visit different aunts. I went to St., Svatý Mikuláš, St. Nicholas, and I was in Marie, Tal, Sastin, and I went, to Prague, my aunt took me there to see the Sokol’s drill and we were there until November. I came back to Johnstown, NY, just in time for Dance for Thanksgiving, for Lent, before Lent. I was in Vienna also. When I was in Johnstown after I got married, in 1915, July 3, 1915 and lived in Johnstown and then we finally moved, to Saratoga, we were there for 2 years in Saratoga, moved back to, Johnstown again then in 1919 we moved to Binghamton and I’ve been here since. I go to Johnstown every year, I drive. I’ve been going to Johnstown every year, and I’ve traveled, quite, a bit, I’ve been to Panama City, Florida from Binghamton. My daughter was married there, her husband was a flyer, Paul Vanek. He was Lieutenant, and Paul Vanek was a flyer, I went to Queens, Long Island, when I was single yet, in 1914 to visit my godmother in Jamaica, and Queens, Long Island, was a regular farm.  I went to Sunny Side Long Island, and I went to the World’s Fair, in Yonkers and my godmother, did lived in Queens, but it was just a farm, and I’ve been to Miami, Florida six times, I have two cousins there, Miami Beach, six times. I have a niece and a nephew there, Hollywood Florida, Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale my niece’s husband’s son lived there. New York City 15 times. I went to Fort Lauderdale with the Senior Citizens, we went to Disney World and they took us all over, on that, boat that goes along the canal there we went to dinner and to outside dinner, and to vaudeville, show, and we also went to Key West. Also to Miami Beach on a trip, they took us by bus. Clearwater, we went to Kobak Tree for dinner and I’ve been to Auriesville, I used to go to Auriesville in 1904, it was only 7 miles from Johnstown. I went there on a horse and wagon (ah) I saw a priest out there, he was, from England, and I got talking to him, “I used to come here in 1904-1907. To the old church, in a wagon with the fringe on top.” (Oh) And he said he was from Ireland, oh with the Surrey with the fringe on top, so I seen him there, several times, when I go to Auriesville, and I’ve been there ten times, since I live in Binghamton. When I go to Johnson I always go to Auriesville and I went to Poughkeepsie, to friends to a wedding, and San Diego in California went, to visit my grandson and wife, and my little great-granddaughter was born, she was two months old when I went there, they took me to, Mexico. I went to Tijuana, Mexico, Joya, and I went to Chicago 13 times, my daughter lived at Mt. Prospect, Illinois, now she lives in, Guilford, Connecticut, and I’ve been there 8 times, Guilford. My grandson lived there now he lives at East Hartford, now I have to go, to East Hartford, troy, NY. Bowlers with the E.J.A.A. Bowlers. I was a bowler, Buffalo, NY with the Bowlers we went Niagara Falls with the Bowling Team with the E.J.A.A. used to go to Schenectady, then in. My brother lived in Schenectady, then in second, Secondaga, Lake 1975, but I used to go there in 1912, when it was Secondaga Park roller skating, and swimming, when we used to wear, stockings and bloomers for bathing. I’ve been to Rochester 4 times, my grandson graduated, from University, of Rochester then he graduated from Strong Memorial, he’s a doctor, there now he got married and I was there Christmas visiting them, then some in Auburn the one that used to live in San Diego so now I, have two great-grandchildren. I’ve been there several times, then, went to Nashville, Tennessee, with the Senior Citizens in 1976. Montreal, Canada, in 1975 with the Senior Citizens. Now I’m, retired when I was 63 years old that was in 1958, retired from E.J. And I started to babysit, I lived in Hillcrest in a trailer, trailer park for 9 years, Tingley’s. I babysay for 50 cents an hour, by the hour, afternoon and evenings. So then Mrs. Kresge asked me Martha Kresge, if I would, babysit a week or two days and night while they went to Germany, to sell Volkswagens. So I said sure, they lived at Chenango Forks. So I started babysitting, people heard about me, so then I, started babysit move right in and took care of the children, while, people went on vacations. I sat for doctors, lawyers, dentists, and IBM workers all kinds of businessmen, I even sat for Charlie Johnson’s, grandson, and I also sat for Charlie Johnson when they went to down south South Carolina, someplace the daughter lived there someplace, they went to soo, some Dupont (they went to visit Dupont) and I sat for several doctors, the Horowitzes all the Dr. Demtrak and Dr. Ansell, Dr. Goodman, eye doctor also pediatrician, Dr. Bronstein, Dr. Kondrad Stearns. I couldn’t mention how many, I could be, must be a hundred, Dr. Baron, must be 250 families that I have sat for, so now at 82 I am going to relax now. And I’m going to enjoy myself with the Senior Citizens, I go to Senior Citizens for dinner, I belong to Greenman’s Center, I belong to, the Johnson City Nutrition Center at the High School, I belong, to the, First Ward Senior Citizens, I go there for [illegible], to the meetings, and we enjoy ourselves very much. Anna: Could you think of anything else? Mary: I have two daughters, one lives in Binghamton then I, have another daughter lives in Guilford, Connecticut. I have six grandsons the oldest one is 33 and the youngest one is, will be one Sweet Sixteen in March and the other one will be 16 in, June. Two wonderful grandsons, they are very good to me and I have, one niece in Johnson City, and that’s my son in law is General Manager, in, Dunn McCarthy, he started there when he was a young boy, pushing boxes, around, pushing racks around and finally worked on heels, worked at heels, and then he went in the service, Waco, Texas, he was a flyer, he went, to Panama City, and the great-grandson was born there. And he came back, he came back and went, back on heels again at, Dunn McCarthy, and they finally asked him, “Would you like to be a foreman?” so he was a foreman. Then they sent him back to Auburn Superintendent. Then they sent him back to Binghamton to be General Manager. Now he’s up in Auburn back and forth working. My other son in law the one that lived in Connecticut, he was working for Charlie Bloomer in Mt. Prospect. As a research chemist. Then they transferred him to Guilford, Connecticut, been there now in research they had 3 sons, each one one of my, daughters had 3 songs, I finally di get a granddaughter, a great-granddaughter which I was waiting for because I had two girls, and I wanted some granddaughters, and they closed Dunn McCarthy, yes he is, working in Auburn now. He worked in Dunn McCarthy for 37 years. He came back he goes there on Monday and comes back on Friday. She works in a bank. I go with every week with the Senior Citizens. I go to Johnson City play Bingo, we play for pennies 25 games 2 cents a, game and sometimes I’m lucky and sometimes I’m not, lately I’m lucky and I’ve had so many pennies to carry my pocketbook drags, on the floor it is fun. And the girls are very nice. They also play Bingo, but we like to, play for the pennies. I belong to St. Stan’s. St. Stanislav on Prospect, Street. I used to belong to St. James when my girls were little and then I, we did go to St. Cyril’s and then when I moved to Hillcrest, I went to, St. Katherine’s about 9 years I lived in Hillcrest then I was, when I came home to live, my daughter’s mother in law they went to St. Stan’s. So my daughter said, “Mother why don’t you go to St. Stan’s? You can take Mom and Dad to church,” they used to ride with me to church. And I’ve been going to St. Stan’s for 17 years. Eddie’s the daughter, from Connecticut. They go to St. Cyril’s. The Vaneks do. Anna: Thank you Mrs. Sovik. Mary: Some of the people I babysat. Dr. Marvin, Dr. Sivers, Dr. Horney, Dr. Nortons, Epstein, Dr. Bronsky, Dr. Klima Grandel, Dr. Gould, Dr. Goodman eye and baby doctor, Dr. Koslawsky, Dr. Amtrak, Margolas, Kurst, Bateglino, Hogopian, Norman Rudin, The Parrish Sanford, Olums, Dr. Natala, Dr. Baron. Dr. Shute, Dr. Sife, Dr. Stevens, Dr. Weiss, Dr. Kenneth Smith, Conrad Stemis, Koffmans, the Monks, the Emmas, Dr. Posture, Dr. R.E. Nell, Dr. Stevens, the Andersons Norwich, Hestor, lawyer, Dr. Graff and Dr. Roff, the Levenes, Dr. Steinbough, Dr. Brown, Dr. Monserette, Dr. Cleary, Dr. Davidge, Dr. Doyle, Dr. Vreede, Dr. Moriarty, Dr. Pemberton, Dr. Hayden, Dr. Cox, Dr. Divovan. Dr. Donovan, the Hotchkiss and Dave Lewis. Rights Statement This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. 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 Interview with Mary Sovik Subject The topic of the resource Sovik, Mary -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Children of immigrants -- Interviews; Binghamton (N.Y.); Endicott Johnson Corporation -- Employees -- Interviews; Babysitters -- Interviews Description An account of the resource Mary Sovik was born in Jamaica, Queens Long Island, NY. She discusses working in a glove factory, the many places she travelled to, and her work in Endicott Johnson up until her retirement. After retirement she states she became a babysitter for doctors, lawyers, and businessmen in Binghamton, NY. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Recording 56 https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/bb23ca81afa10bb7a1b6446c9b314cca.mp3 272787c7f8f1b38f911d872c767b87e6 https://omeka.binghamton.edu/omeka/files/original/0a93bdd4d97af5cafc7cf92e9f290d3b.mp3 59806ddda069b14f000d579f35f45e03 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 Broome County Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource Broome County -- History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Description An account of the resource The Broome County Oral History Project was conceived and administered by the Senior Services Unit of the <a href="http://www.gobroomecounty.com/senior">Office for the Aging</a>. Funding for this project was provided by the Broome County Office of Employment and Training (C.E.T.A.), with additional funding from the Senior Service Unit of the National Council on Aging and Broome County government. The aim of this project was two-fold – to obtain historical information about life in Broome County, which would be useful for researchers and teachers, and to provide employment for older persons of a limited income. The oral history interviews were obtained between November 1977 and September 1978 and were conducted by five interviewers under the supervision of the Action for Older Persons Program. The collection contains 75 interviews and transcriptions, 77 cassette tapes, and a subject index containing names of individuals associated with specific subject terms. One transcribed interview does not have an accompanying audio recording. In 2005 Binghamton University Libraries’ Special Collections Department participated in the New York State Audiotape Project which undertook preservation reformatting of the audiotapes, and the creation of compact discs for patron use. Several interviews do not have release forms and cannot be reviewed. See the <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">finding aid </a>for additional information. Acknowledgment of sensitive content Binghamton University Libraries provide digital access to select materials held within the Special Collections department. Oral histories provide a vibrant window into life in the community. However, they also expose insensitive, and at times offensive, racial and gender terminology that, though once commonplace, are now acknowledged to cause harm. The Libraries have chosen to make these oral histories available as part of the historical record but the Libraries do not support or agree with the harmful narratives that can be found in these volumes. <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/libraries/about/collections/digital/">Digital Collections</a> are created for educational and historical purposes only. It is our intention to present the content as it originally appeared. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In copyright  Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ben Coury, Digital Web Designer Yvonne Deligato, Former University Archivist Shandi Ezraseneh, Student Employee Laura Evans, Former Metadata Librarian Caitlin Holton, Digital Initiatives Assistant Jamey McDermott, Student Employee Erin Rushton, Head of Digital Initiatives David Schuster, Senior Director for Library Technology and Digital Strategies Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1977-1978 Relation A related resource <a href="https://archivesspace.binghamton.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/44">Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections, Broome County Oral History project</a> Template: Simple Audio Player with Transcription This template displays an audio player by Amplitude.js with a scrollable transcription which is loaded from the "Transcription" metadata field. 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Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Spisak, Anne Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Politylo, Nettie Date of Interview 1977-12-29 Collection Broome County Oral History Project Date of Digitization 2016-03-27 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 33:37 Minutes; 11:26 Minutes Streaming Audio Streaming URL <a href="https://eternity.binghamton.edu/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE56029">Interview with Anne Spisak</a> Subject LCSH Spisak, Anne -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Endicott (N.Y.); Endicott Johnson Corporation -- Employees -- Interviews; Cigar industry; General Cigar Factory; Perl Bakery Accessibility Copy/Paste below: Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Binghamton University Libraries is working very hard to create transcriptions of all audio/visual media present on this site. If you require a specific transcription for accessibility purposes, you may contact us at <a href="mailto:orb@binghamton.edu">orb@binghamton.edu</a>. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound, or alternative text from a visual medium Broome County Oral History Project Interview with: Anne Spisak Interviewed by: Nettie Polityo Date of interview: 29 December 1977 Nettie: This is Nettie Politylo talking to Anne Spisak of 43 Bernice St., Johnson City on Dec. 29, 1977. I understand you worked in a cigar factory here in Binghamton some years ago. We are especially interested in this industry because we don’t know much about it. Why don’t we start with the time you started work there—just tell me—how you got the job, what you did, what other people did to prepare the tobacco and make the cigars and just everything you remember about the operation of the factory. OK Anne— Anne: I started working I think about 1929, I think I was around fifteen and I went to the General Cigar Factory—they asked our age, I told them I was eighteen which I was only fifteen. Whether I was supposed to lie or not but I don't know but I did. Then they gave me a job which was examiner. I liked the job. There was four people on the machine to work—one was a feeder, one was a binder and a wrapper and I was an examiner. I had to feel the cigars for their size, for their weight and the cigar. I had a box and there was 500 cigars in a box. I don't know what we got paid by the box but our average pay for the week was $12, so I think that it would be about 30 cents an hour. As for as I would figure it now. And I enjoyed it, I had a nice boss named Mr. Lawrence and once in a while he had his brother which his name was Lorenzo which I couldn't figure that out because they were both brothers. One of them bought a restaurant on Front St., a spaghetti place. The cigar factory, I think closed down for what reason I don' t know. Nettie: Excuse me, Anne, do you have any idea when that closed down? Anne: I don't know, it wasn't too long after. Nettie: Before you tell me about the closing, how about telling me about the operation what you were actually doing? Anne: I had to feel the cigars, it was on a big machine, feel the cigar for size and I had to put them in the box and if they didn’t match just right you had to take them out and patch them up—if there was a little defect in the tobacco you had to patch them up with little glue, we had our glue to put on, and the machine would operate like a conveyor and had to go to a place fast. If I thought I was a little behind, then I would put them in a big bin then I would take my time and when I had recess or noon, I would patch them up again. And if the big bosses came around they would put their hand in and stop the operation—fill those out, patch them up and start working again. The girls on the machine would help us because we could not operate any further until everything was done. And the big bosses were from Pennsylvania, one of the boss's name was Mr. Joseph, a big fat man with a big cigar in his mouth, is all I can remember. They were pleasant, no one was ever harsh. Then when they came around I had age on my mind all the time because I was afraid they were going to throw me out and I did want work and because I had to work. I figure I had to at that time. We didn't have any coffee breaks as far as I can remember. Nettie: You never had any coffee breaks? Anne: Not that I remember. Nettie: You just kept on working? Anne: Just kept right on working ’til noon, as far as I remember. The windows had to be closed in the place on account of the tobacco drying up. Nettie: For the humidity? Anne: Yeah. Nettie: What kind of people worked there—what nationalities? Anne: I think it was all kinds, mostly women. The men had the machine jobs or like repair men. Nettie: Did you have any familiarity with the machine jobs? Any jobs? Anne: The first one was a feeder—where they put in a big long tobacco into the machine that would feed it. And the other operation was a wrapper—was a machine that you would wrap it, you know, and the cigar would roll. And the third one—was the top of the process already of the cigar and I already had the finished product. Nettie: How did they pay you—by the hour or by the week? Anne: I think they paid us by the 500 can—cigars—500 cigars. You had to make 500 cigars in the can—to put in a can… You were paid by that—every 500—so it ran about 30¢ hour by the pay I got, so I got $12 a week. That was big money at that time. Nettie: How did you commute back and forth from Endicott? Anne: Street car. I don't know whether it was a nickel or dime for the street car, from Endicott to Binghamton. Once I got off on the Binghamton line and it was an extra and I didn't have the money. I started crying. Then finally a man gave me the dime. Never been without a dime. Nettie: Embarrassing. Anne: I didn't realize I had to pay the extra after the arch—in Binghamton. Nettie: Certain Zoning. Anne: I didn't realize it was Binghamton—I never traveled before, we never had cars, nobody had a car, so I was never in Binghamton, so I didn't know it was a Binghamton line. Nettie: The men were on the machines and the ladies did the other things? Anne: Right—and the lady bosses— Nettie: What were their names? Anne: All I could remember was Celia Shawn and then she married a Barnes. I don't know if she is living or not. Nettie: Many of these people have passed away? Anne: Right—but all I know was her name was Shawn, she married a Barnes and lived in Endwell. I saw her a few times, I liked her. Nettie: Did they make anything else besides cigars—like chewing tobacco, snuff? Anne: They must’ve. I don't remember because I was on the machine floor. I don't know the bottom floor—I don't know—so I even asked this man today, "Did they pack them in boxes?" He said, "Yeah.” Nettie: Cigars? Yeah. Anne: I didn't even know that—you know you don't pay attention too much when you are working—you were only doing your operation. I don't know what was going on the other section. Nettie: You were only working—doing your job? Anne: Right—right. Nettie: Did they ever have a union? Anne: No, no not that I know of. Nettie: Did they ever strike for more money? Anne: No, we didn't know what a strike was—everybody wanted a job. Nettie: What brands did they make? Anne: William Penn and White Owl—those two I remember. Nettie: Those are familiar. Did they make expensive brands? Anne: No, not that I know of. Nettie: Well, the conditions in the factory—was it smelly, was it dusty from the tobacco? Anne: Well it smells, but I didn't mind it. Nettie: That smell didn't bother you—so many of the ladies, it did bother them. Anne: It didn't bother me at all and I enjoyed working there. Nettie: I guess they had to have the windows closed— Anne: Yes, because of the tobacco—it would dry the tobacco, more. Nettie: How about the facilities for women—did they have couches for women if they became ill in bathrooms? Anne: No—I don’t remember— Nettie: Everything was crude—wasn't it? Anne: No, I don't remember at all , I don't remember. Nettie: Did they have more than one shift?  Anne: No I don't remember anything about that, that I don’t remember. And we had to wear aprons, green aprons. Nettie: Were they given to you? Anne: No, we had to buy them—green wraparound with a pocket—you had to wear a dress and apron or just the apron. Some girls just wore the apron.  Nettie: That was the standard gear at the time? Anne: Green aprons, yes. Nettie: Did anyone ever snitch some cigars in their pocket? Anne: Yes, I suppose some did but I never did—I took it if it were a big one—one they didn’t—one out of the ordinary or a little one sometime but that was like a joke—my father smoked cigars but I wouldn't bring them home, he wouldn't want that because that was stealing. Nettie: Did you say you had to pack them together—was that a mold? Anne: No, the machine is—ok—the conveyor ‘til about here the big machine—that lady would have tobacco this long—tobacco comes this long—when it's dry. Nettie: Wasn’t there some sort of center that had to be taken out? Anne: There was a vein, yeah, it is was too hard, I think, out. Nettie: Who took that out? Anne: It must’ve been on the feeding machine because the feeding starts the process.  Nettie: They put that tobacco and then they take the vein out in that feeding machine.  Anne: I think if it was rough—it would do it itself—I think the machine would do it itself. Then the next process would go—it was big as this—it would have a layer of wrapper already, the tobacco would come from there and go to another process. Nettie: Didn’t you have to do this by hand? Anne: No, by machine, no this was all by machine.  Nettie: After this was cut, and the wrapper was on the bottom—tobacco sort of skimmed on top of that.  Anne: The next process already was a smaller one—this was another layer and then that process would come to this one—and it would roll it automatically and I would get the full cigar. Nettie: How about the wrapper? It’s on the bottom and it would skim to this other machine. What was the third machine? Anne: She would have to put like a layer—like to make kolachki layer—and then that would wrap around the machine just automatically would roll it. And then through the next process—the cigar would come out a cigar already—and sometimes they were soft or hard— Nettie: —you had to feel them if they were soft or hard— Anne: Then we had this little hole—if you didn't think they were just right you put them through the hole and if it didn't go through the hole you knew it was a reject. Then you had to throw it back to have the right size—because you know if you buy a box you want them to be the right size because you didn't want them to be bigger or smaller—and sometimes if the patches—if sometimes there was a hole on it, the tobacco was not right size—you would put it on that machine and you'd see a hole—see in there—and she would give me a cigar anyway—again—I would have it all—already rolled up then I would see a hole in it and I would take a little tobacco that was a reject and put it on top of reject with glue, and make it look like not a reject and we patch them up. The girls would put it in their mouths, which I never did. Nettie: Why did they put it in their mouth? Anne: They pasted them that way—I don't know how they did it but they pasted them—putting them in their mouth. Nettie: I should think if they had the paste they would paste them with their fingers. Anne: Right. No, they put it in their mouth. Nettie: Do you think they wanted to taste the tobacco? Anne: Maybe. I had the glue just like the white glue, patch it up, cut a piece a little bit and patch so it would be even with the cigar, because cigar is rolled. Then you see that cigar has a big vein that has to go—should have a smooth cigar, you take a little bit of tobacco, cut it up to patch the reject, the way the vein goes—can't go against the grain. Nettie: That was interesting. Now after you got the cigar you felt it, after you had to patch it or not, it was hard, it was a good cigar, but if spongy it was a reject—then after a reject you return it to the girl— Anne: —return it to the grinder and it goes all over—she will have to correct it. Then we have a big can— Nettie: Now when you had it wrapped—when do you see the hole—through paper wrapper? Anne: No, it was tobacco. Nettie: Wait, do you know what I am thinking of—paper wrapper? Anne: No, tobacco. Then— Nettie: Then they put the bands on. Anne: I don't know what they did. Then I put them in these cans of 500—top of can was open—had sides, back and bottom—you put the cigar in there—there was 500—how we were paid and then the boy come and took the cigars out and then started again. First job—you call it a feeder—long tobacco put into the machine and then it takes the vein of tobacco and chops it off. No. 2—called binder—binds already tobacco for them. Nettie: What is rollers? Anne: That—must be another department—downstairs. No. 3 - wrapper for cigars top of tobacco—I got the finished product. Nettie: In other words yours are machine made. Anne: Yes, they are all machine made. Nettie: Maybe those that were hand made were the expensive ones. Anne: They used to make the hand made on Water St.—someplace, someplace. Nettie: Now at your place they were machine made? I thought they were all hand made. Anne: No, I'd go back—if that was there I'd go back there—I loved that job—that’s the only job I liked. EJ—was one piece work—everybody was always fighting for lousy coupons—I was in EJ too, about a year. Nettie: How long did you work there? Anne: I worked there 2 years. You did the same job over and over. Nettie: When did you go to EJ? Anne: I don't know when I went to EJ before or after—I know I didn't work when I got married. I first had a job in EJ and then I went there—I don't know— Nettie: Did they pay better at EJ? Anne: No, I did not like EJ—I liked cigar factory better. I think I liked the work better because I didn't like working on a machine.  Nettie: After you left here, you got married? Anne: Yes. Nettie: What did you do after you got married—stay home? Anne: Got a job in EJ again. Nettie: Went back to EJ again. Anne: Good ol’ EJ and polished shoes. Nettie: Where did you work in EJ? Anne: That was in Endicott. Nettie: Where was that located? Anne: North St.—Fine Welt on 3rd floor with all men—5 women—I polished shoes—how lucky you were. Nettie: You polished shoes—were they ladies’ shoes or men's shoes? Anne: Men's shoes. Harry Spry was my boss—I liked that but after I was laid off. Nettie: How about telling about your family? Anne: Yes, first he worked as a bed laster then he worked in the tannery—Calfskin Tannery—where he ended up. Nettie: I think they paid more. Anne: He liked working there—he worked nights—he did his work days and go to church. Yes, he was a religious man—  Nettie: What church did he attend? Anne: He attended the church on Hill Ave. Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox—that's where I was baptized. Nettie: Did you say you had a brother who was a priest? Anne: Yes, he went up study to Paris, France—to study to be a Russian priest—Russian Orthodox religion—as they were no seminaries at that time here. Nettie: Where is his parish located? Anne: Lakewood, Ohio. Nettie: Was he now—very rev— Anne: Archpriest. Nettie: In your immediate family—how many children do you have? Anne: Nine children—5 brothers and 4 sisters. Nettie: Are they all living? Anne: One brother is not, George. Nettie: After you married—how many children did you have? Anne: 3 girls. Nettie: You are a grandma? Ann, could you tell me anything else about the work—or something comical that you can recollect? Anne: All I know we had no streetlights. We had to walk in the dark—we had to walk to work 2 miles to get a street car—we had no boots, no scarf. Nettie: Did you ever catch a cold, not having boots? Anne: No, never had a cold. The furnace went out at 4 o'clock—we got up and got dressed in the cold. We never knew what luxury was so we took things as they came along, we enjoyed everything, we had a happy home life. Nettie: Happy home life and nice parents— Anne: Right—we always got along. My father used to always say, “I'm wealthy because I got a good family and good health.” Nettie: I think it is very true. If you have money and no health—that's not good. Anne: He always made the sign of the cross before he left the house. Nettie: People from that generation were very religious. Anne: When he was dying he tried to get oxygen, he tried to bless himself, we didn’t know what he was doing but he was taking oxygen off and he was blessing himself. Nettie: And he was always good to everyone—everybody liked him. Anne: I remember him some—I can 't remember him too much. Nettie: Anne, your husband ran a bakery, tell me about it. Anne: We bought the bakery, it used to be Perl Bakery and we took it over—North Side of Endicott (Squires Ave.) and we built up and got all the Grand Union Stores—the bakery was run down at that time when we got it we built it up. My husband had to go to work to the bakery and stay inside. If the baker did not show up he had to stay inside and bake the bread, rolls and everything was going all over, he had to go help—he had 2 or 3 hours sleep a lot of times. It was pretty tough starting until we got situated but it was hard during the Depression because we couldn't buy anything. It was hard but we still got going. It was hard to get bakers and supplies—but we managed and then after—I worked— Nettie: You worked in the bakery? Anne: I iced the cakes—120 cakes a day I iced—I like the back work we got along pretty good until—after a while we [caught] some of them stealing and taking stuff which then after couldn't take any more of the business. I told him, "Let's just give up." And a lady gave me a hard time with a cake and she said, “I don't like the roses, I want them pinkish.” I got so nervous, went in the house and locked the bakery. And my husband came home and asked, "What happened to the bakery?" “Locked it,” because she gave me a hard time—she made me cry—she gave me a hard time so I quit. And I said, "I want to sell it, let's get out of here." And he said, "Don’t let that bother you.” And that's one thing I couldn't take if I saw someone was giving me hard time, and when I saw them stealing—I couldn't take it anymore. I said it's not for us—"Let's get out of here." My husband wasn't feeling too good already. ”I rather have you than the bakery.” So then we sold it to Roma's—now they got it. Even our bakers didn't know we sold it. Nettie: Fast job. Anne: They were all surprised. Nettie: Well they probably all liked working for you. Anne: So, Billie Shelepak worked there—still works there with Roma—he started with Perl and he is still there. Nettie: He is an accomplished baker. Anne: I guess so—he likes the bakery business. Nettie: Did you do any of the baking? Anne: No, my husband was a salesman, not a baker. He used to go on the truck and deliver—come in and help out when a baker did not show up—never gave a notice—just don't come in. Nettie: Did he know how to make bread? Anne: They had to show him and he would do it and I would do etc., bookwork—and whatever the salesman came in—I would either order or tell them George came home. But I saw George was going downhill fast and I couldn't·see it. Nettie: You mean he wasn't feeling good? Anne: No, he was run down and I couldn't see him doing it— Nettie: It doesn't pay to have a business and money when your health is more important to you. Anne: So, then he got a job with IBM—where he was better off—better off. Nettie: What did he do in IBM? Anne: He was putting in the transistors. He started as a maintenance man first and then they put him on transistors. Nettie: Like an assembly line job? Anne: He liked it—retired from there. Nettie: Better he left the bakery—right? It was a pressure job—wasn't it? Anne: Right—more of a pressure job. He was 43 when they took him in at IBM—lucky to get in at that age as nowadays it is hard to get in at that age. He didn't know anything—he told them but was willing to learn. Nettie: That's what they want—a person willing to learn— Anne: Then when he did get the job—he was rejected for high blood pressure. So he waited a year—finally got in—I always believe—if you wait and you want something real bad—the time will come you will achieve it. Nettie: That's your philosophy. Anne: I believe in it strongly—yeah—because we were going into Scranton one Sunday morning—when Vincent Peale was on—he said, “Just believe in something strongly and it will happen to you.” And a year later it did. Nettie: I think Vincent Peale—he stresses positive— Anne: Right—and I strongly believe in that—and believe and hope and things will work out. Nettie: Anne, did you have any more recollections? You have a lot of experiences. Anne: I just can't think—my husband had a lot of experiences on the bakery truck. Nettie: Like what? Anne: He delivered bread when he worked at West Side Bakery or Schwab’s—they had the best bread in town. Nettie: They had the best bread— Anne: He used to deliver bread to Mrs. Rosefsky—her son is the best pediatrician today and he worked his way through selling ice cream. Nettie: Who is this Dr. Rosefsky? Anne: Every time my grandchild goes to him today—he always asks about their grandfather. When my granddaughter was ten she had spinal meningitis—we did not know whether she would live or die—it was either death or crippling—but thank God she pulled out and Dr. Rosefsky came to·Perkins—and Dr. Rosefsky told us there that your granddaughter will be ok. That was the best news we ever heard in a long time. Nettie: That was a miracle. Anne: My son in law was sick seven years ago—he had aneurysm—Thank God he is ok—which they didn't give him a chance. Nettie: Very few people pull out of it. Anne: So I strongly believe in something that if you believe in and hope— Nettie: When you have faith— Anne: Yes, you will come of it strong which way it turns. You just have to have faith—that is the only way it gets anyone going. Nettie: I believe that too— Anne: And a man came over about 10 years after we sold the bakery and said, “I have something to tell you.” He came over and I thought maybe our books were wrong—but he said, “I have a new faith and I have to pay my debt in this world.” He said, “I took stuff from your bakery. I wasn't even a worker—I sold it in the tannery,” and he said, “Whatever I owe you—please name your price.” I said to him, “Light a candle—and that is all you owe and God Bless you and God will see the the way.” Nettie: Isn't that amazing. Anne: To me I think has been that way—because when you have that faith—I think HE will help you materially health wise, not money wise. And I think in a long run you are doing something doesn’t show there—but it shows in that person that you gave it to and I strongly believe in that. Nettie: That is amazing. Anne: That is something I'm telling you. After all these years—we had so many close shaves and every time I think, I thank God—that light is still burning for us. Nettie: I think God gives us strength, doesn't he? Anne: When I see what my son in law went through, what my grandchildren went through so this is the way I see life and when my time comes I think I’ll be ready because when he wants us we have to be ready and if HE puts you to a test, because a lot of these things that we have to go through. Nettie: I think it is really a test—don't you think? Anne: Right—it is mostly a test because my husband had so many close shaves down the hill the brakes failed—coming with that truck and he went through Susquehanna, PA, and his brakes failed and if there was anybody in the way it would have killed a lot of people—but lucky no one was there— Nettie: Thank GOD he was OK. Anne: So, a a window fell once on Harry L. Drive, fell off the 2nd floor and it skimmed him by a half inch—he would have killed him right away. Nettie: So when you see and go through these things— Anne: You know someone upstairs is watching over you and you are so close and yet you are going on. I don’t know— Nettie: Gee Ann, you have quite a few things—I know you could squeeze a few more recollections as I know you have a lot to tell me but can't think of them, at that time. Anne: These are all true facts that happened—how quickly things can happen, that's why I pray. I pray every day that God’s will—that what happens you have to be happy and if you live that way—try to reason—you’ll think of that before you do something. Nettie: Anne, do you remember any incidents when you were young—had gone to school—Russian school, etc.? Anne: When I got my job in EJ I was scared—we were all there in the room—I think about 15 girls or so—all afraid—one day one of the girls said, “Why don’t you go in? Why don't you go in?” Finally I said—my heart is pounding—I said OK—”It’s me, ok, I’m going in.” I had everything I was going to say. So I came in there and Mr. Powell was there—he still lives at Ackley Ave. (I was talking fast) I said to Mr. Powell, "We have 9 children in the family, my father works in the tannery, he cannot afford to feed us so I have to get a job so I don’t know what I am going to do. Mr. Powell said, “You got the job.” So I went to EJ—I went on a stitching machine—I looked on the machine and 5 minutes later—I said, “I'm going home.” Nettie: Oh come on—you could do that. Anne: Well, I did it, I cut a couple of coupons off—the ladies helped me—they were very nice—they gave me the fancy stitch—where I stitched two pieces together to make a shoe. Well, when you saw two pieces together one side is going to be longer—I didn't know the difference—I just cut the bottom off—I couldn’t imagine what the next operation was—I wasn't working there too long—they didn't want to tell me but that was the reason they let me go. Then I worked in another place and I had to make belts—I had to turn the belt inside out, you know what you were going to have—I poked the hole on the other end—I didn't know about what to do there—so then I didn’t stay too long there—I quit. Them kind of jobs were not for me—they were piecework—and I said, “if I get a job of piecework it's going to be on my own work—what I want do on my own. Finally I got the job at the tag department. I had to do proofreading—I liked it—no pressure—that's where I enjoyed it—that's where I quit from. At my age I think I had it—but EJ was all right—I liked it at the end. And when I was coming home I was crying—as I really enjoyed working there. Nettie: After being at home all these years—raising the children—and get a work outside you enjoy it—figure you fulfilled your job at home and now you are going— Anne: My husband wanted to quit because he wanted to go to Florida with him so I told him I’d do anything he wanted to—so I quit. And I cried all the way, missed the girls—and left everybody I liked. Nettie: This was when your husband retired and you retired. Anne: After a month we went to the cafeteria in IBM, the man—asked if you like retirement—no—and he went back to work on his old job and after three months—he said, “No—I'm going to retire.” Nobody ever got that because he got the first check—he was jealous of the job of garbage man because he always worked—he was hardworking—he couldn’t see sitting home when I was working. So I have to quit—because I don’t know what would happen—so he told me to quit—now we both retired and living the life of riley and enjoy everything and everyday cause you don’t know when the last day will be. Nettie: Well, Anne, this was interesting—and thank you very much. Rights Statement This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. 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 Interview with Anne Spisak Subject The topic of the resource Spisak, Anne -- Interviews; Broome County (N.Y.) -- History; Endicott (N.Y.); Endicott Johnson Corporation -- Employees -- Interviews; Cigar industry Description An account of the resource Anne Spisak of Endicott, NY talks about working at the General Cigar factory in Binghamton as an examiner. She describes the products they produced and sold at the cigar factory, lack of a labor union, the process of making cigars and the aspects of her job. She mentions getting married and getting a job at Endicott Johnson Corporation polishing shoes. She discusses the Perl Bakery, which she and her husband owned, but later sold. She also discusses how her religion played a big part in her life. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Binghamton University Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This audio file and digital image may only be used for educational purposes. Please cite as: Broome County Oral History Project, Special Collections, Binghamton University Libraries, Binghamton University, State University of New York. For usage beyond fair use please contact the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections for more information. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Recording 57