Wide-ranging oral histories from Grand Valley, Capital Area District Library, and Michigan State that capture the perspective of citizens and veterans across the state.
An oral history from Stockbridge resident Lawrence "Larry" Lindemer, interviewed by Frances Laird and Larry's son David Lindemer. Mr. Lindemer served in the Army in World War II. His career in law and politics included service as a State Representative, a member of the Hoover Commission, the chair of the Michigan Republican Party, the Midwest campaign director for Nelson Rockefeller, a University of Michigan regent, and a Michigan Supreme Court judge. The interview took place on January 15, 2016, with technical assistance and photography by Laura Walsh, then-CADL staff and a member of the Stockbridge Area Genealogical and Historical Society. Audio editing was done by CADL librarian Sean Lyons.
Data Provider:
Capital Area District Library (Lansing, MI). Forest Parke Library and Archives
An interview with George Nugent, conducted by Bill Dansby in the Forest Parke Library and Archives, Capital Area District Libraries, as part of the Lansing 150 Oral History project. Mr. Nugent was a banking administrator and the grandson of Dr. George F. Bauch, a long-time Lansing surgeon. No transcript has been produced, and no summary appears in the <a href="http://www.cadl.org/lhonline/Lansing 150 OH Booklet.pdf">Lansing 150 Sesquicentennial Oral Histories Booklet</a> booklet.
Data Provider:
Capital Area District Library (Lansing, MI). Forest Parke Library and Archives
The second of two interviews of Gladys Beckwith, who helped to found the MSU Women's Studies program and ran the Michigan Women's Historical Center and Hall of Fame for over 25 years. Dr. Beckwith is interviewed by Marilyn Culpepper in the Local History Room at Capital Area District Libraries, on February 6, 2009, as part of the "Lansing 150" Sesquicentennial project. She was interviewed previously on July 24, 2008 (<a href="http://cadl.pastperfectonline.com/archive/799215D7-0166-49EE-B4F2-958522481940">link</a>). For both interviews, no transcript has been produced. A summary appears on pages 7-8 of the <a href="http://www.cadl.org/lhonline/Lansing 150 OH Booklet.pdf">Lansing 150 Sesquicentennial Oral Histories Booklet</a> booklet.
Data Provider:
Capital Area District Library (Lansing, MI). Forest Parke Library and Archives
An interview of Louise Shumway Roe, conducted by David Votta in the Forest Parke Library and Archives, Capital Area District Libraries, in 2009. Mrs. Roe was the granddaughter of F. N. Arbaugh, who operated Arbaugh's department store in Lansing, Mich. No transcript has been produced. A summary appears on page 31-32 of the <a href="http://www.cadl.org/lhonline/Lansing 150 OH Booklet.pdf">Lansing 150 Sesquicentennial Oral Histories Booklet</a> booklet.
Data Provider:
Capital Area District Library (Lansing, MI). Forest Parke Library and Archives
Michigan Oral History Association Newsletter is a publication of the Michigan Oral History Association. Container lists are updated as we add new titles and issues to the collection.
Date Created:
[2016 TO 2018]
Data Provider:
Capital Area District Library (Lansing, MI). Forest Parke Library and Archives
Collection:
Local History Newspapers and Periodicals Collection
This collection consists of the notes of a handwritten draft and tapes and transcripts concerning Harry Wilson's autobiography covering his life up to 1941. Also there are tapes and transcripts of interviews between Harry Wilson and Dennis Walle (archivist of the University of Alaska, Anchorage, in the 1980s) concerning his life and work. There are also copies of correspondence between Wilson and members of his family; drafts of a book he was writing; copies of articles and poetry he wrote; copies of World War I photographs; a copy of a family scrapbook; a college catalog and other papers concerning Lansing Community College; newspaper clippings about himself; and other papers. Harry Wilson was born in England in 1897. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War I as a surgical orderly. He later transferred to the Flying Corps and served in France from 1916 to 1919 as a radial engineering specialist, occasionally flying reconnaissance as a gunner. After returning to England in 1919, he joined a group of engineers and then migrated to Canada. In 1923 he moved to Michigan and worked as a tool designer. He received his pilot's license in 1932. During World War II he was involved in military and civilian flight training programs at Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Mich.) where he helped organized the Department of Aviation Mechanics. After the war, Wilson helped set up aviation training for the eleventh and twelfth grades at Lansing Technical High School, and later participated in the organization of Lansing Community College. In 1963, he worked with the United Nations International Aviation Organization in Montreal on an aviation training program. In 1964, he worked on the development of Lansing Community College's aviation training program. He was also an author and wrote poetry and a number of magazine articles. He died in 1984 in Anchorage, Alaska. This collection was transferred to the Forest Parke Library & Archives at CADL in January, 2018.
Date Created:
[1915 TO 1983]
Data Provider:
Capital Area District Library (Lansing, MI). Forest Parke Library and Archives
Andrew M. Olah was born on March 4, 1924 and grew up in Muskegon, MI. After being drafted, Andrew served as a sergeant for the U.S. Army. He served in England, France, Luxembourg, and Germany. During his service, Andrew was selected by the government for special duty to help plan for the Invasion of Normandy.
Date Created:
2005-05-27T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Jean Cione was born in Rockford, Illinois in 1928. She grew up in the Rockford area and played softball with the neighborhood boys and then also played with the local industrial teams. When the Rockford Peaches made Rockford their headquarters, Cione tried out for the team and at age 15 joined the ranks of the Rockford Peaches in 1945 as a reserve rookie first baseman. In 1946, she was traded to the Peoria Red Wings and played first baseman for them but was then traded to the Kenosha Comets in 1947. She remained with the Kenosha Comets from 1947 to 1953 and played sometimes as a left-handed pitcher, first baseman, or outfield. Consequently, the Comets franchise disbanded in 1954 and she was traded back to the Rockford Peaches where she finished out when the All American Girls Baseball League was disbanded.
Date Created:
2009-09-26T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Annemarie Hortman was born in Rangsdorf, Germany, on April 14, 1939. When she was only a year old she moved to Ingolstadt and stayed there until September 1940. At such a young age and that early in the war she remembers getting off a train during an air raid, and going into a community bomb shelter in Ingolstadt. For the rest of the war, Annemarie lived in Rangsdorf. During the last six months of the war she experienced daily bombings due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Germany and final push toward Berlin. After Germany’s surrender, she and her family stayed in Rangsdorf during part of the Soviet occupation enduring the random and often arbitrary brutality of the Soviet troops. In 1947, Annemarie, her mother, her brother, and sister fled Rangsdorf on foot and sneaked across the East/West German border. They walked to Ingolstadt where she lived until she got married to an American serviceman. Annemarie and her first husband had a child and moved to the United States in 1960. Due to her husband’s infidelity the first marriage failed, and after moving around the country and a second divorce, she met Bill Hortman and settled down with him in Walker, Michigan.
Date Created:
2016-09-16T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Merton Powell was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1924. He grew up in Topeka and enlisted in the Navy in 1943. He received basic training in Chadron, Nebraska then went to Iowa for College Training before going to California for Flight Training. He was accepted into the Naval Aviation Program and was able receive flight training in the N2S Stearman. After the Second World War ended in September 1945 he was discharged from active duty. He remained in the Naval Reserve until 1947. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1949 and served briefly with them.
Date Created:
2016-02-16T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Chris Petty was born October 1969 in Cedar City, Utah, and was raised in Salt Lake City. He graduated high school in 1988 and enlisted in the Army a year later. He received advanced communications training and completed Airborne School. Chris was soon assigned to a Long Range Surveillance Company which would become part of the 82nd Airborne Division. He operated with this unit performing reconnaissance in Kuwait during Desert Storm, and later in South American countries for the War on Drugs. Chris was reassigned to South Korea, were he operated supply and logistics for a battalion stationed there for a year. He was reassigned to the newly formed 82nd Airborne Division, where he served about six years. He left the military for a while to spend time with family, then went back into the reserves. Chris' reserve unit was deployed to Iraq in support of the Striker Brigade, where he served for 16 months. After Iraq, Chris worked as a very successful recruiter for a few years, then retired from the military as a First Sergeant of a Military Police Company in South Bend, IN.
Date Created:
2015-12-15T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Interview of Charlie Bond by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Charles R. "Charlie" Bond was Vice Squadron Leader of the First Pursuit Squadron "Adam and Eves" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Recruited by Skip Adair in 1941, he was inspired by photos of shark-mouthed Tomahawks of No. 112 Sqadron, RAF. He was the first to paint his P-40 in similar markings, setting the precedent for what became the trademark of the Flying Tigers. He shot down six Japanese fighters and one bomber. After the AVG disbanded, he rejoined the US Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics to train new fighter pilots. In this tape, Bond describes his last goodbye with General Chennault and his personal accomplishments during his time as a Flying Tiger.
Date Created:
1991-02-23T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Interview of Ed Rector by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Ed Rector served as Vice Squadron Leader of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." He joined the AVG after discharging his commission from the US Navy, and left the AVG when it was disbanded in 1942. In this tape, Rector describes in detail his first combat with the Japanese pilots and what it was like being in the curve of pursuit.
Date Created:
1991-05-16T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Donald Brazones enlisted into the Army Air Corps at the age of 18 in retaliation to the Japanese's bombing of Pearl Harbor. Brazones trained to be a navigator and was sent to England to fly missions over Europe. On Brazones' 18th mission, he was shot down and captured by German Officers. His interview is a detailed recollection of his time in the service, especially his memories from the day he was shot down, and his subsequent capture, imprisonment and release from captivity.
Date Created:
2009-04-06T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Richard Doyle was born in Vermont and drafted into the US Army as he finished college in 1969. He trained as an infantryman and served in two different battalions in the 1st Infantry Division before being reassigned to the 101st. He served with D Company, 1/506 Infantry, from March until October, 1970 and participated in the Ripcord campaign. After returning from Vietnam, he stayed in the Army and eventually became an MP. He participated in the planning of the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the establishment of the facility for Al Qaida prisoners at Guantanamo.
Date Created:
2011-10-06T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Daniel Horon served in the Navy during the Cold War, from 1957 to 1961. He trained in communications and photographic intelligence and was sent to an air base in Newfoundland. He performed a variety of duties, including aerial reconnaissance, and provides detailed accounts of both life on the base and of the assorted tensions brought on by the Cold War as they played out in Newfoundland. He also took large quantities of pictures while there, and many of these are included in his file.
Date Created:
2009-11-12T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Jacob Lucas is a World War II veteran who served in the Seabees, a construction branch of the Navy, from December 1942 to 1945. In this account, Lucas discusses his pre-enlistment, enlistment and basic training in the U.S. and his service time abroad in the Pacific. He goes into some depth about his responsibilities as a Seabee in Okinawa, New Caledonia, New Guinea and the Admiralty Islands. Lucas concludes his interview by showing pictures and newspaper clippings from that time.
Date Created:
2004-04-19T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Gary was born near Ithaca, Michigan and later attended Michigan State University. He graduated from college with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1965. Gary received his draft notice in January 1966 for the United States Army. He was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky for basic training and later attended communications school at Fort Gordon. Gary was stationed in Germany for 18 months and served with the 6th Battalion, 10th Artillery, Headquarters Battery located in Bamberg.
Date Created:
2013-05-29T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Annemarie Hortman was born in Rangsdorf, Germany, on April 14, 1939. When she was only a year old she moved to Ingolstadt and stayed there until September 1940. At such a young age and that early in the war she remembers getting off a train during an air raid, and going into a community bomb shelter in Ingolstadt. For the rest of the war, Annemarie lived in Rangsdorf. During the last six months of the war she experienced daily bombings due to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Germany and final push toward Berlin. After Germany’s surrender, she and her family stayed in Rangsdorf during part of the Soviet occupation enduring the random and often arbitrary brutality of the Soviet troops. In 1947, Annemarie, her mother, her brother, and sister fled Rangsdorf on foot and sneaked across the East/West German border. They walked to Ingolstadt where she lived until she got married to an American serviceman. Annemarie and her first husband had a child and moved to the United States in 1960. Due to her husband’s infidelity the first marriage failed, and after moving around the country and a second divorce, she met Bill Hortman and settled down with him in Walker, Michigan.
Date Created:
2016-09-16T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries