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WGCU Public Media (Television station : Fort Myers, Fl.)
Title, Dates:
Southwest Florida oral history interviews, 2005-2006.
Amount:
8 compact disks (14 audio files)
Medium Included:
compact disks
Organization/Arrangement:
Chronological by year of interview.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:
As a part of a community-wide reading project entitled "One Book, One Community: Lee County Reads 'A Land Remembered,'" the Lee County Library System, News-Press and WGCU Public Media partnered to document stories from long-time area residents about their family histories. The resulting oral history project, "A Florida Life Remembered," was modeled after the StoryCorps project developed by David Isay to encourage people to share their life experiences with one another. The recordings gleaned from A Florida Life Remembered were aired on WGCU Public Media 90.1 FM and copies were provided to The Southwest Florida Museum of History and the State Archives of Florida for preservation and access purposes.
Summary:
This series consists of oral history interviews conducted by WGCU Public Media News Director Amy Tardif with long-time Lee County/Fort Myers-area residents as part of "A Florida Life Remembered," a local oral history project. This project was in turn a part of the county-wide reading project entitled "One Book, One Community: Lee County Reads 'A Land Remembered.'" Interviewees discuss their families, homes, work, school, farming, ranching and cattle drives, commercial fishing and shrimping, social events, community spirit, roads and transportation, wartime experiences, the natural environment and wildlife, the economy, society, religion and churches, and changes over time in Southwest Florida, primarily in the early- to mid-20th century.
Participants in the 2005 interviews were Allen Ellis, whose father operated a sawmill in 1901, and who delivered groceries to Thomas Edison and Henry Ford and was a census taker in the 1930s; C. Blair Buchholz, whose grandfather and uncle ran a charter fishing boat in the 1930s; James Dillon Thomas, whose Grandfather shipped cattle across the Caloosahatchee River on barges before there were bridges there; Marjorie Kelly Johnson, whose father owned Kelly's Seafood store in downtown Fort Myers in the 1930s, a store frequented by Thomas Edison and Seminole Indians; Mary Lee Mann, whose father, John C. Ferguson, owned the St. George Packing Company and a fleet of 25 shrimping boats from the 1950s to the 1980s; Martha Milne, who left the area and then returned to teach at Edison College; Robert Waugh Gilbert, who played football at the University of Florida in the 1940s and whose grandfather was William H. Towles, one of the county's first commissioners; and Vicki Fernandez, an Estero resident of 58 years.
Among the reminiscences of particular note are moonshining operations (Ellis); encounters with public figures such as Thomas Edison (Ellis, Thomas, Johnson), Connie Mack, Sr. (Thomas), Henry Ford (Thomas), and Ted Williams (Johnson); playing softball as a school girl (Johnson); and Seminole Indians' involvement in the community (Johnson, Milne).
Participants in the 2006 interviews were Rosa Lee Williams, George Mayo, Willie Battle, Willie B. Green, Jannie James, and Pat McCutcheon.
Finding Aids:
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note:
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
The Southwest Florida Museum of History has MP3 audio files of the interviews.
2300 Peck St., Fort Myers, FL 33901 USA 239/332-5955
239-332-5955
Associated Materials:
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History:
Publication Note:
General Note:
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields:
Edison, Thomas A. 1847-1931 (Thomas Alva), Mack, Connie, 1862-1956. Ford, Henry, 1863-1947. Williams, Ted, 1918- Ellis, Allen. Buchholz, C. Blair. Thomas, James Dillon. Johnson, Marjorie Kelly. Mann, Mary Lee Milne, Martha. Gilbert, Robert Waugh. Fernandez, Vicki. Battle, Willie. Green, Willie B. Mayo, George. James, Jannie B. McCutcheon, Pat. Williams, Rosa Lee.
Agriculture Florida Education Florida Natural resources Florida Prohibition Florida Religion. Fishing Florida Shrimp fisheries Florida. Transportation Florida Roads Florida. Economic development. Ranches Florida. Cattle Florida. Schools Florida Community development Florida
Oral histories. aat Audio recordings. Compact disks. aat
Fort Myers (Fla.) Lee County (Fla.) Estero Bay (Fla.)
Added Entries
Ellis, Allen.
Buchholz, C. Blair.
Thomas, James Dillon.
Johnson, Marjorie Kelly.
Mann, Mary Lee
Milne, Martha.
Gilbert, Robert Waugh.
Fernandez, Vicki.
Tardif, Amy.
Florida Public Broadcasting.
for detailed listing.