| Creator: | Indiana University Center for the Study of History and Memory |
| Title: | Socialism in Indiana in the 1920s |
| Collection No.: | ohrc094 |
| Dates: | 1975-1976 |
| Quantity: |
Quantity: 3 Interviews (Audio files, transcripts, and collateral materials ) |
| Abstract: | This collection of interviews provides a perspective of the existence of political socialism in Marion and Elwood, Indiana during the early half of the twentieth century. The interviewees are either retired workers or the wives of workers, and they discuss their own personal involvement with labor unions and the Socialist Party. They also talk about mayoral elections of the 'teens and twenties in which there were Socialist candidates, such as Harry Oatis and John L. Lewis. |
| Location: | Interviews are housed in Franklin Hall, Room 0030A. Contact ohrc@indiana.edu for more information. Copies of interview transcripts are also held by the IU Libraries University Archives. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for Documentary Research and Practice office. |
| Language: | Materials are in English |
| Repository: | Center for Documentary Research and Practice Franklin Hall 0030B 601 E. Kirkwood Avenue Bloomington, Indiana 47405 Business Number: 812-855-2856 ohrc@indiana.edu URL: https://cdrp.mediaschool.indiana.edu/ |
This collection contains three interviews conducted over one year. The interviews range from 70 to 155 minutes. All interviews consist of audio reels and typed transcripts.
The archive of the Center for Documentary Research and Practice at Indiana University is open to the use of researchers. Copies of transcript pages are available only when such copies are permitted by the deed of gift. Scholars must honor any restrictions the interviewee placed on the use of the interview. Since some of our earlier (pre-computer) transcripts do not exist in final form, any editing marks in a transcript (deletions, additions, corrections) are to be quoted as marked. Audio files may not be copied for patrons unless the deed of gift permits it, and a transcript is unavailable for that interview. The same rules of use that apply to a transcript apply to the audio interview. Interviews may not be reproduced in full for any public use, but excerpted quotes may be used as long as researchers fully cite the data in their research, including accession number, interview date, interviewee's and interviewer's name, and page(s).
[interviewee first name last name] interview, by [interviewer first name last name], [interview date(s)], [call number], [project name], Center for Documentary Research and Practice, Indiana University, Bloomington, [page number(s) or tape number and side if no transcript; if digital audio and no transcript, cite time when quote occurs].
Oral history interviews conducted by the Indiana University Center for the Study of History and Memory from 1968 to the present, with particular focus on the history of twentieth-century America and the Midwest.
No(s): 75-054
Physical Description: 32 pages; 1 reel, 3 3/4 ips, 75 minutes; no index; photograph of interviewee
Scope and Content Note: Flo Oatis Brading, born in 1888, discusses her late husband Harry Oatis' involvement with the Socialist Party. She is assisted by her son, Robert. Ms. Brading speaks about the 1921 mayoral election in Marion, Indiana, in which her husband ran as a candidate for the Socialist Party and almost won. She mentions her husband's attitudes towards the First World War and his fondness for Eugene Debs. She also considers the decline of socialism in Marion.
Indexed Terms:
Access Status: Open
No(s): 76-055
Physical Description: 34 pages; 1 reel, 1 7/8 ips, 70 minutes; no index
Scope and Content Note: Fred Padfield, born in 1883, shares his experiences as a life-long steelworker. He began working in the mills at the age of thirteen in Elwood, Indiana and retired in Gary, Indiana. With the help of his wife and daughter, Mr. Padfield shares some of his memories of working in the mills. He remembers the 1909 strike and the election of a socialist mayor in 1917, but was not himself involved with the Socialist Party or any unions.
Indexed Terms:
Access Status: Open
No(s): 76-063
Physical Description: 65 pages; 2 reels, 3 3/4 ips, 155 minutes; no index
Scope and Content Note: Lillian Pritchard, born in South Wales in 1895, reflects on the large Welsh community working in the tin mills of Elwood, Indiana. She remembers her father's devotion to labor unions and his experiences during the 1909 strike. She also shares her memories of Elwood in the early twentieth century. Ms. Pritchard speculates that Socialist candidates like John Lewis were elected because of their individual popularity, not for their political platforms.
Indexed Terms:
Access Status: Open