Interview with Verona M. Smith, Margaret Andriga, Steve Andriga, June 25, 1986

Partial Transcript: As a whole, I think, uh, well my, some of my brothers and sisters didn't have the opportunities that I had because I was the youngest in the family...

Segment Synopsis: The interviewees discuss community strengths in Lynch, Kentucky.

Keywords: Department stores; Nursing; Schools

Subjects: Communities; Lynch (Ky)

Partial Transcript: Uh, could you talk about the boardinghouses that were in Lynch?

Segment Synopsis: The interviewees discuss what living conditions were like in coal camps.

Keywords: Coal camps; Cooking; Doctors; Gender roles; Home births; Home visits; Hotels; Housing; Midwives; Outhouses

Subjects: Boardinghouses

Partial Transcript: Well what do you think, then? Uh, some things that I've read, uh, said that maybe a half the population or even more of Lynch, uh, was immigrant.

Segment Synopsis: The interviewees discuss various reasons immigrants may have left Lynch, Kentucky.

Keywords: Cold Spring (Ky.); Employment; Orphanages; Population; Wages

Subjects: Lynch (Ky.); Migration, Internal

Partial Transcript: Now like my father, he would be in his nineties.

Segment Synopsis: One interviewee remembers her childhood with her father as a miner. The interviewees describe wage earning, rent deduction, and scrip.

Keywords: "Old country"; Animal care; Europe; Gardening; Great Depression; Rental housing; Scrip; Slavic languages

Subjects: Families.; Wages--Coal miners

Partial Transcript: Okay, could you tell me about your background and, uh, uh, just, uh, general information about yourself?

Segment Synopsis: This segment seems to be the beginning of the interview. Ms. Smith shares her experience migrating from Michigan, starting school, and attending church.

Keywords: House Church; House School; September 1921

Subjects: Benham (Ky.); Catholic Church; Cumberland (Ky.)--History; Education; Lynch (Ky); Michigan

Partial Transcript: Could you talk about the houses.

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Smith remembers living arrangements, home life, and immigrant neighbors.

Keywords: Learning to talk American

Subjects: Austria; Early Memories; English language--Study and teaching--Foreign speakers; Family; Gardening; Milking; Motion pictures; Rental housing

Partial Transcript: Coming on the train then from Cincinnati down.

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Smith tells of cultural dancing and celebrations in Lynch, KY.

Keywords: 4th of July Celebration; 4th of July Parade; Hungarian Grape Dance

Subjects: Baseball; Baseball fields; Dance; Education; Motion pictures; Pavilions; Segregation; Weddings; YMCA of the USA

Partial Transcript: Could you tell me about some of the things you cooked.

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Smith remembers what they often cooked when she was younger. She laughs as she's found some of these dishes are labeled "gourmet" today.

Keywords: Birthday Party; Cooked Cabbage Rolls; Lettuce with Gravy; Nut Rolls; Stew

Subjects: Catholic; Dried Fruit; Gourmet; Grocery Trade; Soups

Partial Transcript: How did you celebrate Christmas?

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Smith describes how her family celebrated Christmas and where they bought gifts.

Keywords: Bellas Hess Catalog; Big Store; Midnight Mass; Tree trimming

Subjects: Christmas; Church; Company Stores; Dance; Sears, Roebuck and Company; Street vendors

Partial Transcript: And our big hotel is gone.That was in number 4.

Segment Synopsis: The groups tells of their father gaining the right to vote and family values.

Keywords: Family Bonds; Italian Stone Masonry

Subjects: Childhood; Citizenship; Education; Family; Fortune; Parenting; Stonemasons; United States Steel Corporation; Voting; Work Ethic

Partial Transcript: How did most immigrants get here? Did the coal company bring them here?

Segment Synopsis: The group shares how immigrants came to Lynch, KY and what role many of them had in the community.

Keywords: Immigrants in Positions of Authority; Moving between Coal Camps; Neighborly Relations; Old Country

Subjects: Citizenship; Lynch (Ky); Neighborhoods; Race discrimination; United States Steel Corporation

Partial Transcript: How about, uh, uh, when the United Mine Workers came in, when the union came, was there a lot of trouble then?

Segment Synopsis: The interviewees remember local sentiment when the coal industry was unionized. [The segment is cut short when the tape runs out.]

Keywords: Company stores; Organizational change; Violence

Subjects: Lynch (Ky); United Mine Workers of America