Title Information
Title
Interview with Bill Simmons
Name: Personal
Name Part
Ventura, Anya
Role
Role Term: Text
interviewer
Name: Personal
Name Part
Simmons, Bill
Role
Role Term: Text
interviewee
Type of Resource
mixed material
Origin Information
Date Created (encoding="w3cdtf", keyDate="yes")
2011-10-16
Language
Language Term: Code (ISO639-2B)
eng
Physical Description
Extent
1 sound recording + 1 PDF
digitalOrigin
born digital
Abstract
Oral history interview with Bill Simmons about the Mashapaug Pond community, Providence, R.I. Professor Simmons of Brown University, anthropologist and historian, gives a detailed description of his childhood (late 1930s through 1940s) in Reservoir Triangle neighborhood. He talks about his hobby collecting arrowheads and other Indian artifacts, and the marked social contrast between the East Side (College Hill) and the rest of working-class Providence. He describes the shock he experienced returning home after decades living in California - noting the decline in public education and workforce skills, the loss of industrial employment, and resulting effects on city neighborhoods. He also points out the possible link between present-day Narragansett Indians in the Mashapaug area and their ancestors living there in pre-Colonial times.
Note
This oral history was conducted by a Brown University student in Anne Valk and Holly Ewald's fall 2011 course "Oral History and Community Memory".
Genre (aat) (authorityURI="http://vocab.getty.edy/aat/", valueURI="http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300202595")
oral histories (literary works)