Family in the Fifties: Hope, Fear, and Rock 'N Roll

University Archives and Special Collections
15 Lippitt Road
Kingston, RI 02881-2011
Tel: 401-874-4632

email: archives@etal.uri.edu

Published in 2008

Collection Overview

Title:	Family in the Fifties: Hope, Fear, and Rock 'N Roll
Date range:	1993
Creator:	Wood, Linda P.
Extent:	7 box(es) (6.5 linear feet)
Abstract:	This collection consists of taped interviews, transcripts, and student papers connected with "The Family in the Fifties: Hope, Fear, and Rock 'N Roll", an oral history which captured the experiences of Rhode Island residents in that decade .
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	University Archives and Special Collections
Collection number:	Mss. Gr. 116

Scope & content

Under the supervision of Ms. Wood, librarian at South Kingstown High School, and English teacher Judi Scott, fifteen students from a tenth grade English class at the high school conducted interviews with twenty-four Rhode Island residents who had lived through the decade of the 1950s as teenagers or young adults. The interview subjects were asked to recall their experiences in the 1950s and to recount the impact on them and their families of such topics as the Cold War, McCarthyism, racism, the birth of rock and roll, and the advent of television.

The records include twenty-nine cassette tape recordings of the interviews, transcripts of the interviews, indexes for each interview keyed to the frame counter of a tape recorder, signed release forms, "information forms" completed by each of the interview subjects, and papers or "stories" done by each of the students and based on the interviews.

Arrangement

After processing, the records were organized into four series as follows:

• 1. Original Tapes
• 2. Original Transcripts/Releases/Information Forms
• 3. Research Copies of Transcripts/Releases/Information Forms
• 4. Student Essays

Historical Information

"Oral history... is a way of capturing the voices and experiences of every day people.... The narrators' voices form a harmony which is complex and subtle, revealing the history of a decade."

Thus does Linda Wood describe the essential value of oral history in making the recent past meaningful in her introduction to "The Family in the Fifties: Hope, Fear and Rock In Roll," the oral history project of which she was project director. "The Family in the Fifties" was a project designed to "explore and probe personal experiences and memories" of Rhode Island residents who grew to adulthood in the decade of the 1950s.

The interviews for the project were conducted in 1993 by fifteen members of a tenth grade English class from South Kingstown High School. The students interviewed twenty-four Rhode Island residents who recalled their experiences in the 1950s. The interview subjects were asked to focus in particular on such topics as rock and roll, the Cold War, McCarthyism, racism, the advent of television, and their impact on the "nuclear family." Based on the interviews they conducted, the students wrote papers or "stories" in which they summarized the content of the interview and recorded their own impressions and observations.

The project was funded with a grant from the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities and co-sponsored by South Kingstown High School and the Rhode Island Historical Society. The students worked under the supervision of project co-directors Linda Wood and Judi Scott, as well as receiving input from humanities scholars Professor Sharon Strom and Professor James Findlay of the University of Rhode Island History Department.

In addition to the oral history tapes and transcripts generated by this project, there was also a publication produced entitled The Family in the Fifties: Hope, Fear, and Rock 'N Roll. This sixty page, illustrated, magazine-format publication contains edited versions of the twenty-four student papers resulting from the interviews. These are the records of the oral history project "The Family in the Fifties: Hope, Fear and Rock 'N Roll," which were donated to the Special Collections Department of the University of Rhode Island Library in June 1994 by the project co-director Linda Wood.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	Open for research.
Use of the materials:	Terms governing use and reproduction: Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Archivist when in compliance to the Unit's policy on copyright and publication.
Preferred citation:	Family in the Fifties, Hope, Fear, and Rock 'N Roll, Mss. Gr. 116, University of Rhode Island, University Archives and Special Collections.
Contact information:	University Archives and Special Collections 15 Lippitt Road Kingston, RI 02881-2011 Tel: 401-874-4632 email: archives@etal.uri.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	The records were donated to the Special Collections Department of the University of Rhode Island Library in June 1994 by the project co-director Linda Wood.
Custodial history:	Custodial history is unknown.
Processing information:	Research copies of the transcripts, releases, information forms, and indexes were made by Special Collections staff during processing and were added to the collection. The records were processed in 1994.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Kevin J. Logan.
Encoding:	Finding aid encoded by Nicholas Albaugh on 2008 May 21, updated by Hailie D. Posey on 2009 September 11, upadated by Mark Dionne on 2020 April 22
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Inventory

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Inventory