Family in the Fifties: Hope, Fear, and Rock 'N Roll (Mss. Gr. 116)

Series 1. Original Tapes, 1993
2 box(es)
(1 linear feet)

This series contains the original taped interviews with twenty-four Rhode Island residents who related their experiences of coming of age in the 1950s. There are twenty-nine cassette tapes in the series. Also included for each interview are subject indexes which are keyed to the frame counter on a cassette recorder.

Subjects discussed in the interviews include the Korean War, the Cold War, McCarthyism, race and sex discrimination, the advent of television, social life in the 1950s, the birth of rock and roll, and the impact of all these factors on the role of the family in the lives of the interview subjects.

Arrangement: The interview tapes and indexes are arranged alphabetically by the name of the interviewee.

Series 2. Original Transcripts/Releases/Information Forms, 1993
2 box(es)
(1 linear feet)

This series contains the original transcripts of the taped interviews contained in Series I, as well as information forms and release forms completed by the interview subjects. Unlike the tapes in Series I, however, there are no indexes for the transcripts.

Arrangement: The transcripts and related materials are arranged alphabetically by the name of the interviewee.

Series 3. Research Copies of Transcripts/Releases/Information Forms, 1993
2 box(es)
(1 linear feet)

This series contains research copies of the original transcripts, releases, and information forms contained in Series II.

Arrangement: The transcripts and related materials are arranged alphabetically by the name of the interviewee.

Series 4. Student Essays, 1993
1 box(es)
(.5 linear feet)

This series contains essays or "stories" written by fifteen South Kingstown High School tenth grade students about the people they interviewed. Each student received training in oral history interviewing techniques, read literature and poetry of the era, viewed period films, and heard a series of lectures on "ethnicity, civil rights, McCarthyism, rock 'n roll, jazz, fashion, film, and family."

Based on the interviews and their background research, the students wrote papers or, as they were called in the project, "stories" about the people interviewed. The stories are a combination of the students' impressions and a paraphrase of the interviews.

The stories subsequently appeared in edited form in "Families in the Fifties: Hope, Fear & Rock 'n Roll," the publication which resulted from the oral history project. A copy of the publication has been placed at the end of this series.

Arrangement: The papers or stories are arranged alphabetically by the name of the interviewee.