Center for Local History

The Center for Local History hosts a diverse collection of Oral History interviews with Latino and Hispanic narrators, covering the cultural, economic, and political aspects of life in and before Arlington.

While Latino and Hispanic people have been a part of this region’s history since long before 1950, the population boom of the mid and late twentieth century in Arlington included a dramatic growth in these groups as well.

In this interview, Vanessa Cárdenas shares her memories of her time at Washington and Lee High School, the importance of the Latin American Student Association in her life, and her service to her fellow students. Hispanic Heritage Month first became an annual time of celebration recognized at the national level in 1988 (you can read more about the month-long observance on the County website). 

Interviewer: Ingrid Kauffman
Narrator: Vanessa Cárdenas
Interview Date: November 18, 1999

Transcript:

VC: In the 10th grade we were lucky that the National Association of Hispanic Journalists came to Washington-Lee looking for a partnership. They wanted to mentor and partner with a group of Latino students. I was very lucky to be there at that time. Washington-Lee accepted, and they were trying to form a group of students. Initially it was just going to be a mentoring sort of program. But then it developed into the students forming an association, and that’s how the Latin American Students Association was born back in 1989. That was really the beginning I think of one of the most respected student organizations in Arlington and the longest to be here.
LASA’s objective was to portray a positive image of the Latino students. That was very important for us. We were not just a cultural organization that did dances and food. We wanted to provide a positive image of Latinos.
IK: So what did you do in connection with the journalists’ organization?
VC: Basically what they did, they came once a month, they brought a speaker, usually a professional in journalism, sometimes different fields. They would speak to us about careers. They were very supportive in the first two years, and I think that was crucial because that was when the organization started.
But the other thing that they gave us was for the first time to see a Latina, a Latino, who were in different positions, who were professionals. Although from back home I knew there were professionals, people who made it. But all of that tends to go away. Unconsciously, I think, you just start taking that in. So that’s one thing that made a difference in my life.
We also contributed a lot to the school. I think that Washington-Lee changed a lot from the time I started to the year I graduated. I think it was because of LASA, the role it was playing, because it was pushing for things. I remember when I got there, 9th, 10th grade, even 11th grade, in the yearbook you hardly saw pictures of Latinos.
IK: Why is this?
VC: Just because most of the yearbook staff, the people, the kids were white or minorities that were really integrated.
IK: So the informal shots were not of Latinos.
VC: Yes. Everybody had the picture, but when you go to a game or something, you didn’t see — not just Latinos, but kids from the HILT program. It was like we didn’t exist. By the time I graduated, the yearbook staff was going to the HILT classes to explain to them what the yearbook was. So I think it really made a difference. The other way it did, another of our objectives was to have more Latinos students getting involved in the different clubs and sports. We took some of the Latinos that were already on teams like track team, soccer team, because even in soccer there weren’t very many Latinos on the soccer team back then. We’d pair them up, and that increased the number of kids who were into sports.
IK: What do you mean?
VC: For example, we would call Gustavo, he was in the mainstream program. He came in to LASA, we would ask him if he would be willing to take one or two students who might be interested in being on the track team. And he did, and he took them with him–he spoke Spanish. He’d guide them, little things like that. Even to try out for a club is very intimidating. That’s how LASA changed Washington-Lee for the better. And I think as a result of LASA, the Hispanic Parents Association was formed. One of the objectives that our sponsors had was to also get a group of parents involved. Most of our parents were involved in the Hispanic Parents Association as well. It was almost like the students’ association. It was really a good time to be at Washington-Lee, I think.

You can read Vanessa Cárdenas’ interview in its entirety in the Center for Local History – VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.3 no.153.

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

From June 2017 – May 2018, we will post one oral history clip and transcript each month, focusing on Arlington’s history, culture and identity.

What is the oral history collection?

Oral history is a popular method of research used for understanding historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of people’s personal experiences.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

The early to mid-20th century was an exceptional period of change and growth for Arlington, and the expansion of the Federal economy from New Deal programs and World War II was one of the largest catalysts.

Over little more than a decade during the 1930s, Arlington began to transform from a country town to a bustling suburb.

Walter De Groot provided our Center with one of the most comprehensive interviews about that time in Arlington’s history, totaling 180 transcribed pages. In this clip, Mr. De Groot remembers not only the technological and infrastructure changes that the war years brought to the area, but also the complicated social implications of war and expansion.

Narrator: Walter De Groot
Interviewer: Sara Collins
Interview Date: June 30, 2004

Transcript:
SC: Were most of the houses in that time, let’s say in the thirties, most of the houses in that neighborhood have outhouses?
WDG: We were probably, as I recall, one of the first houses that had indoor plumbing built into the house. Now that I’m thinking about it we were not on a sewer line, we were on a septic field. But I don’t ever recall any service of it while we were there. And I do not know when they had tied into the road but I’m going to assume it’s probably about the time of World War II because that’s about the time they paved Columbia Pike. That was done with German war prisoners. Columbia Pike, Arlington Boulevard, Lee Highway. All these east-west highways were being covered using war prisoners.
SC: Where did they stay? Where were they housed?
WDG: They came from Arlington Hall.
SC: That’s where they were incarcerated?
WDG: Well, they had some in camps around but I believe they were stationed, held, incarcerated at Arlington Hall area. They had a place over there. In fact, that takes to the story when I was stationed in Germany in ‘54.
We as kids, we used to take things from home like maybe cigarettes or candy or stuff like that and we’d go over to this prison camp. We kids called it the “Cracker Jack Box.” These prisoners in their off time didn’t have anything better to do and they would cut up tobacco cans and tin cans and they’d bend them and twist them and make them like something, like a horse or a bird or a carving. They would carve things. So we never knew if we threw and it was sort of like, “okay it’s your turn.” I’d go over to the fence and one of the prisoners would sort of meander over that way and let’s say I had gotten a few cigarettes. I would throw it over the fence and then he would show up and he’d throw something over the fence. We never knew what we were going to get. So that’s why it was called the “Cracker Jack Box.”
Now when I was in Germany I met a man who it turns out he had been incarcerated there
and he had a young wife. Many of the young German girls spoke English. Why I don’t know other than they got that much of an education as a second language. But I had mentioned to this fellow, I said something and he said, “My wife does not speak English but I do.” And then we got talking about how did you learn to speak such good English and he said, “I was a prisoner in America.”
And I said, “Oh, where?”
He said, “Oh, you wouldn’t know this place. It was a little town called Arlington.”
I said, “Oh my goodness. You came from the Cracker Jack Box.
He said, “You know the town.”
SC: Isn’t that amazing. What a story.

You can find Walter De Groot’s oral history interview in its entirety in the Center for Local History – VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.3 no.193 – or read it online.

Photo: Boy Scouts Scrap Drive 1940’s; Source: Photographs of the Arlington Historical Society, PG 230-2326

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

From June 2017 – May 2018, we will post one oral history clip and transcript each month, focusing on Arlington’s history, culture and identity.

What is the oral history collection?

Oral history is a popular method of research used for understanding historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of people’s personal experiences.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

When World War I began in mid-August of 1914, it divided the global superpowers into Central and Allied Powers.

But it was not until after the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 – and incessant pleas from the Allied Powers – that the United States officially entered World War I on April 6, 1917. Then soldiers from all over the United Sates, including Arlington, signed up to “do their part for the War effort.”

Because of new innovations in weaponry and chemical warfare, this was unlike any previous war; more than nine million soldiers perished, and approximately twenty-one million were wounded between 1914-1918.

Many Americans never returned home, but one who did make it back to Arlington was Edward G. Fenwick.

Fenwick served as an ambulance driver during World War I, and his journey through wartime Europe can be relived through his numerous personal correspondences.

Fenwick’s World War I Ambulance

Fenwick’s letter home, page 1

With letters addressed to his loved ones, including his beloved “Momsie,” the contents reveal an intimate look at life behind-the-scenes during war, and a soldier’s internal struggle to maintain a sense of normalcy and familiarity amidst a chaotic war-torn backdrop.

These wartime correspondences, as well as other family records can be found in the Eastman-Fenwick Family Personal Paper Collection at the Center for Local History.  The Eastman-Fenwick Collection details the history of this well-known Arlington family over four generations.  The collection is comprised of wartime letters, (both Civil War and World War I) economic records of the family, 19^th century sermons, genealogical materials, and various postcards and correspondences.

When Kristin Young, an Arlington County employee, discovered that the Center for Local History was going to showcase letters and photographs from World War I, she graciously loaned us a photograph of her grandfather, William Leo Diedrich for our exhibition.

William Leo Diedrich

Kristin’s grandfather served in France in 1917 and his personal diary quoted that he was “shot and gassed in October 1918.”  He survived the war but Kristin says, “My grandfather didn’t talk much about his service.  Nor did my uncles who served in WWII.  I can say that I am proud of my family’s tradition of service.”  In fact, Kristin is retired from the Navy Reserves.  She stated, “I’d like to think that I continued that tradition and hopefully made him proud.”

View the Center for Local History’s complete online World War I exhibit.

We also invite you to visit the Center for Local History’s Research Room at Central Library to see our World War I mini-exhibition, and to get an up-close-and-personal glimpse into this bygone wartime era.

The Center for Local history is happy to accept archival donations—please contact us through our webpage to speak to a staff member about your collection. 

The Center for Local History is a community driven archive which collects documents, photographs, and other archival records detailing Arlington’s diversified neighborhoods, groups and clubs, and residents.