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Arlington Public Library

Oral History

Oral History: Presidential Sightings

Interview with Captain Carl Porter

Arlington Voices the Oral History Collection

Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

Carl Washburn Porter, a retired Navy captain and veteran of both world wars, lived in Arlington for most of his life.

Porter’s father worked in construction in the area during the early 20th century and Carl worked alongside his father during the summers, often using a horse-drawn wagon to bring construction supplies to job sites throughout the county.

Carl Porter as Boy Scout, c. 1909. Porter was a member of Troop #1, one of the first Boy Scout troops organized in the United States.

On more than one occasion during his childhood, Porter saw some famous faces in his travels around the area. Porter and his father even met President Wilson when their car broke down on Lee Highway! Porter shares that story, and other tales of Presidential sightings, in the following audio clip:

Narrator: Captain Carl Porter
Interviewer: Arthur W. True
Date: March 5, 1975

CP: While I am speaking of this, I also remember another time that my dad was going up Lee Highway (above Cherrydale) and we had a flat tire; and this was not uncommon in those days. And Dad had pulled over to the far side of the road and just started to work on the car, when another car pulled up behind. Someone got out and walked over, and it was – again, it was President Wilson, who was probably on his way up to the Golf Club – and stopped and asked if they could be of any help in fixing the tire. It shows how times have changed.

While I am mentioning this, I also recall that Theodore Roosevelt (a number of years before that), when he was President, he used to walk around the area between the White House and the Ellipse and Lafayette Park; and I remember seeing him standing out on the street in from of the old Boy’s YMCA on G Street, between 17th and 18th Street, with derby hat, frock coat, and pince-nez glasses. I remember his sons, approximately the same age as my brother and me – they attended Friends School in Washington – but they were, of course, just the same as any other boys: they liked to play baseball and whatnot; and when they went into the White House, they wouldn’t hesitate to barge in the front door and yell, “Ma, where is my baseball glove?” or something like that – any more than youngsters do that we are familiar with, or as we did ourselves.

Porter died in 1989, at age 92. You can find his oral history interview in its entirety in the Center for Local History - VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.2 no.23.

Photo: Carl Porter, Boy Scout Troop #1, c. 1909.

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.

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.

Oral History: H-B Woodlawn Beginnings

Arlington Voices the Oral History Collection

Interview with Ray Anderson, H-B Woodlawn Principal

It’s back-to-school season, so we're sharing a segment from a recent oral history recorded with Ray Anderson, former principal of the H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program.

H-B, as it’s commonly known, started in 1971 and spent almost fifty years on Vacation Lane in Cherrydale. This year the H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program moved to an entirely new building in Rosslyn to accommodate the growing number of students who want to attend the school.

The photo caption from the 1996 H-B Woodlawn yearbook reads, "It provides a good place to experiment and grow. It is a place where being different is not only accepted, but is the norm."

We wish all Arlington students and teachers a good start to the school year!

1996 H.B. Woodlawn yearbook, page 1.

Narrator: Ray Anderson
Interviewer: Emily Curley
Date: January 23, 2019

RA: I decided I—conventional school was too conventional for me and I was lucky enough to write up an idea, after two years, for a separate school. And in fact, I have the memo I wrote with me and in January of 1971, I commented on the racial, economic and social diversity of Arlington [0:07:00] and conditions in the schools and particularly at Wakefield. I made some recommendations about Wakefield and the last half of my memo started, “I recommend a system of rigid and closely supervised discipline.” Wow. Okay? “Since many of our present students and faculty will find that such system inhibits the learning process for them, I further recommend the establishment of a new high school in Arlington.” And then I go on for a couple of pages on what that would be.

It got passed around in Arlington, people wrote me notes and stuff like that. By March of ’71—because this is all reflecting the times, right?—the school board was having a hearing because they had three elementary schools they were closing to open the new Glebe School and they were closing Woodlawn, Langston, and Lee. Lee is now an art center on Lee Highway. Langston is still in the school system and used for educational purposes and a community center as well. And Woodlawn is now the hospice.

So I went to the school board and I gave them this memo, which is entitled, “A Proposal for an Experimental Free High School to be Created by the Arlington County School Board.” And it’s three pages long. That was kind of interesting but I didn’t expect anything to happen.

You can find Ray Anderson's interview in its entirety in the Center for Local History - VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.3 no.425. Photo: 1996 H.B. Woodlawn yearbook, page 1. Call number: VA/X371.805 H431y 1996. Cover photo: Community Archives, Arlington Structures and Places, 1996-2006, H.B. Woodlawn, 1996, Object 933.

You can learn more about the history of H-B Woodlawn, including the new building in Rosslyn, on the H-B Woodlawn Secondary School website.

Oral History: Introducing New Breads to Arlington

Arlington Voices the Oral History Collection

Interview with Carla and Wolfgang Buchler of Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe

Heidelberg Bakery is a local landmark in Arlington. Like the county itself, the restaurants and bakeries throughout the area are incredibly diverse and delicious.

In this oral history clip, Carla and Wolfgang Buchler, owners of the Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe, discuss the lack of diversity in breads that Wolfgang found in America when he first came to the U.S. in the 1970’s—and how tastes have changed, partly due to Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe’s delicious treats.

NARRATOR 1: Wolfgang Buchler
NARRATOR 2: Carla Buchler
INTERVIEWER: Andrew Ausel
DATE: March 8, 2017

Transcript:

WB: Well, for me, I didn’t have—like, in America you couldn’t find a good bread. Okay? That was my—you could find some pastries, but you couldn’t find any good bread around. So at the beginning, they actually gave me a very rough time when I baked bread like we baked in Germany. They brought it back, as if it was stale, but it was just normal, so we had to adjust some of our baking—

CB: In the 70’s people were—I guess exotic bread was French bread. So switching over to rye breads—

WB: Rye breads.

CB: Hearty breads. Kind of heavier things.

WB: Seeded breads, and everything. Yeah.

CB: Now it’s different, people are exposed to—I think they are more international with their tastes. In the 70’s it was a little different.

WB: And our white bread was not like in America. White bread, we tuck under and tuck over and it comes back up again. (Laughs). It was very different, but that difference is what established our name and our breads and our good products.

AA: Did you find that people were sort of—they had a hard time adjusting to your style of bread? Or was it like “Oh my Gosh! Why have I not been eating this?”

WB: I think it’s just the style. A lot of people just had never been used to eating a healthy bread.

You can find Carla and Wolfgang Buchler's interview in its entirety in the Center for Local History - VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser. 13 no. 6. Photo: RG216-0491, Eleanor Schlesinger Photograph Collection.

 

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.

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 cataloged 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.

Oral History: Getting Involved in Local Politics

Arlington Voices the Oral History Collection

Interview with Ellen Bozman, Longest Serving County Board Member

Ellen Bozman is an important name in Arlington County. As the longest serving member of the Arlington County Board to date, Bozman supported countless causes that have made long lasting impacts on the county and Northern Virginia.

Born and raised in Illinois, Bozman came to Arlington after graduating from Northwestern University. She began her public service in Arlington with the League of Women Voters and served on other boards and committees until her run for County Board in 1974. During her time on the Board, Bozman saw significant changes in Arlington - its development, transportation, and citizens were very different when she retired in 1997 than they had been when she began 23 years earlier.

In this oral history clip, Bozman shares with interviews Edmund Campbell and Cas Cocklin her experiences working on other boards and committees before her first run as a Democrat-backed Independent candidate for the County Board:

NARRATOR: Ellen Bozman
INTERVIEWER 1: Edmund Campbell
INTERVIEWER 2: Cas Cocklin
DATE: May 15, 1987

EC: You ultimately became President of the League, did you?

EB: Yes. Those were busy years for the League and I was President from '63 to '65. Then, as you know, once you have been president of an organization, there's no readymade spot for you so you look around and you tend to do other things. Then I later chaired the Health and Welfare Council of Arlington and the Committee of One Hundred and finally in the early '70's chaired the Rock Springs Congregational Church Council. About that time, some of my friends jokingly said well since you've done a church council, you're ready to run for the Board.

CC: Had you ever given any thought prior to that to getting into politics?

EB: Only recently prior to that. And the change really came about when I served on the Planning Commission. Up until the time I served on the Planning Commission, I didn't think that, first of all, I thought of myself as an administrator rather than a politician. Secondly, I had been through some, I had been standing on the fringes and involved in some very, very tumultuous political times in Arlington.

EC: Such as?

EB: Well, when you go way back and I remember Barbara Riches who was on the School Board saying to me, "I don't care when they throw garbage on my front porch because I know they don't have anything more important they're doing." Very split community. Very difficult and personal political campaigns. A kind of atmosphere that I didn't think that I was ready or wanted to participate in. But times change.

To learn more about Ellen Bozman;s life and work, visit the Center for Local History's online exhibit, Women's Work.

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.

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.

Oral History: Desegregation of Arlington’s Public Schools

Arlington Voices the Oral History Collection

Interview with Dorothy Hamm, School Desegregation Activist

In honor of the 60th anniversary of the desegregation of Arlington County public schools, the Center for Local History presents an oral history clip from an interview with Dorothy Hamm, who lived in Arlington at the height of the battle to desegregate Arlington’s public schools, and was part of different lawsuits throughout the county to integrate not only the schools but restaurants, hospitals, and theaters.

In this clip from 1986, Hamm shared her experience trying to register her son for school at Stratford and her activity in lawsuits to desegregate public facilities in Arlington County.

Dorothy Hamm has been honored by the County with the naming of a new middle school in Cherrydale, the Dorothy Hamm Middle School, set to open in September 2019.

NARRATOR: Dorothy Hamm
INTERVIEWER 1: Edmund Campbell
INTERVIEWER 2: Cas Cocklin
DATE: February 21, 1986

Transcript:

EC: You recall the Supreme Court decision directing the desegregation of the public schools "with all deliberate speed" which was made in l954. After that time, you became rather active in the shall I call it the desegregation movement, did you not?

DH: Yes, I did. My reason for doing that was because I felt that with the Supreme Court's decision my two sons would have an opportunity to attend Stratford, an integrated school and I told them the meaning of the Supreme Court's decision, and I also told them that they would be going to Stratford. However, almost 2 years had passed, they still had not been permitted to attend; and this is why I really got involved.

EC: What did you do?

DH: On one occasion, my husband and I took our oldest son to Stratford in an attempt register him, and he was denied.  I was also one of the original plaintiffs in the suit of 14 parents and 22 children.

EC:  What suit was this?

DH:  This was the suit that was filed by the N.A.A.C.P. in May of 1956, 2 years after the Supreme Court's decision.

EC:  This was the suit, was it, in the federal court for the Eastern District of Virginia before Judge Albert Bryan?

DH:  Yes, it was.

EC:  And you were one of the original plaintiffs?

DH: That's right.

EC:  Did you take any other action at that time other than participate in that suit?  I mean were you involved in any other desegregation movements at that time?

DH:  Not really at that time.  They came just a little bit later my suits involving the theatres, the hospital, eating places and working places.

CC: May I ask, in these desegregation suits where the children were involved, what was the feeling of the children?  Were they truly indignant and anxious for equality of education or opportunities or was there any compulsion on the part of the parents requiring the children's cooperation?

DH: No, I think all the children were very eager to go.  All of the parents were very anxious for their children to attend the school because they felt this was a better opportunity for their children knowing that all of them had attended segregated schools.

For more information on desegregation in Arlington County and its schools, please visit Arlington Public Library’s Project DAPS website.

Photo of students and librarian in the library of Hoffman-Boston from the George Melvin Richardson Collection, 1950s: projectdaps.org/items/show/42

 

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.

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.

Oral History: Dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Arlington Voices the Oral History Collection

Interview with Agnes Quade

In observance of Veteran’s Day, the staff at the Center for Local History present a clip of an oral history interview with Charles and Agnes Quade, who recalls attending the first dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, at Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 1932. After some research about Sgt. Frank Witchey (spelled Witchie here) we have determined that Mrs. Quade misspoke during her interview and based on her information about meeting the Sergeant, she was actually there on the original dedication date in November 1921 (thank you to an eagle-eyed patron for pointing this out to us!).

In this segment, Mrs. Quade shares her memories of seeing Sergeant Witchey - a man her husband would eventually meet - play Taps at the Unknown Soldier’s tomb.

NARRATOR: Agnes Quade
INTERVIEWER: Theda Nichols
DATE: May 3, 1975

TN: Now, while we’re on the War subject, didn’t you tell me that you had attended the first dedication of the Unknown Soldier in 1932?

AQ: Yes.

TN: Uh-huh.

AQ: I did.

TN: Could you tell me what you remember about that?

AQ: And that was just a wonderful, impressive occasion. I went out to the National Cemetery, to the Amphitheater. And my mother was here from Atlanta, Georgia, at the time – had come 600 miles; and I thought, “Oh, how wonderful [that] we are here for such a solemn day.” It meant so much to everyone.
And when we arrived, out at the Cemetery, I asked one of the men who had charge of the services if it would be possible that we could get a seat.
And he said, “Oh, no!” – that all the seats were taken, and that others – we just didn’t have any room for anyone else in the Amphitheater; we could stand outside, and we could hear, probably.
And I said, “But my mother’s here, and she’s from Atlanta, Georgia.”
He said, “Just a minute, Lady.”
And over he came with two tickets, which I still have – and I treasure! – and brought me a program. And he ushered us in to about the fourth row of the Amphitheater.
And it was a very solemn service. I have Kodak pictures of the first Unknown Soldier’s Tomb – with the wreath, and with the colors, the flags, and the different divisions of the military, which were at that particular service.
And I would like to add there that the man, who was Sgt. Witchie, is a wonderful bugler – played “Taps” that day over the Unknown Soldier’s Tomb – on November the 11th, 1932.
And in several years, my husband happened to meet Sgt. Witchie; and now we have an autographed copy, a picture, framed, of him playing “Taps” at the Unknown Soldier’s Tomb on November the 11th, 1932.

You can find Charles and Agnes Quade’s interview in its entirety at the Center for Local History- VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.2 no.24 

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.

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.

Oral History: Halloween Shenanigans

Arlington Voices the Oral History Collection

Interview with Shirley Bowman, Courthouse Neighborhood Resident

With Halloween quickly approaching, the staff at the Center for Local History want to share a segment of a particularly interesting story about Halloween in what is now the Courthouse neighborhood of Arlington.

In this clip, taken from a larger interview with narrators Tally and Shirley Bowman, Shirley shares an anecdote about an unnamed neighbor who showed trick-or-treaters silent films from the Women’s Christian Temperance Union - a group that supported, among other things, the prohibition of alcohol.

Only after slightly bribing her son, another neighbor found out that these films about drunkenness and its dangers were being shown to the neighborhood children each Halloween. When Shirley confronted this neighbor, the films stopped.

Additionally, Shirley fondly recalls other neighborhood Halloween traditions, including taking pictures of trick-or-treaters in their costumes.

NARRATOR 1: Tally Bowman
NARRATOR 2: Shirley Bowman (speaking in this clip)
INTERVIEWER: Kate O'Connor
DATE: September 20, 1988

Transcript:

SB: Williams was the not the first people that lived in the house on the other side of Clements. They bought it from an old woman, older woman that was WCTU, do you remember, Women's Christian Temperance Union. Oh, Lord, I haven't said that word.
She used to give Halloween parties to all the children in the neighborhood and show them these movies on people drunk, they were almost like, well they were silent movies was what they were. And these men would get their paychecks and go to a saloon, you know, and then go out and our kids had never seen anything like that and here this was trying to teach them not to do this sort of thing, I guess. I guess that's what it was for.

And it was a couple of Halloweens before we found out, in fact, we didn't know, yeah, they'd gone over there…. You know, the children, she showed them, you know, kids, you don't get too much out of them. You know, she showed some movies. But she had lots of cookies and lots of punch, that's the only thing they would talk about until one day, Jenny Bond came over from Barton Street. She said, "Shirley, Halloween's coming up. Do you know what kind of movies she shows those kids?" And I said, "No. I really don't. But gee whiz, I thought they would be nice movies coming from over there, WCTU, you know, Women's Christian Temperance Union." And she said, "Well you know what happened at our house last night?"

Bill, her oldest boy about seven years old, her husband was late coming home. He was a lawyer in the government and he had a real high job over there. She said, "Well, I wonder what happened to Daddy?" And he said, "Well, maybe he stopped by the saloon and got some beers." And she said, "Where did you get that from?" So on questioning him and
feeding him some ice cream and cake, she found out that he found it over there at the Halloween party. So maybe he stopped by a saloon and was getting a couple of beers.

Well, that put a stop to that. I went over there and talked to her about that. I said, "You know, these families around here are not that type of family."

KO: How did she respond? Did she say why?

SB: Oh, she thought it was great. She had to quit having these parties because she wouldn't stop showing the movies. Everybody laughed. Frances's three daughters used to go down there, you know. I mean, it was funny. But it was something you didn't care anything about, having year after year.

KO: What about Halloween?

SB: Oh, everybody had their lights on. Everybody invited the children into the house. And my mother used to sit right there, she loved Halloween. She had the baskets of goodies and she would give out all the . . . and I would take pictures of the kids and we had a lot of strays too, but we never, not for years, I mean the first years we didn't, it was just neighborhood kids. And then friends away would always bring their children.

You can find Tally and Shirly Bowman's interview in its entirety in the Center for Local History - VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.3 no.9a.

 

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.

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.

Oral History: Interview with Nguyen Ngoc Bich

Vietnam Center Photo

Vietnamese Community Leader

In recognition of Asian and Pacific Island American Heritage Month, for May we are sharing community leader Nguyeb Ngoc Bich's oral history describing the Vietnamese refugee community in Arlington from roughly 1975 to 1980.

During that 5-year period, the U.S. population of Vietnamese immigrants - many of whom were refugees - had grown from 15,000 to 245,000. At the same time, the Clarendon neighborhood was transformed from a declining shopping destination to a supportive and bustling enclave, brimming with stores that provided both imported goods and a sense of community for Vietnamese-Americans. This area became known informally as “Little Saigon.”

But as construction on the Metro was completed and leases expired, Vietnamese business owners moved west to the Eden Center in Falls Church. This move was spearheaded by Nguyen Ngoc Bich, who had first come to the U.S. in the 1950s as a student.

In this clip, Mr. Bich describes the economic and social contexts of the rise of Little Saigon.

NARRATOR: Nguyen Ngoc Bich
INTERVIEWER: Andrea Dono
DATE: November 9, 2014

Transcript:

AD: Did you call it Little Saigon, or did you have another name for that area?

NNB: Little Saigon. Well, because before April 1975 the whole Vietnamese community in the Washington area was probably no more than about 3,000 people. But nonetheless, these three thousand people became the anchor for family. For instance, our family became the anchor for trying to resettle these twenty-some people that we brought from Vietnam and so on and so forth. Because of the fall of South Vietnam the embassy had to close. Then these people also have to find some way to make a living, and so a secretary there at the Embassy of Vietnam, her name is Zu Mak Zu (?), she was the very first one to open what you call the Saigon Market on Wilson Boulevard in the Clarendon area.
I think we were sort of lucky in a sense at the time. They were talking about building the Metro, and so they tore down a lot of things in the Clarendon area, and so the real estate became very, very cheap. Many of the major American establishments moved out. And because of that some of this real estate became available for very cheap. But they gave you a very short contract, like six months or one quarter.

AD: Were most of the buildings in that Little Saigon area mostly commercial, or were there some social services as well?

NNB: No, mostly commercial because the social services for the refugees tend to be run out of American establishments like the US CC, US Catholic Conference, the Catholic university or the Lutheran Services that are on 16th Street. In fact, the Lutheran Services is only three blocks away from the Vietnamese Buddhist temple up there. While most of the things are here, businesses, restaurants, tailor shop, photo shop, jewelry store, bridal things, we had all that. We all congregated around the Clarendon area. At one point we might have—I don’t think maybe 100, probably not 100, easily 70 or 80 establishments that catered to Vietnamese customers. And so a trip to Clarendon gets you not only to go and get what you need but also run into a lot of friends, new friends that we make, and that became the core of the community in this area.

You can find Nguyen Ngoc Bich’s interview in its entirety in the Center for Local History - VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.12 no.1. Photo: Vietnam Center Clarendon, Source: Photographs of the Arlington Historical Society, PG 230-1096

 

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.

Oral History: Interview with Ruth “Cas” Cocklin

Photo of the boy scout's Cleanorama sign

"Up To Her Neck In Solid Waste..."

When the first Earth Day was organized in 1970, the U.S. environmental movement had already begun to gain traction across the country. This was true for Arlington, where civic activists and county leaders began to incorporate environmental assessment into the work of the County Board.

Ruth “Cas” Cocklin, a former president of the Arlington League of Women Voters and an active member of the effort to reform the juvenile justice system, served on the Board’s first Environmental Improvement Commission.

In this clip, Ms. Cocklin explains the early goals of the Commission and her own interest in recycling.

NARRATOR: Ruth C. Cocklin
INTERVIEWER: Edmund Campbell
DATE: November 9, 1989

Transcript:

RCC: About 1972 or '73, Joe Fisher, who was somewhat of an environmentalist, wanted to set up an environmental commission of some sort within the county.

EC: Joe Fisher at that time was a member of the Arlington County Board.

RCC: The Arlington County Board. And there were nine of us on the Commission. The first thing we decided to do was to do an environmental survey of the County which had never been done. It took us almost all year and we divided up into different sectors. Someone doing water, someone doing air, someone doing this that and the other thing, and I chose solid waste because I was interested in newspaper separation and I wanted to see how this worked out. So we published a thick paperback report which is still good reading. We really went very thoroughly into everything, into the quality of the streams in Arlington, into run off into the streams, into all sorts of things.
And as far as solid waste was concerned, into how the trash was picked up at the curb, what happened at the transfer station in South Arlington and then what occurred when it went on to Lorton, the costs, and what possibilities there were for separation.

EC: Am I correct, that some of your friends say you were up to your neck in solid waste?

RCC: Well, Ann Cadman, who is still writing for local papers, did a story for the Northern Virginia Sun on me and my activities, this was when I was involved in newspaper separation, and headlined it, "Up To Her Neck In Solid Waste", which my husband didn't think was particularly good.
There was a great awareness that we needed to reduce the amount of solid waste. We have had a very, very extravagant lifestyle, of packaging things elaborately, throwing all this stuff away; people don't reuse things and in terms of newspapers and in terms of beverage containers, we were particularly anxious to do something.
Finally, I think this was going to come up in the County Board sometime in the late summer and so we got a bunch of volunteers and developed a questionnaire saying "Are you familiar with the need for separation of newspapers?" I don't know whether that was the question, on newspaper separation, "Would you be willing to separate your newspapers? Do you think this should be compulsory or should it be voluntary? Should the County Board do something on this?" We called six hundred Arlington residents. We debated whether to use the voters list or the tax payers list and finally we just used the telephone book. We figured that that would get a wider variety of people.

EC: You mean you telephoned six hundred people?

RCC: Yes. I mean we had a number of people but they were all using the same questions. We telephoned 600. We did it at random on certain pages. We just pulled out certain pages.
So we had people in apartments as well as people in homes. We called 600 people and were absolutely astounded with the results. There were about 10 people, who said, "That's silly", and down went the phone. There were about 20 people who didn't care one way or the other, really didn't have an opinion. The rest of the people said, "Why hasn't Arlington done this before, Alexandria's doing it," and they'd mention someplace in Massachusetts they knew of that was doing it or someplace in Michigan or whatever. "This is silly that we're not doing it." I think, Joe Wholey kept asking us, "Now where did you get this list? What were the questions asked?" and we kept giving him the information and I think he finally was convinced that perhaps people, the citizens, had moved ahead of the elected officials.

You can find Ruth Cas Cocklin’s interview in its entirety in the Center for Local History - VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.3 no.33. Photo: Boy Scout Troup 622, trash bags, Cleanorama sign
Source: PG 200 Subject Photograph Collection, Series 22 Cleanorama 1972, 200-0904

 

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.

 

Oral History: Interview with Elizabeth Campbell

paper cut image of sound wave next to photo of Elizabeth Campbell

Creating “Time for Science,” Hosting Eleanor Roosevelt

Reading through the oral history interview with Elizabeth Campbell, it’s hard to find a corner of Arlington life that she wasn’t involved in.

Education was a reoccurring theme in her myriad of interests; Mrs. Campbell was the only woman elected when the county adopted an elected school board, she started one of the earliest cooperative pre-schools in the area, and she became president of the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association (GWETA) during its founding.

In this clip Mrs. Campbell is interviewed by her husband Edmund Campbell, and the two discuss her early work with GWETA.

NARRATOR: Edmund D. Campbell
INTERVIEWER: Elizabeth P. Campbell
DATE: September 3, 1984

Transcript:

EDC: The final major subject I want to talk about and get you to talk about briefly concerns the formation and early days particularly of the Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association which, in its early days, was almost exclusively an Arlington production. Tell us about that.

EPC: The needs of the schools at that time were particularly great in the area of science in the elementary schools, and I knew that there were two other communities in the nation that were using television to serve their schools, and so when I said I would be President of the Greater Washington Educational Television Association, I said, “We want to begin by serving the schools.” We were able to get the interest of twelve of the Superintendents of schools in the Washington metropolitan area to support a science program provided we could raise the money from foundations to get the programs on the air on a trial basis. We were able to do this, and for three years, we had “Time for Science”, a half hour program received in the fifth and sixth grades in all the Washington Area schools including the District of Columbia.

EDC: Did you have any especially interesting incidents that occurred while you were broadcasting from Yorktown High School?

EPC: Well, you see, all of our programs were live into the schools. We made the programs right there. We did a lot of production with two cameras and one tape machine that had been loaned to us by the Ford Foundation (they finally gave it to us) and so we wanted to have some special programs, particularly for the interest of the high school students because most of our programs were only for the elementary schools. We called and invited Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt to come out and do a program for us on careers, to inspire young women particularly to go out and have their own careers and also to serve their communities. The secretary said, “Well, Mrs. Roosevelt must have a place in which to rest when she comes out to the studio,” and I said, “All right.” I looked around. We were in very crowded quarters, and outside of the rooms that we used for studios, there was a broom closet, quite a large closet where they kept brooms and cleaning utensils. So we cleaned that out and put a chair in there and a table with a glass of water, and that’s where Mrs. Roosevelt rested. Then after the program was over, she let some of the high school seniors come and talk to her. That was a great thrill for them and for all of us. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the money or didn’t know enough to save that tape, and so we have no record of Mrs. Roosevelt’s being there. But I remember it very well, and it was one of the highlights of my experiences at Yorktown.

You can find Elizabeth Campbell’s interview in its entirety in the Center for Local History – VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.3 no.27. Photo: Photograph of Elizabeth Campbell; Source: RG 19 Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, Subgroup 6 Series 3, 19-5837

 

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.

 

 



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