Oral Histories

BIRTHING PROJECT ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION, 1990-1997, 1.3 feet.

Interviews with 69 women about their birthing experiences, transcribed and archived under assumed names to protect the privacy of the narrators. Dr. Helen Sterk conducted the interviews, with the exception of four conducted on U.S. American Indian reservations by Dr. Alice B. Kehoe, five conducted in China by Dr. Alice Deakins, and three submitted in written form.

 

DAY, DOROTHY-CATHOLIC WORKER COLLECTION, 1933-present, 218.3 feet (48.0 feet unprocessed).

Records of a faith-based, grassroots movement for peace and social justice through nonviolent direct action, founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in New York City in 1933 and represented today by more than one hundred loosely affiliated "houses of hospitality" (including several in Australia, Canada, Europe, and Mexico) in which the poor and homeless are welcomed as guests. The records document the efforts of Catholic Worker volunteers to "live out" the Gospel message, interpreted as pacifist, personalist, and profoundly radical. The collection includes the personal papers of Day, Maurin, and others involved in the movement; records of the New York City and other Catholic Worker communities; photographs; audio and video tapes of interviews, talks, television programs, and peace demonstrations; and a wide variety of publications.
[Connect to Dorothy Day-Catholic Worker Inventory]

 

DOLL, DON, S.J., COLLECTION, 1977-2016, undated, 3.8 feet + .9 GB (0.7 cubic foot unprocessed).

Photographs, interviews, and background documentation about notable Native Americans, primarily from South Dakota, who were engaged in their Dakota-Lakota cultural reawakening, 1960s-1970s. Most materials were compiled for the book, Vision Quest: Men, Women, and Sacred Sites of the Sioux Nation. School fundraising calendars from Red Cloud Indian School (Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota) and St. School (Winnebago Indian Reservation, Nebraska) are also included.
[Connect to Don Doll Inventory]

 

FALLA-SÁNCHEZ, RICARDO, S.J., PAPERS, 1937-[ongoing], undated, 0.7 foot [6 reels microfilm] (0.4 foot unprocessed).

Facsimile research notes and manuscripts, copy photographs, and recorded interviews by and about Quiché Indians in Guatemala. The recordings (in Spanish and Quiché), correlate with the author's Ph.D. dissertation and published writings (in Spanish). This collection is currently closed.
[Connect to Ricardo Falla-Sánchez Inventory]

 

GENERATION AFTER ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION, 1983-1984, 3.0 feet.

Interviews of 65 Jewish immigrants living in the Milwaukee area, concerning life in Europe before the Holocaust. The project was sponsored by Marquette University and The Generation After (an organization of children of holocaust survivors) and directed by J. Michael Phayer, (retired) Professor of History at Marquette.
[Connect to Generation After Oral History Digital Image Collection]

 

KATERI TEKAKWITHA PROJECT ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION, 1989-2012, 2.2 feet + .7 GB.

Recordings, transcripts, photography, and notes regarding religious prayer and devotion to St. Kateri Tekakwitha (Algonquin - Mohawk), then a sainthood candidate, by Dakota-Lakota Jemez, Laguna, Navajo, Pima, Tohono O'odham, Menominee, Ottawa, and Winnebago [Ho Chunk] Indians in South Dakota, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington State and Wisconsin.
[Connect to Kateri Tekakwitha Project Oral History Inventory]

 

MARCH ON MILWAUKEE: MORE THAN ONE STRUGGLE, ORAL HISTORY PROJECT 2008, 0.5 foot.

Interviews conducted by students at Marquette University, concentrating on aspects of the civil rights movement in Milwaukee during the 1960s. All interviewees are African American, including Mary Chiles Arms, Squire Austin, Hubert Cornfield, Gwen Dansby, Howard Fuller, Richard Green, Robert Nicholson and Lauri Wynn. Also included is a reminiscence by civil rights leader Vel Phillips, plus three historical documentaries produced by the students who conducted most of the interviews. Topics of the interviews include the actions of the NAACP's Youth Council; school boycotts to protest de facto school segregation administered by Milwaukee Public Schools; alternative freedom schools; the activities of the Wisconsin Education Association Council during the school desegregation lawsuit; descriptions of protests over racial discrimination involving housing; the leadership of activists Rev. James Groppi, Lloyd Barbee, and Vel Phillips; and the civil disturbances in Milwaukee's central city during the summer of 1967.
[Connect to March on Milwaukee Inventory]

 

MILWAUKEE WOMEN'S POLICY NETWORKS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, 1990, 1.5 feet.

55 recorded interviews with elected county and municipal government officials, administrators of local government departments, and community advocates, discussing women's policy networks in southeastern Wisconsin. The interviews were conducted by Marquette University political scientist Janet Boles.
[Connect to Milwaukee Women's Policy Networks Oral History Inventory]

 

NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION, 1967-present, 3.0 feet.

Interviews of retired or retiring trustees, officers, and other key employees of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, conducted by faculty of the Marquette University College of Business Administration. Partially transcribed.

 

PEACE PRISONERS ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION, 2004-2008, 4.2 feet + 4.2 GB.

Audio recordings and transcripts of more than 140  interviews conducted by Rosalie Riegle that were edited and published in her books Crossing the Line: Nonviolent Resisters Speak Out for Peace (2013) and Doing Time for Peace: Resistance, Family and Community (2012), along with related correspondence.
[Connect to Peace Prisoners Oral History Collection inventory]

 

RADIN, PAUL, PAPERS, 1727-2003, undated, 13.1 feet + .9 GB (4.3 feet unprocessed).

Published writings, manuscript drafts and notes, and facsimile correspondence from other repositories comprise the bulk of these anthropological papers on orality and religious beliefs in ethnic groups from North America, Africa, and the East Indies. Most notable was his research among African Americans and the Winnebago [Ho Chunk] Indians, which include oral histories. Also included is Radin's file compiled by the FBI.
[Connect to Paul Radin Inventory]

 

ST. JOSEPH'S INDIAN SCHOOL ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION, 1991-1995, undated, 0.5 foot.

Recordings pertaining to St. Joseph's Indian Industrial School (Keshena, Menominee Reservation, Wisconsin), a Catholic mission school. Respondents were former students--Menominee and Potawatomi Indians--and teachers--Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.
[Connect to St. Joseph's School Oral History Inventory]

 

SOARING EAGLE-REVEREND EMMETT HOFFMANN HERITAGE PROJECT COLLECTION,1933?-1963?, 1972-1977, 1979, undated, 7.5 feet (unprocessed).

Recordings (with selected transcripts) and motion pictures from Montana regarding Cheyenne Indian life, history, and culture. This collection is restricted. Consult an archivist for further information.

 

WISCONSIN POLITICS ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION, 1993-1995, 0.8 foot.

Audiotaped interviews of 21 former public officials and journalists concerning issues and personalities in Wisconsin state government and the government of the city and county of Milwaukee. Notable interviewees include Lee Sherman Dreyfus, John A. Gronouski, Patrick J. Lucey, Gaylord Nelson, William F. O'Donnell, John W. Reynolds, Martin J. Schreiber, and Frank P. Zeidler. Typed summary descriptions exist for most interviews.
[Connect to Wisconsin Politics Oral History Inventory]

 

ZABLOCKI, CLEMENT J., ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION, 1984-1985, 1989-1990, 0.2 foot.

Interviews of the congressman's associates and family members by William Haskins (transcripts) and Stephen Leahy (audiocassettes). Notable interviewees include George Reedy and Ivo Spalatin.
[Connect to Clement Zablocki Oral History Inventory]

Ask an Archivist about Collections in this section.