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Oral Histories: Abstracts Oral History Abstracts To access the transcripts, click on the blue hyperlink. "This Beautiful Mountain Paradise" BARKER, James B. Interview by Donald R. Heath, March 10, 1967 Note: This is a primary source document on the Mexican revolution. The Hearst ranch, San José de Babicora, originally founded in the 18th century by the Jesuits, was located in northern Mexico and was in the pathway of the revolutionary movements of the 1910s-1920s. In 1907, at the age of twenty-four, Jim Barker went to Mexico, where he served as ranch manager of the million-acre estate in Chihuahua of Mrs. Phoebe Hearst. Described as a "smallish, wiry Irishman with a sandy complexion and sandy hair and sandy eyes," he served as a civilian scout for General John J. Pershing during the punitive expedition's search for Pancho Villa. This interview with Mr. Barker, who died at age eighty-three in San Antonio, provides extensive primary source information about the Mexican Revolution, his involvement in it, the murder of Peter Keene, and the history of the Babicora ranch. Pancho Villa put a $10,000 price tag on the head of Mr. Barker in his attempt to capture Barker. This led to Barker's nine-day trip to escape being captured. Barker later served in World War I as head of an extensive intelligence operation in France and Germany and was a business consultant for the Hearst Enterprises until he retired in 1963. "Progress Is Not a Permanent Structure" BLACK, Reverend Claude William, Jr. Civil Rights, segregation, desegregation, ministers, politics, cultural diversity, African-American Texan Interview by Cheri Wolfe, March 14, 1994, in San Antonio, Texas Reverend Black of the Mount Zion First Baptist Church discusses growing up in San Antonio and the limited opportunities available to African Americans. He describes the events that helped mobilize African Americans in the 1940s and 1950s, including participation in World War II, the NAACP, and black/white relationships in the Southwest as compared to the Southeast. He also describes the role of ministers and the church in the Civil Rights movement. "I Will Not Be a Token" DUNLAP, Lillian Interview by Maria Nora Olivares, August 2, 1990, in San Antonio, Texas Brigadier General Lillian Dunlap traces the development of the Army Nursing Corps through her life in the military. Growing up in San Antonio, she entered Santa Rosa Hospital School of Nursing in 1939. Following Pearl Harbor she entered the Army Nurse Corps as a second lieutenant at Brooke General Hospital and went on to become a brigadier general stationed in Washington, D.C. She served at various army medical facilities with various units all over the world. She retired thirty-three years later and began her retirement career serving on numerous boards and advancing the role of women. "Just Such Good Guys" FINCK, William Henry II (Bill) Cigars, business, German Texan, legislature, tobacco Interview by Mary Locke Croft, January 30, 1991, in San Antonio, Texas Bill Finck's great-grandfather Reinhold Finck came to San Antonio in 1852 from Württemberg, Germany, via New Orleans. In 1861 he began publishing the San Antonio News in both English and German. Mr. Finck's grandfather Henry began the Finck Cigar factory in the 1880s. Bill Finck explains the history of the cigar factory and the process of making cigars, from purchasing the tobacco in Connecticut, Cuba, and South America, to the making of hand-rolled cigars by Rafaela Sanchez, an eighty-year-old woman employed by the company for over seventy years. Mr. Finck also tells of his days in the state legislature and the burning of his $2,700 state paycheck, which made headline news. "Nana's Father Is Chasing Pancho Villa, But Thelma's Father Knows Where He Is." FLETCHER, Thelma Rawls Interview by Jane Wilmer, June 21, 1982, in Salado, Texas Thelma Rawls Fletcher grew up in the Big Bend region of West Texas. The Rawls family owned sections of land on Tascotal Mesa and San Jacinto Peak in the Big Bend. They employed vaqueros on the ranch and had good relations with Pancho Villa and his men during the revolutionary period (1910s). Mrs. Fletcher gives a detailed account of ranch life. She tells about daily chores, hunting, animals, the making of adobe, religious camp meetings, childhood play, and the first telephone line installed in Marfa. She talks at length about her boarding school education at Incarnate Word in San Antonio and the beginnings of Fletcher's Bookstore in Houston. "A Man of Vision" Auditorium Riot, La Villita, Emma Tenayuca, Communist, Mayor Maury Maverick Lasca Fortassain worked for Maury Maverick during his term as mayor for the city of San Antonio. She discussed what it was like to work with Maverick, the impact he made on the city, the Municipal Auditorium Riot ,and the restoration and productions of La Villita. "The Mind Has to Be Opened like a Parachute" GUERRERO, Rosa Ramírez Multicultural education, Mexican-American culture, dance, borderlands, El Paso Interview by Sarah Massey, July 26, 1995, in Galveston, Texas Rosa Guerrero, a native El Pasoan, discusses the role of Mexican-American culture (particularly music and dance) in her life. She explains that dance provides a medium through which different people and different cultures may better understand each other. She discusses her belief that children can learn language through movement and talks about her experiences teaching in the public schools during the 1960s and 1970s as well as her work with children in bilingual classes and folkloric dance classes in the 1980s and 1990s. She also discusses her videos Tapestry and Tapestry II . In recognition of her work, a school in El Paso bears her name. "And Then We Found Another Mission" HABIG, Father Marion Texas, Spanish missions, Franciscan history, explorers Interview by Jane Wilmer, June 21, 1982, in Salado, Texas Father Marion Habig was a noted historian who studied and translated numerous documents and wrote several histories about the founding of the Spanish missions by the Franciscan missionaries in the Southwest. He talks about several expeditions he made to visit the sites of the original thirty-eight Spanish missions in Texas and the material he located about the Franciscan missionaries of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. "A Heritage to Draw From" Woodcarving, Folklife Festival, Swedish heritage, bedbugs Interview by Laurie Gudzikowski, March 8, 1999, Georgetown, TX. In the 1930s Sigurd E. Johnson purchased a mail-order woodcarving kit and began what became a hobby in which he not only excelled, but also passed on to his son Rod. Rod Johnson has been carving wooden figures since 1972 and now passes on this knowledge to students in the Austin area and at the Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio. The Johnson's have been woodcarving for over sixty-five years and have created a mythical world of small figures with many drawing from their Swedish heritage, a people that at one time were avid woodcarvers. "Texas People Have Such a Love Affair" JONES, Virginia Chicken fried steak, Texas Folklife Festival, foods, festivals, Cactus Cafe, west Texas Interview by Esther MacMillian, August 3, 1984, San Antonio, Texas Virginia Jones explains how chicken fried steak, maybe, got its name and how they make chicken fried steak and cream gravy in West Texas. "The Mule Guy" Uvalde, muleskinner, Texas Folklife Festival, frontiersmen, mule trains Interview by Esther MacMillan, August 6, 1983, San Antonio, Texas Travis Kuykendal is from Uvalde, Texas. He was at the first Texas Folklife Festival, bringing his pack mules and explaining the important role mules played throughout the history of Texas. He explains the differences between mules and horses and how durable mules are during long trail drives. "Bringing Back Cobwebs" African-American, education, medical school, Tuskegee Institute, "Once You've Experienced the Freedoms..." Athol Ofsowitz was a Jew of Russian descent born in South Africa, who immigrated to Houston in 1980 with his wife and two children. He discusses his childhood and education growing up in rural South Africa. Having traveled extensively, he reflects on what it means to be a Jew. Numerous Jewish ceremonies are briefly discussed with the burial customs of the Chevra Kadisha presented in detail. "Shadow Etched in Concrete" atomic bomb, Oak Ridge, Enola Gay, Tennessee Valley Authority, Oppenheimer, von Braun, Nisei, uranium, nuclear fission, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Manhattan Project "The Pictures Spoke to Everybody" PEÑA Jr., Amado M. Native American, artist, art, Southwest, Indian, teacher, painting, identity, Laredo, Chicano, Crystal City "Fun and Nonsense" POTTER, Dick, and Professor "Spot" Baird possum, Gilmer Yamboree, yams, Upshur County, Texas Folklife Festival Dick Potter and Spot Baird, self-proclaimed possumology experts, share their possum spoof, which they performed from one of the most popular booths at the Texas Folklife Festival. They demonstrated ancient Cherokee Indian rituals, baffling magic tricks, and the famously inaccurate East Texas Polaroid camera. They divulge possum oil's mysterious potency, making it equally useful as a hand lotion, dye, or earache cure. Also experienced cooks, they extol the virtues of a wooden frying pan and offer a recipe for possum on the half shell. Ending on a serious note, they share their knowledge of possums in general and the history of Upshur County. "In Those Days, It Was Just Different" "If the Principles Are Gone" TENAYUCA, Emma Mexican-American laborers, labor unions, pecan shellers' strike, communism, socialism, political activism, anarchism Interview by Jerry Poyo, Ph.D., February 21, 1987, in San Antonio, Texas Emma Tenayuca was a labor organizer in San Antonio during the 1930s. She traces her family's arrival in San Antonio, the unusual spelling of her name, and the childhood experiences that influenced her decision to become a labor organizer in her twenties. She also discusses the political context of the times and the numerous labor organizations. "A 'Tuna' Atmosphere" Greater Tuna , A Tuna Christmas , Lubbock, First Repertory Company of San Antonio, San Francisco, theater, Taos, blacklisted, political satire, Carver Center, mental hospital Interview by Sarah Massey, June 18, 1995, Paramount Theater, Austin, Texas Jaston Williams is one half of the acting duo of Greater Tuna and A Tuna Christmas. Mr. Williams tells about his early life in Van Horn and Lubbock, Texas, and how he entered the theater business. His mentor John Henry Faulk and his years in San Francisco and Taos formed the foundation for his political views, which have lead to the political satire found in the infamous Tuna plays. "Preserve the Natural Beauty" WRIGHT, Neal chimney builder, wilderness preserve, survival, Big Thicket, pollution, preservation, camping, nature, moonshine, hogs Interview by Esther MacMillan, August 2, 1990, at the Institute of Texan Cultures Neal Wright shares his wide-ranging knowledge of chimney building and wilderness survival. He tells stories of his grandfather's moonshine escapades and his ingenious way of living. He exposes the far-reaching effects of pollution in urban cities and the devastation wrought by deforestation in the Big Thicket, the United States' only wilderness preserve, and shares his experiences as a guide there. |
William Henry Finck, II
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