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MF 002 “Anna May” interviews
Number of
Interviews: 16; 24 hrs.
Dates when interviews were conducted: January-March,
May-July, July-August, 1977
Time period covered: 1895-1977
Principal interviewers: Julia Hunter
Finding Aides: Tape abstracts
Access Restrictions: none
Description: 1653 Hunter, Julia. 1977. New Hampshire:
Hanover. Tapes:18 totaling 27 hrs. w/o trans. Series of interviews
with Anna Sevigny about her life history. Topics covered
include Irish immigrant ancestry; education levels;
misunderstandings of different cultures; living conditions as a new
arrival to the United States; disposition of parents. Also included
is information about North Hartland, VT; description of social life
and mills in the region as well as tenants; learning women’s roles;
chores; marriage; sewing and cloth-making; food preparation;
wine-making; entertainment; pets and livestock owned; travel and
transportation over time; schooling; playing pranks; holiday
celebrations; community church; lumbering; tensions with tourists;
the introduction of electric light and telephones. There is also
information about Franklin, NH; working in a hosiery mill; meeting
her husband and courtship practices; training to be a nurse in
Manchester, NH; living conditions with first marriage; strikes in
the mills; moving to Boston, MA; her husband’s drinking problems;
prohibition; entertainment and nursing in Boston, getting separated
and moving to Woodstock, VT. Also covers social life during the
Depression; her first car; getting divorced and living alone in
Lebanon, NH; being a nanny; the Chicago World’s Fair; working in
Florida during World War II; her second marriage; hobbies and
volunteer work; travels; shoulder accident; life after Mr. Sevigny’s
death; living in White River Junction, VT; learning to fly; and
aging and living in a nursing home. This material was the basis for
Anna May: Eighty-Two Years in New England (Northeast
Folklore XX, 1979). P5838 - P5856/ C20 - C37.
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