Collections
MF 013 “Cranberry Culture in
Massachusetts” Interviews
Number of
Interviews: 20
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1982-1983
Time period covered: 1900-1983
Principal interviewers: Stephen Cole and Linda Gifford
Finding Aides: transcripts
Access Restrictions: Permission of the Director required for
copying or quoting for publication.
Description: A series of 20 accessions featuring interviews
done by Stephen Cole and Linda Gifford (1982-1983) documenting
cranberry growing in southeastern Massachusetts. Interviewees talk
about A. D. Makepeace Co.; picking cranberries in the 1940s and 50s;
making cranberry scoops & boxes; building sand jalopies; repairing
picking machines; overseeing screenhouses and canning plants;
changes in technology and marketing; the Fuller-Hammond Co.;
competition between cranberry marketing cooperatives; early years of
the cranberry industry; Cape Cod life in the nineteenth century;
supplying shooks, barrels and boxes to growers; Cranberry Red,
a 1938 novel about Cape Verdean bog laborers; the Cranberry
Experiment Station in Wareham, Mass; Ocean Spray Cranberry Co.;
Bailey Company; John J. Beaton Distributing Agency; and the
traditional harvest of cranberries carried out on Gay Head by the
Wampanoags. Towns discussed include; Carver, Wareham, East Sandwich,
and Cotuit.
1645 Cole, Stephen and Gifford, Linda. Fall 1982. Mass.:
Harwich. 25 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Mary
Peterson Simpson about the cranberry bogs and businesses in the
Carver, Mass, area. Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project.
RESTRICTED. P5455 / T1765
1646 Cole, Stephen. Winter 1983. Mass.: Wareham. 23 pp. Tape:
1 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Richard Kiernan, foreman for
A. D. Makepeace Co., about the cranberry growing business in
Wareham, Mass, area. Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project.
RESTRICTED. P5455 / T1766
1647 Cole, Stephen. Winter 1983. Mass.: East Sandwich. 58 pp.
Tape: 2 hrs. w/ trans. Interview with Augusta Carleton Jillson,
90, Annie Carleton Lloyd, 88, and Amy Carleton, 82,
about their father’s old-time cranberry business in East Sandwich.
Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project. RESTRICTED. P5456 / T1767,
T1770
1648 Gifford, Linda. Winter 1983. Mass.: Marion, 27 pp. Tape:
3/4 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Doris Gomes about
experiences of a Cape Verdean woman picking cranberries in the
1940’s and 50’s. Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project. RESTRICTED.
P5460 / T1768
1649 Cole, Stephen. Winter 1983. Mass.: Wareham. 34 pp. Tape:
1 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Ernest D. Howe, 75, about his
lifetime work for the A. D. Makepeace Co. making cranberry scoops &
boxes, building sand jalopies, repairing picking machines, and
overseeing screenhouses and canning plants. Cranberry Culture in
Mass. Project. RESTRICTED. P5457 / T1769
1650 Cole, Stephen. Winter 1983. Mass.: Cotuit. 23 pp. Tape:
1 hr w/ trans. Interview with Katherine and Malcolm Ryder,
87, about their cranberry growing business in the Cotuit area;
changes in technology and marketing. Cranberry Culture in Mass.
Project. RESTRICTED. T1771
1651 Cole, Stephen. Winter 1983. Mass.: East Wareham. 25 pp.
Tape: 1 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Robert C. Hammond, 71,
director of the Fuller-Hammond Co., about the cranberry growing
business,and competition between cranberry marketing cooperatives.
Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project. RESTRICTED. P5458 / T1772
1652 Cole, Stephen and Gifford, Linda. Winter 1983. Mass.:
Onset. 53 pp. Tape: 1 1/2 hrs. w/ trans. Interview with Antone
Jesus, 92, worker and bog foreman for the Fuller—Hammond Co. for
sixty years; shipping out on a New Bedford whaler, c. 1900.
Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project. RESTRICTED. P5459 / T1773 -
T1774
1659 Cole, Stephen. Spring 1983. Mass.: Dennis. 33 pp. Tape:
1 hr. w/ trans. Interview with William E. Crowell, 79, about
owning and managing cranberry bogs on Cape Cod and in the Wareham
area; the early years of the cranberry industry; Cape Cod life in
the last century. Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project. RESTRICTED.
P5461 / T1777
1660 Cole, Stephen. Spring 1983. Mass.: North Carver. 64 pp.
Tape: 1 1/2 hrs. w/ trans. Interview with Lawrence and Ruth Cole
about owning and running a cranberry growing business. Recounts
history of his family who supplied shooks, barrels and boxes to
growers over several generations; tales of growers and growing in
the past. Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project. RESTRICTED. P5462 /
T1778 - T1779
1661 Cole, Stephen. Spring 1983. Mass.: Plymouth. 17 pp.
Tape: 1/2 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Edward B. Garside,
author of a 1938 novel, Cranberry Red, which depicts the
hardships faced by the largely Cape Verdean bog laborers and the
discrimination they endure. Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project.
RESTRICTED. P5463 / T1780
1662 Cole, Stephen. Spring 1983. Mass.: West Carver. 33 pp.
Tape: 1 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Wilho and Lillian Harju,
of Finnish descent, about owning and running a small cranberry
business. Mrs. Harju discusses her life as a bog worker along side
her husband; Mr. Harju, his collection of cranberry memorabilia.
Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project. RESTRICTED. P5464 / T1781
1663 Cole, Stephen. Spring 1983. Mass.: Nantucket. 20 pp.
Tape: 3/4 hr. w/ trans. Interview with W. Marland Rounsvilie
about his work for the Cranberry Experiment Station in Wareham,
Mass, and as manager of the bogs for the Nantucket Cranberry Co. in
the late thirties. Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project.
RESTRICTED. T1782
1664 Cole, Stephen. Spring 1983. Mass.: Hanson. 19 pp. Tape:
1/2 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Ellen Stillman about her
work as vice president of advertising for the Ocean Spray Cranberry
Co. in the 1940’s and ‘50’s. Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project.
RESTRICTED. P5465 / T1783
1665 Cole, Stephen. Spring 1983. Mass.: Wareham. 25 pp. Tape:
1 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Maurice B. Makepeace, 76,
treasurer of the A. D. Makepeace Co., about the financial workings
of this large family cranberry business. Cranberry Culture in Mass.
Project. RESTRICTED. P5466 / T1784
1666 Cole, Stephen. Spring 1983. Mass.: Cotuit. 17 pp. Tape:
1/2 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Phillip Brackett about his
small, old-time Cape Cod cranberry growing business. Cranberry
Culture in Mass. Project. RESTRICTED. P5467 / T1785
1767 Cole, Stephen. Spring 1983. Mass.: South Carver. 25 pp.
Tape: 1 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Eunice Bailey and Jennie
(Bailey) Shaw about the Bailey Company which made equipment for
the cranberry industry; photo, P5975. Cranberry Culture in
Mass. Project. T1866
1768 Cole, Stephen. Summer 1983. Mass.: Buzzard’s Bay. 30 pp.
Tape: 1 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Gilbert T. Beaten about
the John J. Beaton Distributing Agency, the largest independent
growers and shippers of cranberries in the region. Cranberry Culture
in Mass. Project. P5976 / T1867
1769 Cole, Stephen. Fall 1983. Mass.: Marion. 36 pp. Tape: 1
hr. w/ trans. Interview with Vincent and Beatrice Pina about
seasonal work on the cranberry bogs and life in general in the Cape
Verdean community. Cranberry Culture in Mass. Project. P5977 /
T1868
1770 Cole, Stephen. Fall 1983. Mass.: Gay Head on Martha’s
Vineyard. 19 pp. Tape 3/4 hr. w/ trans. Interview with Leonard F.
Vanderhoop, Sr. about the traditional harvest of cranberries
carried out on Gay Head by the Wampanoags. Cranberry Culture in
Mass. Project. P5978 / T1869
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