Guide to the "Grandmothers, Mothers, and Daughters: An Oral History of Ethnicity, Mental Health, and Continuity of Three Generations of Jewish, Italian, and Slavic-American Women," Oral History Collection, 1975-1978. Research Conducted by Corinne Azen Kra

Arrangement

Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
"Grandmothers, Mothers, and Daughters: An Oral History of Ethnicity, Mental Health, and Continuity of Three Generations of Jewish, Italian, and Slavic-American Women," Oral History Collection, 1975-1978. Research Conducted by Corinne Azen Krause.
Creator
Krause, Corinne Azen
Collection Number
MSS#348
Extent
8.0 cubic feet (30 boxes)
Date
1975-1978
Abstract
Corinne Azen Krause is a historian who has made Pittsburgh, the women of Pittsburgh, and the Jewish communities of the city the focus of her research. Three groups of twenty-five families of Italian, Jewish, and Slovak ethnicity were chosen to represent the major groups that were a part of the significant immigration to the U.S. between 1880 and 1920. The collection documents and records the oral history of ethnicity, mental health, and continuity of three generations of Jewish, Italian, and Slavic-American Women. The collection includes audiotapes, transcripts for all tapes, a brief preliminary questionnaire for each interviewee, and the final draft of the project report.
Language
The material in this collection is in English.
Author
This guide to the collection was originally prepared by Historical Society staff in c1978 The collection was rearranged and the inventory was rewritten by Janie Weaver on June 7, 2002. Revisions occurred to the finding aid as a part of the encoding process in Summer, 2002.
Sponsor
This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
Publisher
Heinz History Center
Address
1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org

Historical Sketch of "Grandmothers, Mothers, and Daughters: An Oral History of Ethnicity, Mental Health, and Continuity of Three Generations of Jewish, Italian, and Slavic-American Women," (1975- 1978)

Conducted by Corinne Azen Krause, the oral history project, "Grandmothers, Mothers, and Daughters: An Oral History of Ethnicity, Mental Health, and Continuity of Three Generations of Jewish, Italian, and Slavic-American Women" (also known by its initial working title, "Women, Ethnicity, and Mental Health") was developed from 1975 to 1978. The project and its published results were funded by a grant from the Maurice Falk Medical Fund to the Institute on Pluralism and Group Identity of the American Jewish Committee as part of the work of the Louis Caplan Center on Group Identity and Mental Health (for documents concerning the granting process, see the finding aid for the Maurice Falk Medical Fund Records, MSS# 207). The survey was performed in and around the Pittsburgh area where Krause is a local historian and writer (for a biography of Corinne Azen Krause, see the finding aid for the Corinne Azen Krause Papers, MSS# 113). When the study was conducted, Krause was a research associate at the University of Pittsburgh. The Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania provided additional workspace for the study.

Grandmothers, mothers, and daughters of seventy-five families, 225 individuals in all, constituted the group of interviewees for the project. Three groups of twenty-five families of Italian, Jewish, and Slovak ethnicity were chosen to represent the major groups that were a part of the significant immigration to the U.S. between 1880 and 1920. The grandmothers were either immigrants to Pittsburgh or were the daughters of immigrants. The interviews were conducted in the women's homes by one of eight interviewers; the average duration of an interview was two and a half hours (for publications detailing the project and its results, see the initial published results,Grandmothers, Mothers and Daughters: An Oral History Study of Ethnicity, Mental Health, and Continuity of Three Generations of Jewish, Italian, and Slavic-American Women, and the 1991 Twayne Oral History Series publication, Grandmothers, Mothers, and Daughters: Oral Histories of Three Generations of Ethnic American Women.

Collection use history includes citations in Joan Jacob Brumberg's book, The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls, (New York: Random House, 1997) and Dominic La Cava's article, "Italian or American?: Second Generation Ethnic Identity Development in Pittsburgh" (in Topic: A Journal of the Liberal Arts, Vol. 52, Winter 2002), among other citations.

Scope and Content Notes

The "Grandmothers, Mothers, and Daughters" Oral History Collection is housed in 30 archival boxes and is arranged in four series. Series have been designated as Audiotapes Series, Documentation Series, Transcripts Series, and Publications Series. The Audiotapes Series is closed, pending preservation. When the Audiotapes Series becomes available, subseries will be designated for Master Tapes and Use Tapes. The Documentation Series, consisting of interviewee release forms and tape/transcription tracking worksheets, is also closed in accordance with the interviewee agreement requiring anonymity of the participants. The Transcripts Series includes complete transcripts of oral histories. Maintaining the original arrangement provided by Corinne Krause, the collection is arranged alphabetically according to ethnic group. The groups are subdivided by family with each family represented by consecutive numbers: one through twenty- five. Since the names of the interviewees are not available to the public, letters denote the generations within each family: A for grandmothers, B for mothers, and C for adult daughters. The Publications Series contains a copy of the final draft of the project report and an article published in a women's studies journal based on the project. The collection includes audiotapes, transcripts for all tapes, a brief preliminary questionnaire for each interviewee, and the final draft of the project report.

Interview questions are derived from the central research issues of the project: gender, ethnicity, and mental health. Question subject areas include: childhood, immigration, family life and structure (individuals, responsibilities, sexuality and gender segregation, discipline, rituals), ethnicity (neighborhood, language, church affiliation, newspapers), family occupations and women's careers, education, and medical and emotional health (anxiety, mental health of children, separation from family members, use of mental health services).

Arrangement

The collection has been divided into four series. Series have been designated as Audiotapes, Documentation, Transcripts, and Publications.

The collection is housed in 30 archival boxes.

Conditions Governing Access

The Audiotapes Series is unavailable for public or staff use until preservation masters and use copies are available. The Documentation Series is unavailable for public use in accordance with the interviewee agreement requiring anonymity of participants. Because approximately half of the oral histories do not have interview agreement/release forms, the researcher must obtain permission from the copyright holder(s) in order to publish quotes from the interviews.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

These items came in one accession in 1978.

Acc# 1978.x Gift of Corinne Azen Krause

Preferred Citation

"Grandmothers, Mothers, and Daughters: An Oral History of Ethnicity, Mental Health, and Continuity of Three Generations of Jewish, Italian, and Slavic-American Women," Oral History Collection, 1975-1978. Research Conducted by Corinne Azen Krause. MSS#348, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Historical Society staff in c1978. Papers rearranged and inventory rewritten by Janie Weaver on June 7, 2002.

Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Robert O. Stakeley on September 11, 2002.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.

Subjects

    Personal Names

    • Corinne Azen Krause

    Other Subjects

    • Italian American children
    • Italian American children -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Italian American Women
    • Italian American Women -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Italian Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Italian Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Italians in the United States
    • Jewish children
    • Jewish children -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Jewish families
    • Jewish families -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Jewish way of life
    • Jewish way of life -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Jews -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Jews -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Jews in the United States
    • Jews -- Social life and customs -- Pennsylvania -- Pitttsburgh
    • Jews -- Women
    • Jews -- Women -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Slavic Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Slavs
    • Slavs -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Women -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh

Container List