Madeirans]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Immigrants]]> Depressions--1929]]> Reis, John M.]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Madeira (Madeira Islands)]]> Portuguese American women]]> Christmas]]> Immigrant families]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Ethnic food]]> New Year]]> Madeirans]]> Balls (parties)]]> Holden, Maria]]> English]]> Madeira (Madeira Islands)]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Children of immigrants]]> Ethnic food]]> Community organization]]> Civic leaders]]> Baking]]>
Biographical Note:
Manuel Barros, Jr. was born on May 20, 1937 in Lowell, MA. His grandparents were born in the Madeira Islands. His family owned and ran the Lusitania Bakery and, later, Barry's Pastry Shop.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Barbara Fertig of the American Folklife Center. Mr. Barros discusses his childhood, growing up working in the bakery, his clientele, his membership at St. Anthony's Church, generational differences, Christmas traditions.]]>
Fertig, Barbara]]> this link.]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Children of immigrants]]> Immigrant families]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Baking]]> Bakery employees]]> Ethnic food]]> Tradition (Theology)]]> Music]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Boardinghouses]]> Christmas]]> Folk dancing, Portuguese]]>
Biographical Note:
Manuel Barros, Sr. was born in Lowell, MA. His parents were born in Madeira. They immigrated to Brazil before they immigrated to the United States, where they had their children. Manuel took over his parents' baking buisness and opened up Barros Pastry Shop.

Scope and
Contents:
Interview conducted by Barbara Fertig of the American Folklife Center. Mr. Barros discusses his mother's boardinghouse, his father's bakery, the local Portuguese community, the type of baked goods that he produces, Christmas traditions, dances at the Portuguese Band Club, folk dancing, local emigration to California, feasts, the struggle of owning a bakery, his parents' childhood.]]>
Fertig, Barbara]]> Part 1 - Part 2]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Children of immigrants]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Community organization]]> Civic leaders]]> Music]]> Music teachers]]> Oral History Interview with Joseph A. Camara, March 5, 2016

Biographical Note:

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1927; parents Jose and Maria A. (Francisco) Camara immigrated to the U.S. from Madeira Island, settling in Lowell ca. 1920; they worked in various textile mills in the city and the father worked, as well, in the city’s large tannery; they had two children, a son and daughter; the son, Joseph A. Camara, was educated in Lowell’s public schools and studied music, and graduated from Boston University; while a young adult pursuing his education, Mr. Camara worked in a number of Lowell factories, including the Educator Biscuit Company, American Hide and Leather, the Lowell Silk Mill, and a furniture (bridge table) manufacturer; he taught music in Lowell’s public schools at the junior high and high school levels; Mr. Camara also played soccer for local Portuguese teams and was a member and board director of the Portuguese-American Center.

Scope and Contents:

Interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali; included is information on Lowell’s “Back Central” neighborhood, growing up there in the 1930s and 1940s, and working in a number of factory jobs in the 1940s; there is also information on the role of the Portuguese in local politics and the activities of the Portuguese Democratic Club, as well as the activities of various Portuguese social and fraternal clubs, and activities of the Holy Ghost Society, Saint Anthony Catholic Church and two of its prominent Portuguese priests (Father Grillo and Father Silva); the interview also includes information on Lowell’s Portuguese musical and marching bands.

]]>
Ali, Mehmed]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Children of immigrants]]> Cultural assimilation]]>
Biographical Note:
Manuel Correa was born on February 5, 1916 in Lowell, MA. Both his parents immigrated to the United States from Funchal, Madeira. Later, the family temporarily moved back to Madeira, but they moved back when Manuel was 14.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Carole MacDougal Perkins, a grad student in the Department of Psychology at UMass Lowell; discussion included his father's immigration journey; his childhood in Lowell; his move back to Madeira and back to the U.S. again.]]>
Perkins, Carole MacDougal]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Portuguese American women]]> Children of immigrants]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Boardinghouses]]>
Biographical Note:
Sally (Zelta) G. Francisco Correa was born on June 29, 1921 in Lowell, MA. Both of her parents immigrated from the Azores. Her mother was Rose Picanso, who was born on September 19, 1891. Her father was Joseph Francisco, who was born on February 1, 1891. Rose and Joseph married at St. Anthony's Church in Lowell, MA.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Carole MacDougal Perkins, a grad student in the Department of Psychology at UMass Lowell; discussion focuses on her parents' journey to America; life in the Portuguese community in Lowell; mills; live in poverty.]]>
Perkins, Carole MacDougal]]> ]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Mills and mill-work]]> Children of immigrants]]> Civil engineering]]> Urban renewal]]> Park facilities--Planning]]> Ali, Mehmed]]> English]]> Hudson (Mass.)]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Children of immigrants]]> Immigrant families]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Cultural assimilation]]>
Biographical Note:
Deolinda (also uses Eolinda) Cunha was born on June 18, 1919 in Methuen, MA. Her mother was Mary Dias, born on April 12, 1891. Her father was Jaim Cunha Diaz, born on December 8, 1890. Her parents originally immigrated in 1911 but, soon after Deolinda's birth, went back to Graciosa. Deolinda came back to the United States when she was 31 years old.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Carole MacDougal Perkins, a grad student in the Department of Psychology at UMass Lowell; discussion included her parent's immigration to America; her own immigration at 31; meeting her husband; working in the mills.]]>
Perkins, Carole MacDougal]]> ]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Graciosa (Azores)]]>
Azorean Americans]]> Portuguese American women]]> Immigrants]]> Community organization]]> Fasts and feasts]]> Cultural assimilation]]> Portuguese language]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Immigrant families]]>
Biographical Note:
Maria Cunha arrived in the United States in 1967. She moved to Lowell, MA from the island of Terceira, with her parents and two younger siblings. She worked for the International Institute and later worked for Congressman Meehan.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Christoph Strobel. Ms. Cunha discusses preconceived notions of the U.S., her immigration journey, her parents' work in the mills, the Portuguese community in the 1960s, learning English, parents as an immigrant, working to help other people in the immigrant communit, how the Park Service can further engage with local communities.]]>
Strobel, Christoph]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Terceira Island (Azores)]]> Graciosa (Azores)]]>
Azorean Americans]]> Children of immigrants]]> Music]]> Instrumentation and orchestration (Band)]]> Immigrant families]]> Engineering]]> Civic leaders]]> Community organization]]> Oral History Interview with Richard F. DeFreitas, February 27, 2016
Biographical Note:
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1939; son of Josephine (Cotta) and Joaquim DeFreitas; Richard F. DeFreitas’s mother (1911-1994) was born Lowell her parents, Josephine (Almeida) and Francisco C. Cotta were from Terceira and were among the first communicants of Saint Anthony Catholic Church; his father (1908-1994) was born in Madeira and, at the age of eleven, immigrated to the U.S. with his parents (Ludevina and Francisco DeFreitas); the DeFreitas family settled in Manchester, New Hampshire; Joaquim and Josephine married in 1936, and settled in Lowell on the fringe of the “Back Central” neighborhood; they were communicants of Saint Anthony’s, and became active in the Holy Ghost Society; Josephine worked as a knitter in the New Knit Company’s factory in Lowell; Joaquim became a master mechanic at the Brox Construction Company in Dracut, Massachusetts; as a young boy, Richard F. DeFreitas attended the city’s public schools and learned to play the clarinet (his father played guitar and, with a number of Portuguese men, formed a band that played in local clubs); by age twelve he played in the Portuguese Colonial Band;  in the 1950s, the family moved to Chelmsford, Massachusetts, on a former poultry farm near the Chelmsford-Lowell line; by his teens at Chelmsford High School, DeFreitas was an accomplished clarinetist musician; graduated from Lowell Technological Institute with a degree in engineering; while playing in various bands in the area, Mr. DeFreitas worked in engineering for the Raytheon Corporation, followed by Ditran, Division of Clifton-Litton Industries, producers of analog-to-digital conversion electronic equipment for the computer industry; after working at two other electronic manufacturing firms in the area, he accepted an engineering job in California he worked for electronic computer-related manufacturing firm; Mr. DeFreitas returned to Chelmsford and worked for Hybrid Systems Corporation before founding his own company DeltaLab Research, Inc. While at Hybrid and DeltaLab, Mr. DeFreitas received several patents for analog-digital conversion and audio products used in sound and musical recordings.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali; in addition to personal family history, this interview includes information on Lowell’s Portuguese community in the 1940s and 1950s, activities at the Holy Ghost Society and Saint Anthony Catholic Church, as well as the activities of and persons associated with the Portuguese Colonial Band; there is also information on working at various factories in 1940s and 1950s Lowell and the move of the DeFreitas family to the suburbs of Chelmsford in the 1950s; much of the interview focuses on music and musicianship within the area’s Portuguese community, and the various clubs where Mr. DeFreitas and other musicians played; it concludes with some information on the area’s growing electronic and computer industries, including a company founded by Mr. DeFreitas in the late 1970s.]]>
Ali, Mehmed]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Portuguese American women]]> Azorean Americans]]> Immigrants]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Szewczyk, Kimberly]]> Fitzsimons, Gray]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Azorean Americans]]> Immigrants]]> Ethnic food]]> Civic leaders]]> Community organization]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Music]]> Religious gatherings]]> Folk dancing, Portuguese]]> Police]]>
Biographical Note:
Henry Desousa was born on the island of Faial and later moved to the island of Terceira. His brother moved to the United States in 1960 under the Azorean Refugee Act after the Capelinhos volcano erupted. He later followed his brother and immigrated to the United States in September 1970. He originally moved to Hartford, CT but then moved to Lowell in 1976.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Barbara Fertig of the American Folklife Center. Mr. DeSousa discusses the food and traditions for the Feast of the Holy Ghost; folk dancing; emigration from the Azores; being a business man in Lowell; helping the local Portuguese community; lack of Portuguese representation in city hall; state of the modern community; Portuguese churches in Lowell; police mistreatment.]]>
Fertig, Barbara]]> Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Cambridge (Mass.)]]> Azores]]>
Azorean Americans]]> Immigrants]]> Civic leaders]]> Community organization]]> Portuguese language]]> Tradition (Theology)]]> Ethnic food]]> Music]]> Music--Portuguese influences]]> Folk dancing, Portuguese]]> Portugal--Emigration and immigration]]>
Biographical Note:
Henry Desousa was born on the island of Faial and later moved to the island of Terceira. His brother moved to the United States in 1960 under the Azorean Refugee Act after the Capelinhos volcano erupted. He later followed his brother and immigrated to the United States in September 1970. He originally moved to Hartford, CT but then moved to Lowell in 1976.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Barbara Fertig of the American Folklife Center. Mr. DeSousa discusses his work connecting the Portuguese American community with the Azores and mainland, the work through the agency, local folklore dance groups, politics, music, Portuguese instruments, the Portuguese commmunity in Hawaii, history of fado music, types of fado in mainland Portugal, Portuguese immigration to Brazil, celebrations on Holy Ghost Sunday
]]>
Taylor, David]]> Denatale, Doug]]> Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Children of immigrants]]> Suicide]]> Cleaning compounds]]> Tenement houses]]> Immigrant families]]> World War, 1939-1945]]> Rug and carpet industry]]> Entrepreneurship]]> Irish Americans]]> Politics and government]]> City council members]]> Campaign management]]> Urban renewal]]>
His mother, Helen (Spinney) Durkin, was part of the Spinney family, a large Portuguese family in Lowell. The family's surname was originally Espinola, but the patriarch, Dominus, changed it to Spinney when he immigrated to the United States. In this interview, John tells the family folklore of how Dominus was kicked out of Portugal, eventually opening a bookstore in Lowell.]]>
Ali, Mehmed]]> Image of Spinney Family circa 1915]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Azorean Americans]]> Cultural assimilation]]> Civic leaders]]> Portuguese language]]> Factories]]> Community development, Urban]]> Oral History Interview with Dimas Espinola, October 19, 2017

Biographical Note:

Born on the Azorean island of Terceira, in the village of Biscoitos, in 1950; Dimas Espinola immigrated with his family to the United States in the late 1960s, settling in Lowell’s  “Back Central” (predominately Portuguese) neighborhood; his father, formerly a furniture maker in Biscoitos, obtained a job as a loom fixer in the Wannalancit Mills; his mother worked in a shoe factory; Mr. Espinola received his formal education in schools on Terceira and, upon arriving in Lowell, he secured a work permit and, at nearly 17 years of age, he was employed in a manufacturing job in the Paris shoe factory on Bridge Street; at the same time Mr. Dimas, a communicant at St. Anthony’s Church, began working closely with the pastor, Rev. John F. deSilva; among his activities was translating English for Portuguese members of the community, which included various issues affecting the neighborhood, including a state-proposed extension of the Lowell Connector highway that threatened many homes and businesses in the “Back Central” neighborhood; in addition to his community activism and work with the church, Mr. Dimas also became involved with the Portuguese-American Center (and its soccer team), as well as the Holy Ghost Society; he remained in the shoe industry for many years, becoming a foreman and factory manager.

Scope and Contents:

Interview conducted by consulting historian Gray Fitzsimons; a large part of this interview focuses on the organized opposition (and Mr. Espinola’s role in this opposition) to the Lowell Connector highway extension in the early 1970s and the threat of demolition of a large section of the “Back Central” neighborhood; it also contains some information on the family background of Mr. Dimas, the family’s immigrating from the Terceira to the United States, the working lives of the Espinola family in Lowell’s shoe factories in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as observations on the various businesses and cultures that would have been gravely impaired had the highway extension been constructed.

]]>
Fitzsimons, Gray]]> English]]> Terceira Island (Azores)]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Community organization]]> Immigrants--Cultural Assimilation--United States]]> Azorean Americans]]>
Biographical Note:
One of four siblings, Barbara Dunsford was born in Lowell and grew up in the city’s Highlands neighborhood. Her father was a public school teacher at the city’s vocational school and her mother was a homemaker until she entered the workforce in the 1960s. Barbara’s mother, Sophie Anne (Goncarz) Dunsford (1918-2006), was born in Lowell and her parents were Polish immigrants. Her father, Harold Bevan Dunsford, Jr. (1918-1973), was also born in Lowell, but of English (Yorkshire) descent. Barbara and her siblings attended St. Casimir’s Polish National Church in the Centreville neighborhood. All four siblings were educated in Lowell’s public schools and received college degrees. Barbara studied psychology, graduating from Lowell State College in 1973. She worked for a short time at a garden center before obtaining a staff position in Lowell’s public schools. Around 1981, she was hired as director of the Portuguese American Resource Center, a program of the Lowell Union of Portuguese Americans (LUPA).
Founded in 1977 and located in Lowell’s Back Central section, which was the city’s major Portuguese neighborhood, LUPA provided social services to the area’s Portuguese residents. A large number of Portuguese immigrants, primarily from the Azores, settled in Lowell beginning in the 1960s and into the early 1980s. The Resource Center offered a number of services and programs to aid this growing immigrant population. As director, Barbara coordinated some of these activities with the International Institute of Lowell, a long-time immigrant aid organization. She also wrote a number of grants, including one that led to an extensive photographic documentation project, carried out by local professional photographer Kevin Harkins, of the Back Central neighborhood and its residents, as well as in the various factories where many Portuguese were employed. After federal funds supporting the Resource Center were expended, Barbara worked as a director of fundraising for the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She remains active today as a consultant to a number of non-profit organizations in Lowell.]]>
Fitzsimons, Gray]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Dance teachers]]> Female impersonators]]> Entertainers]]> Musicians]]> Children of immigrants]]> Ali, Mehmed]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Tyngsboro (Mass.)]]> Immigrants]]> Civic leaders]]> Community organization]]> Portuguese language]]> Tradition (Theology)]]> Ethnic food]]> Music]]> Music--Portuguese influences]]> Depressions--1929]]> Boardinghouses]]>
Biographical Note:
John Falante was born on the island of Madeira in the Azores. He traveled by ship to the United States in 1920. He immigrated to the United States in hopes of making enough money to help support his family back on Madeira. Upon arrival, he quickly got a job at the Tremont Mills.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Paul Page. Mr. Falante discusses his immigration to the United States, work in the mills, the Great Depression, learning English, meeting his wife, living in boardinghouses, holidays within the Portuguese community]]>
Page, Paul]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Madeira (Madeira Islands)]]>
Immigrant families]]> Immigrants]]> Azorean Americans]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Catholic Church--Dioceses]]> Catholic Church--Societies, etc.]]> Priests]]> Cultural assimilation]]> Code switching (Linguistics)]]> Soccer]]> Instrumentation and orchestration (Band)]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Fitzsimons, Gray]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Lawrence (Mass.)]]> Portuguese American women]]> Immigrants]]> Immigrant families]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Community organization]]>
Biographical Note:
Manuel and Umbelina Figueira were both born on the Madeiran islands, where they first met. Manuel came to the United States in 1917 and Umbelina came in 1920.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conduceted by Barbara Fertig of the American Folklife Center. Mr. and Mrs. Figueira discuss their garden, the fight for the Lowell Connector, growing up in Madeira, working in the mills.]]>
Fertig, Barbara]]> this link.]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Madeira (Madeira Islands)]]>
Portuguese American women]]> Children of immigrants]]> Boardinghouses]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Cultural assimilation]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]>
Biographical Note:
Mary Foley was born on October 5, 1925 in Lowell, MA. Her mother was Violante Sousa (b. March 10, 1894). Her father was Belarmino C. Leite (b. September 5, 1892). They were both born on the island of Graciosa. Her sister is Wilhelmina Leite Machado.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Carole MacDougal Perkins, a grad student in the Department of Psychology at UMass Lowell; discussion included her parents' immigration to the United States; her mom's time in the mills; her childhood in both Lowell and Manchester, NH.]]>
Perkins, Carole MacDougal]]> here.]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Manchester (N.H.)]]>
Tenement houses]]> Portuguese American women]]> Children of immigrants]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Cultural assimilation]]> Cooking]]> Boardinghouses]]>
Biographical Note:
Grace Freitas was born in Lawrence, MA on May 23, 1913. Her mother was Maria Mendonca, who was born on April 16, 1883 in the Azores. She left for the United States in 1898. Her father was Leno Espinola. Six weeks after Grace was born, her parents took her back to the Azores for one year, before returning back to Lawrence in 1914. Her parents split after their return. Since they were being raised by a single mother, Grace and her brother worked in the mills from a young age. She later married Joe Freitas.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Carole MacDougal Perkins, a grad student in the Department of Psychology at UMass Lowell; discussion included Grace's parents' immigration story; time working in the mills; tenement living; Portuguese cooking.
]]>
Perkins, Carole MacDougal]]> English]]> Lawrence (Mass.)]]>
Immigrant families]]> Tenement houses]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Education]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Cooking]]> Oral History Interview with Joseph Freitas, February 24, 1999.

Biographical Note:
Joseph Freitas was born on August 23, 1908 in Funchal, Madeira. He immigrated with his mother (Herminia Freitas) to the United State in 1914 when he was 5 years old.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Carole MacDougal Perkins, a grad student in the Department of Psychology at UMass Lowell; discussion included growing up in tenement housing; leaving school to work in the mills; extending his education; joining the Portuguese American society; living with other ethnic groups;  local portuguese culture; playing on the radio

]]>
Perkins, Carole MacDougal]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Azorean Americans]]> Immigrants]]> Instrumentation and orchestration (Band)]]> Composition (Music)]]> Community organization]]> Portuguese teachers]]> Music teachers]]> Oral History Interview with Luis Gomes, November 15, 2016

Biographical Note:

Born in the city of Horta on the Azorean island of Faial in 1930; Luis Gomes received his education in Horta’s schools and attended Escola Do Magistério to become a school teacher; at the age of eight he started playing the mandolin, at nine the violin, and at 10 the cornet, by age 14 he was making musical arrangements, scoring music from films at the local cinema for bands in the area to play; at the age of 16 he was invited to lead one of those bands; upon completing his schooling in Horta, Mr. Gomes taught school for three years on the island of S o Miguel before becoming a public servant for the police department and moving to Lisbon, Portugal, where in his spare time, he taught private school; at that time, Mr. Gomes also studied at the Conservatório Nacional de Música de Lisboa to further improve his skills as a professional musician, composer, conductor, and music arranger; he received a promotion and transfer to the Azorean island of Terceira to serve as a police office manager and in his free time he led two philharmonic bands and a small jazz orchestra at the American air base on Terceira.

In the late 1960s, Mr. Gomes, his wife and two daughters immigrated to the United States to the Lowell, area; initially he worked as an upholster for his brother-in-law in Wilmington, Massachusetts, and at night attended Boston State College, now part of UMass Boston, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in Education; he subsequently helped start the bilingual program in Lowell’s public schools and taught in several of the city’s schools; at Lowell High School he taught Portuguese as a second language and, while, working as a teacher, Mr. Gomes founded two bands, his general business orchestra and the well-known Banda do Espírito Santo de Lowell, where he conducted, arranged, and composed music; he led this band until 2000 when he also retired from Lowell High School.

Mr. Gomes was regularly sought out by other Portuguese band leaders, throughout New England, to write and arrange music for their bands; he also performed a significant amount of volunteer work to help the Portuguese community and this ranged from taking new immigrants to hospitals and translating for them, to driving to families’ homes to discuss and encourage their children to go college; he currently volunteers as a director at the Lowell Portuguese Senior Center.  In 2008, Mr. Gomes was awarded the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Portuguese Heritage Award by State Senator Steven C. Panagiotakos, for his “exemplary talent and civic commitment to the Portuguese American community.”

Scope and Contents:

Interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali; focuses on Mr. Gomes’ family background, his education and career, including his teaching in Lowell’s public schools and an early bilingual program in the city’s school system; much of the interview also covers Mr. Gomes’ training and career as a musician, composer, conductor, and arranger of Portuguese music in the Azorean islands, Portugal, and New England, as well as the influences that shaped Mr. Gomes’ interpretation of traditional Portuguese music.

]]>
Ali, Mehmed]]> English]]> Faial (Azores)]]> Lisbon (Portugal)]]> Terceira Island (Azores)]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Portuguese American women]]> Azorean Americans]]> Children of immigrants]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Boardinghouses]]> Cooking]]> Norkunas, Martha]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Azorean Americans]]> Children of immigrants]]> Immigrant families]]> Bakery employees]]> Ethnic food]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Oral History Interview with Priscilla Hilliard, March 2, 2017

Biographical Note: Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1947; daughter Mary C. (Freitas) and Alvaro Aguiar; the Freitas branch of the family from Azorean island of Faial; Aguiar branch from Madeira Island; Priscilla (Aguiar) Hilliard grew up on Central Street in the heart of Lowell’s major Portuguese neighborhood and was educated in Lowell’s public schools, graduated from Lowell High School, and later, Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts; during part of her school years she worked in the family’s bakery business on Central Street; and later she worked for Raytheon Corporation in a clerical position, followed by professional administrative positions with the Social Security Administration and with Health and Human Services in Boston; in more recent years she has worked as a real estate agent in the Greater Lowell Area.

Scope and Contents: Interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali; focuses on Priscilla (Aguiar) Hilliard’s Portuguese family and relatives; growing up in Lowell’s predominately Portuguese “Back Central” neighborhood in the 1950s and 1960s; Portuguese food and culture in Lowell; religious activities at Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Back Central; small, family-run businesses (hair salon and bakery in Lowell); and Ms. Hilliard’s educational background and career.]]>
Ali, Mehmed]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Azorean Americans]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Portuguese language]]> Cultural assimilation]]> Children of immigrants]]> Oral History Interview with Beatrice “Bea” E. (Silva) Hogan, August 6, 2016

Biographical Note:

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1942; daughter of Mary (Avila) and Manuel Silva (1895-1976); Manuel Silva (1895-1976) was born on the Azorean island of Graciosa and immigrated to the U.S. with his parents (Mary Bella (Cunha) and Andrew M. Silva) in 1906; Mary (Avila) Silva (1906-1975) was born in Lowell, but her parents were also from Graciosa; Beatrice (Silva) Hogan grew up in Lowell’s major Portuguese neighborhood, “Back Central,” and attended the city’s public schools, graduating from Lowell High School; she married Francis W. Hogan, of Irish and Portuguese ancestry, with the Portuguese side of the family also having the sir name Silva; following high school graduation she worked in a clerical job before having children and then returned to the workplace, managing the women’s department in a Sears department store.

Scope and Contents:

Interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali; much of the focus is on family history of the Silva (Portuguese) and Hogan (Irish) families in Lowell, as well as growing up in the 1940s-1960s in Lowell’s “Back Central” neighborhood, the Portuguese businesses and culture in this locale, and in the occupations of the Silva family; there is also some information on the city’s ethnic diversity in various neighborhoods and in the public schools, and cultural differences within the Portuguese community, namely in relation to Madeirans and Azoreans. [For more on Beatrice (Silva) Hogan and these topics, see “Oral History Interview with Beatrice “Bea” E. (Silva) Hogan, September 10, 2016.”]

]]>
Ali, Mehmed]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Madeira (Madeira Islands)]]> São Miguel (Azores)]]>
Azorean Americans]]> Portuguese language]]> Cultural assimilation]]> Children of immigrants]]> Community organization]]> Women in community organization]]> Oral History Interview with Beatrice “Bea” E. (Silva) Hogan, September 10, 2016

Biographical Note:

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1942; daughter of Mary (Avila) and Manuel Silva (1895-1976); Manuel Silva (1895-1976) was born on the Azorean island of Graciosa and immigrated to the U.S. with his parents (Mary Bella (Cunha) and Andrew M. Silva) in 1906; Mary (Avila) Silva (1906-1975) was born in Lowell, but her parents were also from Graciosa; Beatrice (Silva) Hogan grew up in Lowell’s major Portuguese neighborhood, “Back Central,” and attended the city’s public schools, graduating from Lowell High School; she married Francis W. Hogan, of Irish and Portuguese ancestry, with the Portuguese side of the family also having the sir name Silva; following high school graduation she worked in a clerical job before having children and then returned to the workplace, managing the women’s department in a Sears department store.

Scope and Contents:

This is the second of a two-part interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali; much of the focus is on Lowell’s “Back Central” neighborhood in the 1940s-1960s, its businesses, culture, and prominent Portuguese families, as well as religious practices in the parish of St. Anthony Catholic Church, and the related religious societies; the city’s ethnic diversity in the post-World War II period; and cultural differences within the Portuguese community, namely in relation to Madeirans and Azoreans; and marriage across ethnic lines. [For more from Beatrice (Silva) Hogan on other topics related to Lowell’s Portuguese community, see “Oral History Interview with Beatrice “Bea” E. (Silva) Hogan, August 6, 2016.”]

]]>
Ali, Mehmed]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Terceira Island (Azores)]]> São Miguel (Azores)]]>
Azorean Americans]]> Immigrants]]> Factories]]> Women in community organization]]> Labor unions]]> Ethnic groups]]> Oral History Interview with Nomesia Iria, April 18, 2018

Biographical Note:

Born on the Azorean island of São Miguel in 1953; Ms. Iria’s mother was a homemaker; her father worked as a chauffeur; similar to many children of this period, Ms. Iria attended public school through the fourth grade; eventually she married and had two children while living on São Miguel; in 1980 she, her husband, and two children immigrated to the United States, settling initially in New Bedford, Massachusetts; at the suggestion of her husband’s brother, who lived in Lowell and worked in a higher-paying electronics job, she and her family moved there; for a short time Ms. Iria commuted to Lawrence, Massachusetts, for a job in a shoe factory; however, upon obtaining a job in the Prince Pasta factory, which was located in South Lowell and had nearly 400 workers, the majority being Portuguese; she began working as a machine operator close to her home in the city’s “Back Central” neighborhood; owned by the Pellegrino family, Prince Pasta had a company union; in 1995 a group of Prince Pasta workers, including Ms. Iria, campaigned to affiliate with United Electrical Workers Machine of Workers of America (UE) and, in an intensely fought union election, the workers voted in favor of the UE;  Iria was then elected chief steward; two years later the Pellegrino’s sold the company to the Ohio-based Borden Corporation; soon thereafter Borden cut a number of employee benefits and instituted a 12-hour work day; despite union concessions Borden suddenly closed the Lowell factory; Ms. Iria joined with other workers, as well as city and elected officials in an attempt to save the plant, but to no avail; she subsequently worked as an organizer for the UE, before returning to a job as a machine operator at a beverage company; she remains involved in community work.

Scope and Contents:

Interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali; included is information on Ms. Iria’s family on São Miguel, prior to her immigration to the United States; much of the interview covers her working career in factories, initially in New Bedford and Lawrence, and then Lowell; she discusses in some detail her experiences at the Prince Pasta factory, the nature of the work and the division of jobs by gender and nationality, the change from a family-owned business to a corporate-controlled manufacturing facility, as well as the change from a company union to one affiliated with the United Electrical Workers Machine of America; her role as a union organizer and shop steward is discussed, as well as her attempts, along with coworkers, to keep the plant open following the Borden Corporation’s sudden decision to shut it down; she also discusses the tensions within her family stemming from the demanding roles as mother, wife, homemaker, worker, and union activist.]]>
Ali, Mehmed]]> English]]> São Miguel (Azores)]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>