Mills and mill-work]]> Portuguese American women]]> Instrumentation and orchestration (Band)]]> Musicians]]> Music teachers]]> Veterans]]> Bars (Drinking establishments)]]> Desegregation]]> Military bands]]> Catholic Church--Dioceses]]> Azorean Americans]]> Priests]]> Fitzsimons, Gray]]> 1999 Oral History Interview with John Leite
2016 Oral History Interview with John Leite]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Balls (parties)]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Catholic Church--Societies, etc.]]> Community development--Religious aspects--Catholic Church]]> Balls (parties)]]>
The St. Vincent de Paul Society is a Catholic lay organization that leads the church community to grow spiritually by offering service to those in need.

Records include meeting notes and financial information. Each page includes notes on the Society's income and spending. Money typically went to charities or community members in need.

This record book also includes lists of Society members.

The final pages (any after the back cover of the record book) are all loose papers found within the front cover of the record book.]]> Portuguese]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Portuguese American women]]> Azorean Americans]]> Children of immigrants]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Boardinghouses]]> Cooking]]> Norkunas, Martha]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Music--Portuguese influences]]> Radio programs]]> Transcript:

George and Elaine.

Say, you'll find all sorts of musical instruments you know at Joseph Warchot and Sons at 376 Common Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He's got piano, accordians, guitars, Jansen pianos, Leblanc clarinets, saxophones, and trumpets, plus a complete line of sheet music. Very low prices, too, in time for Christmas and a small deposit will hold any article until Christmas. Joseph Warchot and Sons will repair your damaged instrument too, with top service on all makes at reasonable charges. So, for that musical instrument for Christmas, sheet music, or necessary repairs to your instrument, visit George Warchot and Sons, 376 Common Street, opposite the new court house, in Lawrence. Telephone 31875. Here are a couple of specials now at Warchot's. A new Revere tenor sax and case, regularly $349, now just $279. And a WFL drum outfit in white pearl, regularly $295 now only $225 at Joseph Warchot and Sons, 376 Common Street, Lawrence, Massachusetts.

The Lady of Fatima Society presents a country store at the Portuguese Band Hall, next Saturday night, December 11th at 8pm. All Portuguese are invited to attend this old-fashioned country store with plenty of fun, food, prizes, and surprises for everyone. If you've never seen an old-fashioned country store, then don't miss this one. You're going to have lots of fun and excitement and a real fine time at the country store, presented by the Lady of Fatima Society at the Portuguese Band Hall, at the corner of Chapel and Charles Street, in Lowell Massachusetts. Don't forget the date! It's this coming Saturday, December 11th, for the big country store at 8pm.]]> Silva, George]]> Ares, Frank]]> Candy, John]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Lawrence (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.)]]> Portuguese American women]]> Children of immigrants]]> Cooking]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Balls (parties)]]> Cultural assimilation]]> Veterans]]>
Biographical Note:
Gladys (Glorina) Mendonca Picanso was born on July 18, 1918 in Lowell, MA. Her parents were born on the island of Graciosa. She worked as a hairdresser and owned her own shop.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Carole MacDougal Perkins, a grad student in the Department of Psychology at UMass Lowell; discussion included her parents' family and immigration; her father's store (Sousa's Market); trips back to the Azores; education history; local dances; her siblings' time in the army; the Holy Ghost Society; current immigration.]]> Perkins, Carole MacDougal]]> ]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Children of immigrants]]> Radio programs]]> Veterans]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Cooking]]> Tenement houses]]>
Biographical Note:
Edward Santos was born on March 25, 1919 in Lowell, MA. His mother, Rose Espanola, was born in Graciosa in 1896 and immigrated to the United States in 1902. His father, Antero Santos, was born in Madeira in 1891 and immigrated to the United States in 1913. His parents were married at St. Anthony's Church on September 26, 1914 by Bishop Henry DaSilva.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Carole MacDougal Perkins, a grad student in the Department of Psychology at UMass Lowell; conducted at the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS); spoke about his family's immigration to America; the Back Central neighborhood in Lowell, MA; living conditions; Portuguese food; St. Anthony's feasts; local clubs; radio programs; mill work; economic crash; local sports; time in the military.]]> Perkins, Carole MacDougal]]> ]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Graciosa (Azores)]]> 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.)]]> Azorean Americans]]> Children of immigrants]]> Mills and mill-work]]> Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Music]]> Fathers and sons]]> Civic leaders]]> Portuguese language]]> Cultural assimilation]]>
Biographical Note:
Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1933; parents from Graciosa, Azores, immigrated to the U.S. ca. 1926; both parents worked in textile mills in Manchester and Lowell; father a loom fixer, mother a spinner; they settled permanently in Lowell ca. 1936; members of St. Anthony Catholic Church, they had three daughters and one son, John J. who was educated in Lowell’s public schools; his father was a trombonist who played in and managed Lowell’s Portuguese Colonial Band; Mr. Leite joined the band as boy, playing the trumpet and later the trombone; after serving in the U.S. Army in post-war Europe, he returned home and matriculated at Lowell State Teachers’ College; after graduating from the college he taught in the area’s public schools, performed as a professional trombonist in well-known local bands, and formed his own band; beginning in the 1970s Mr. Leite became secretary/treasurer of the Lowell local of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), AFL-CIO, and after its merger with other locals in 1995, he was elected president of AFM Local 300.

Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali covers John Leite’s family background, growing up in Lowell’s Portuguese neighborhood “Back Central” in the 1930s and 1940s, activities at St. Anthony Catholic Church, Portuguese music and musicians in Lowell, and Lowell’s changing musical culture. There is a great deal of material on the personalities and musical playing styles of a number of prominent Portuguese musicians in Lowell from the 1950s into the 1990s. [For more on John J. Leite and his role in the American Federation of Musicians, Local 300, see “Oral History with John Leite, 1999,” interview by Gray Fitzsimons, Historian, Lowell National Historical Park]]]> Ali, Mehmed]]> English]]> Graciosa (Azores)]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]> Manchester (N.H.)]]>