Matthews, Nicholas, 1978 November 10
Abstract
The Matthews interview provides information about the ethnic identity of Highlandtown and his feelings about Highlandtown in general (believes his family is rooted there and will be there 100 years from now). He also talks about the mortuary business (clientele, customer service). There is some information about the Great Depression (his father gave things away, made bean soup for people, George’s family didn’t suffer much). He comments on politics (favors two-party system, talks about “crooked” politicians).
Dates
- 1978 November 10
Creator
- Andreatta, Chuck (Interviewer, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research use.
Biographical Note
Nicholas Matthews was born in Baltimore to Greek Orthodox parents. His parents immigrated to America from Sparta, Greece. Upon moving to Baltimore they became candy makers. They opened a store in the neighborhood, where Nicholas worked until it closed in 1951. He went on to work as a hairdresser, then at the Esskay meat company and attended college at Eckles College (Temple University). He married Ann Stephans in 1956 and has 2 children, George and Stephanie. He was inspired by Dr. Schimunek to go into the mortuary business and became a funeral director.
Extent
65 Minutes
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Existence and Location of Originals
Original format: 2 compact cassettes
Physical Description
Biography form, interview notes, tape index
Scope and Contents
The Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project Oral History Collection contains paper records and audiocassette recordings from 1978 through 1980. The paper records are composed of the files kept on each narrator (the person being interviewed) and the administrative needs of the project. Narrator records contain biography forms, interview notes, and tape indexes for approximately 212 narrators. The interview notes briefly describe the circumstance surrounding the interview(s) session. The tape index includes the name of the narrator, the name of interviewer, the number of tapes, the tape(s) length, and the primary subjects covered. Seventy-nine of the records include transcripts. Transcript length ranges from 8 to 65 pages. Some are single-spaced; others are doubled-spaced. The interviews range from twenty-five minutes to three hours in length. One file, #183, and its accompanying cassette(s) were removed from the collection.
Thirty-two interviewers participated in the project. Typically, the interviews were one-on-one sessions between interviewer and narrator; however, single interviewer and double-narrator situations occurred, as did three group “nostalgia” sessions. Most interviews were prefaced by unrecorded, pre-interview sessions that occurred days before the recorded interview.
Each narrator abstract includes the following information when available: the BNHP interview number; the name of the interviewer; the date of the interview; the place of the interview; the length of the interview; the number of tapes used; the length of the transcript; and the file contents, such as subject index, interview notes, and biography form. The abstracts follow the numerical order of the interview number. However, interview numbers are not consecutive, but site specific. That is to say, any omitted number within a site can be found in another site.
When controversial or outdated terms, especially those referring to race and ethnicity, are mentioned in the abstract, the politically-correct term is used and the term or terms used by the narrator has been placed in parenthetical (“ ”) quotation marks. Specific terms from the interviews and textual uncertainties are often placed in parentheses alone ( ). Maiden names of female narrators are placed in brackets [ ].
Creator
- Andreatta, Chuck (Interviewer, Person)
Repository Details
Part of the H. Furlong Baldwin Library Repository
H. Furlong Baldwin Library
Maryland Center for History and Culture
610 Park Avenue
Baltimore MD 21201 United States
4106853750
specialcollections@mdhistory.org