Collections : [Oral History Archives at Columbia]

Over four sessions, Ann Cotrell Free describes her life, advocacy for animals, and the philosophical underpinning for her activism. She begins by discussing the growth of her consciousness about treatment of animals during her childhood, including incidents with domestic animals, agricultural animals, transport animals, and fox hunts. She describes activism while attending Barnard College, and analyzes how inconsistent attitudes cause injustice. She discusses her entry into journalism and coverage of World War II, working for the United Nations Relief in China, and working for the Marshall Plan in Europe.

Carter Luke begins the one session by discussing his childhood, early interest in animals, and experiences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He describes interactions with Professor Harry Harlow and Steven Suomi, researchers using primates for psychological research, and discusses the importance of civil interactions despite philosophical differences. He describes starting with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA). He also analyzes activities at the MSPCA during the 1990s, the 1993 Year of the Cat national campaign, coalitions between organizations, and the interactions between the veterinary and humane communities.

Ethel Thurston begins this two session interview by describing her childhood experiences, including experiences with dogs. She discusses her education, including interest in ethics, and studying music with Nadia Boulanger in France. She discusses her experiences with Christianity, and examines attitudes of different sects towards animals. She also describes her experiences studying and teaching music in New York from the 1940s onward.

Son of Chinese immigrants to Hawaii; return to China, 1911; Commissioner of finance, Canton, 1919-1920; Commissioner of land, Canton, 1926; general manager Canton-Hankow Railway, 1928; managing director Shanghai-Nanking Railway and Shanghai-Hangchow Railway, Shanghai, 1928-29; mayor of Hangchow, 1930; commissioner of finance, Shanghai, 1931; commissioner of land, Shanghai, 1933-1934; visits abroad; rehabilitating shipping; second Japanese invasion; refuge in Macao, hazardous journey to Shiukwan; trek to Chungking, return to America

Early days in China; student in United States, 1904-1909; Kiangsu provincial government and bank, 1910-1915; Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank, 1915-1937; China Travel Service, interest in insurance business; National Revolution of 1925-1927; travel before the war; currency reform and 1936 Silver Mission; views on general situation to 1937; contributions to War of Resistance; War of Resistance, 1937-1945; postwar years, 1946-1949; transition and revival, 1949-1961. Audio does not represent full interview content. Most audio associated with interview was not retained. Content on reel was retained as sample of source material for edited transcript

Interview audio has been digitized.

Alfonso begins the interview by describing his family. He then recalls his life as a student. He also recalls the period when he contracted hepatitis. Alfonso comments on his first approach to the Church and his family's link to religion. Alfonso describes his seminary studies to become a pastor and the times when he had to leave because of his unstable health. Alfonso reflects on the persecution of religious movements during the Revolution and on the Cuban press. Finally, Alfonso discusses the role of youth in the continuity of the Revolution and the link that young people establish with the United States.

In the first session, Alicia discusses her birth and the death of her father. Alicia comments on her passage through different levels of education and discusses public schools in the pre-revolutionary period. Finally, she discusses the practices she carried out as a social worker in impoverished neighborhoods.

Gail Mary Killian records her mother Helen snoring (the tape's title is a play on the snoring as "singing") while the Boston Red Sox game plays on radio. Recording also includes playing Partridge Family records and singing along with the baby.

Gail Mary Killian speaks with a friend while listening to the new Journey and Van Halen albums. The recording also captures a segment of "Polish Happy Hour," a local news and music program for the Polish community broadcast on a New Bedford, Massachusetts radio station.

Across this four-session interview, Alice Kessler-Harris discusses her research and early career which emerged from the women's movement of the 1970s. Kessler-Harris discusses her role as a lead witness in the 1986 case brought against Sears, Roebuck and Company for gender discrimination, and her related 1990 publication A Woman's Wage. Kessler-Harris talks about the beginnings of her academic career, including her experiences teaching at Rutgers University, Sarah Lawrence College, and Hofstra University. She also discusses the guidance she received from Rutgers historian Warren Sussman and her work with District 65 of the United Automobile Workers union before accepting a position at Columbia University. Kessler-Harris discusses the introduction of gender as a category of analysis in the 1990s and, upon her arrival at Columbia, the transition within the women's studies department from activist scholarship to public intellectualism, and the increasingly post-structural, theoretical direction of women's studies. Additionally, Kessler-Harris describes what she sees as a decline in student activism while also acknowledging the role of students in helping her create safe spaces for transgender students. Furthermore, Kessler-Harris discusses her program "Social Justice After the Welfare State" at the Center for the Study of Social Difference, and the role of intersectionality in the future of IRWGS.

In this interview, Barry reflects on her arrival at Columbia University in 1985. She begins by describing her upbringing in Butler, New Jersey, citing the challenges of being one of nine children and a student in an overcrowded small town high school. Barry goes on to describe her time at Gettysburg College and her pursuit of a Master's degree in history at Columbia. Barry reflects on her decision to move to New York. She shares her experience of coming out and her subsequent encounters with homophobia. Barry characterizes her participation in IRWGS and recalls her efforts in GABLES, the Gay, Bisexual, and Lesbian Employees and Supporters group, which existed from 1993-1997 and arose to combat the inaccessibility to married housing, health benefits, and life insurance for queer couples at the University. Barry describes the limitations of GABLES in a larger discussion of the long and difficult process by which queer women, transgender, and LGBTQ people of color struggled at the University.

One audio interview with an unidentified journalist and related files, including audio testing files, a screenshot of audio levels in garage Band, and other metadata files for setting preferences.

Alicia Parker describes her work with the New York City Police Department, and her involvement with the Guardians Association from the 1970s through the 1990s. She sheds light on challenges she faced as a woman of color, and how the Guardians Association and the Policewomen's Endowment Association played an important role in her career advancement. She also provides details on the administrations of Mayor David Dinkins, for whom she provided Personal Security, and of Rudy Giuliani. Also discussed, were the distressed relations between police and communities of color in New York City, and the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement as of 2015.

Annette Spellen describes growing up in Harlem, Bushwick, and Crown Heights, and changes that have affected the community there. She discusses in detail the struggles for women's equality and racial equality in the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Two organizations that were particularly important in those struggles were the Policewomen's Endowment Association and the Guardians Association. She shares memories of the friends and mentors she had in the Guardians Association, as well as details about her work as an undercover officer and a detective with the NYPD Anti-Crime unit, Department of Investigations, and Hostage Negotiation Team.

Caudieu Cook remembers his long career as a police officer in New York City as well as New York State, and as an active member of the Guardians Association. He discusses his experiences of protests in the 1960s for the end of de facto segregation in the public schools, for more minority teachers to be hired, and against the Viet Nam war. He also talks about having seen Martin Luther King Jr. speak, when he was a child, and the impact on his community after the assassinations of King and Malcolm X. Other core subjects include his education, and his work as an officer to speak out again injustice, violence, and racism.