Voices from the Past (1992)

The Friends of the Stewart Library (now Drake Community Library) embarked on an oral history project in 1992. Their goal was to record the memories of a group of twenty Grinnell residents about their experiences during the Great Depression of the 1930s and 1940s. The idea grew out of a reading and lecture series featuring books about the experiences of Iowans during those difficult years. The project was funded with a grant from the Iowa Humanities board and was directed by Valerie Vetter. 

In an effort to document the impact of that period on the Grinnell area, volunteers conducted one to two hour interviews that were recorded and later transcribed. Photographs and brief biographies of each of the interviewees were produced for an exhibit about the project. A video describing the venture featuring six of those interviewed was also completed, “Testaments: Voices from the Past.” Video interviewees are Anna Ramsey, Sid Potts, Martin Pearce, Augusta Pederson, Dick Sears, and Grant Gale.

For each of the twenty participants, you can view a photo of that person, a short biography, a PDF of the interview, an MP3, and a link to that person’s interview in Digital Grinnell. For help on downloading PDFs and MP3s in different browsers, visit the Downloading Documents page. 

Since the time of the project, many of those who were interviewed have passed away, making this material more precious still.