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The Effects of Variables in Oral History: Palm Beach County, Florida

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The Effects of Variables in Oral History: Palm Beach County, Florida THE EFFECTS OF VARIABLES IN ORAL HISTORY: PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA by Lise M. Steinhauer A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida August 2010 Copyright by Lise M. Steinhauer 2010 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In 2004 I earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Florida Atlantic University, where Kitty Oliver introduced me to oral history. Her two courses resulted in my essay in Multicultural Reflections on “Race and Change,” ed. Kitty Oliver (Boca Raton: Bordighera Press, 2006). During two internships in Public History with the Historical Society of Palm Beach County (HSPBC), I learned a more traditional style of oral history under Debi Murray, the director of research and archives. With encouragement from Professor Oliver, I pursued this degree in Liberal Studies to combine history and communications knowledge and skills relevant to a career in oral history. This gratifying art clearly combined my three passions: history, research, and writing. When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, at Kitty Oliver’s suggestion, I interviewed evacuees who had been displaced to an equestrian center in Boynton Beach. My work has also included oral histories for the HSPBC, the Boca Raton Historical Society, and private clients; fifty interviews with analysis for a nonprofit’s strategic planning; he Docent Training Manual and Notables exhibit for the Richard and Pat Johnson Historical Museum of Palm Beach County; and the research and text for the HSPBC Web site, Palm Beach County History Online. Oral histories by myself and others inspired my essay, “’Wait’ Has Almost Always Meant ‘Never’”: The Long Road to School Desegregation in Palm Beach County,” in New South, Old South, or Down iv South?: Florida in the Modern Civil Rights Movement, ed. Dr. Irvin D. S. Winsboro (Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2009). The more I learned about oral history, the more I wanted to know, which led to questions I explored in this thesis. In addition to those mentioned above, I offer my appreciation to my thesis committee: Drs. Sandra L. Norman and Caren Neile, and especially Dr. Heather T. Frazer, Professor Emerita, for my intrusion on her retirement. I also wish to thank Susan Gillis of the Boca Raton Historical Society, Dottie Patterson of the Delray Beach Historical Society, and Nancy Stein for their ready assistance. Not least of all, this manuscript would not be complete without the endless patience and encouragement of beloved friends and family. * * * * * Note: “It’s very easy to be critical of how someone does an interview,” Charles Morrissey points out, and of his or her effort to transform it into a physical representation that is of the most benefit to further research.1 The author has attempted to judge all cited interviews impersonally with the same critical eye, including her own. Despite professional experience, an oral historian continues to learn with every new project, because each is unique. 1 Charles T. Morrissey, “On Oral History Interviewing,” in The Oral History Reader, eds. Perks and Thomson, 108. v ABSTRACT Author: Lise M. Steinhauer Title: The Effects of Variables in Oral History: Palm Beach County, Florida Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Dr. Sandra L. Norman Degree: Master of Arts Year: 2010 This study examines six oral history projects that were conducted over fifty years in Palm Beach County, Florida. The projects recorded the history of African American neighborhoods in Delray Beach and Boca Raton; individual lives in their place and times; the pioneer and Flagler eras in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach; and people, places, and events chosen by oral history students at Florida Atlantic University. As with oral histories generally, those studied inherently contain numerous variables concerning their (1) historical context, (2) format, and (3) participants, which clearly affect the outcome of recorded interviews and their written representations. Among the variables considered, this study demonstrates that it is the purpose of a single oral history or project that most significantly affects the others, and which is closely tied to the academic disciplines or backgrounds of its planner and interviewer. Although oral history is a tool with many uses, it is also a discipline within that of vi history. As such, oral historians are obliged to preserve raw history in a form that is protected, accessible, and useful for interpretation by potential researchers in a variety of fields. Regardless of their primary purpose, oral historians from all disciplines should remain aware of this underlying purpose: to provide for the future. vii In memory of my mother, Dorothy Gamm Schmidt THE EFFECTS OF VARIABLES IN ORAL HISTORY: PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................1 Community History.........................................................................................................1 Race and Oral History in Palm Beach County ................................................................3 Legal and Ethical Issues ..................................................................................................7 II. A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE..........................................................................11 The History of Oral History .........................................................................................11 Theory........................................................................................................................16 Methodology..............................................................................................................18 Technology ................................................................................................................20 The Literature ................................................................................................................22 How-to Manuals ........................................................................................................23 Expanded Manuals.....................................................................................................24 Anthologies................................................................................................................28 Local Histories...........................................................................................................30 III. 1962-64: THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PALM BEACH COUNTY.................36 The Interviewer .............................................................................................................37 The Narrators.................................................................................................................40 Race ...............................................................................................................................41 viii The Interviewer: Insider-Family....................................................................................44 Multiple Narrators: Friends ...........................................................................................47 Memory: Historical Context..........................................................................................49 Memory: Accuracy........................................................................................................51 Memory: An Example ...................................................................................................57 Post-Interview................................................................................................................58 IV. 1984-85: BOCA RATON............................................................................................62 Race: Historical Context................................................................................................64 The Narrators.................................................................................................................68 Multiple Narrators: Spouses ..........................................................................................69 The Interviewer: Insider-Outsider .................................................................................70 Memory .........................................................................................................................73 Post-Interview: Transcription........................................................................................74 Post-Interview: Storage, Access, and Use.....................................................................78 Community History.......................................................................................................79 V. 1996-2001: DELRAY BEACH ....................................................................................82 Race: Historical Context................................................................................................83 The Interviewer: Outsider..............................................................................................87 Collaboration .................................................................................................................91 Focus Groups.................................................................................................................92 Gender ...........................................................................................................................96
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