Collections : [James Madison University]

Records the reminiscences of Mrs. Helen Irvin Wells (b. 1898) of Harrisonburg, Va., school teacher at Grottoes, Elkton and Bridgewater Elementary schools and cook at Madison College for fifteen years. Describes her childhood incl. holiday observances (Easter, Christmas); games, ghost stories told by the half-breed Indian, making dolls & hats from corn husks, honeysuckle baskets; education (Effinger School, recollections of L. Simms, her brother, the poet U.G. Wilson, spelling contests, school schedule based on farming seasons), and later education at Va. State College); histories of local Methodist churches (circuit preachers John Wesley, Mr. Otterbein), gardening, canning, recipes (scripture cake); making quilts, hook rugs, and tatting (making lace). Recorded at the home of Mrs. Helen Irvin Wells, Harrisonburg, Va. on July 18, 1978 (?). Includes 4-leaf paper contains recollections of the well known teacher, Lucy Simms, the names of local black Civil War veterans, and a list of prominent black leaders within the community. Note that the paper indicates three dates (July 18-20, 1978).

Records the reminiscences of Mr. James Curry of Harrisonburg, Va., custodian of Spotswood Elementary School and first black deacon of the Mennonite Church in Va. Describes childhood including life on the farm, discipline of children, education (Effinger and Lucy Simms schools), childhood games; his family; black churches including the Broad Street Mennonite Church, Pleasant Hill AME Church; black communities (Port Republic, Bridgewater, Red Hill in Harrisonburg); black businesses (carpenter shop, taxi business, the candy man/Dixie Williams' Store), professional teachers (Lucy Simms, Jeannie Francis) and doctors (Dr. Dickerson and the flu epidemic); home remedies; Madison College as a women's school; Harrisonburg as a small town (ex. watching horses being driven thru town, brick/cobblestone streets); reminiscences of WWI (changing of German St. to Liberty St.) and WW II (rationing, black soldiers); and general relations between blacks and whites. Recorded at the home of Mr. James Curry's son, Harrisonburg, Va. on Aug. 2, 1978.

Records the reminiscences of Mrs. Minnie Bell Stuart (b. 1894) of Harrisonburg, Va., known as Miss Minnie. Describes her childhood living in the black community of Depot Hill and Tin Cup Alley; importance of church in life as a preacher's kid, her grandmother teaching Sunday school to both black and white children from Effinger Street, founding of the AME Church (preacher from Africa, Rev. Marion Gioper, also Rev. Collings); daily life fetching water at the Spring House, using Black's Run as a community gathering place, picking wood from railroad tracks; black businesses (lady who owned a second-hand store, fishmonger who sold fish from Baltimore), other downtown buildings/businesses; courting practices; clothes people/boys wore; home remedies (dandelion wine); people and Asbury Methodist Church she worked for as a cleaning maid; and information about her family and children. Recorded at the home of Mrs. Minnie Bell Stuart, Harrisonburg, Va. in July of 1978.

Records the reminiscences of Mrs. Peggy Curry of Harrisonburg, Va., wife of James Curry. Describes childhood including education (Effinger and Lucy Simms schools), busing of black children from surrounding areas including Elkton, McGaheysville, Grottoes to Harrisonburg), teachers, special days at school, black basketball team; Madison College (May Day); home remedies; segregation (swimming); and the free black community at Zenda. Recorded at the home of Mrs. Peggy Curry, Harrisonburg, Va. on July 22, 1978.

Records the reminiscences of Mrs. Roberta Morgan Webb (b. 1889), a teacher for many years in the Harrisonburg, Va. area. Born in Raleigh, N.C., she spent her formative years with the Middleditches, a white family. Describes childhood (games, farming, holidays); education in integrated schools in Pa. and N.J. (ex. Ridley and Westfield, N.J.), graduation at Hampton College, teaching with L. Simms, Effinger School; home remedies; R. Earl Johnson; her family and children; and relations between blacks and whites. Recorded at the Va. Mennonite Nursing Home in Harrisonburg, Va. on July 20, 1978.

Records the reminiscences of Virginia "Willie" Josephine Nickens (b. 1895) of Harrisonburg, Va., school teacher and maid for twenty years at Madison College. Describes childhood incl. experiences driving cattle thru town for Siebert family; "switching" (discipline); riding horses, downtown stable, local race track; roller skating, double decker sleds; bear and snake stories, fortune telling by Bob Rawls, the half-breed Indian blacksmith; heating with pot bellied stoves, lighting by kerosene lamps; early education (Effinger, Lucy Simms schools -- knew about Tin Cup Alley school, teachers Fannie Wilson, L. Simms and brother), training at Hampton Institute and meeting President Taft; cooking (quince honey, apple butter); gardening; home remedies; Madison College (Newman farms, first men on campus, soldiers, three sorority houses at Fine Arts bldg. where she was maid); stories of Indians in Bath County where her mother was born, also in Rockingham County (dug a tunnel from Hilltop to spring at Court Square in Harrisonburg); Red Hill and Zenda; churches (AME church and the missionary from Africa, John Wesley Methodist Church, Rev. Ronald Colley); Court days; various town personalities and black businesses (barber shops, black restaurant owner, first black policeman, Joseph Williams, the Olympian, R. Earl Johnson); her family (incl. story of her mother, born into slavery -- father the master, later escaped and caught), her children; mixed race families, voting privileges; and relations between blacks and whites over the years. Recorded at the home of Mrs. Willie Nickens, Harrisonburg, Va. on July 17, 20, 24, 1978 and Feb. 14, 1979. Tapes for four interviews. Note that some tapes contain blank sides: 5-3f (side 2 of tape 3); 5-3h (side 2 of tape 4); 5-3i (side 1 of tape 5)