Items

• Oral history interview with Jennie Elizabeth "Bessie" Oehmig [audio recording and transcript]
  Jennie Elizabeth "Bessie" Oehmig (1 Apr 1882-19 Mar 1988), one of Chattanooga's oldest residents, recalls parents and family, childhood and neighbors in the East Fifth Street area, her career as operator of The Coffee Shoppe, and some early 20th century historical and social events in Chattanooga, including activities at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and the history of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Describes the experience of taking a ferry across the river before the Walnut Street bridge was built, and tending to soldiers at Fort Oglethorpe during the Spanish-American War.
• Oral History interview with Colin E. Phillips [audio recording and transcript]
  Colin Eugene Phillips (3 Aug 1903-22 Aug 2004), Sixth Cavalry trooper, bugler, and band member, stationed at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia from 1924 to 1941, describes duties of each position and daily and social life at the fort, touching on soldiers' uniforms, weapons, training, maneuvers, pay, and post privileges, polo games, band concerts, etc.
• Oral History interview with Mary Quarles Paquette [audio recording and transcript]
  Mary Elizabeth Quarles Paquette (14 Jun 1889-15 Mar 1986), discusses military life with her husband, Henry Paquette, a soldier in C Troop, 11th Cavalry, stationed at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. Gives an overview of their life at the Fort from 1912 to its closing in the 1940s. Touches on domestic, recreational and social life, uniforms, post buildings, the flu epidemic of 1917, and the World War I German prisoner of war camp.
• Oral History interview with Alice Ochs [audio recording and transcript]
  Alice Myles Ochs (1 Feb 1897-26 Nov 1987) recalls military life with her husband, William VanDyke Ochs, an officer in the Eighth Cavalry, especially their time at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia from the 1920s to the 1940s. Discusses Mr. Ochs' military career including his positions as ROTC officer. Describes domestic and social aspects of military post life touching on polo games and other entertainment, cavalry uniforms and protocol, military duties and maneuvers, hunting in Chickamauga Park, and the cavalry parades down Market Street.
• Oral History interview with Rosa McGhee (#2) [audio recording and transcript]
  Rosa Margaret McGhee (30 Oct 1905-4 Mar 1986), local teacher of 37 years and founder of the Chattanooga Chapter of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, recalls childhood and education, discussing the influences of family ties, moral values, religion, and the role of teachers in the Black community of the 1920s; notes changes in attitudes in these areas, beginning in the 1950s, and the subsequent effects seen in schools; lists Black business and professional people in numerous fields who have contributed to Chattanooga's development. Note: See also card entries for McGhee's first interview, June 2, 1982, which is mainly biographical and also touches on Chattanooga's early Black physicians.
• Oral History interview with Rosa McGhee (#1) [audio recording and transcript]
  Rosa Margaret McGhee (30 Oct 1905-4 Mar 1986), local teacher of 37 years and founder of the Chattanooga Chapter of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, recalls childhood on the West Side, including family, education, churches, early jobs, teaching career, and activity in the American Federation of Teachers; gives views on changes, standards, and problems in public education; mentions some early Chattanooga businesses (white); touches on early Black physicians in the Chattanooga community. Note: See second interview with McGhee, June 16, 1982, which gives a more detailed account of Chattanooga's Black physicians as well as other Black business and professionals.
• Oral History interview with Fluker Walton [audio recording and transcript]
  Fluker Lebron Walton, Sr. (26 Aug 1890-26 Dec 1983), one of Chattanooga's oldest Black residents at the time of this interview, recalls family, childhood, education, jobs, and places, people, and events relevant to early 20th century life in Chattanooga's Black and white communities; relates personal, philosophical and religious views.
• Oral History interview with Sam McConnell [audio recording and transcript]
  Samuel Perry McConnell (22 Aug 1912-31 Dec 2000), Hamilton County educator, recalls early education, family, and career as teacher, principal, and superintendent; gives his experiences with and views on school facilities, funding, curriculum, construction, desegregation, annexation, transportation and consolidation; discusses student and parent attitudes towards schools and education; and political involvement in school administration; shows changes and developments in the school system and in various educational concepts over almost a fifty-year span.
• Oral History interview with Elizabeth Edwards [audio recording and transcript]
  Elizabeth Robinson Edwards (26 Apr 1907-19 Jul 1990), librarian, gives descriptions of her early 20th century residential life in Chattanooga's Vine Street neighborhood, recalling children's amusements, dress, and schools; transportation; early businesses; and current events of the day such as the 1917 flood; also recalls years as librarian at Oak Ridge, Tennessee (1944-1945), at Chattanooga Public Library (1946-1963) including the desegregation period, and at the Rolling Prairie Libraries in Illinois.
• Oral History interview with Claude C. Bond [audio recording and transcript]
  Dr. Claude Conklin Bond (6 Nov 1910-11 Jul 2000), Black educator, recalls childhood and family in Haywood County, Tennessee; early education; years in Chattanooga (from 1956) where he was principal of the then-new Howard High School, and served in the central office staff of the Chattanooga Board of Education, active in Chattanooga's desegregation process. Reminiscences illustrate social and educational changes in interracial relationships brought by the civil rights movement. Gives views on various aspects of education and integration, his own experiences of discrimination, and the city's steps toward building racial cooperation.
• Oral History interview with Martha Bachman McCoy [audio recording and transcript]
  Martha Dulaney Bachman McCoy (4 Oct 1904-31 May 2004), having spent her childhood in the neighborhood of Oak and Vine Streets and her summers on Walden's Ridge, McCoy reflects on these two contrasting cultures as they both gave way to automobiles and development. McCoy recalls childhood, education, family life with husband Thomas McCoy in Chattanooga and on Walden's Ridge; notes social activities, customs, and events, interspersed with historical facts and anecdotes; gives memories of her father, Senator Nathan Lynn Bachman (1878­1937) and her grandfather, Presbyterian minister Jonathan Waverly Bachman (1837-1924).
• Oral History interview with P. R. (Rudy) Olgiati [audio recording and transcript]
  Peter Rudolph Olgiati (24 Aug 1901-6 Aug 1989), Chattanooga mayor (1951-1963), recalls childhood; education; community of Alton Park; construction jobs; Depression years; local Works Progress Administration projects; the "rough-and-tumble school of politics;" election as Public Works Commissioner, 1947; mayoral elections of 1951, 1955, and 1959; unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign, 1962; events during his tenure as mayor, including the civil rights movement, and especially "urban renewal" of Chattanooga's West Side/Cameron Hill, the interstate highway system, railroad relocation, and interceptor sewer system projects.
• Oral History interview with Harry Porter [audio recording and transcript]
  Harry Porter (7 Apr 1894-1 Sep 1988), Chattanooga aviation pioneer and founder of the Harry Porter Flight School at Lovell Field, recalls childhood; education; early career as motorcycle and auto racer; first job with the Chattanooga Automobile Co., circa 1910; job with and reminiscences of Signal Mountain developer, C. E. James; World War I military service; early aviators and airfields of Chattanooga; early aviation career and flying experiences; and operation of flight school in the 1930's through World War II. Gives views on aviation today and discusses present job as consultant at Hangar One.