About This Item

  • Call NumberOSOS_OH_0221-accs
  • Summary(0:19) Born at Brooklyn Navy Yard Hospital -- (1:40) Growing up in Italian-Jewish neighborhood in Bensonhurst -- (2:56) Going to St Mary’s Grammar School -- (3:35) Polio epidemic -- (4:12) Childhood activities -- (4:46) Excursions with father -- (5:47) Steeplechase at Coney Island -- (7:40) Relationship to books and libraries -- (8:20) St Joseph High School -- (8:40) Father working as a fireman -- (9:44) Meeting husband and renting apartment from parents -- (10:31) Being a loner -- (10:55) Attending Brooklyn College and working as a secretary -- (12:19) The World’s fair 1964 -- (14:00) Volunteering to go to Mexico -- (14:38) Husbands difficult family situation -- (18:10) Starting a family at 24 with two stepkids -- (21:18) Getting identity as a mother when daughter is born -- (21:40) Going to night school, becoming a teacher -- (22:24) Moving to Bay 10th street -- (24:34) Helping daughter with house in Staten Island -- (24:57) Moving to Windsor Terrace -- (29:00) Socioeconomic changes and the election of 2016 -- (30:25) Being a “Brooklyn girl”.
  • Date2018-03-23
  • Physical Description1 sound file (30.53 min.) : digital, MP3
  • CreatorGiarratano, Barbara
  • Cite AsBrooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  • Digital Public Library of AmericaThis item is represented in the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).
  • Formatsound recording-nonmusical
  • GenreinterviewsMP3
  • NoteAudio interview conducted on March 23, 2016, by Taina Evans at Brooklyn College. Collected through Our Streets, Our Stories, an oral history project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is a partnership with Services for Older Adults and the Brooklyn Collection.
  • SubjectNineteen fifties ; Nineteen sixties ; Nineteen seventies ; Beaches ; Rollerskating ; Steeplechasing ; Libraries ; Firemen ; Great Depression ; Brooklyn College ; Home ownership ; Extended families ; Motherhood ; Stepchildren
  • PlaceBath Beach (New York, N.Y.)Bensonhurst (New York, N.Y.)Coney Island (New York, N.Y.)Windsor Terrace (New York, N.Y.)
  • RightsThis work is covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Users are free to share and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes as long as appropriate credit is given to the source and new material created with this work is shared under the same conditions.
  • TitleOral history interview conducted with Barbara Giarratano on 2018 March 23.