| Oral
Histories
Share your Stories with the Rosie the
Riveter Trust
To share your Home Front Story, please click HERE
Our
special thanks to the Contra
Costa Times for the use of their photos.
One
of the first priorities of the Rosie the Riveter World
War II Home Front National Historical Part is to record
the experience and stories of the people who lived
and worked on the home front during World War II.
These people's memories provide us with a wealth of
information about the workplace, industrial processes,
social movements and home life during this time of
rapid change.
If
you lived on the home front during World War II, we
would be interested in hearing from you.
Please write us about your wartime memories or record
them on audiotape, videotape or digital videotape.
We
would also appreciate any photos, videos, or other
memorabilia about life on the home front that you
could donate
to
the Rosie the Riveter Trust.
All
donations of oral histories, letters, photos and memorabilia
must be accompanied by a Release Form.
Your
oral histories, photos and memorabilia may appear
on the Rosie the Riveter website.
The
following list of World War II topics may help give
you some ideas of what we'd like to see:
- Everyday
life and daily routines
- What
work was like in defense plants and shipyards
- Morale
at work and at home
- Gas
rationing and ride sharing
- Harassment,
sexual and racial prejudice
- Race
relations within the workforce and in the community
- How
people felt about working with people different
than themselves
- Dress
codes and appearance
- Roles
of women in the labor force
- Reluctance
and argument against hiring women
- Labor
recruiters and training
- Dangers
in the workplace
- How
workers were trained
- Workplace
casualties
- Workplace
hazards
- Support
jobs, such as cafeteria workers, trolley drivers,
security guards, garbage collectors, butchers, fire
fighters, engineers, laborers, welders, telephone
operators and others
- Use
of resources and scrap metal drives
- Rationing
of raw materials and recycling
- Your
decision to migrate
- Migrations
Stories: How and why your family chose far away
cities and economic opportunities
- California
as the land of opportunity
- Creating
a home away from home
- Homesickness
- How
jobs were found after arrival
- Where
and how you found housing
- The
condition of your housing
- Public
Housing
- How
was health care provided?
- Did
you use public day care centers for childcare?
- Did
you have a victory garden?
- How
were you able to buy or trade for foods that were
rationed?
We
are currently seeking funding to take the raw material
of these interviews and translate them into forms
that can be accessible to the public. To donate artifacts
or to tell your story of working in the shipyards
and other wartime industries or as a public employee
in the Richmond area during the war, please contact:
NOTE: Please go to the Share Your Home Front
Story Page,
To donate memorabilia, please go to the Gift
Form Page.
Rosie
the Riveter Trust
(ID # 94-3335350)
117 Park Place, Richmond, CA 94807
510-236-7435, FAX: 510-232-5325
info@rosietheriveter.org
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