Site #2: Hampden, 1978-1980
Dates
- 1978-1980
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research use.
Historical Note
Hampden was already home to many of the water wheel mill workers along the Jones Fall Valley when it became a part of Baltimore City in 1888 (Hare). The output from the flour and cotton mills led to the establishment of Baltimore as a major port city. This mill town was named by developer, Henry Mankin, who named the area after 17th century British parliamentarian John Hampden. Most residents of this North Baltimore neighborhood were immigrants from England, Germany, and Poland, but a significant number of American Indians found work in the mills as well (HVMA).
Soon the cotton duck industry predominated. Used for making sail sheeting, tents, and mailbags, “[b]y the 1890's, Hampden-Woodbury [mill] produced almost 80% of the world's cotton duck and was one of the biggest mill sites in the country” (HVMA). Moreover, “[a]t the turn of the 20th century, the workers of Hampden-Woodbury made up one of the largest workforces in the nation (LBHC). It was not until the 1960s that the mill industry saw a decline (LBHC). Most of the mills had closed by the 1970s.
At the time of the BNHP, residents had begun to leave the area for the suburbs. Beginning in the early 1990s, however, the area was reborn into an eclectic array of artist spaces, homes, businesses, and unique celebrations, like the Hon Fest (HVMA).
Sources:
Jean Hare, “Hampden” in Livelier Baltimore Committee of the Citizens Planning &
Housing Association, Beyond the White Marble Steps: A Look at Baltimore
Neighborhoods (J.W. Boarman Co., 1979). (PAM 10,988)
“Hampden History,” Hampden Village Merchants Association, accessed on March, 24 2005, http://www.hampdenmerchants.com/hampden/history.htm
“Hampden,” Live Baltimore Home Center, accessed on March, 24 2005,
http://www.livebaltimore.com/nb/list/hmpdn/
Extent
38 Items : 38 oral histories
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Scope and Contents
The Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project Oral History Collection contains paper records and audiocassette recordings from 1978 through 1980. The paper records are composed of the files kept on each narrator (the person being interviewed) and the administrative needs of the project. Narrator records contain biography forms, interview notes, and tape indexes for approximately 212 narrators. The interview notes briefly describe the circumstance surrounding the interview(s) session. The tape index includes the name of the narrator, the name of interviewer, the number of tapes, the tape(s) length, and the primary subjects covered. Seventy-nine of the records include transcripts. Transcript length ranges from 8 to 65 pages. Some are single-spaced; others are doubled-spaced. The interviews range from twenty-five minutes to three hours in length. One file, #183, and its accompanying cassette(s) were removed from the collection.
Thirty-two interviewers participated in the project. Typically, the interviews were one-on-one sessions between interviewer and narrator; however, single interviewer and double-narrator situations occurred, as did three group “nostalgia” sessions. Most interviews were prefaced by unrecorded, pre-interview sessions that occurred days before the recorded interview.
Each narrator abstract includes the following information when available: the BNHP interview number; the name of the interviewer; the date of the interview; the place of the interview; the length of the interview; the number of tapes used; the length of the transcript; and the file contents, such as subject index, interview notes, and biography form. The abstracts follow the numerical order of the interview number. However, interview numbers are not consecutive, but site specific. That is to say, any omitted number within a site can be found in another site.
When controversial or outdated terms, especially those referring to race and ethnicity, are mentioned in the abstract, the politically-correct term is used and the term or terms used by the narrator has been placed in parenthetical (“ ”) quotation marks. Specific terms from the interviews and textual uncertainties are often placed in parentheses alone ( ). Maiden names of female narrators are placed in brackets [ ].
Repository Details
Part of the H. Furlong Baldwin Library Repository
H. Furlong Baldwin Library
Maryland Center for History and Culture
610 Park Avenue
Baltimore MD 21201 United States
4106853750
specialcollections@mdhistory.org