Lombardi, Nicholas, 1979 February 11-12 & 14, April 16 & June 05
Abstract
On Tapes 1 and 2, he discusses growing up in Baltimore during the Depression and his family’s general living conditions (housing, clothing, food). His education was cut short by the Depression and by poor relationships with teachers (feelings of alienation and discrimination). Later, he pursued an education and graduated from night school in 1942.The narrator believed that he did not have the opportunity to get training as a skilled laborer; he also felt discriminated against by his Irish coworkers and the Irish church members. On tapes 3 through 5, he discusses his own ethnic identity and his interactions with other racial groups. He refers to his African American friend as “Sambo,” explains that “Blackhands” was a nickname for Italians, expresses his feelings of solidarity with a childhood Jewish friend, and talks about his fear of Gypsies. On the second session tapes, he discusses his views of social class and how they impacted his life. He also talks briefly about bootlegging. The Lombardi interviews are especially good at providing details about the multiple ethnic identities that made up South Baltimore from the 1930’s to the 1970’s.
Dates
- 1979 February 11-12 & 14, April 16 & June 05
Creator
- Kupchyk, Areta (Interviewer, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research use.
Biographical / Historical
Nicholas Lombardi was born March 9, 1911 in Denver, Colorado to Italian immigrants. When and why the family came to Baltimore is unclear. Raised Catholic, his interviews reflect the intersection of religion and social class in his life. Work was also of importance, especially his time at Federal Tin, a tin factory (1928-1943) and later as Assistance Chief Deputy of Circuit Court #2 (1946-1977). He provides information about the politics of job seeking and job security.
Extent
325 Minutes
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Existence and Location of Originals
Original format: 1 compact cassette
Physical Description
Biography form, interview notes, tape index, & transcript : 28 pages
General
Transcription of tape #3 from 2nd session only; 1st Session: 175 minutes, 2nd Session: 150 minutes
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 [ ].
Creator
- Kupchyk, Areta (Interviewer, Person)
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