'The Last Day of the Old World' Project oral history collection

This collection consists of a series of interviews for "The Last Day of the Old World", a video play written by Marie Lehnert. The play was based on interviews conducted with patrons of the Waxter Center for Senior Citizens located on Cathedral Street in Baltimore. The interviewees were asked to relate their experiences during World War I. The play premiered at the Waxter Center on January 26, 1979, with another showing held at the Maryland Historical Society on February 11, 1979.

Interview topics include: pro-German sentiment in Baltimore; the flu epidemic of 1918; women’s suffrage; food shortages; interviewee’s experiences fighting in World War I. Interviewees include Margaret Cromwell, Chief clerk at Baltimore Draft Board Number Twelve; Phillip Meyers, an Officer in the 319th Infantry of the U.S. Army’s 80th Division; Leroy Duncan, an African American who served in France during the war.

Transcripts are available for all of the interviews in the collection. Other materials available include biographical forms, newspaper clippings, and programs for the play. There is also a video recording and script for a performance of "The Last Day of the Old World" in the MdHS's collection.