MF 013 Cranberry Culture in Massachusetts Interviews

Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History: MF 013 Cranberry Culture in Massachusetts Project

Number of accessions: 20
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1982 – 1983
Time period covered: 19th century
Principal interviewers: Stephen Cole and Linda Gifford
Finding aides: transcripts
Access restrictions: yes
Description: A series of 20 accessions featuring interviews done by Stephen Cole and Linda Gifford (1982-1983) documenting cranberry growing in southeastern Massachusetts. Permission of the director required for copying or quoting for publication.

NA1645 Mary Peterson Simpson, interviewed by Stephen Cole and Linda Gifford, fall 1982, Harwich, MA. Simpson talks about the cranberry bogs and businesses in the Carver, Mass, area. RESTRICTED. Text: 22 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1765 41 minutes. Photos: P 5455.

NA1646 Richard Kiernan, interviewed by Stephen Cole, winter 1983, Wareham, MA. Kiernan, foreman for A. D. Makepeace Co., talks about the cranberry growing business in Wareham, Mass, area. RESTRICTED. Text: 20 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1766 46 minutes. Photos: P 5455.

NA1647 Augusta Carleton Jillson, Annie Carleton Lloyd, and Amy Carleton, interviewed by Stephen Cole, winter 1983, East Sandwich, MA. Jillson, 90, Lloyd, 88, and Carleton, 82, talk about their father’s old-time cranberry business in East Sandwich. RESTRICTED. Text: 55 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1767 – T 1770 93 minutes. Photos: P 5456.

NA1648 Doris Gomes, interviewed by Linda Gifford, winter 1983, Marion, MA. Gomes talks about experiences of a Cape Verdean woman picking cranberries in the 1940s and 50s. RESTRICTED. Text: 24 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1768 31 minutes. Photo: P 5460.

NA1649 Ernest D. Howe, interviewed by Stephen Cole, winter 1983, Wareham, MA. Howe, 75, talks about his lifetime work for the A. D. Makepeace Co. making cranberry scoops & boxes, building sand jalopies, repairing picking machines, and overseeing screen-houses and canning plants. RESTRICTED. Text: 31 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1769 59 minutes. Photo: P 5457.

NA1650 Katherine Ryder and Malcolm Ryder, interviewed by Stephen Cole, winter 1983, Cotuit, MA. Ryder, 87, talks about their cranberry growing business in the Cotuit area; changes in technology and marketing. RESTRICTED. Text: 20 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1771.

NA1651 Robert C. Hammond, interviewed by Stephen Cole, winter 1983, East Wareham, MA. Hammond, 71, director of the Fuller-Hammond Co., talks about the cranberry growing business, and competition between cranberry marketing cooperatives. RESTRICTED. Text: 22 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1772 53 minutes. Photo: P 5458.

NA1652 Antone Jesus, interviewed by Stephen Cole and Linda Gifford, winter 1983, Onset, MA. Jesus, 92, talks about being a worker and bog foreman for the Fuller-Hammond Co. for sixty years; shipping out on a New Bedford whaler, c. 1900. RESTRICTED. Text: 50 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1773 – T 1774 95 minutes. Photo: P 5459.

NA1659 William E. Crowell, interviewed by Stephen Cole, spring 1983, Dennis, MA. Crowell, 79, talks about owning and managing cranberry bogs on Cape Cod and in the Wareham area; the early years of the cranberry industry; Cape Cod life in the last century. RESTRICTED. Text: 30 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1777 58 minutes. Photo: P 5461.

NA1660 Lawrence Cole and Ruth Cole, interviewed by Stephen Cole, spring 1983, North Carver, MA. The Coles talk about owning and running a cranberry growing business: recounts history of his family who supplied shooks, barrels and boxes to growers over several generations; tales of growers and growing in the past. RESTRICTED. Text: 61 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1778 – T 1779 92 minutes. Photo: P 5462.

NA1661 Edward B. Garside, interviewed by Stephen Cole, spring 1983, Plymouth, MA. Garside was the author of a 1938 novel, Cranberry Red, which depicts the hardships faced by the largely Cape Verdean bog laborers and the discrimination they endure. RESTRICTED. Text: 14 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1780 30 minutes. Photo: P 5463.

NA1662 Wilho and Lillian Harju, interviewed by Stephen Cole, spring 1983, West Carver, MA. The Harjus, of Finnish descent, talk about owning and running a small cranberry business. Mrs. Harju discusses her life as a bog worker along side her husband; Mr. Harju, his collection of cranberry memorabilia. Text: 30 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1781 56 minutes. Photo: P 5464.

NA1663 W. Marland Rounsvilie, interviewed by Stephen Cole. Spring 1983, Nantucket, MA. Rounsvilie talks about his work for the Cranberry Experiment Station in Wareham, Mass, and as manager of the bogs for the Nantucket Cranberry Co. in the late thirties. RESTRICTED. Text: 18 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1782 46 minutes.

NA1664 Ellen Stillman, interviewed by Stephen Cole, spring 1983, Hanson, MA. Stillman talks about her work as vice president of advertising for the Ocean Spray Cranberry Co. in the 1940s and ‘50s. RESTRICTED. Text: 16 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1783 32 minutes. Photo: P 5465.

NA1665 Maurice B. Makepeace, interviewed by Stephen Cole, spring 1983, Wareham, MA. Makepeace, 76, treasurer of the A. D. Makepeace Co., talks about the financial workings of this large family cranberry business. RESTRICTED. Text: 22 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1784 59 minutes. Photo: P 5466.

NA1666 Phillip Brackett, interviewed by Stephen Cole, spring 1983, Cotuit, MA. Brackett talks about his small, old-time Cape Cod cranberry growing business. RESTRICTED. Text: 14 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1785 29 minutes. Photo: P 5467.

NA1767 Eunice Bailey and Jennie (Bailey) Shaw, interviewed by Stephen Cole, spring 1983, South Carver, MA. Bailey and Shaw talk about the Bailey Company which made equipment for the cranberry industry. RESTRICTED. Transcript: 21 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Photograph: P 5975. Recording: T 1866 32 minutes.

NA1768 Gilbert T. Beaten, interviewed by Stephen Cole, summer 1983, Buzzard’s Bay, MA. G. Beaten talks about the John J. Beaton Distributing Agency, the largest independent growers and shippers of cranberries in the region. RESTRICTED. Text: 27 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1867 47 minutes. Photo: P 5976.

NA1769 Vincent Pina and Beatrice Pina, interviewed by Stephen Cole, fall 1983, Marion, MA. The Pinas talk about seasonal work on the cranberry bogs and life in general in the Cape Verdean community. RESTRICTED. Text: 33 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1868 54 minutes. Photos: P 5977.

NA1770 Leonard F. Vanderhoop, Sr., interviewed by Stephen Cole, fall 1983. Gay Head on Martha’s Vineyard, MA. Vanderhoop talks about the traditional harvest of cranberries carried out on Gay Head by the Wampanoags. RESTRICTED. Text: 16 pp. transcript, 1 pp. field notes. Recording: T 1869 37 minutes. Photo: P 5978.