Oral history interview with Willie Stewart by Katherine L. Jennison conducted 05/04/2017, 05/12/2017. On the heels of the Brown v. Board of Education decision and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Tacoma School District took voluntary measures to desegregate a select number of schools with high non-white enrollment. The district superintendent, Dr. Angelo Giaudrone, drew attention to the de facto segregation, and primarily focused on two elementary schools: Stanley Elementary, with a black population of 64 percent and McCarver Elementary, with a black population of 84 percent. In 1963, a subcommittee was formed to analyze and study the de facto segregation and provide recommendations for potential solutions. On July 8, 1966, a plan was announced by the school board for an optional enrollment program that relied on closing McCarver Junior High and to provide limited open enrollment to students affected by the closing. The district hired its first black principal, Willie Stewart, in 1970 in order to bridge the divide between the school district and the black community. Stewart led the summer counseling program to work with families on the transition between the closing of their neighborhood school and their new school of their choice. According to the United States Commission on Civil Rights a decade later, the summer counseling program was pivotal to the success of the voluntary desegregation program in the Tacoma School District.

Oral history interviews with Maria Moore and Barbara Laxson by Tom Wilson conducted 05/11/2015, 05/12/2015. The Burley Utopian Community was part of the growing Social Equity Movement of the latter part of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries. The origin of the idea of seeding the United States with Socialist Communities came from an organization led by Eugene V Debs. Debs was a veteran of the labor troubles that gripped the nation beginning in the 1880's and culminated with the deaths of thirteen workers during the Pullman Strike. Debs began to believe that the only hope for the workingman was Socialism. With that in mind the national Socialist organization looked for opportunities to spread the Socialism, Washington State was selected as the site of the colony, chosen because of its history of labor activism and a smaller population that would be sympathetic to the cause. Thus was born the town/colony of Brotherhood, a name that was soon surrendered for the commonly used, Burley. Plagued with troubles from the onset, the colony lasted only 15 years. This is story of a community that has survived, not so much physically, but in spirit, a spirit that still holds this small community together today. That spirit can be seen in the words of Barbara Laxson who is a longtime resident who lives in one of the original homes built by the colony where an oral history was recorded. It can also be heard in the words of Maria Moore, an American citizen born in Mexico who lives now in Burley. Mrs. Moore, is a former member of the Burley Community Association the group that is charged with maintaining the community properties, her interview was conducted in the community park. In their words you can begin to understand why it is so important to try to keep and keep the history and the name Burley alive today.

Oral history interviews with Lena Landry, Judy Wright, and Charles Thomas by Darlyne Reiter conducted 11/1998. Puyallup Tribal Elder Lena Landry and Puyallup Tribal Historian Judy Wright discuss the plight of Pacific Northwest Native Americans during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and reflect on the life of Peter Stanup, a Puyallup tribal leader and activist whose 1893 death remains a source of enduring controversy. Charles Thomas, Peter Stanup's great-grandson, also shares his family's quest to uncover their history and their discovery of their connection to Stanup.

Oral history interviews with Joseph N. Ellis and Diana K. Jeffrey by Patti R. Saunders conducted 05/07/1991. The oral history interview transcript contains interviews with Joe Ellis, Executive Director of the Tacoma Rescue Mission and Diana K. Jeffery, Administrative Assistant at the Mission. Ellis gives a brief background on his life and training, as well as an overview of the history of the Tacoma Rescue Mission, including some discussion of the work and character of the superintendents who preceded him (C. M. Shaughnessy, Ray L. Marvin and G. Hanley Barker). Ellis describes the programs and services provided by the Tacoma Rescue Mission in some detail. Jeffery recounts her ten years of service with the Mission, where she started as the manager of the emergency family shelter. She describes her direct work with the clients and refers to some individuals who apparently were present at the time her interview was recorded. In addition to those for Ellis and Jeffery, release forms are included for five participants from the ""New Life"" program who also were interviewed, as well as another Mission staff member, but these interviews are not contained in the transcript.

Oral history interviews with Joseph Schibig, Katy Schibig, and Joseph Marty by Pamela M. Hailey conducted January-February 1994. Joseph and Katy Schibig and Joseph Marty describe their experiences as Swiss immigrants to Tacoma and reflect on the legacy of the citys close-knit Swiss community. Areas of focus include the Tacoma Swiss Society and the Swiss Hall and Tavern, which Marty managed from 1952 to 1963.

Oral history interviews with Nhung Huynh and Thanh Huynh by Jennifer Nguyen conducted 05/12/2015, 05/20/2015. In 1973 the war in Vietnam had ended for the United States and by 1975 the Vietnam War had effectively ended altogether. Following the end Vietnam War, the life of the South Vietnamese people would be disrupted and the new regime in Vietnam would implement harsh new laws and regulations against the South Vietnamese population to stabilize the new government. The chaos towards the end of the Vietnam War led to the United States to accept large numbers of Vietnamese refugees into the country. Did the United States do enough to help the refugees, or did their concerns go unheard? The purpose of this oral history project is to gain thoughtful information about the perspectives of Vietnamese refugees and their trials and tribulations during their voyage to freedom and once they arrived to America. This oral history project includes personal stories of Nhung Huynh and Thanh Huynh's refugees escaping on boat and their lives while waiting to resettle in America.

Description provided by Pamela Beal:

When taken: 1927

Where taken: Tacoma Cat Show Feb 1-3, 1927

Who is in these photographs?
Ernest E.V. Nelson is on far left. One of the cats is the Pride of Erin, who my mother Katherine Nelson is holding in the accompanying News Tribune article photo

What memories are contained in these photos?
My grandparents raised persian show cats. Their names were Ernest E.V. Nelson and Sigrid Nelson.