Photo description from Vanna Sing:

When taken: 1980s and 2000s
Where taken: Eastside, Salishan
What memory is contained in these photos? Lister Elementary was a generational school. My first grade teacher was my daughter's first grade teacher.
Vanna Sing's childhood in Salishan and Eastside; Growing up in Salishan, spiritual healing. 43 year old survivor from the country of Cambodia. Roots are from SE Asia, Cambodia, Thai, and Laos. Our family escaped the Khmer Rouge in 1978 In July 1979, we entered United States. Our sponsors were from Mineral Wells, Texas. Trying to adapt to the American culture was a struggle. Through the word of mouth, Tacoma, Washington was the place to be. 15 families migrated to Tacoma, WA. We first arrived in Hilltop, Tacoma, around St. Joseph hospital area. We spent a year here. Tacoma Housing Authority supported refugees by providing rental assistance. Department of Social and Healthy Services gave us TANF, food stamp, and medical.

Oral history interview of Michael Lafrenier conducted by dindria barrow on January 21, 2023, as part of the Archiving North End Communities event located at the Wheelock library branch.

Oral history interview with Tacoma resident Janice Kampbell conducted by dindria barrow on August 25, 2022. In this interview, Janice tells the story of how her parents met each other after World War II in rural Michigan on a blind date. Farming and the military were a part of her parents’ lives and Janice grew up a child of a military pilot and a nurse. Her family moved to a variety of locations in the United States. Janice became a nurse like her mother and retired after 43 years. Janice is a Pierce County Master Gardener and shares her first encounter with planting seeds into frozen dirt with a spoon. Janice concludes her oral history by sharing the history of the Tacoma Urban Land Trust (2010) also previously known as the Guadalupe Land Trust located on Hilltop, Tacoma. The Tacoma Urban Land Trust's website is https://www.tult.org

Back of photo:
July 1961

MiShawn Cabrera, 2019 Hilltop Artists Ambassador, discusses his ongoing projects in the glass-blowing studio and his entry into glass-blowing as an art form.

Oral history interview with Tacoma resident Chace Hunter conducted by dindria barrow on August 25, 2022. In this interview, Chace talks about his family immigrating to Hilltop, Tacoma in 1993, then moving to South Tacoma in 1998, graduating from Western Washington University as well as University of Washington-Tacoma and then buying a home in Hilltop as an adult. Chace’s family fled Cambodia to escape the Khmer Rouge and were refugees in Thailand before coming to Tacoma. He is bilingual and has been married to his husband for six years. Chace has a passion for poetry, psychology, non-profits and nursing. Chace fell in love with his HIV Prevention work and is now the executive director of the AIDS Housing Association of Tacoma (AHAT Homecare). AHAT Homecare provides 24-hour home care, affordable housing/case management, and rental vouchers to the local HIV+ community. To paraphrase Chace: “I love giving back to the community, especially during a time of houselessness, and helping to provide homes to people in need.”

Oral history interview of Anna Howerton and Poulsen Vanya conducted on February 25th, 2023, as part of the Archiving South Tacoma Communities event located at the South Tacoma Branch

Back of Photo:
Ribbon Cutting

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Youth Center Remodel

Two construction workers stand on two planks of wood held up by sawhorses in order to use their hammers on a new ceiling.

Back of Photo:
Sewing Class Begins
Photograph by Jerry Buck

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Action Upward at Hilltop with story.
Photograph by Richards Studio

Three young children stand on either side on a man holding a basketball.

Back of Photo:
Checking the net

Three men in suits hold the base of a ladder while two other men in suits stand on the ladder to check the net of a basketball hoop.

Hilltop Library Planning Committee includes: front row, Bil Moss and Billie Johnstone; back row, Ellen Smith, Al Nurse and Linda Oliver. This group oral history interview was taken by dindria barrow on behalf of the Community Archives Center of the Tacoma Public Library at the Red Elm Cafe on October 13, 2022.