OH. Oral Histories / Queens Memory

Scope and Contents Debby Yaffe was one of the youngest members of the Student Help Project who volunteered to go to Prince Edward County, Virginia, in the summer of 1963 to tutor local Black children who were denied a public education for four years in massive resistance to the desegregation of schools. Yaffe contributes her memories of organizing and preparing for the summer initiative. In Prince Edward County, Yaffe served as the librarian of the Queens College group, rather than as a tutor, which she had to...

Scope and Contents Dorothy “Dottie” Zellner (born in 1938) discusses growing up in Manhattan as the daughter of immigrants in a Left, Jewish family in Manhattan. She recalls being a young child during the second World War, when Nazi hatred of Jews and the potential for Germany to attack the United States were experienced as imminent threats. Zellner discusses how McCarthyism affected her family in the late 1940s through the 1950s, and her experience at Music and Art High School, which she attended from...

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In the group interview, the three Queens College alumnae, Ellen Weingart, Edith Balan, and Linda Tucker, reminisce about what an achievement it was to get admitted to Queens College in the early 1960s when they were college students, about joining house plans and enjoying a vibrant social life in the campus, and about choosing and enjoying the required physical education classes like lacrosse, swimming, and folk dancing.

Scope and Contents Fern Kruger reflects on her time as a student at Queens College in the 1960s, as well as the extent of her participation in the Queens College Jamaica Student Help Project. Kruger was a volunteer in the Jamaica Student Help Project, where she was a tutor to young Black elementary school students in Jamaica, Queens. At its height, the Jamaica initiative of the Student Help Project engaged 500 Queens College students who volunteered to tutor more than one thousand educationally challenged,...

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In this interview, Dr. Warren talks about choosing to teach at Queens College instead of Ohio State, and about the changing composition of the student body in the campus through the years that he had been teaching and how the changes reflect the diversity of Queens.

Abstract

This oral history was conducted by Obden Modesir (interviewer) and Frank Wu, incoming Queens College president (interviewee) in April 2020, conducted as a joint project between Queens College Special Collections and Archives and the Queens Memory Project. Among other subjects, in the oral history Frank Wu discusses the COVID-19 crisis, being a Chinese American citizen, and how those two facts will inform his role as the first Asian American to hold the position of QC President.

Scope and Contents Aguayo described his experience growing up in East New York. He recalled the schools he attended and limited scope of the curriculum. After graduating high school, Aguayo enrolled in Farmingdale College and later transferred to York College; he described the differences between the two schools. Aguayo decided to leave New York City to attend graduate school at Florida State University where he earned a Master in International Relations. He moved back to New York and started working in higher...

Scope and Contents George Rushfield has lived in Kew Garden Hills since 1955 and, in this interview, talks about the many interesting changes that has occurred in his neighborhood. He recollects that the Jewish community was small when he moved to the area and that there were only three synagogues at the time. Now he says there are dozens of synagogues, numerous kosher restaurants on Main Street, and widespread observation of the Sabbath. A lifelong Queens resident, he studied at Queens College and taught in...

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In this interview session, which took place on March 18th, 2021, Dr. Helen Cairns discussed her career at Queens College within the Linguistics and Communication Disorders Department. During that time she was elected department chair several times, served as the dean of graduate studies and research, and both conducted and supported research and publication efforts.

Scope and Contents In this interview, Helen Hendricks is interviewed by alumni Stan Shaw and Mike Wenger about her role as a College Office Assistant in Student Activities in the Dean of Students Office during the early to mid-1960s. Wenger and Shaw considered Hendricks a mentor and important behind-the-scenes supporter of civil rights activities they initiated, especially the Virginia Student Help Project, which involved tutoring children in Prince Edward County who had been locked out of the education system...