Interviewer

Barbara Redman

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Description

Bertha May Asbury was born in 1888 and began attending school in a one-room school house in 1894 at the age of six. She attended school through the ninth grade. She left school at the age of 17 when she began “courtin’” with young men. In her interview, Mrs. Asbury discusses living on Route 4 in Kanawha County, West Virginia. She focuses on food preservation and preparation, planting and harvesting crops, building a new home, going to square dances, and quilting. In the audio clip provided, Mrs. Asbury discusses what it was like to attend a square dance. She focuses on how she had to sneak out of the house with her neighbors to attend the dances.

Publication Date

Spring 3-5-1973

Type

Text

Keywords

Food preservation and preparation, farming, the Depression, entertainment, square dancing, music and instruments, quilting, funerals and burials, Kanawha County, WV, Charleston, WV, seeing automobiles, blimps and airplanes for the first time

Disciplines

Appalachian Studies | Education | Oral History | United States History

Library of Congress Subjects

Asbury, Bertha May, 1889- -- Autobiography. Family -- West Virginia -- Oral histories. Rural churches -- West Virginia -- Oral histories.

Comments

Interview is included in the Marshall University Oral History Collection. The index number is OH64-87. This interview was conducted by Barbara Redman. MDS exhibit prepared by Jennifer Gehringer, November, 2014.

Rights

Educational use only, no other permissions given. Copyright to this resource is held by the content creator, author, artist or other entity, and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without written permission of the copyright owner.

Streaming Media

Oral History Interview: Bertha May Asbury

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