In 2018, the LHC received a Recordings at Risk grant that enabled cassette tapes of oral history interviews, recorded at the library between 1968 and 1978, to be digitized and indexed. 

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Our oral history collection includes the Everyday Voices Collection, interviews with Roslyn “Old Timers” that describe life in early 20th century Roslyn, and the Memories of Morley Collection, which includes interviews with family members, neighbors, and friends of Roslyn Estates author Christopher Morley (1890-1957).

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Participants include:

 

Hazel (Woodin) Monestel (1891-1986) was a lifelong Roslyn resident who taught kindergarten in Roslyn for over 45 years.

 

Eda (Hicks) Seaman (1892-1992) was the daughter of John S. Hicks, proprietor of Roslyn’s Hicks Lumber Yard. 

 

Alice C. Titus (1893-1980) was the proprietor of the Roslyn Mill Tea House between 1920 and 1951. After her retirement, she became the first curator of the Bryant Library’s Local History Collection.

 

Louise Morley Cochrane (1918-2012) was the daughter of author Christopher Morley, who resided in Roslyn Estates between 1920 and 1957. 

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Rudolph Teichner (1905-1995) and his family were neighbors of Christopher Morley in Roslyn Estates.

 

David Marcus was an aficionado of writer Christopher Morley who donated a collection of Morley’s writings to the Local History Collection.

 

Myrtle (Pearsall) Archer was a longtime Roslyn resident whose father Eugene Pearsall was instrumental in eliminating Roslyn’s segregated elementary school.