Horseshoe Lake, 2016

Fall 2001 Granite City Oral History Interviews (43 total)

These oral histories were conducted for the History 447: Approaches to Oral History course taught by Anne Valk in the fall 2001 semester at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The majority of the interviews are with residents of Granite City, many of them residents of the Lincoln Place immigrant community.

  • Collection: Fall 2001 Granite City Oral History Interviews
Thumbnail Title Description Date Date Added
Arthur Bedian Oral History Interview This oral history interview with Arthur Bedian was part of oral histories conducted in the fall 2001 semester of History 447: Oral History.

Author Bedian lived his whole life in Lincoln Place and was born to an immigrant father from Armenia. In this interview, he talks about his father’s experience immigrating through Ellis Island, growing up in Lincoln Place, the community center, and his time and service in the Armenian Orthodox Church.

There was no audio recording of this interview in the original archive, but there is a transcript and biographical summary.
November 18, 2001 September 2, 2018
Mary Spaich Oral History Interview This oral history interview with Mary Spaich was part of oral histories conducted in the fall 2001 semester of History 447: Oral History.

In this interview, Mary Spaich discusses growing up in the Lincoln Place neighborhood of Granite City. She was born in Granite City in 1916 to Serbian parents who had immigrated from Yugoslavia in 1914. She describes her life in Lincoln Place and changes in the area since her childhood.
November 16, 2001 April 29, 2020
Nevart Hagopian Oral History Interview This oral history interview with Nevart Hagopian was part of oral histories conducted in the fall 2001 semester of History 447: Oral History.

Nevart Hagopian is a survivor of the Armenian genocide who left Armenia with her mother at the age of 12 in 1920 and migrated to the Lincoln Place neighborhood of Granite City. In the interview, she discusses the Armenian community and culture in Lincoln Place.

Hagopian primarily speaks in Armenian in the interview, with Vartan Kassabian serving as a translator. Father Kassabian was a priest for St. Gregory Armenian Church in Granite City.

Note: The original archive copies of the interview transcript and biographical summary had grading marks and corrections on them. We converted the transcript and biographical summary to editable text and made the corrections to remove grading marks.
November 18, 2001 May 5, 2020