East Baltimore

The Baltimore Neighborhoods Heritage Project (BNHP) collection contains oral history interview audiocassette recordings and interview transcripts and textual records created during 232 oral history interviews conducted during the Project between 1978 and 1981. The interviews were conducted with the communities in seven of Baltimore City’s older neighborhoods including Highlandtown, Hampden, Park Heights, Little Italy, South Baltimore, Old West Baltimore, and East Baltimore. Oral history interviews were also conducted to document the history of workers in and around the Port of Baltimore. This collection also contains photographs and ephemera originally collected as a part of BNHP.

The first eight series of the collection contain the oral history interview textual records, transcripts, and audio recordings organized by neighborhood or location in Baltimore. The interview textual records and transcripts for interviews include biographical notes and background information about the interviewee and other administrative notes related to the BNHP project. The accompanying tape indexes include the name of the interviewee, the name of the interviewer, the length of the interview and number of tapes, and the main topics discussed during the interview. The interview transcripts document the recorded interviews. Topics discussed during interviews include: immigration and adjustment to life in Baltimore, residential patterns, neighborhood institutions, work experiences, family and social life, housing conditions, the impact of local and national events on the neighborhood, and perceived changes in the neighborhood over time.

Interviews were conducted by members of the Project staff teams made up of professional and academic historians, graduate student assistants, and community historians. Each Project interviewer was trained to conduct oral history interviews and worked with academic historians throughout the project. Interviews were preceded by pre-interview conversations between interviewee and interviewer to establish rapport and a basic outline for each interview. Many interviews are one-on-one, however group interviews with multiple interviewers and/or multiple interviewees are also present.

The last series in the collection, Photographs, contains photographs, copies, and materials documenting neighborhoods and communities that were also collected from community participants and other sources by BNHP.