Research

The online home of our growing oral history interview collection.

Oral History

Our online award-winning oral history collection consists of more than 350 interviews. They are arranged alphabetically by last name under individual Alpha headings below: A, B, C, etc.  The interviews feature photographs of most interviewees, an interview description, downloadable interview transcripts, and audio files that can be streamed or downloaded. In 2007 we received the Texas Oral History Association's Mary Faye Barnes Award for Excellence in Community History Projects. The History Center recognizes that these interviews are a product of a time and place and the words, ideas, and expressions they contain are the responsibilty of those speaking. The History Center does not condone racism or sexism, but presents these interviews as they were originally recorded and transcribed, because to do otherwise would be the same as to claim these prejudices never existed.

E

Eddington, Estelle

Eddington, Estelle

July 11, 1985

Interview 70a : In this interview with Marie Cochran, Estelle Eddington reminisces about her life spent in Angelina County. She was born in Nogalis Prairie in Houston County, but her family moved to Lufkin soon after. Through her growing up years she also lived in Ratcliff and back in Lufkin near Ellen Trout Lake. She recalls life during the Depression and during World War II as a young married woman. In 1960, the Eddingtons moved to Diboll, where she worked for Albrecht's Pharmacy, and she briefly talks about the changes in Diboll from the 1960's to 1980's.

Edwards, Elodie Miles

Edwards, Elodie Miles

June 12, 1990

Interview 122a : Elodie Miles Edwards recalls her life as a child growing up in Diboll and her time teaching in Diboll as a young woman. Mrs. Edwards remembers Fannie Farrington, who gave her a coat and a dress for graduation, and all of her teachers. She also remembers the flu epidemic, riding in a car for the first time, and playing baseball with the boys at school. Mrs. Edwards went to college in Rusk and Huntsville, and eventually taught in Diboll for six years. After her marriage to Grady Edwards, she moved with him to Baytown, where she continued to teach for many years.