https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-lplks/original/5182ca16448200490d5598cfaefe76d5.pdf 5ba898c6db0d62e63b4bde89590e5471 PDF Text Text Tape 21a: Interview with Ramon (Raymond) Romero Interviewer: Helen Krische Date of Interview: 2006 Length of Interview: 48:08 Location of Interview: St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church Transcription Completion Date: December 13, 2020 Transcriptionist: Emily Raymond Interviewee’s daughter Lupe states on March 1, 2021: “He let people call him Raymond and other Mexican Americans who knew him called him by his real name Ramon. So his full name is Ramon Enrique Romero Sr.” NOTE: Garbled sounds and static until about 16:00. Some words intelligible from 16:00-20:00. Tape clears up slightly after 20:00 but does not become mostly intelligible until about 21:50. I began transcribing what words I could manage to decipher at 15:48. I have left blanks (___) where the speech is distorted or otherwise unintelligible. Raymond Romero (Interviewee): We’d get chicken and strawberries, corn…I remember, about twice…Next. Helen Krische (Interviewer): Next? Just run down the question list, huh? Um, so you spoke Spanish. RR: Well, yes. Oh, you want to know about that? HK: Oh, yeah. RR: Back in 1945 when I started kindergarten, the worst __ that I ever got was Susan __, the assistant __ superintendent here. __ E. Birch was the __ , and he’d go over to schools __, show us what penmanship was. Write your name __. Well, __ he must have gotten out of the wrong side of the bed that day __ there was about four or five of us. __ I was the closest one ___. Grabbed me. “__ you little devil!” What can I do __? I was scared. What you gonna do? __ little kid. That was about the worst treatment I’ve gotten. __ I’ll let it go at that. HK: So you just learned English? RR: __ Starting in the kindergarten, first grade I knew a little more. Second grade, a couple __ finally graduated. HK: Did you graduate from, um, Lawrence? RR: From Liberty __ Most of – most of these kids, uh __. What was the other __? Some of those – some of those kids __ got to, uh, third grade. One or two families moved out of here. They moved to __. Might as well stay here during the Depression. HK: Yeah. �RR: Then, let’s see. The only ones who – me and Marty were the only ones that were left __ who came through junior high. I don’t know what happened __ in junior high. I couldn’t quit because I wanted to get moving. I kept on going, got out of Liberty. But as far as I know, I was the first Mexican that graduated. What tickled me, you know, there was a library, had a picture of different people there. Who are these people? I seen their picture there __. “Who’s that guy?” Said: “We want to know.” “Well, you’re talking to him.” [Laughter] __ she put it down or what she done. That was the last time __. HK: ___. RR: __ question, where did you get those pictures? I said: “Well at that time if I remember __ they were charging us 25 cents a picture. And that was in ‘41. ‘40 or ‘41. Times were hard, and, then, see, the war didn’t start until December the 7th, 1941. Then everything started going up __ Roosevelt, yeah, Roosevelt __ everybody, not just the __. Now, what’s next? HK: Yeah. Well, when did you – where did you meet your wife? RR: My wife – HK: Was she from around here? RR: Oh, you shouldn’t have asked me [HK laughs]. I was getting off – I was getting off the train after my first discharge. Ah…my old girlfriend, she had, uh, moved to California. I didn’t know it ‘til I got home that, uh, she had moved to California. __ Oh, well, God be with you. This, when I got off the train there in the Union Pacific __, I got down and had my little seat back. And there she was with her mother and, uh, her brother, they were getting on the train. __ I winked at her and she, well…that’s how the relationship started. Every time I’d get a chance to see her, __ they moved, they lived at, uh, little town by the name of Williamstown. You know where that’s at? HK: Billtown? RR: Billtown. HK: Yeah. RR: Well, how come you call it Billtown? HK: I just had heard it called Billtown. There’s a Billtown, Billtown Café there, yeah. RR: Yeah, on the highway now. HK: Uh-huh. RR: Sharon’s Café. �HK: Uh-huh. RR: Before that, there was, uh, I remember there was a store, a post office…and the superintendent of schools for Jefferson County lived there in Billtown. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: And the – the foreman of the railroad, he lived there. And, let’s see, who else? There was only one black family that I can remember there. Wait a minute, I take it back; there was another __ the older black folks there, and the other one was the Lewises. Maybe you might have heard of them. The old man Lewis, the one that had, he had, uh, __ big old horse thing __ and he’d give it some milk: “Come on, honey! Come on, honey!” [laughs] __ Come on! Drinking milk. HK: I’ll be darned. RR: So there you are. HK: So, she was from Billtown? RR: Yeah __ that time. Now I guess all the kids that can save a little money they bought a ticket and got out of there which I don’t blame ‘em. Used to go to the grocery store, they go to the grocery store. __ I’ve got a daughter who used to teach there, in fact, she was a librarian, well, she is a librarian, she told me, uh, yesterday? Yesterday was Sunday. HK: Yeah. RR: She said they were gonna move all the books out of the library there and build and move to Perry. HK: Really. RR: She’s a – a librarian down in Perry. Yeah. By the way, my wife is a graduate of that little dinky school. __ I think she said there was four kids in her grade. HK: Four? [Laughs] That is small. RR: And there were just three families that lived there, Mexican families that lived there. The Chavez, the Jiminez…no, I guess there was just two. [Eudora?], I think he was in Topeka. I don’t know why he got there to work, or when he worked. HK: So the Chavez family moved from Billtown to Lawrence? RR: Oh, do you know them? HK: Mm-hmm. I think I went to school with, uh, I think Victoria was in my grade. �RR: Which Victoria? HK: Victoria Chavez. Vicky. RR: When I went to __ it was just Trini, Lupe…Trini, Lupe… When I got back, we had to line ‘em up. [HK laughs, murmuring] children. Chavez and the Jimenez. Jimenez was, uh, __ Luis __ Chavez. Salvador. He was there, but he – he moved, I think he was by himself. [Murmuring] Well, what’s next? HK: Well, I want to know a little bit about what kind of jobs did you work at? RR: When? HK: I – well, you probably worked a lot of jobs when you were young, growing up, I can imagine. RR: I worked for [tree?], I worked for Alfred Heck, and Charlie Shockey…then joined the Navy and forgot about the world. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: I visited the world. And then when I got back, getting off the train I was offered a job. HK: Really? RR: See, I had worked in the summertime, I had worked there, um…during the flood __ John Kennedy. He said: “Hey,” he said, “you want a job? I could use you in the morning.” I said: “Listen, I’m just getting here.” He said: “I’m gonna put you down.” So I worked one day and I asked the clerk there, I said: “Hey, John Kennedy put me down.” He said: “Oh, yes,” he said, “you’re the sailor.” I said “Yeah.” He said: “Yeah, he told me about you.” [murmurs] I went to work for him…and I quit in 19…80. July of 1980. HK: So that – that was Kennedy Glass? Or…? RR: Kennedy Glass Children. The older are John Kennedy’s children. HK: Okay. RR: There was a bunch of…well, one just died here not too long ago. I think it’s [Name] but I’m not sure. It was John, let’s see, that was John. That was by old John Kennedy’s first wife and by his second wife, he had Max, Bernard, [murmurs]. �HK: Uh… [long pause] Never even heard of… RR: Well anyways, he had four or five boys. Two wives. He retired, can’t even remember when he retired. [Long pause] In between __ various moments __. Until I got transferred, I got transferred to Topeka once, I worked there for seven years and I worked on the east, uh, side of Lawrence. Oh, about five years. All the way, all the time, I was given credit for 36 years. [Murmurs] HK: What kind of work was it? RR: General. Anything, really. Anything they [begins laughing] HK: Anything they wanted you to do, huh? [HK laughs] RR: Yeah. HK: Well, what were some of your experiences when you were growing up in Lawrence? Did you, um, were there – was there a lot of prejudice in Lawrence? RR: Oh, yes. I’ll never forget the – the other, the other Mexican kids, say: “You going into the __?” Said: “Oh, I might, I might not.” Said: “You know what? They made us go up there on top and – and sit with the black ones.” I said: “They did? Well,” [laughs] “I’m not going to no __.” I used to go to the [Pattee?] theater. Maybe you heard about that. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: It was just an alleyway and, uh, I’ll never forget, on Saturdays they’d have a matinee there. All of the kids would come in and __ your tickets will be, uh, five bottles. And, uh, I needed to get Cokes now and then, I finally, uh, somebody had discarded an old whiskey bottle. I threw that in the collection. [Murmurs, laughs] That were rough times. HK: Yeah. RR: But the whiskey was here. [HK laughs] Yeah. Yeah… HK: What – what about the restaurants and, um, other places in town? Did they discriminate against Mexican men? RR: Oh, yeah, and the ones that discriminated were mostly the ones in North Lawrence. HK: Hm. �RR: There was, uh, kind of a drive-in, in there. And we went in the old jalopy, and we sat there and we sat there and we sat there and we sat there. Finally I went to the kitchen window, said: “Hey, you gonna wait on us?” “Hell no. Get out of here.” And we got out of there before they beat us up. We – we didn’t have no ball bats, or else we’d have probably had a little showdown. HK: Yeah [laughs]. RR: And [murmurs] the varsity __ Mexicans __. HK: Mm. RR: What? The film? Interview Assistant: I’m checking the tape. HK: Checking the tape. What did, um, what are your earliest memories of your mother? RR: My earliest memories? HK: Mm-hmm. RR: Well, hard-working. Tried to keep us clean with what…uh, she had to work with. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: Cause at that time I think they were just paying…two dollars a day, five cents a week on the railroad. And that’s what we had to subsist on. Eat and everything. Of course I remember, she went to the, uh, store and she’d buy a pound of bacon, a loaf of bread…uh, wieners or lunch meat. You can’t do that now. HK: No. RR: If you get any lunch meat, well, that will be over a dollar. Wieners, that’s gonna be, I see where Checkers got ‘em for 89 cents. And then, uh, bacon, that’s going out of sight. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: I think it costs close to three dollars for bacon. You couldn’t do that in those days. Get two dollars and 80 cen – 85 cents, 89 cents for a week’s work and __. You had to live high on the hog __ on his feet. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: Yeah. �HK: Did she have a lot of, um, special recipes that she would cook? RR: Soup HK: Chicken soup? [Laughs] RR: Yeah, you know, folks raised, oh, about 15, 20 chickens. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: Then when the hens had the chicks, we’d…raise ‘em up and butcher ‘em. That’s what we had to eat. And now and then, uh, there was a stockyard there that, uh, they’d…gave us, gave my dad a pig for 50 cents. And that’s why he raised pigs, on table scraps, weeds, water and everything. Get good size and then butcher ‘em. It was good old hard days. HK: Yeah. What about a garden? RR: Oh, yeah, they put out a garden. One thing he always, my dad always __ corn. HK: Hmm. RR: And then tomatoes, tomatoes… specially what do you call them, string beans, string beans – HK: Mm-hmm. RR: String beans, tomatoes, hot peppers. He’d give somebody a __ or two down the road, he’d plant. I know he’d keep the seeds __, that’s how he got __. And they’d pickle, pickled the peppers __. They’d have to cut ‘em open [laughs]. __ I’ll never forget, my mother’s, uh, the peppers, she’d slice ‘em up, then take a __ out of them. They’d pick ‘em, take a piece out at a time. __ Tortillas. They made their own tortillas. They made their own corn tortillas and flour tortillas. You don’t see the young ones doing anything like that. HK: No…I’ll bet those peppers – those peppers were probably – the seeds were originally brought up from Mexico, huh? RR: I’ll bet they were. ‘Course [murmurs]. HK: Just kept the seeds every year and replanted them. RR: Yeah. Only thing was, is I remember my dad – he’d plant peppers right here, right, this year, next year he’d plant a little ways from there. The same thing with tomatoes…corn, same thing. There’s something in there that he couldn’t explain, it would, uh [murmurs], farming, you know, they get their seeds from the seedhouse. That’s it. HK: Mm-hmm. �RR: Wheat, the same way. Corn, the same way. Uh, soy beans, same way. Uh, what else? Milo the same way. Here we are, the greatest nation in the world. HK: Yeah. RR: By knowing what to do – HK: How did things change when the Depression came? Did that, um…did you eat a lot less, then? RR: When the Depression came? HK: Mm-hmm. RR: Back in, uh, 1927, ‘28, ‘29, there was less food and less work, and a lot of things less. And, uh, people made [murmurs], did, the, uh, lamb’s quarters [an annual plant, also known as white goosefoot], think you ought to know what they are. Lamb’s quarters? HK: The plants, or the – RR: The – the plants. HK: Yeah. RR: Well, they’d take the leaves and cook them greens, and, uh…those old folks would spice ‘em up, would make a nice little dish. And I remember some black folks that had, uh, nettles for greens. Hot. I draw the line right there. [HK laughs] Stinkin’ things. HK: Didn’t want any of those. How did they, um, manage to clothe all of you kids and keep you in shoes and…? RR: Lot of ‘em was hand-me-downs, and, uh, I remember the, uh, the JC Penney. Montgomery Ward is another term. They’d have sales, folks would buy what clothes they could afford to. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: [Murmurs] And then there wasn’t no, like here, at that time, like all these places where they have, uh…secondhand clothing. There wasn’t – HK: Mm-hmm. Did your mother sew at all? RR: Oh, yeah. I remember my dad was – think he said he was 70 or 71 when he wore his first piece of – first glasses, to be able to see a little better. HK: Oh. �RR: I know I was 60 when I first started wearing glasses. HK: Uh-huh. RR: And, uh, I’m 86 now. [Murmurs] HK: Yeah. RR: 1980s-something. [Murmurs] HK: What happened if – if one of you kids got sick or something? How – RR: Our kids, now? HK: No, when you were growing up. You as a child, what happened? RR: If we went to school, they’d send ‘em to – to the school, what do you call it? At that time there was a nurse, Etta Kettlesburger, Kettlesburger. She was from Salina. And that’s one woman I’ll always give credit. She’d try to help the Mexicans and the blacks. And, uh, she would, uh…more or less try to take care of us. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: ‘Course, she said, those are the people that didn’t have the opportunity for a lot of things [murmurs]. She just died not too long ago. She was a little over 100 years old. HK: Wow. RR: She was in a rest home there in Salina, she was from Salina. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: I remember when she was young and started being the nurse here in Lawrence. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: Who else… HK: Well, did you, um, did you ever get to go to the dentist, or…? RR: At that time, you know what? We didn’t know what a dentist was. All we knew was in school, they’d take the whole class. They’d have a little box, uh, about that. They put, um, instruments in. And: “Okay, you can come in and sit down. Open your mouth.” There was a dentist…and whoever was taking care of [murmurs]. �HK: Mm-hmm. RR: That’s how they knew, we knew that. That, you know, you had bad teeth. When you get the chance, see if your parents can afford to take you to the dentist. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: I remember the first time I went to the dentist, Dr. Kennedy. This Dr. Kennedy who is living now, it was his father. [Murmurs]. HK: Wow. RR: I don’t remember [murmurs] upstairs, in, uh, 900 block of New Jersey – uh, Massachusetts. On the east – the west side of the street. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: And he was, uh, he was a pretty good dentist. I think he charged us 50 cents for fixing our teeth. They don’t charge no 50 cents now. HK: Nope, nope. RR: And then this – his son, well, he took over the dental practice. He just retired here about…wanna say fifteen years ago, maybe a little longer [murmurs]. He’s still living. I seen him at the store, we speak to each other. He – he’s no kid, I’m 86 and he’s a lot older than I am. HK: Really? Hmm. RR: But you – you can’t tell his age. HK: What do you think are some of the biggest differences between, um…when you were growing up and how things are now? RR: Just like day and night. [HK laughs] Now, well, [murmurs] money is more plentiful and the wages are a lot higher. And, um…I remember back in the old days, when the canning factory was open. We were in high school, and we went sometime to work over there and we would get 15 cents an hour. And by the end of the week, we thought we had a lot of money, oh yeah. At least I remember buying my first pair of white shoes [murmurs]. And, uh, clothing that I’d needed ‘em for school. Socks. And of course our parents got the rest of it, at JC Penney’s and Montgomery Ward. Then there was [Name?], a clothing store there. They had – they were fancier, we couldn’t afford those. We’d just bypass it. HK: Yeah. So, did your dad, um…or did your family, where did they move to after – I know when the ‘51 flood happened, um, did that wipe out pretty much the living area? RR: We were living in town then. �HK: Were you? RR: Yeah. Uh, [murmurs], my present wife she was there. And we would see the water. See, we lived on the 900 block of Pennsylvania. Kind of on a hill there. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: You could see the water, down where there was an old junkyard and the, uh, Santa Fe freight house. Freight house. And the offices down there, and [unintelligible] house. And, uh, the, uh, tracks. But since then, they have raised the tracks and they, uh, and they built the new, uh, the freight house [murmurs] freight. They put in a McDonald’s, put, uh, what do you call it, beer establishment? HK: Mm. Um…Abe and Jake’s? Abe and Jake’s? RR: Oh, no. Abe and Jake’s – HK: No? RR: Was up here. HK: Yeah. RR: That’s some [murmurs]. HK: This was, this was…where was it located at? RR: Eight – no, ninth – Eighth and ninth [tape cuts off at 47:25] END OF TAPE 21A � https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-lplks/original/0788dd6fb3b23d588bfe9a62a660a34c.pdf d41fd87243d0a4d38c82bf34765afe63 PDF Text Text Tape 21b: Interview with Raymond Romero Interviewer: Helen Krische Date of Interview: 2006 Length of Interview: 8:49 Location of Interview: St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church Transcription Completion Date: December 15, 2020 Transcriptionist: Emily Raymond Interviewee’s daughter Lupe states on March 1, 2021: “He let people call him Raymond and other Mexican Americans who knew him called him by his real name Ramon. So his full name is Ramon Enrique Romero Sr.” Raymond Romero (Interviewee): [Murmurs]…grocery store that I knew of. That, uh, we done business with. Helen Krische (Interviewer): Mm-hmm. RR: They’d have something on sale and we’d go over there and get it. [murmurs] HK: Did your family, um, do – did they put their stuff on credit and then pay once a month, or…? RR: Yeah, when Johnson’s, when Johnson’s was open, I’ll never forget it. They, uh, they’d give credit to working men. And…they would let us – let them run up so much. We didn’t have no trouble then ‘cause my wife was working, and, uh, we made it with five children. HK: Mm-hmm. Do any of your children speak Spanish? RR: Let’s see – one, two, three of ‘em speak Spanish fluently. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: And the other two: “I don’t want to learn it.” [Laughter] That’s the end of that. HK: Do you think it’s helpful – RR: Oh, yes. HK: For them to know how to speak Spanish? RR: Especially – especially the one that’s a librarian. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: When she…when she graduated out of KU, she didn’t know much Spanish, so she – her first job was down in, uh, Peace Corps. �HK: Mm-hmm. RR: And she went to, uh…Ecuador. Quito, Ecuador. [Murmurs] The young lady might have heard of it. Close to the Panama Canal. And she was in Peace – her and her husband were there in the Peace Corps. And then, uh, they went to, um…Costa Rica, San Jose. They were there for a while. She – she got to teach there. And, uh, then they came to, uh, McAllen, Texas. Abilene, Texas. Um…there was another town that they – three towns in Texas. She taught school there. Her husband was, uh, had something to do with the court system. Probation officer. HK: Oh. RR: That’s how she – they moved around. And she’s, what, 59? HK: What do you think of the situation today, with Mexican Americans? RR: Well…I don’t know how much you know about history, but when Spain was at war in 1936, ‘34, ‘35, ‘36, [Name_____ Franco] said: “We now have the first colony of all the Spanish.” Alright, then he put up the second [colony?]. That bunch didn’t believe in a lot of Francisco ______ theory A lot of ‘em ended up in North Africa, Casabianca, [Place name], and Algiers [Place name]. There was a few of ‘em in Egypt. And then [murmurs] throughout Ivory Coast. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: Just like the Mexicans are doing now, from Mexico. Yeah, the Mexican situation here is now, that these people are coming here simply because there is nothing in Mexico can offer. Because the politicians – you’re a politician, you’re a rich man, you know everything, and you gonna get hoard up all the money. Well, these poor guys…you heard of the expression in English? Crumbpickers. These guys were crumbpickers. And they said: “We’re not gonna be crumbpickers. [Murmurs] since we know how to read and write. We’re gonna go to the United States,” and got up here. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: Some of ‘em are well-educated, some of ‘em are not. They’re gonna have to change their way of their customs. I notice here in church, you’ve got – HK: Mm-hmm. RR: Okay. To have the Spanish Mass, that’s the worst thing they can do to try to teach our Mexican people how to learn the, uh…the, um, English language. By segregating ‘em that way. HK: Mm-hmm. RR: They should just throw ‘em in there, that’s what they done in – to our – us, and our folks. When they came to church, they went right into the – to the, uh…English Mass, and stayed there �and learned what they did. If they died, well, [murmurs], funeral, last rites [murmurs]. Uh, let’s see, what else? Um…oh yeah, that – five minutes? HK: Five minutes. [Laughs] RR: Is that all I got left, or did I run over? HK: That’s all you got left. Interview Assistant: That’s all you got left. HK: So you better talk fast. [Laughs] RR: Well, stop talking [murmurs]. Well, anyways, the only problem that you have with these modern Mexicans now, they’re better off than their first [murmurs] father and mother [murmurs]. Because these guys know how to read and write. When my parents came over, they did not have those schools in Mexico. And, uh, most of them, their writing was just an “X.” And that was it. I’ll never forget one of ‘em. one of ‘em was working there on Santa Fe: “Juan! You signed – you forged that!” He says: “You signed my name! You supposed to write.” He says: “Look, that’s my name!” An “X.” [HK laughs] Well, there you are. Now, what else? HK: That’s it. Well, thank you very much, Raymond. It’s been really enjoyable, and I think that we learned a lot about history here. RR: Did you meet the other kids yet? [Murmurs] HK: Well, they did, but they don’t go back as far as you do. So – RR: I started in 1925. HK: Yeah. RR: Brought it up to the present time. HK: So, yeah. RR: That was only – HK: It’s been a pleasure. RR: That’s only eighty-six…eighty…eighty-one years. HK: Well, that’s a long time. That’s a lot of history. So… �RR: There’s some Mexicans older than I am here, but they were born and raised in, uh, one of ‘em in Argentine, the other was in Emporia…I don’t know…Ottawa. One of [murmurs] was, uh [murmurs]. That’s the best I can give you. I don’t know whether it’ll help you any or not. HK: Well, we appreciate it. And it certainly has helped us. So…yeah. RR: Okay. The only thing that you left out is what did I go through in the war time. HK: Oh. Well, see, we’re gonna save that, because you’re gonna do a – a World War II oral history with us, right? RR: Okay. Okay. HK: So, and we’ll learn all about that then. So…yep. We’ll be – RR: Just – just don’t ask me about French Indochina. HK: Oh. [Laughs] RR: I didn’t know that they had cut all those [murmurs] countries. HK: Uh-huh. RR: [Murmurs] faster than I can [murmurs]. Well, am I the last one? HK: You’re the last one for today. RR: Well, I hope I can help if you – HK: Yeah – [tape cuts off at 8:24] END OF TAPE 21B � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource La Yarda Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource La Yarda (Lawrence, Kan.) Mexican Americans -- Housing -- Kansas -- Lawrence Mexican Americans -- History -- Kansas -- Lawrence Mexican Americans -- Social conditions -- Kansas -- Lawrence Description An account of the resource La Yarda was a neighborhood of worker housing provided by the Santa Fe Railroad for Mexican-American railroad workers in Lawrence, Kansas; located near the Kansas (Kaw) River, the neighborhood was largely destroyed by a major flood in 1951. In 2006, Helen Krische, archivist at the Watkins Community Museum, began an oral history project to document the La Yarda and Mexican-American communities in Lawrence, Kansas. The project was resumed in 2019 by Nora Murphy and Emily Raymond. The interviews primarily feature the children of the railroad workers who migrated to Lawrence in the early 20th century; they describe daily life, social activities, and living conditions in the Mexican-American community in Lawrence from roughly the 1920s through the 1970s. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived La Yarda Oral History Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Watkins Community Museum (Lawrence, Kan.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2006 2019 2021 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource These works are the intellectual property of the Watkins Museum of History, Lawrence, Kansas. The public may freely copy, modify, and share this Item for noncommercial purposes if they include the original source information. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Krische, Helen Raymond, Emily Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Romero, Ramon (Raymond) Enrique, Sr. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP3 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:48:08 (21a audio) 00:08:49 (21b audio) Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 115 kbps (21a) 95 kbps (21b) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ramon (Raymond) Enrique Romero, Sr., La Yarda Interview Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Romero, Ramon (Raymond) Enrique, Sr. Description An account of the resource Ramon (Raymond) Romero was interviewed by Helen Krische in 2006 as part of an oral history project to document the La Yarda and Mexican-American communities in Lawrence, Kansas. La Yarda was a neighborhood of worker housing provided by the Santa Fe Railroad for Mexican-American railroad workers; located near the Kansas (Kaw) River, the neighborhood was largely destroyed by a major flood in 1951. Ramon discusses his school experiences in Lawrence, how he met his wife, and his work experiences including his military service. He discusses his parents' strategies for providing for their family, including gardening and sewing clothes. He describes his experiences with healthcare in his youth. He also discusses his experiences with cultural assimiliation, especially regarding speaking Spanish. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Krische, Helen Raymond, Emily Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Lawrence (Kan.) 1920s - 1970s Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2006 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 (audio recording) PDF (transcription) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 21a-RRomeroSr-2006.mp3 (audio) and 21a-RRomeroSr-2006.pdf (transcription) 21b-RRomeroSr-2006.mp3 (audio) and 21b-RRomeroSr-2006.pdf (transcription) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Watkins Community Museum (Lawrence, Kan.) Relation A related resource To access the audio recording of this interview, go to <a href="https://archive.org/details/21a-rromero-sr-2006">https://archive.org/details/21a-rromero-sr-2006</a>. The <a href="https://www.watkinsmuseum.org/">Watkins Museum of History</a> also holds items related to this collection. <a href="https://archives.lib.ku.edu/repositories/3/resources/5295">Additional research on the La Yarda community</a> is held at the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas. Ramon Romero was also interviewed as part of an oral history project to record memories of World War II. A transcription of that interview can be accessed at <a href="https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/211750">https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/211750</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Published with the permission of Virginia Romero, on behalf of Ramon (Raymond) Romero. This work is the intellectual property of the Watkins Museum of History, Lawrence, Kansas. The public may freely copy, modify, and share this Item for noncommercial purposes if they include the original source information. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived La Yarda Oral History Project Subject The topic of the resource La Yarda (Lawrence, Kan.) Mexican Americans -- Housing -- Kansas -- Lawrence Mexican Americans -- History -- Kansas -- Lawrence Mexican Americans -- Social conditions -- Kansas -- Lawrence Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History