Tales of Cape Cod

  • Collection DOI:
    Principal Investigator:
    Louis Cataldo
  • The Tales of Cape Cod Oral History Collection consists      of interviews of life long residents of all the towns in  Barnstable County conducted between ca. 1972-1978. Louis Cataldo, then president of the Tales of Cape Cod board, oversaw the project, staff included Franklin S. Klausner, Roland Barabe, David J. Boudreau, Charles H. Hodgson and Renee Magriel, and interviewers included Betty W. Richards, Lee Anne Sullivan and William Pride. Interviewers asked older Cape Residents about changes    in transportation, the arrival of electricity and telephones, their memories of school, holiday celebrations, foodways, family histories and more. Residents shared stories and anecdotes about summer people, the fishing and   cranberry industries, agriculture, local businesses, the Great Depression, World Wars I and II, Prohibition, race relations, economic change, major storms and much    more.  For more information, contact the William Brewster Nickerson Archives in the Wilkens Library at Cape Cod Community College: http://www.nickersonarchives.org/ 

Interviewee Collection Sort descending Description Interviewer Date of Interview Location of Interview Affiliation
Joshua Atkins Nickerson, Part 1 Tales of Cape Cod

Tales of Cape Cod interview with Joshua Atkins Nickerson of East Harwich, October 19, 1977.

Notes: The Tales of Cape Cod Oral History Collection is housed at the William Brewster Nickerson Archives in the Wilkens Library at Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. For more information about the collection, please contact the Nickerson Archives, http://www.nickersonarchives.org/.

Betty Richards East Harwich, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
Eugenia Fortes Tales of Cape Cod

Tales of Cape Cod Interview with prominent Civil Rights activist Eugenia Fortes (1911-2006),  who founded  the Cape Cod chapter of the NAACP in 1961. Mrs. Fortes describes the Cape Verdean community on Cape Cod, school segregation, and her participation in the Civil Rights Movement.

Frank Rudd Hyannis, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
Joshua Atkins Nickerson, Part 2 Tales of Cape Cod

Tales of Cape Cod interview with Joshua Atkins Nickerson of East Harwich, October 25, 1977.

Notes: The Tales of Cape Cod Oral History Collection is housed at the William Brewster Nickerson Archives in the Wilkens Library at Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. For more information about the collection, please contact the Nickerson Archives, http://www.nickersonarchives.org/.

Betty Richards East Harwich, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
Cecil I. Goodspeed Tales of Cape Cod

Born in 1898, in West Barnstable, Mr.

Frank Rudd Osterville, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
Otto E. Nickerson Tales of Cape Cod

Mr. Nickerson was born in Eastham in 1896.  His father was a selectman of Eastham and he has 10-11 generations of Cape relatives.  His grandmother was a Mayflower descendent.  He recalls working in cranberry bogs as a teenager and describes the use of cedar swamps to create and develop cranberries.  He describes the development and care of a cranberry bog.  He remembers riding on school barges (horse drawn wagons) to get to elementary school.  There would be straw on the wagon floor to keep your feet warm in the winter.  Mr.

Betty Richards Eastham, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
William L. Grozier Tales of Cape Cod

Mr. Grozier was born in North Truro in 1904.  His paternal grandfather John Paine Grozier was born in Truro. His grandfather’s occupation was a teamer, one who collected cargo from shipwrecks on the beaches and then reloaded it on ships.  His father John Franklin Grozier was a road man who worked for the town of Truro for 32 years.  Mr.

Betty Richards North Truro, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
Joseph Oliver Tales of Cape Cod

Captain Oliver describes trap fishing, early twentieth century Provincetown, the Shaw Fund for Mariner's Children, and his experiences taking Ernie Pyle out fishing.

Notes: The Tales of Cape Cod Oral History Collection is housed at the William Brewster Nickerson Archives in the Wilkens Library at Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. For more information about the collection, please contact the Nickerson Archives, http://www.nickersonarchives.org/.

Betty Richards Provincetown, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
Dudley Winthrop Hallett Tales of Cape Cod

Born in 1902, Mr. Hallett describes his childhood experiences from 1907-1909 while vacationing in South Dennis, Massachusetts. He also describes his experiences living as a summer resident in Silver Beach, North Falmouth, Massachusetts from 1910 to the 1920. He describes the costs of rentals and food in 1907, his experiences with Captain Howard Kelley family in South Dennis; his great uncle Joyce Taylor in Hyannis who was a prominent realtor and business man; Mr. Hallett's life as a child and teenager in Silver Beach, North Falmouth and the affluent neighbors who were summer residents.

William Pride Falmouth, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
Mildred B. Paine Tales of Cape Cod

Part 1: Born in 1893, Mrs.

Renée Magriel Harwich, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
Marjorie Hamblin Tales of Cape Cod

Born in 1899, Mrs.

Susan Shaw Marstons Mills, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives