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 Sort descending Collection Description Interviewer Date of Interview Location of Interview Affiliation
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
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
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
Judge Henry L. Murphy Tales of Cape Cod

Judge Murphy was born in Hyannis in 1907.  His father and brothers owned Murphy Brothers Bakery for over 40 years.  Judge Murphy as a child started at 5:00 am in the bakery, then school and then back to the bakery in the late afternoon.  The bakery delivered fresh baked goods each morning via horse and wagon.  He remembers graduating from law school during the depression and finding it difficult to find work in Boston.

Frank Rudd Centerville, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
Kenneth Coombs Tales of Cape Cod

"So many things go with the people, and you think they’re going to live forever, and they’re gone, and you never know what they do know."

Ernestine Gray Mashpee, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
L. Thomas Hopkins Tales of Cape Cod

Born in 1889, Mr. Hopkins describes his experiences growing up in Truro, Massachusetts.  He was the 6th of 8 children and was delivered by a midwife.  At 88 he attributes his longevity to good genes and cod liver oil.

Betty Richards Truro, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
Louise H. Kelley Tales of Cape Cod

Part 1: Born in 1907, Mrs. Kelley talks about her ancestors first on her father’s side and then on her mother’s side.

Renée Magriel Dennisport, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives
Mabelle Howes Eagar Tales of Cape Cod

Born in 1898, Mrs.

William Steere Dennis, 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
Mary Carreiro Tales of Cape Cod

Mary Carreiro interview with Tales of Cape Cod, May 15, 1978 in Provincetown, MA.  Born in 1903, Mary recalls how her father came to Provincetown as a stowaway on a fishing vessel from the Azore Islands and working off the cost of passage after he was brought to the customs office.She describes Provincetown before World War I.  Tells of trains and boats coming to Provincetown in the summer and the large boat the Dorothy Bradford carried 1200-1300 people.  She tells of her first jobs at 13 where she was paid $1.50 per week washing silverware and glasses at the Atlant

Betty Richards Provincetown, MA The William Brewster Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives