Skip to main content

Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church immigrant oral histories

 Collection
Identifier: SdArch 30

  • Staff Only

Scope and Content

Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church Immigrant Oral Histories, 2007, is comprised of sound recordings of interviews of parishioners of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Student interviewers asked the interviewees to talk about their own and their family’s experiences as immigrants to the Central Shenandoah Valley. The interviews were conducted by James Madison University students in Dr. Laura Zarrugh’s course, SOC395: Immigrants in American Society.

Dates

  • 2007

Access Restrictions

Access to the Oral Histories is governed by agreements with the narrators. Pseudonyms (a single initial) are used at the request of the narrators. At the discretion of the repository, select audio has been restricted and select interviews have been assigned pseudonyms. Two interviews are restricted, due to incomplete documentation.

Use Restrictions

Copyright interests have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).

Bio/Historical Note

In the spring of 2007, the students in Dr. Laura Zarrugh’s course, SOC395: Immigrants in American Society at James Madison University, conducted twenty-two interviews with parishioners at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in downtown Harrisonburg, VA. The recordings were made available to Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church for use in conjunction with the church’s centennial anniversary celebration. The majority of the interviews were conducted at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Harrisonburg, but several interviews were conducted in the office of William (Chris) Blake at James Madison University, and one interview was conducted in the interviewees’ home.

Extent

0.01 cubic feet (13 cds)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church Immigrant Oral Histories, 2007, is comprised of sound recordings of interviews of parishioners of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia, regarding experiences of immigrating to the Central Shenandoah Valley. The interviews were conducted by James Madison University students in Dr. Laura Zarrugh’s course, SOC395: Immigrants in American Society.

Arrangement

Interviews are listed alphabetically by interviewee last name.

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated by Dr. Laura Zarrugh on June 6, 2007.

Appraisal

After reviewing the material in 2020 for transcription and processing for access, audio recordings of interviews 30-4 and 30-21 were found to be inaudible, and were deaccessioned. Audio recordings of Interviews 30-8, 30-15, and 30-20 were not present at the time of processing.

Processing Information

The collection is comprised of 22 audio recordings, 20 of which are on cassettes, and 2 on microcassettes. The original media was not found at the time of processing. The cassettes were transferred to CDs by JMU’s Libraries and Education Technologies Media Resources in August 2007; recorded on MAMA-R 100 MB gold cd using Tascam cc-222mkll; mp3s created using iTunesv7. Mp3s and wav file were uploaded to the M:Drive in September and October of 2007.

Select recordings had transcripts at the time of donation, while others were created in 2019 by a vendor, AZUR CART and Captioning services. One interview, 30-3, was transcribed by Special Collections staff in January of 2021. One interview, 30-11, does not have a transcript and is unavaible pending further processing.

Source

Title
A Guide to the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church Immigrant Oral Histories, 2007
Author
Emily Rapavi
Date
2019
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 2021-05-11: Edited to reflect addition of transcript for 30-3

Repository Details

Part of the James Madison University Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
880 Madison Drive
MSC 1704
Harrisonburg Virginia 22807
(540) 568-3612