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Oral Histories

Chevy Chase DC Residents Share Memories of Growing Up and Growing Old Here

By interviewing residents and asking them to recall the past, we can create a public record of history unique to one neighborhood or group of people. Oral histories differ from memoirs or biographies in that they give us a way to look at how people lived and experienced events or places — things that, during the time they were experienced might have seemed too commonplace to be worth mentioning. But they are details of daily life ingrained in our past that helped make us who we are. And when they are lost to memory, they are truly gone.

Since 2010 HCCDC has completed more than 32 oral histories of individuals — a few of them are couples or multiple family members -- plus videotaped oral histories involving graduates of Woodrow Wilson High School. By putting these histories on our website, we are giving them a wider audience as well as providing historians with direct access to unique information.

If you'd like to see a 2018 overview of our Oral Histories program, click here »

Judith Clark Adams

Judith Adams

Witness to Stark Changes from 1960s to 1980s as DC Schools Desegregate and Lifestyles Evolve

Judith Clark AdamsRead More

Allen Beach

Allen Beach

Beach Ancestors Had First-Hand Experience with Lincoln, Kaiser Wilhelm, and The New Deal

Allen BeachRead More

Ralph Benson

Ralph Benson

Recalls Pinehurst Neighborhood in an Uproar Over Racially Mixed Couple in the 1940s

Ralph BensonRead More

Dallas Dean

Dallas Dean

Stone House at Nebraska and Rittenhouse has been Dallas Dean’s Home Since Birth

Dallas DeanRead More

L. Bernice Degler

Spanish Scholar, ANC Commissioner, Businesswoman, and Racial Pioneer: Bernice Degler Made a Difference

L. Bernice DeglerRead More

Barbara Dresner

Barara Dresner

Pennsylvania Girl Recruited During World War II, Worked as Secretary on Manhattan Project

Barbara DresnerRead More

Sarah (Sally) Epstein

Sarah (Sally) Epstein

Experiments in International Living, public health, and collecting works by Edvard Munch

Sarah (Sally) EpsteinRead More

Brock Evans and Linda Garcia

Brock Evans and Linda Garcia

A Marriage of Environmentalism and Technology: Saving Lafayette’s Trees and Relishing Their Community

Brock Evans and Linda GarciaRead More

Allie Felder

Allie Felder

PhD in Agriculture led to 12-year career in India with Rockefeller organization

Allie FelderRead More

James Fisher and Tanya Hardy

James Fisher and Tanya Hardy

Descending from Black Landowners Where Lafayette Park Now Stands

James Fisher and Tanya HardyRead More

Jeffrey Gildenhorn

Jeffrey Gildenhorn

Third-Generation Entrepreneur in Chevy Chase, Gildenhorn was also an Active Citizen, Neighbor, Hoya

Jeffrey GildenhornRead More

Miss Ella Given

A Speech Given by Miss Ella Given, a Beloved Educator who was Head of the E.V. Brown School for Decades

Miss Ella GivenRead More

William Gray

Gray’s Memories are of ‘A Sleepy Southern Town’ when $1 Bought A Weekly DC Streetcar Pass

William GrayRead More

Timothy Hannapel and Emily Swartz

Timothy Hannapel & Emily Swartz

Chevy Chase Desegregates and the Neighborhood Organizes Youth Services: Nephew, Aunt Tell of Experience

Timothy Hannapel and Emily SwartzRead More

Frances Hamby

Francis Hamby

Q – Let’s start with your name. FH – Frances Hamby Q – And when were you born? FH – August 4, 1927. Q – Where were you born? FH – Rockville, Maryland Q – Can you describe your family? Were there other children in your family? FH – I had an older sister and …

Frances HambyRead More

Elliott Hertzmark

Elliott Hertzmark

Longtime Resident of Northampton Street: “Maybe I Should Write a Book on Old Age. I Have Lots of Experience”

Elliott HertzmarkRead More

Samuel Frank Higger and Marie Silverman Higger

Higger’s Drug Store, First in the Area to Carry Penicillin: ‘More than a Pharmacy’ to Residents of Chevy Chase DC

Samuel Frank Higger and Marie Silverman HiggerRead More

Helen Higgins

Sculpture, Potter, Mother of Nine, Helen Higgins Also Lives in Oldest House in Chevy Chase DC

Helen HigginsRead More

Bernie Hillenbrand

Bernie Hillenbrand

From Omaha Beach to Oliver Street: A Life Rich in Adventure, Neighborhood Connections, and Family

Bernie HillenbrandRead More

Regina Holliday: An Oral History

Regina Holliday, health advocacy muralist

Health Advocacy Muralist Has Left Her Message on Many a Familiar Chevy Chase DC Wall

Regina Holliday: An Oral HistoryRead More

Murray Howder

Librarian, Russian Translator, and Opera Lover Moved to Chevy Chase in 1960s

Murray HowderRead More

Loretta Kiron

Łódż is Closer than you Think: Loretta Kiron Talks about Auschwitz, White Flight and Tennis

Loretta KironRead More

Jean Klieger

Being German and Jewish in DC: “We were so thrilled to be in a neighborhood that didn’t say ‘No Jews allowed.’”

Jean KliegerRead More

Milton Kotler

ECCO bene: Milton Kotler is Father of ANCs and the Neighborhood Government Movement — a Perspective Best Viewed from the Front Porch

Milton KotlerRead More

William and Joan Mullan

Mullans Reflect on Raising Six Children in Neighborhood So Close 60 Vacationed Together Each Summer

William and Joan MullanRead More

Patty Myler

Patricia Wimsatt Myler Reflects on 350 Years of Family Migration — from the Ark and Dove to Alexandria, DC’s ‘Island,’ and Chevy Chase

Patty MylerRead More

Ruth and Mort Needelman

The Inns of Court: The Needelmans Talk Tennis

Ruth and Mort NeedelmanRead More

Gen. Frederick W. “Fritz” Plugge, MD

Chevy Chase Native, Doctor Held World Spotlight While in Charge of Iran Hostages

Gen. Frederick W. “Fritz” Plugge, MDRead More

Connie Tobriner Povich

Connie Povich

A First Date to Union Station to See a Train Wreck and Other Amazing Tales About Growing Up a Tobriner and Marrying a Povich

Connie Tobriner PovichRead More

Vera Rubin

How She Became an Astronomer (and Got a Telescope Named in Her Honor Postmortem!)

Vera RubinRead More

Thomas and Mae Scanlan

Couple Talks About Why They Remained in the City While Others Fled to the Suburbs

Thomas and Mae ScanlanRead More

Richard Sullivan and John Sullivan

Those Where the Times When, For Only a Thousand Dollars More, You Could Get a Better House in Chevy Chase DC

Richard Sullivan and John SullivanRead More

Joan Taylor

A Career in European Archeology, Taylor Shares Observations of Smithsonian Sci+Tech Museum Founder Frank Taylor

Joan TaylorRead More

Frank Van Riper and Judith Goodman

Love at First Exposure — Frank Van Riper and Judith Goodman Share a Life of Photography, Writing, and Art

Frank Van Riper and Judith GoodmanRead More

Warren Wright

The Hottest Country Sound on the East Coast – Warren Wright talks about Chevy Chase-based radio station WMZQ.

Warren WrightRead More

Wilson High School Videotaped Oral Histories

Members of the Woodrow Wilson High School Class of 1954 met to record on oral history at their 60th reunion in Washington DC. Individual oral histories were also recorded of WWHS graduates Tom Hier (1976), Ken Luchs (1956), Joan Topalian (1961), and Lisa Friedman (1965).

Wilson High School Videotaped Oral HistoriesRead More

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