48 10 1322 https://openvalley.org/files/original/ad6cb470fc61809bb7e83b8d91f04eb5.JPG db6d439036a4688f5615d2b828f9b238 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 Perry Knitting Co. Description An account of the resource This collection gathers documents for a Perry Knitting Co. exhibit on OpenValley. They are drawn from from three main sources. First, the Clark Rice Photography Collection at the Perry, NY Public Library. Rice was a prolific photographer in Western New York throughout the mid-20th century. This collection includes scans of his work, and copies of images from the turn of the century photographer Merrium Crocker, whose studio Rice purchased. Secondly, the Henry Page Local History Files. Page was president of First National Bank of Perry, and a local historian associated with the public library for nearly five decades. His uncle, William, had helped secure funding from the Carnegie Corporation for its establishment in 1900 and construction in 1914. The Page collection contains various historical materials and photographs accumulated by him over the years. Thirdly, we draw upon various public domain texts, such as maps from the Library of Congress or <a href="http://perrypubliclibrary.advantage-preservation.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digitized articles from local newspapers</a>. All images here are selections from these collections, chosen for their relevance to OpenValley project. We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the Perry Public Library and its Director, Jessica Pacciotti. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Meghan Cobo, Ken Cooper, Michaelena Ferraro, Melisha Gatlin, Andrew Gleason, Macaire Lisicki, Ben Michalak, Ethan Pelletier, Emma Raupp, Mariah Rockwell. Special thanks to Jessica Pacciotti at the Perry Public Library. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data Photograph Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 4000 × 3000 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 Inside the Biblio-Tech Cafe. Description An account of the resource Biblio-Tech Cafe. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gleason Andrew Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Gleason Andrew Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-10-28 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg,3.4MB Biblio-Tech Cafe Perry Knitting Co. https://openvalley.org/files/original/dacca8379bf37ef421f29b987b38f77c.jpg e9d0e9fa554b4f0d83f06ef2d36c349e 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 Perry Knitting Co. Description An account of the resource This collection gathers documents for a Perry Knitting Co. exhibit on OpenValley. They are drawn from from three main sources. First, the Clark Rice Photography Collection at the Perry, NY Public Library. Rice was a prolific photographer in Western New York throughout the mid-20th century. This collection includes scans of his work, and copies of images from the turn of the century photographer Merrium Crocker, whose studio Rice purchased. Secondly, the Henry Page Local History Files. Page was president of First National Bank of Perry, and a local historian associated with the public library for nearly five decades. His uncle, William, had helped secure funding from the Carnegie Corporation for its establishment in 1900 and construction in 1914. The Page collection contains various historical materials and photographs accumulated by him over the years. Thirdly, we draw upon various public domain texts, such as maps from the Library of Congress or <a href="http://perrypubliclibrary.advantage-preservation.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digitized articles from local newspapers</a>. All images here are selections from these collections, chosen for their relevance to OpenValley project. We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the Perry Public Library and its Director, Jessica Pacciotti. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Meghan Cobo, Ken Cooper, Michaelena Ferraro, Melisha Gatlin, Andrew Gleason, Macaire Lisicki, Ben Michalak, Ethan Pelletier, Emma Raupp, Mariah Rockwell. Special thanks to Jessica Pacciotti at the Perry Public Library. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data Photograph Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 10 x 8 in. 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/. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 1.1 MB Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 6704 Title A name given to the resource Inspecting Garments at a Perry Knitting Co. Open House Description An account of the resource According to the Rice Collection annotation, "Clifford Rice and three others inspect the garments made in the Knitting Mill during the Mill Open House in 1954." This date is probably wrong; there wasn't an open house in 1954, but there was on May 27, 1953. The garments being displayed are likely Nitey Nite brand pajamas. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perry, NY Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1954-05-27 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cooper, Ken Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Clark Rice Photography Collection Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Clark Rice Photography Collection Nitey Nite Perry Knitting Co. Perry, NY https://openvalley.org/files/original/7bcea2336c54202e7da7a066595dc451.jpg 1d2cb7cadd51abb33b7b59c908d712dd 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 Perry Knitting Co. Description An account of the resource This collection gathers documents for a Perry Knitting Co. exhibit on OpenValley. They are drawn from from three main sources. First, the Clark Rice Photography Collection at the Perry, NY Public Library. Rice was a prolific photographer in Western New York throughout the mid-20th century. This collection includes scans of his work, and copies of images from the turn of the century photographer Merrium Crocker, whose studio Rice purchased. Secondly, the Henry Page Local History Files. Page was president of First National Bank of Perry, and a local historian associated with the public library for nearly five decades. His uncle, William, had helped secure funding from the Carnegie Corporation for its establishment in 1900 and construction in 1914. The Page collection contains various historical materials and photographs accumulated by him over the years. Thirdly, we draw upon various public domain texts, such as maps from the Library of Congress or <a href="http://perrypubliclibrary.advantage-preservation.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digitized articles from local newspapers</a>. All images here are selections from these collections, chosen for their relevance to OpenValley project. We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the Perry Public Library and its Director, Jessica Pacciotti. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Meghan Cobo, Ken Cooper, Michaelena Ferraro, Melisha Gatlin, Andrew Gleason, Macaire Lisicki, Ben Michalak, Ethan Pelletier, Emma Raupp, Mariah Rockwell. Special thanks to Jessica Pacciotti at the Perry Public Library. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data Postcard Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 5.5 x 3.5 in. 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 Inspection Department, Perry Knitting Co. Description An account of the resource A postcard in poor condition yields a rare look at the final stage of manufacturing undergarments. Located in Mill #4, finished goods were first inspected, then ironed and packaged for delivery worldwide. The image has been lightly edited to minimize creases in the paper. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 824 KB Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 6115 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perry, NY Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1915-1925 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cooper, Ken Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Clark Rice Photography Collection Clark Rice Photography Collection Perry Knitting Co. Perry, NY Post Card https://openvalley.org/files/original/ae4efd7250a776f5790f1f69e8d6f64b.jpg 6ca59b72acc11db9ba03cc6520d2b702 https://openvalley.org/files/original/8df2be64965d615d4752e5ff0354aacb.jpg dcc08ec887b29fbbb6c807622f53e9c2 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 Mills of Genesee Valley Description An account of the resource Before the commercial extraction of fossil fuels from the Oil Creek region of northern Pennsylvania, most mechanical work in the Genesee Valley was done by human and animal power, or some source ultimately derived from the sun: burning wood, wind power, or flowing water. The exception to this, of course, was coal--by the 1880s America's dominant source of energy. Due to the Genesee region's ample supply of wood and running water, along with the cost of shipping coal, it's quite common to find instances of various water mills in the area's history. They were adapted to a wide range of uses: cutting wood into timber and milling it into specialized shapes (lumber mill); grinding corn into animal feed or for distilling alcohol (grist mill); grinding wheat or other grains (flour mill); creating boxes and other products from wood pulp (paper mill); fabricating metals (triphammer mill); powering industrial equipment (textile mill); and by the 1880s creating electricity via turbines. This collection gathers various documents concerning mills in the Genesee Valley. In addition to images and written texts, there is also an interactive map illustrating the density of their usage during the mid-nineteenth century. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data Paper sheet, 15.34 x 12.17 in. folded to 7.67 x 12.17 in. 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 Insurance policy on Wadsworth Flour Mill, 1841-1846 Description An account of the resource An original copy of an insurance policy (including receipt) purchased from the Ontario and Livingston Mutual Insurance Company by James Wadsworth of Geneseo, N.Y. on "His Custom Flouring Mill" in Livingston County, N.Y. (probably on Conesus Creek in the town of Avon). Wadsworth paid a $1200 premium for five years of coverage in the amount of $6000. The text of the law incorporating the insurance company and an extract of its by-laws are printed on the interior pages of the folded sheet. The policy is signed by the company's president, Oliver Phelps. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ontario and Livingston Mutual Insurance Company Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1841-10-28 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Wadsworth Family Papers, Cabinet 1, Drawer 2 Milne Library Special Collections, SUNY Geneseo Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 3.21 MB jpeg, 490 KB Type The nature or genre of the resource Text GENESEE VALLEY Grist Insurance Milling mills wadsworth https://openvalley.org/files/original/bebff4e1fcc6584fbe0e326157529ab7.jpg 45e8e7335b30d6c1812cf94fd908d8e1 https://openvalley.org/files/original/0004a881adabd7cb31234f72012a0473.jpg 2d27cceabe7e5eab5bdb4fec56a549f4 https://openvalley.org/files/original/5f0a28d29e06d2d53c0cbc656153b407.jpg c715ff9d0f618e79350a04e26b28ffeb https://openvalley.org/files/original/bd49c2c38274f41e41a9dff0e1a2d862.jpg f24ccc406b7ba8b15eaafc00a3caeba9 https://openvalley.org/files/original/5cd0130fb4cff39d7890751af9ecedba.jpg 1326ca33454ed4b0542d560f3882f418 https://openvalley.org/files/original/0138ade7b9318d6114645a4cb0a4aff0.jpg 338318c2f0ba68d2b52fe400b9c1688b https://openvalley.org/files/original/fb47a86906493ac602a5827aca6b7e3e.jpg 364c8012072481e93429092ef290c4dd https://openvalley.org/files/original/d66694a79e57fd944cc670bb66aa125c.jpg 77990c177b8d9585b7f9487d3fc5465d https://openvalley.org/files/original/5863de439d939a4d6dfaa2f4ea9e14c9.jpg a177c2384ff31a41380251901d243e22 https://openvalley.org/files/original/b1b2010e1d0bcf1ffb25f0a544359e9d.jpg 5542c9b904ca2250643d2dbb374dedb7 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data Photographs Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image All are 4 x 5 in. 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 Intergrow Greenhouse, Fillmore NY Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kelly, Sylvia? Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Geneseo Migrant Center Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2001-02 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cooper, Ken Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Creative Artists Migrant Program Services collection, Genesee Valley Council on the Arts Description An account of the resource The 15-acre Intergrow facility was constructed in 1998 to grow vegetables year-round on the model of Dutch greenhouses, soon focusing upon tomatoes as its most commercially viable crop. The operation was sited in Fillmore, NY for its proximity to the coal-fired Allegany Power Plant. and employed primarily Spanish-speaking migrant workers. The Geneseo Migrant Center (GMC) began outreach to Intergrow workers by 2001 and soon recognized that their agricultural "world" was in some ways quite different from field workers at traditional farms. In order for staff and artists to better communicate, GMC Director Sylvia Kelly visited the Intergrow greenhouse and learned some of its distinct vocabulary: "pallet jacks" (gato de paleta) and "string line" (cuerda de linea). <a href="https://openvalley.org/items/show/1899" target="_blank" rel="noopener">See her notes here.</a> The photographs shown above were taken to create flashcards corresponding to some of Intergrow's daily work: <ol> <li>Tomato plants attached to wires (cable/alambre)</li> <li>Tomatoes growing in a cart (carro) in clusters (racimos)</li> <li>A scraper, wrapped around worker's finger</li> <li>Stickers (etiquetas)</li> <li>Stacks of boxes (cajas)</li> <li>A pallet jack (gato de paleta)</li> <li>A bee box</li> <li>Bags (volsas)</li> <li>Forklift (montecargas)</li> <li>A topworker on a picker's cart</li> </ol> Work Consulted: Mary Stone, "Made in the FLX: Intergrow Greenhouses Grows and Grows," Edible Finger Lakes 30 Mar. 2021. <a href="https://www.ediblefingerlakes.com/2021/03/30/made-in-the-flx-intergrow-greenhouses-grows-and-grows/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Link here</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Still images Creative Artists Migrant Program Services Geneseo Migrant Center Greenhouse Intergrow Tomatoes https://openvalley.org/files/original/eaca630b7e96f51443b0e661e2a4282d.jpg b2f7a60b05efcc281a9397afe12d23bc Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data Photograph Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 4 x 5 in. 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 Interior of Retsof Mine Description An account of the resource Undated photo depicts horse-drawn carts used in early Livingston County salt mining operations Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Werner, Charles J. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Unknown Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cooper, Ken Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Charles J. Werner, "A History and Description of the Manufacture and Mining of Salt in New York State" (Long Island, NY: Charles J. Werner, 1917), p. 137 Internet Archive Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 311 KB Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Little Italy Mining Retsof Mine Retsof, NY https://openvalley.org/files/original/cdfa74df821d3d52800dad5ed8b9da64.jpg 04d56e38327ef1591b63cc677627be64 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data Photography 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 Interior of the Auditorium theater prior to the fire, 1982 Description An account of the resource Interior of the Auditorium theater prior to the fire, 1982. The auditorium has both balcony and floor-levels. Taken from stage, the photo shows the seats ascending to the back-right of the auditorium and the stage lights above. Two viewing boxes are to the left of the balcony. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perry, NY Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Michalak, Benjamin Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Clark Rice Photography Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource .jpeg, 1.6 MB Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 1076 Clark Rice Photography Collection Perry Knitting Co. Perry, NY https://openvalley.org/files/original/61b599d36123b292fb6e4e24240165f1.jpg 537984439c298b5c02c959246c016e1b 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 Perry Knitting Co. Description An account of the resource This collection gathers documents for a Perry Knitting Co. exhibit on OpenValley. They are drawn from from three main sources. First, the Clark Rice Photography Collection at the Perry, NY Public Library. Rice was a prolific photographer in Western New York throughout the mid-20th century. This collection includes scans of his work, and copies of images from the turn of the century photographer Merrium Crocker, whose studio Rice purchased. Secondly, the Henry Page Local History Files. Page was president of First National Bank of Perry, and a local historian associated with the public library for nearly five decades. His uncle, William, had helped secure funding from the Carnegie Corporation for its establishment in 1900 and construction in 1914. The Page collection contains various historical materials and photographs accumulated by him over the years. Thirdly, we draw upon various public domain texts, such as maps from the Library of Congress or <a href="http://perrypubliclibrary.advantage-preservation.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digitized articles from local newspapers</a>. All images here are selections from these collections, chosen for their relevance to OpenValley project. We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the Perry Public Library and its Director, Jessica Pacciotti. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Meghan Cobo, Ken Cooper, Michaelena Ferraro, Melisha Gatlin, Andrew Gleason, Macaire Lisicki, Ben Michalak, Ethan Pelletier, Emma Raupp, Mariah Rockwell. Special thanks to Jessica Pacciotti at the Perry Public Library. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data Photograph Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 10 x 8 in 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 Interior of the Mill Description An account of the resource The Perry Knitting Company occupied three sites at their zenith. One in Mt. Morris, one in Fillmore and the main plant in Perry. The Mt. Morris plant closed in 1969 and Clark took these prints of the interior for the Mill. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perry, NY Public Library Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1969 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Lisicki, Macaire Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Clark Rice Photography Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 2.4 MB Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 5238 Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Perry Knitting Co., Perry, NY, https://openvalley.org/files/original/539f7a6fd5a50af60236d14cf6b76b74.jpg 930f3aad6f38eddab6efbffaa6dc4f54 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data Illustration 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 International Woman's Day Description An account of the resource Magazine cover dates to a period when women’s suffrage and socialism were commingling in productive new ways. Here, three different social ills are linked to the absence of suffrage: a mother and daughter under the tyranny of a patriarchal father, an impoverished prostitute with her son watching on, and an economically precarious mother alone. Suffrage was just part of a larger progressive agenda symbolized by the large allegorical figure. At the time of this illustration Braverman’s job title was “Associate Editor and Circulation Manager” for The Coming Nation," published in Chicago; he also produced much of the magazine’s art. It had been founded as "The Socialist Woman" in 1907 by Josephine Conger-Kaneko and in 1909 changed its name to "The Progressive Woman." The final iteration shown above lasted only a year before folding in 1914. After passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, and as socialist unity fragmented under the duress of Palmer Raids and systematic anti-red legislation, Braverman became disillusioned and moved into poster art and advertising. By the 1920s he worked for the Curtis Company agency in Detroit, MI and then the Hamman group in Oakland, CA. He played a central role in smuggling copies of James Joyce’s banned novel Ulysses into America in 1922. Later Braverman created works for the Federal Art Project, including a work held by the New Deal Gallery at Mt. Morris: “Down and Out” (1937). He had a great interest in films, during the 1940s working upon an authorized biography of the director D.W. Griffith that never was published. He lived the last years of his life in St. Paul, MN. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Braverman, Barnet (1888-1965) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Coming Nation Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1914-03 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cooper, Ken Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived "The Coming Nation" 1.5 (Mar. 1914): cover Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Illustration Barnet Braverman socialism Suffrage Movement The Coming Nation The Progressive Woman https://openvalley.org/files/original/fea11f2a245c9d632c6babf49bc24aed.docx ffab6b21011d5d7c11c71c6225933dcb Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document KEN: Just before I turned this on, you were talking about how Doty had been the high school you went to- AIME: --Geneseo Central High School, mhm. KEN: And I don’t know how many people know about that, could you talk about that a little? AIME: Well, it was actually built as Geneseo High School in the 1930s, and then when the school centralized in the 1950s, it became Geneseo Central School, and I attended-- I graduated from there in 1973. KEN: Was the mascot still the same or? AIME: Mhm, Blue Devlis! KEN: Blue Devils. So, how many students attended? AIME: Well, it was 7-12. So I know in our class, we were baby boomers, so the classes were larger than they had been before. I can’t remember how many graduated, but our class was around 90. And that was quite large for this area. And, prior to that I went to elementary school in what is now Welles, but it was built as the Holcomb School, and that was our elementary school. KEN: And were Geneseo students student-teaching? Are you able to remember that kind of, cool college students-- AIME: Well, It’s harder for me to remember high school, [laughs], it’s sort of a blur. But yes, we didn’t always have a student teacher, but it was common to have a student teacher from the college. And they were always young, and they always seemed hip, and you looked forward to... they would observe or, you know, help students out a little bit. And then after a few weeks, they would actually get to do a lesson. And so, we were cognoscente of the fact that they were older, but not that much older. KEN: Right, when you’re 7 or 8 years old, everyone looks old to you. AIME: Yes, right! And of course, where the high school was, it was right adjacent to the campus. KEN: Yeah that seems so strange, I think that’s such a different experience. I think there are a few places where there is a combined, kind of central school. But, I think it’s much more common these days where the high school, and the elementary and even the middle school are at really different locations sometimes. AIME: Right, well Geneseo is a small community. So, actually when the college was first built, they had a disserate school in the original old Main building, where neighborhood kids went to. And apparently they had a high school there too, but I don’t know that much about that. But anyway, we were more involved with the college when we were in elementary school, because the Holcomb School, which I still call it the Holcomb School, they call it Welles, it just bugs me to no end, It was built as Dr. Holcomb as a practice school, so we were used as guinea pigs [Ken and AIME laugh]. When I talk to people who went to so-called “normal” elementary school, and I talk about the kinds of things that we were involved in at the Holcomb School, they are astounded. KEN: What was different? AIME: Well, we had music lessons, we started out when Suzuki was in style, and I had the tiny little violin. And Dr. Karl would from the college over and teach us little ones how to play the violin. And then he would take us, and put us into the college orchestra and feature the little ones with the college orchestra, so that was really neat. And then also, Alice Austin was in the, they had a huge dramatic arts department, and she would come over and pluck out kids out of a class, and take you and rehearse you to do something, and then put you in and integrate you in some sort of college program. KEN: That’s such a close relationship between the college and the grade school. Did that extend also to the high school? AIME: No, not so much at that point. I mean, not that I remember. But in elementary school, it wasn’t uncommon for us to have 4-5, I think they used to call them participants. It’s sort of like in a hospital now where you have interns, or residents everywhere. KEN: Yeah, where you have people walking everywhere. I’ve heard them called, not laboratory schools but university schools where they try out new kind of pedagogical things on kids. AIME: Yes exactly! So anything that came down the pipe, they experimented on us [laughter]. Like when they opened up the speech-therapy department, all of a sudden we all had lisps or and everything [laughter] because we always wanted part of, [laughter] you know we’d be hooked up to all those machines, to be taken out. Art-wise, music-wise, Spanish. We started Spanish in first grade… KEN: Were the teachers also professors at Geneseo, or were they a separate thing? AIME: I don’t think they were professors, no. They were regular teachers, mostly women until I got to 5th or 6th grade and then we started having men. KEN: Who was your favorite? AIME: Oh, Mr. Conlan, hands-down. Tom Conlan. He and his wife later were both teaching when SUNY was a teacher’s college. They were in the department teaching teachers how to be teachers. KEN: And this is a person, who it was good that he was doing that, it sounds like. Just fabulous. AIME: Oh, he was just wonderful. My first male teacher, so I never had an experience with having that sort of non-traditional teacher. KEN: So how was that different? Like, to a kid? AIME: I think because it was, we were used to that just a woman, a mother figure. And all of a sudden, I mean the men were, I mean keep in mind this was the 1960s, mid-early 1960s. Our male figures in school was the principal Dr. Black. And he was a professor, he was a doctor, so he must’ve been a professor. And also, I was thinking because as I’ve been doing county historian a timeline lately, by era, a big display I’ve been working on for a while, but I’ve spent a long time concentrating on the civil defense era-- KEN: The duck-and-cover era! AIME: Yes, because we spent a lot of time crouched under our desks [laughter], and in the hallway... And the tunnel, there was a tunnel, and I think there is still a tunnel in between Welles and Wadsworth. And I do remember when they opened that tunnel, we spent a lot of time down in the tunnel, because number one it was an easy connection to Wadsworth Auditorium and there was a lot of programs with back and forth music and theater and that kind of thing so we were back and forth to Wads Aud a lot. But it was also built as a fall-out shelter. I think the signs are still there, aren’t they? KEN: Not in the hallway, but I saw a few really rusty ones when I first arrived at Geneseo, but I don’t know if they’re around still. AIME: Yeah, because the college was very much involved in the local civil defense organization. Because the thought was, Geneseo is an unlikely target to get a nuclear bomb but-- if New York City was bombed, if Buffalo was bombed, if Rochester was bombed, where is everybody gonna go? And they really were planning more for having care for the masses. So as a matter of fact, I got ahold of Liz [librarian at Geneseo], and she was able to find some, in the President’s papers from the 1950s, the involvement of the college. And it all makes sense now, because they were stockpiling supplies there. KEN: That explains some of those little offshoot hallways in those tunnels, there are some little hallways that go to nowhere, and you’re like ‘what was this even for?’ but I they must have been storing water and rations… AIME: Oh yeah, they were storing medical supplies. But it was so interesting because the college was teaching a whole program on how to teach the elementary school teachers on world politics, and about the Red Scare, and they wanted to give them this. KEN: Was Geneseo sort of party-lined with the “Evil Communists?” AIME: Eh no, I think they were just like, “you need to know this information” because the Red Scare was everywhere, you know. I mean, it wasn’t really thought of if we’re gonna get nuked, it’s when we’re gonna get nuked. And we’re little children, and they’re teaching us “well you know, if they set off the nuclear bomb, you get under your desk” [AIME laughs]. KEN: Is that town siren, was that around back in those days? Now, students would associate with it with a call for volunteer firefighters. Were there, practice air raids, that kind of thing? I’m trying to visualize whether that siren went off and that was sort of a signal for everyone to sort of mobilize. AIME: Yes the siren was there. Well it’s interesting I can’t really remember. I think they did, but it was probably before my time. Probably, because I was born in the mid 50s, between post-World War II and the mid 50s they had the observation aircore, and they had towers around the county. KEN: Was there one near Geneseo at all? AIME: No, not in Geneseo. There was one in Springwater, there was one in Dansville. So, that era, I’m not really that familiar with at all. But, I can’t really remember if the siren played… I know the siren made different noises for different types of fires. It went off so many times, I hated that thing. It scares me half to death. KEN: I don’t know if it’s really beloved still [chuckles]. AIME: I hate it! I know there’s a segment of our community that thinks it’s essential, that it shows the fireman are really working, but in this day and age for heaven sakes you don’t really need to scare people. And you don’t need, in the middle of the night, to have half the historic district of Geneseo woken up. KEN: I think it must date to when the village was even kind of tighter, or kind of closer together. AIME: Well, because the volunteer fireman had to hear that sound. I mean it wasn’t like they could just call you up and say, “oh Ken, there’s a fire.” KEN: Kind of different subject, did you ever get to any sort of memories about that fire department? Kind of like a fire in the neighborhood? AIME: Oh, there were lots of fires. There were fires everywhere. And my father, would put us all in the car and we would follow the trucks [laughter]. Well, it was something to do. KEN: So you got taken along on those rides? AIME: Yeah, and my father was county treasurer, well, in his later career. Well, he always worked for the county, always involved in civic organizations and what not. So, we were carted all over the county. We went to all the fireman’s carnivals, every village or every town had a fireman’s carnival. You know, where they set up those cheesy rides. KEN: Where was it in Geneseo? AIME: Oh, right at the armory! KEN: I think that used to be the fairgrounds. I remember reading Sheffield Peabody, where he said something, he went to fair in Geneseo… AIME: I don’t know if it was so much a fair [both laugh]. KEN: So this was just a fireman’s carnival where they had some booths and a few rides set up for the kids and stuff like that? AIME: And a parade... I mean firemen’s parades, fireman’s carnivals were just what we did all summer long. KEN: So not just in Geneseo, you just made the whole tour? AIME: We went to all of them. But they did have the Hemlock fair. KEN: Which is the best one? AIME: Between Hemlock and Caljone, Hemlock. KEN: Hemlock. That was your favorite one? AIME: Oh yeah. Hemlock- Caljone was more- we went to that one too. I don’t know why. I guess because they had the demolition derby. KEN: [laughs] The Demolition Derby! That’s great. AIME: They also had ostrich races. KEN: Ostrich races? AIME: Where they just put the blinders on KEN: So much political correctness here. AIME: Oh, of course! KEN: Cars driving into each other and no ostriches were harmed as people were- AIME: I didn’t even think about that. KEN: Were people, yeah, different era. AIME: Very different. KEN: So people were riding the ostriches? Or did they just sort of… AIME: I think they had carts. They had carts. KEN: Oh, okay. So they were… It was like little buggies. AIME: I remember donkey basketball [laughs] at the college. KEN: At the college they played donkey basketball at Geneseo? AIME: Yeah. Yeah. Fundraisers. So animals were used in strange ways. KEN: So the Hemlock Fair. I think that goes back pretty far. I think that’s a pretty old one. AIME: Oh yeah, into the 1800’s. But- KEN: So your dad went to those by virtue of him being kind of government and stuff like that. Was he from the area? Had he grown up in this area too? AIME: Yes! KEN: Whereabouts? AIME: Well he had… He was born and raised in Mt. Morris. His family, both sides, came to this country in a great wave of Italian immigration [laughs]. KEN: Ahh. AIME: And came directly to Mt. Morris because it was one of the top ten destinations in the country. Mt. Morris for Italian immigration. KEN: Why so? AIME: Why so? Because of the railroads in Western New York. KEN: You also earlier mentioned the, all the nurseries and kind of agriculture… AIME: Those were a little before. KEN: Ok so that wasn’t really the big economic draw then? AIME No. Well, not for Italian labor. KEN: What were they doing? AIME: They were working on the railroad, they were working in the Salt Mine. They were working, mostly railroad. The canning factories because in the early 1900’s, when I mentioned, the instead of refrigeration and that second industrial revolution… KEN: Yeah.. AIME: We had manufacturing plants in just about every community in the county, but it was also the air out of the canning factories. So they needed labor and you know, with especially people from Southern Italy coming, but his whole family came from Sicily, came directly to Mt. Morris. And he eventually, his father opened a barbershop in Geneseo because his father apprentice, a lot of the Italians did apprentice with barbers and my grandfather was able to open, obtain a shop in Geneseo, so he moved his family to Geneseo. KEN: Whereabouts in Geneseo was it? AIME: Where Sundance Bookstore is [laughs] KEN: [Laughs] Okay. That use to be a barbershop? AIME: Yes. KEN: That’s pretty funny, considering the length of the hair, there really wasn’t much haircutting going on.. At Geneseo’s Sundance Books, in those years. AIME: It was so funny because I’d joke with Fred when I’d go in there, it’s because, to me, it seemed like such a big place, when I was little. KEN: Yeah. AIME: [laughs] KEN: That’s pretty funny. AIME: And I do have some great pictures that might… KEN: Of your dad as a barber, I mean your grandfather as a barber? AIME: Yes, mhmm. KEN: Wow. What was the name of it? Do you remember? AIME: Griffo’s Barber Shop [laughs] KEN: Griffos? [laughs] So it went from Griffo’s to Buzzo’s. AIME: [Laughs] KEN: That’s really… AIME: Yeah, it’s kind of different. But my grandfather at the end of the day, my father too, he helped out my grandfather because it was a family business, of course. But, at the end of the day, he’d sweep all the hair and he’d open up the basement door and he’d sweep it downstairs, in the basement. So, I said to Fred, “When you bought-when you moved in here, when Barry Caplan”, he’s the one who bought the building, “Did you find like a lot of hair in the basement?” He goes, “Yeah.” KEN: [laughs] Well, there’s a history to that. AIME: [laughs] I know. KEN: Wow. AIME: It’s kind of gross, isn’t it? KEN: So, was it still, when you were growing up, was it still a barber shop? AIME: Yes. KEN: Was your grandfather still a barber, do you- AIME: Yes. KEN: So you remember going to there and- AIME: Oh yeah. KEN: Just kind of hanging out? AIME: Oh yeah. Up until, I think he closed it, I want to say, ‘68, ‘69. Around in there. KEN: Interesting. So, what do you remember, what was the… I feel like on Main Street there’s always been a place where the old guys come together to kibitz. AIME: Mhmm KEN: Like, when I had arrived there, there was still the Bronze Bear and still the restaurant. And there was always a group of people like, knacking… AIME: And that was new because that was built after the fire in 1970 that took out that whole block. KEN: So Kelly’s, just the latest [laughs] AIME: Oh yeah, lots of fires on Main Street. Lots of fires on Main Street. The building next to the movie theater, right on the corner where there’s the real estate building, that was a pharmacy and had some little shops in there. There was a huge fire there when I was little. I want to say ‘61 or so. And again, don’t quote me on any of these years because… KEN: That’s okay. AIME: Without my notes in front of me… KEN: I’m sure people would look this up carefully. AIME: I, but I do have, when Kelly’s did burn I sent a whole bunch of articles to Ben Beagle at the Livingston County News, so he could document fires over the years. But that was a huge fire. Down the street, next to the alley, next to Rector’s Funeral Home, was the Geneseo Hotel and that was another big fire that occurred when I was young. KEN: I’ve seen that on maps, or I’ve heard mention of it and yeah, I was trying to figure out if that was still around, but it burned down. AIME: Yeah that was another big fire. KEN: That was during your... long time then. AIME: Oh yeah, I was young, very young. My father was very upset about that because that was a big hangout that was owned by, Mr. Radeci and he just passed away, I think this past year. He was 100 and he was a nice man. KEN: So what about it made it a hangout? The Lobby… AIME: The bar. I wouldn’t call it a lobby [laughs] KEN: [laughs] AIME: That’s pretty ‘la di da’. KEN: So that was just kind of a gathering place… AIME: Yeah. KEN: Even for people who weren’t staying, they’d just, kind of… AIME: I don’t even know if people stayed there. I don’t, they called it a hotel… KEN: Oh really? AIME: But I don’t know if it was really a hotel… KEN: Or a house. [laughs] AIME: Yeah, I don’t know. I think, I want to say upstairs, I think they had apartments. And maybe years before that it would have been a hotel. There were hotels up and down Main Street, historically speaking, in the 19th century. KEN: Right. AIME: It’s amazing that when Geneseo, the Village of Geneseo was listed as a landmark, a national landmark village, because of its intact architecture, despite the number of fire that have occurred over time. KEN: Yeah, that’s interesting. Oh, I know. I was going to ask you something a while ago. You were talking about going hither and thither to fires. Whereabouts in the village did you live then? Was this when you were close to- AIME: I lived on North Street. Top of North Street on the corner, upper corner of North and Livingston Street. KEN: Ok, because I am trying to figure out that place that kind of has an outdoor pool on one corner, kind of the, I’m trying to think- AIME: On North Street? KEN: Right at the corner, I think. And then there’s a place with a really big lot that seems to be kind of student housing these days. I guess I don’t know- AIME: You know it’s terrible because all of North Street is pretty much student housing. K: It is. AIME: And it was all young, I guess you’d call us middle class [laughs]. KEN: Yeah. AIME: We were not… I thought we were rather poor, but we weren’t poor, but… KEN: But you weren’t the Wadsworths? AIME: [laughs] God no. KEN: [laughs] AIME: No, no, no. KEN: So for those along North Street… AIME: They were all family owned, baby boomer era, lots of kids up and down North Street. KEN: So how do you remember that changing? AIME: I think it changed in the 70’s. When, yeah, the market changed and for a while there mortgage rates were very high and the only people that could afford to buy homes were contractors and they bought a lot of homes that were up for sale, all over the village, all over the village. Ward place, Court… KEN: I was going to say, Court seems, lower Court. AIME: Wads Street. Those were all family homes. The, Second Street, especially Second Street and Main Street, had pretty much every home on those two streets, had a little room, had little rooms for students. KEN: That’s interesting. AIME: And Center. KEN: I was just going to ask you, yeah, because it’s like, I can’t imagine all the students living on campus, always, so they… AIME: Well, they pretty much did. KEN: Oh, okay. So if they lived off campus though, it would have been… AIME: It would have been a rooming house. And, but that’s the biggest transition I’ve seen over my lifetime. But, in addition to all of the developments. KEN: A group of students living in a house instead of a rooming house. AIME: Rentals. Like now, virtually all of Livingston Street are rentals. Virtually all of North Street are rentals. I can pick out two homes, and one just sold, that, I think there might be one home left, and it’s pretty much across the street from where I live, where the same couple lives there still, that lived there when i was growing up. KEN: Oh wow. AIME: So everything else is all transitioned. It’s heartening to see some homes coming back and young families moving in. But, and… KEN: I know you don’t hate students. AIME: I don’t want to get into the politics. I was just going to say, it’s a difficult situation though because Geneseo relies on the college for sort of, who we are, in a way. Just in a way. Not completely. KEN: But if there’s not a town there then the college is sort of floating off into sort of nowheresville. AIME: And there’s always been this you know, dynamic between the town and the college. And, I should say kind of the hunt kind of crowd, and again, I’m not saying that in a derogatory way, but I think sometimes students and professors too that didn’t grow up there, don’t really understand that there is a town and a very old town. KEN: Right. AIME: And… KEN: The town is a sort of set, where students are going up to either parties, or something like that and they pass through it and I don’t know if they necessarily know anyone there or if that there are places where the regularly go to as a, “Oh there’s Gus the barber.” You know? [laughs] AIME: Right. KEN: That’s not really, I mean, going back to that example of Sundance, students use to go to Sundance with their books and now it’s like, “Well there’s a store there…” AIME: Or they get them online, yeah. KEN: That’s it. AIME: But it’s still there and it’s still alive. KEN: It’s great. AIME: It’s, and the other real change that I’ve seen over time is that people who were associated and worked at the college sent their kids to school in Geneseo. I mean, I grew up with lots of kids whose parents, or one parent worked at the college. KEN: Did you go to Geneseo? AIME: I did, I took some courses there. But I was ready to leave after a while after growing up in a small town and you don’t appreciate growing up in a small town when you’re a teenager. KEN: Once you hit about 16… AIME: Because there’s nothing. We really felt that- KEN: I was going to say, this is where, this can be edited if necessary. I’m visualizing all those, you know we’ve got these images of fifties, early sixties high school, James Dean, you know, Happy Days, you know? AIME: Yes. KEN: And so I’m just trying to figure out then where’s, where the malt shop was and what- AIME: Oh, Almer’s Drug Store, we use to go to all the time, which is now that Bank Street bagel place, whatever that is. Whatever the name of that is. KEN: Okay, so that was a drugstore and kids would go there- AIME: That was a pharmacy on one side and then on the other side they had the soda shop. KEN: Did the kid wear the paper hat? AIME: Well, it was a lady [laughs] KEN: Oh [laughs] okay. AIME: But, you know you got phosphates and sundaes, and Coca Cola which was something we never ever had at some. KEN: So they mixed it up? It wasn’t bottled… AIME: Oh no. Well, the coke would come in a little bottle. KEN: Okay. AIME: But, I mean a little bottle. [laughs] KEN: You could hold it in one hand. AIME: Yes. And that was a big deal. [. . .] That was a place we you went. The other place where we used to go a lot and it drove the owner crazy was Georgia’s. It was so cool because it was a diner right where the deli is--I think 82 Main street. He was Greek, and his mother made candy. And where Aunt Cookies is was the Geneseo Restaurant, so Georgia’s was like an ice cream place. KEN: So Aunt Cookies hasn’t been there since the 1700s? [laughs] You talk to people like “Oh Aunt Cookies” like it’s been there forever. AIME: Well it is an icon. KEN: But before it was a restaurant? AIME: Yeah. It was Greek and they had the ice cream soda shop--with the booths and the jukebox and you could play whatever music you want. So after school, we would all conjugate at that place. And especially out front there in front of the fountain. KEN: This all sounds suspiciously well-behaved. I’m trying to figure out, was there a place for car racing? Where did people go who weren’t just the goodie two shoes? Theoretically, where did your friends go to, if not you? AIME: My friends? We hung around on Main Street a lot. Our parents’ felt like that was not proper, but we weren’t doing anything. I mean having a cigarette was a big deal. KEN: So hanging out on Main Street was one step over the line? A young lady just doesn’t- AIME: Oh no. My father did not like that at all. KEN: Is your father still pretty Italiany? AIME: Yeah he’s very Italiany! And very cool. I love hanging out with him. KEN: He just had this idea of what young ladies were supposed to act like? AIME: Oh yeah, and so did my mother. She was a strict school teacher. She came when Geneseo was still a normal school. She came here to go to college when she was sixteen, and lived in one of only two dorms on campus. My father was a townie- KEN: Good looking? [laughs] Smoking a cigarette? AIME: Oh yeah oh yeah. And all the ladies were pretty much locked down there by the Dean of Women. I can’t think of what her name is on the top of my head. KEN: Did the girls have to live on campus the entire time they were students there? AIME: I can’t remember what the real criteria was. I think you were required as a freshman. And they were instructed to stay away from certain men in town. It was mostly a women’s college, although there were men at the time. And the college took it really seriously, that the girls were under their care. And women were always treated differently. I don’t think the male students had any sort of restrictions at all. KEN: Like the early 50s, early 60s? AIME: No, I’m talking beyond the early 60s. Although my mother was there from 48-52. And they were pretty well watched over. But, you know, they went to parties and met the men in the town. KEN: So I was asking, you know the correct path is from college, back home to do your homework or your job, and if you’re a little on the wild side, you’re hanging out at the drugstore. AIME: Or driving around in the car. KEN: So where did people drive around? Where did they go? AIME: We went to the little bowling alley on Main Street. The Palace. You know the Palace? That was a little bowling alley. There were four lanes, or two lanes. There was the bigger bowling alley up on the edge of town, but we usually went to that one. We went to the movies. The Riviera. Grew up at the Riviera. We were there all the time. Every weekend. KEN: What was the most memorable movie? AIME: Most memorable would have been Wait Until Dark. KEN: Oh, the Audrey Hepburn one? AIME: Yeah that was the most really scary movie I’d ever seen. KEN: With your parents? AIME: [laughing] Oh no, I didn’t go to the movies with my parents. But yeah, the whole movie theatre screamed. That was really the beginning of the whole horror movie thing. That’s where we went when we were little. That’s where we went all the time. You know, we went out to the lake. We went out to Long Point Park. KEN: So these weren’t chaperoned things? AIME: No. The problem with Geneseo was every parent knew who you were just by looking at you. You could pick them out of a crowd. It was a tight network. It was a small town. [. . .] I was the default older child. I had an older brother, but he physical and mental challenges. So I king of set the mark. Then I had a sister and a younger brother. My little sister was an excellent student, and my little brother was the one who could get into all the trouble. Because he had two sisters above him who were good, so he got away with a lot. But yeah, it was a small town. We went out to the lake. There was an amusement park out there, a rollerskating rink. That was very exciting. KEN: Long Point Park, was that year-round or just the summer months? AIME: Yeah. They took the rides down. It was a summer place. And the lake was a summer place. Nobody I knew lived out there year round. They were summer cottages. KEN: Did you go out to visit? AIME: Yeah, actually, my grandparents had a little house out by the lake. My grandfather obtained him--a guy owed him money, and he ended up with this beautiful place. He sold it a few years ago for a quarter of a million dollars. I was thinking, “Oh I wish my grandfather would have lived to see this.” KEN: Was it by Long Point Park? AIME: Ours was down, about halfway down from Long Point. And it was freezing, and back then the lake was dirty because there was no sewer. And we had to take swimming lessons on there. So I learned to swim at the lake, which wasn’t pleasant. But there were busses out there, and there was candy and the arcade. The lake area attracted people from all over. KEN: So people from other towns kind of checking eachother out. AIME: Geneseo was like that too because it was the center. Geneseo was always considered the snobby town. So all the high schools had these competitions. Very competitive. KEN: Were you in sports? AIME: Me, no. KEN: But the sports events were the big social events? AIME: Oh yeah. Football. The field for high school is right where the parking lot is behind Doty. That was our football field. Geneseo did really well is sports. I can remember going to the War Memorial for section 5 Basketball and watching. I was quite the spectator. I loved going. That’s what you did. Guys though, all getting in fights. Girls, too. These huge fights. Actually, by Sundance had it’s warehouse. Actually, it was called the Warehouse. We had dances back in there. KEN: So it was just a space they would fit out for a dance? AIME: Yeah there were bands. KEN: So it was almost like the IB, but without alcohol? AIME: Yeah, I don’t even remember that being there. It was just a barn or something. But where Sundance had it’s textbook store. On the weekends, it had its bands. There were a lot of garage bands and bands from Rochester. KEN: Can you give me a taste of what the bands were like? The music? So this was like early-mid 60s. AIME: By the time I was going to the dances, it was 67-68. It was in the midst of the Vietnam War. KEN: So Summer of Love made it to Geneseo? AIME: Very much so. KEN: I was under the impression that that wasn’t around until the 70s. You know, sideburns creeping down. AIME: Well it was pretty tame compared to San Francisco. But keep in mind we weren’t so far away from Ithaca, where there was an activist movement. Geneseo was pretty calm. KEN: It seems like there would be a little tension between the teenagers and young people that this was really attractive for and the parents. AIME: Oh yeah. There was rock. It was the era of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. There was pot around, some cocaine, some LSD, that kind of thing, but I don’t remember it being that pervasive. But it was there, I mean knew it was there. If you look at the yearbooks from ‘69, ‘70, ‘71, ‘72, ‘73..especially the Seventies… KEN: Lots of things start changing… AIME: ...hair is getting long and straggly, we were able to start wearing jeans to school, finally. Because we had a fire. Because one of the so-called radical guys set our school on fire. KEN: The Holcomb Building, I mean not Holcomb but Doty. Not the Holcomb Building! AIME: Not Holcomb. Actually Holcomb looks almost the same as it did when I was growing up. KEN: So he set fire to Doty… AIME: He set fire to the Doty Building and burned all the student records, and the office, and then right above the office was the library, so the library was heavily damaged, and then he went down the hall--and you’ll love this--he went down the hallway down to the end of the wing and torched his English teacher’s flag in that room. KEN: Wow. AIME: And so we were only out of school for a week, and then they made us go back, and when we went back we were allowed to wear our jeans. And the girls were like over the moon, because before that we always had to wear dresses, and we went back to school and all (it’s so vivid) because all the--keep in mind, this was built in the Thirties--so you know every building built in the Thirties was full of asbestos. Right? KEN: Asbestos is raining down on you. AIME: All these exposed wires… KEN: It’s glittering! AIME: ...and all our lockers up and down the corridor are black and charred. I just remember everything being black and charred. And they allowed us to go back to school. So it wasn’t even...it was no big deal, they brought in a couple of portable classrooms. But healthwise we never even questioned that it might not be safe for us to be in there! And they would just work alongside...but that was at the height of the Vietnam War, the height of the so-called radicalism. We look nowadays and it kind of reminds me of growing up, and there were riots in Rochester… KEN: That would have been, what, ‘64… AIME: Sixty-four. And then we went through the Vietnam era, and of course we were never really allowed to talk about Vietnam in school. KEN: Did Geneseo in the Sixties really think of itself as kind of separate from Rochester? It seems such a world away… AIME: Rochester, you went to the city, it was a city... KEN: Except there were riots happening, that would never happen here. So it must have been pretty strange to have a kid set fire to the.. AIME: ...it was a concern. They had concerts at the War Memorial. Back then...bands, big bands from all over would come to Rochester, and my parents were very concerned, and of course I wanted to go… KEN: Desperate to go. AIME: Oh, of course. And fighting, and arguing, and is it going to be safe? It probably wasn’t safe at all, but kids don’t understand safety. KEN: Yeah. Um, I’m trying to think of a way to get back to Geneseo. This has kind of focused on, I mean I think a lot of students are going to be surprised how so much of Main Street was in play and active… AIME: Main Street was the place to be. For a young person… KEN: Do you see that happening again? AIME: Happening again would be difficult because of our society today, everything’s so insular and individual. Although when my kids were little we would take them down to the community sing and breakfast with Santa at the Big Tree, and stuff like that at the park for the balloon festival. When they had a balloon festival in Geneseo, they don’t have it any more. KEN: Really! I didn’t know they had a balloon festival. AIME: Yeah, right in the park. They launched right from between that log cabin and Doty, they might have had 10 or 15 balloons that they would inflate right there. It was wonderful. And that was during the summer festival...and you know, going to the RPO at the college, I was able to take my kids to stuff like that. But I think my kids were just at the end of that era before things changed... KEN: Public space. AIME: ...before computers. KEN: I was thinking about that. Looking back at the history of the Fifties, the Baby Boomers, television is such a central thing… AIME: Oh, it was huge. Although it was very limited. KEN: I found myself wondering because you hadn’t mentioned that. AIME: We were mostly shoved out of the house to go play, you’d go play outside. You had a neighborhood full of...just on my little corner there were 30 kids. And if you went up on Lima Road, within a small distance you had kids of every age you could possibly imagine to play with. And we all played together, we played baseball… KEN: Was Highland Park…? AIME: Highland Park was a skating rink. It was basically just a shed and a skating rink. And then years later they moved the old depot up there, and that’s more where it turned into a park. But we used to skate there. And skating was also a huge attraction. We were always outside...riding our bikes, although we couldn’t go too far. My mother...we always had to be within screaming distance… KEN: Which can be pretty far, actually. AIME: But TV...you know, we had TV, we would watch the news at six o’clock--it was only 20 minutes, and that was it… KEN: And you’d go back outside. AIME: We’d play outside until we had to come in. We’d watch Saturday morning, we might have watched some cartoons, or Sunday morning they’d have the “Shhh!” shows on, don’t wake your parents up, cute little Davey and Goliath. We’d watch The Flintstones and The Jetsons. KEN: Sooo...it sounds like there’s some kind of reciprocity or connectedness between inhabitation of those places along Main Street and the time to do it. AIME: Yes. If you wanted to see your friends, there was no place to...you’d go to the skating rink, go to Long Point. Sometimes we’d go to the drive-in at Conesus Lake in Lakeville, we used to go there. KEN: So was it right at the top of the Lake? Where that go-kart place, Minnehan’s, is now? Was it near that? AIME: You go straight, like you’re going to the center of Lakeville, where Genesee Community College was for a time. There’s a little complex there. There was a drive-in, there were movies at the Riviera. But downtown we had Ben Franklin, where A Touch of Grayce is now, that was a Ben Franklin store, so kids would go… KEN: There’s still a Ben Franklin store in Oberlin. Isn’t that amazing? A 5-and-10. It seems to have adapted in some ways...it seems to have been halfway built around college kids’ needs, but then there’s also like yarn for knitting. So Touch of Grayce used to be a Ben Franklin. AIME: Yup. And then a bowling alley. The Village Corner is where there’s before you get to Club 41, that little building is an appliance shop, that was the Village Corner, a children’s store. You got your clothes there. Shoe shops were up and down Main Street...there was actually Kira’s had a shoe store, I want to say where the gas company is now, Kira’s was in there for a while. So you got your back to school shoes. Most mothers didn’t have an extra car, so once in a blue moon we would go to Rochester to shop, but mostly Sears because you could get everything in one place. It was downtown on Alexander Street. But this was before the malls...we didn’t really order anything from catalogs. They also had an--Ah!--what do you call it? Where you get bicycles. KEN: Schwinn...Western Auto. AIME: Western Auto. That was around where the Kelly’s building is. You could get everything and anything downtown. KEN: You know, I’d actually thought of asking you to start with this...I’m already kind of hearing the answer...how you ended up being the County Historian... AIME: People ask me that all the time! KEN: ...sort of the relationship between living in a place and taking an interest in the memories, the way you’re describing all these buildings, people, and social networks--I could see how that points toward history. AIME: My father knew everybody. My dad, on a Sunday, he always went for a ride. That was Sunday afternoon. KEN: He was a Sunday driver. AIME: Get in the car and go for a ride. And we always went willingly because it usually ended up meaning ice cream. And my father, because he worked at the county level, he knew everybody...somebody in every town. And being Italian he always knew everybody that had a good garden. And being Italian, in a garden, meant that he would come home with prized tomatoes, whatever… KEN: A plate of eggplant parmesan. AIME: ...everything and anything we would bring home. And so we went out...I remember going to Springwater, he had a friend down there. Big ponds, and he had swans. And nobody had swans in Livingston County! But this one guy had two swans there. KEN: Like in the village of Springwater there? AIME: Just on the outskirts. I can see it in my mind’s eye, I don’t know where it was. So...places like that. We would drive up into the hills… KEN: So how does that point you toward history, then? AIME: I think because it gave me a good overall lay of the area. I knew we had hills, I knew we had the lakes, I knew we had the villages, I knew we had parks. We went to every park that ever was. We went to every Main Street. KEN: So you’re a really good navigator… AIME: Not really! KEN: I was hearing some sort of connection here between knowing a physical place and the activity of knowing what happened there. If you don’t have a place to locate those events, then they didn’t happen. AIME: Even today, our goofy road system, I get up in some of these hills like the Miraback [?] in Conesus, and the roads don’t go north, south, east, or west. So you have to be kind of careful where you’re going. And so I do occasionally take the road less traveled, if I have the time. KEN: You get lost? That’s great. AIME: If it’s a beautiful day? All I want to do is go out and about, and I’m a terrible rummage sale addict. I’ve been in every church basement in the county, and so I just get that urge to go out… 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 Interview of Aime Alden Description An account of the resource Aime Alden is woman who grew up in Geneseo, graduating from high school in 1973. She recounts growing up in a different time period and notes the changes the town has undergone over her lifetime. The oral interview was taken by Ken Cooper and transcribed by him as well as Jordan Keane, Danielle Kahn, and Megan Wong. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cooper, Ken Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-12-08 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Alden, Aimee; Keane, Jordan; Kahn, Danielle; Wong, Megan Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource doc, 55 KB Type The nature or genre of the resource Interview Geneseo Interview Underground Atlas