1 10 4 https://openvalley.org/files/original/c7d556d7c88a4c477333621e7a036a15.mp3 0792d449aad8768f5019454326f2d98b https://openvalley.org/files/original/2a161bdeeb8af6f28e9986bf9f35638b.mp3 21b1f7c0ea704fc2e3fec52a2773b5ce https://openvalley.org/files/original/dfd78f3e3d32804db0a84b0b99777f75.mp3 e7ee8c6d54e65b54dec74cfc9fa51565 https://openvalley.org/files/original/cf8aa11b32f5a229a8fa5445685285a0.mp3 eabd08a880615259eac494de25718f78 https://openvalley.org/files/original/6e2097c9918a9fb7dc9d460b3fab1e85.mp3 1c2582084e8d02361eef65ca333cce24 https://openvalley.org/files/original/4d0651d227e087da36c5ed0be0782fc9.mp3 1b41ad47c8ff9c313cc99d350953063c Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview McShea, Arlene Strausenburgh, Shirly Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Miller, Bessie Annis, Howard Annis, Betty Feeley, John Coleman, Irene Location The location of the interview Avon, NY Original Format The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data casette tapes Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 5 mins 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 Avon Voices Work Sound File Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Avon Historical Society Description An account of the resource This is a collection of several clips from tapes that were recorded in the Avon Historical Society Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-12-07 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Pellegrino, Eva Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Collection of tapes Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral history avon historical society Avon, NY Interview oral history https://openvalley.org/files/original/d752ae617de88dccd1736986db8fa19e.mp3 6b294b17694e870500ff8f6a5762dfb7 https://openvalley.org/files/original/f658349837df9bb48305eb85c0cd2c30.mp3 94e301d4b70f9b68a0a8ad017a1d6cfd https://openvalley.org/files/original/a768e88131c00e94056c677007a8c456.mp3 10f7aa1f8c8c2dbf22c9de16f7010371 https://openvalley.org/files/original/f6321376accffb810ffdb067ebb98f76.mp3 23ce5bef0c414bb5da74f0b019c347c7 https://openvalley.org/files/original/96d05609b89f7b692ed78e997cb8e7bc.mp3 4d8ed9f7024576ba05591a715fdcc2bf Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Avon History Society Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Coleman, Irene Collins, Richard Farnum, Edna Strasenburgh, Paul Location The location of the interview Avon, NY Original Format The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data cassette tape 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 Avon Voices: Hard Times Sound Files Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coleman, Irene Collins, Richard Farnum, Edna Strasenburgh, Paul Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Coleman, Irene Collins, Richard Farnum, Edna Strasenburgh, Paul Leville, Rebecca Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Avon Historical Society Description An account of the resource Various clips discussing the hard times in Avon, NY including problems with the school district, victory gardens and living through the Great Depression. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Various Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3, 1.9 MB MP3, 229 KB MP3, 1.1 MB MP3, 1.3 MB MP3, 500 KB Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral history avon high school avon historical society Avon, NY oral history https://openvalley.org/files/original/9bd1b3ff54d828b7df99429b9c9bedb0.jpg 4a307daf824a7c2e566ebf176d6dfc39 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. 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 Avon High School Description An account of the resource Until 1907, high school students in Avon attended classes in a building constructed in 1841. It was built as the Avon Academy for young women, then purchased by the village in 1867 as the Avon Union Free School, and finally renamed the Avon High School in 1895. As Avon grew in size, the need for a larger, modern school became evident. This postcard dates to the decade after construction of the new brick schoolhouse, which added music, domestic science, and athletics to its curriculum. New wings were added in 1929 and 1936, with the original structure becoming a 28-room elementary school. On 27 October 1957, the aging school already described as a "fire trap" burned to the ground. Teachers leery of the the building's danger had routinely practiced fire drills, and all 450 students escaped safely. Firefighting efforts were concentrated on saving the two newer wings. At the time of the fire, Irene Coleman was the Elementary School supervisor and by 1961 had become the school's principal. Her memories of the fire and its aftermath <a href="https://openvalley.org/exhibits/show/mediums--recovering-voices-fro/item/446" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are recounted in an oral history</a>. Work Consulted: Don Fradenburgh, "They Didn't Know it Was Afire," Rochester Times-Union 28 Oct. 1961: 1 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Valentine Souvenir Co. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1914-1923 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Pellegrino, Eba Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource jpeg, 627 KB Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Courtesy Ken Cooper avon historical society Avon, NY fire oral history school https://openvalley.org/files/original/f8411b3b7109b7d465cdbcaa17eb4a3b.jpg 69b9aac2d16a61231daaf2bc8a8d40fe https://openvalley.org/files/original/6eaf0eec486647f37b3b795b29049765.mp3 d237c6e8f212b91329466852279d1a9d Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Irene Coleman Location The location of the interview Avon, New York Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound -March 10, 1996 (when the interview was done) -school fire; october 27, 1961 -first schoolhouse was just north of Zion Episocopal church -Avon Central School district -1836 Avon Academy built on Temple St. (then was called Academy St.) -built by Wadsworth for school of ladies -1864 was changed and remodeled -october 1867 they added an academy department (called the academic department) -Reuben Wallace made principal and stayed for forty years -contributed a lot to get the Avon school system organized -hard discipline (paddle in the basement) —$2000 to run the school and pay the four teachers -paid the academic dept. $5 a term, three academic sessions a term to go there and there were 3 terms a year -each year they had 2 graduates -primary dept. was only $3 because they felt that the teachers didn’t need to know as much (Irene laughs at this becuse we know this to not be true today) -Union Free School became Avon High School (1896) was approved by the Board of Regents -1907 they built the Avon High School and built it for $40000 -Wallace was the principal until the end of WWI -wife taught at the school -1926 they added two wings to the front of the building including the gym -both of these wings were ruined by the fire -1929 principal James Green and stayed for 14 years and decided that we needed more room and then the back wings were added (which were saved by the fire) -wings that they lived in after the fire while they were waiting to do something -1943 they add to centralize all the school districts -1946 Caledonia Road School was added to Avon School Disrict -Avon-Caledonia school was built in the 1900s and they had a chemical toilet inside which was very rare as well as a cloak room (no pot bellied stove and they had a furnace) -in this school district they dug a well and the well was sulphur water so when you pump the water (only tin cup) the children didn’t like it so the students would bring their own water -oldest boy in the school was the janitor but also would bring the water -moved from tin cups to paper cups -1959 had outgrown the room -for four years they fought to see if they really needed a new school -four votes -meeting to vote on the room (meeting went until 2am!) -auditorium was a “bone of contention” -the auditorium won by two votes which is interesting to Irene because it has been used by everyone in town -beautiful elementary school which was the old high school; plenty of room -October 27, 1961 was the fire that started -fire alarm at 11:59 but clocks stopped -1961-63 the elementary classes had just two back wings -everyone came to help -not one child or fireman was hurt -the floors over the years had been oiled -cold air in the hall just shot it right into the attic -12:53 Harry Clemens and Dwayne Staples discovered there was smoke up by the ceiling and reported it to Annie Clemens -480 students at the time of the fire -many fire drills and had had 3 in the cafeteria which was wonderful because they knew what to do -that morning they had had a bomb drill (faced the wall, hands and knees, head down on the floor, NOT a sound) -four kindergartens and they went to the basement of the Avon Free Library (2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon) -moved 3 years later -used the partitions later on for stage plays as scenery -two second grades went to Central Presbyterian Church -very small room -had a gym area, library, and phone, no cafeteria -6th grade had to move to the high school into the home making classroom -no connections, no telephones, PA system, no bells -no way to know if the busses were ready to go so they had runners to go look (typically boys but then later on the girls wanted to as well because it was “kinda fun”) -no announcements -Mrs. Mahar in the office and kids always said hello to her -principal’s office was at the end of the hallway -Irene was supervisor and was made principal Decemeber 1961 (after the fire) -Irene would sometimes take the kids home if they looked really sick at the nurse -the nurses’ office was very cold -no cafeteria and the kids always forgot their lunch -so Irene would take big loaves of bread and peanut butter and they would make peanut butter sandwiches for anyone who forgot their lunch -no one ever went hungry and milk was always delivered -someone dropped an apple and Irene slipped and fell and her whole arm was black and blue -the kids picked up everything after that and said “rememeber Mrs. Coleman’s arm” -November 21, 1961 it rained and kept on raining and the wing on the right gave way in 6-8 places and started dripping -placed garbage pails and went right on teaching -Irene was concerned about the children and would go check on them a lot -had to have the reading groups out in the corridor -Stan Coleman (husband) built furniture and built the mailboxes for the office and also built bookcases that had burned in the fire -built the balance beams and framed all the pictures in the hallway -lost every book in the library except for the ones that the kids had out -librarian said that she would buy the books and catalog them and every week there were new books coming in -Irene took over her classes then -the teachers wouldn’t stay because that was the time they had a break because otherwise they were with the children all day -coffeepot; mostly got a coffee to warm your hands because it was so cold in the hallways -line for the toilet all the time -Albany wanted Avon to join with Lima to make a bigger school district but both didn’t want each other -“changing of the guard” for the bathroom -4-6th grade had no coat racks so they mustered as much as they could coat racks because otherwise they didn’t have room in the classrooms -everything had to be very organized; coats, hats, boots, lunches, musical instruments -couldn’t open the school until they opened fire escapes (had to have 2 exits) -took 3 weeks to put them up and just 3 hours to take them down with an air hammer -5th grade class had a cement truck outside -on the day of the fire, Irene was teaching Mrs. Mayer’s classroom (5th grade) -Irene knew it was the real thing because she didn’t pull the alarm -tar smell and Irene tried to convince the kids that it was a “clean” smell -they had birds in the corridor -March 18 there was a big snowstorm; no outside phone, frantically trying to get the message out to families -day that was scheduled shots in the clinic -two teachers cars were stuck in the mud -1 movie machine -Albany said in October 1962 that Avon was given state aid to build a school -finally they voted on the new school and there was drama because people weren’t going to vote because they figured everyone was going to vote yes but that wasn’t true -111 that voted against the school (some people just vote against the school no matter what it is) -asking for $340000 -Dr. Gail (Last Name Here) came down from Geneseo and asked if Avon was looking for student teachers -wanted his student teachers to come because they have excellent teachers and you’re doing things in the classroom for your students -parent conferences and for 12 years 100% of the parents came for conferences -Christmas program where they had just one day to rehearse -Valentine’s Day was special in the elementary school and the girls would deliver valentines to all the workers -Irene did all the IQ tests -achievement scores never went down -May 1: special day and there wasn’t a sound, that was the day of the strike -the men went on strike -students said “Don’t they know we need a new school?” -Betty Mahar got a heater finally -highest teacher morale, never had a teacher complain to Irene -parents and the teachers were both cooperative -write an article at the end of the year -Irene write hers in 1964; “3 years and 30000 shining experiences” -Sally Letter taught a fifth grade in the bus garage with an overhead door; had to build another door out of the window which was right next to the office -cold out there and they bought new rugs for that room -only classroom that had rugs on the floor -moved into the new building there were 570 children -when Irene retired there were 850 children -kept growing all the time -“The classrooms were warm and attractive, filled with creative and wonderful ideas…most important ingredient in education is an inspiring teacher to inspire children…” Original Format The type of object, such as photograph, map, drawing, painting, etc., and any additional data Analog sound recording Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 55 minutes 10 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 128 kBit/s 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 Irene Coleman Interview Description An account of the resource Oral History, as told by prior principal of Avon School District, Irene Coleman. Coleman talks about the school fire of 1961, the development of Avon schools, and the different traditions and sense of community that evolved from the school. Her own account brings listeners closer to what life was like not only in the schools but the emphasis that Avon, as a town, put on education. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coleman, Irene Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1996-03-10 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Comerford, Danielle Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Avon Preservation & Historical Society, Avon, NY Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 50.5 MB Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Avon, NY oral history school