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Mary Jane Anderson discusses her childhood in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, her work at the Santa Fe Railroad, and her religious and family life.

Today I interviewed my younger brother, Alex as we dive through his life and experience as an artist.

Old Town School teachers Barb Silverman and Jess McIntosh talk about teaching at the school, experiences as women in a male-dominated music community, and reflections on their friendship over the years. Barb is a clogger and multi-instrumentalist who performs in...

Wisdom and being an artist

Sara, 47, interviews her father, Bernard, 82, about his work as an architect and sculptor.

A conversation between friends, bluegrass musicians and fellow Old Town School coworkers Colby Maddox and John Huber. Colby has been managing the Resource Center and teaching mandolin at the school since 1999. John has been working at the school since...

This interview about Frank Born's (75) life was conducted by Julia Dunn (29) in New York City. Frank is a close friend of Julia's father. In the interview, they discuss his journey into portrait and narrative painting, his upbringing in...

Lynn shares with Sarah her experience of going to the 1965 Presidential Inauguration, of attending Northwestern in Chicago in 1965-1969 during the campus uprisings, and recognizing the importance of living in diverse places with water roots.

CALVIN Shawler is a 17 year old genius and we discussed being gay, religious, and an artist.

“My childhood was actually great!” In November of 2018, ninth grade student, Olivia Foxman interviewed her grandmother, Shelly Foxman. Olivia learns about Shelly’s admirable  childhood post World War ll. Shelly’s story starts in 1951 in Chicago, but her family's story originates...

The general struggle of artists in our society.

Best friends Wylene Carol (81) and Floyd Tunson (76) reflect on Floyd’s journey as an eclectic artist, how identity and location factor into success in the art world, and working together for the past 45 years.

This is the life of my dad who has lived 76 years in Vermont and lived a humble, hardworking life!

My Grandfather, John Grey, has had an interesting upbringing moving from place to place with his family. He was raised as a young child in Chicago Illinois, and later moved to Dallas Texas with his family. In this interview, Me...

The general struggles of artists in our society.

Friends Agnetha "Jaime" Gloshay (41) and Amy Dale (58) reflect on their identities as Native women and discuss the work they have been doing in the community to uplift women and youth.

This is an interview I recorded with my grandpa.

This interview covers topics of preparing for climate change-induced disasters within the scope of a large city, and how precious experiences may or may not have helped to shape those behaviors

This was an interview that I did with my aunt.

Delores Thompson [no age given] shares a conversation with her cousin, Davian Chester (28), about the Juneteenth Google Doodle that Davian illustrated and how the reception to that piece of art affected his life and career. Davian also talks about...

Interviewing Dad about his life on his visit to Arcata, CA summer 2018.

A conversation between Rebecca Armstrong & Mareva Lindo. This conversation was recorded at the school on July 13th, 2017. Go to www.oldtownschool.org/StoryCorps to hear selected excerpts from interviews collected as part of the StoryCorps-Old Town School partnership.

Sometime in the late 1970s, Skip Landt walked into the Old Town School on Armitage to sing in the community chorus. Today he's been teaching harmonica at the school for over 30 years. Here he talks to student-turned-teacher Rick Sherry,...

Seto You, age 92/93 or 97/98, is interviewed by his son, Ed You, age 26, about his early days in the USA. He arrived from China in 1916, worked as a cook in this country well into his 80's. He...

John Ford, a long-time client of EZRA's, sits down with a member of EZRA's Social Action team to discuss his experiences growing up as a Black man in Chicago, working with EZRA, and gentrification in Uptown, Chicago.