Document text
Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview
FORMA
Circumstances of Interview
KNOT New York
NAME OF MMUMR May Swenson
ADDRESS
DATE
228 W. 22 St., Manhattan
8/1
/30(e)
SuBJEcTReminiscence of Bronx, 1885 Mrs. J. Elterich
1. Date and time of interview August 7, 1938. 10 A. M.
_ 2. Place of interview Rome of Mrs. John Elterich
3. Name and address of informant
Mrs. John Elterich
4800 Barnes Ave. Bronx
4. Name and address of person, if any, who put you in
touch with informant.
None
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
14,11 --al
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
None
8. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
Large frame private residence, lawn and shrubs. Rooms furnished
in a style once considered elegant too ornate and cluttered for
current taste of modern severity. Many family pictures.an4 relics
on walls and about room.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and the number to which the material refers.)
FORM E.
Persenal History or Informant
guaE New York
NAME OF WORKER May Swenson
mmnss228 West 22 St. Manhattan
DATF August 18, 1938
SUBJECT REMINISCENCE OF BRONX, 1885
1. Ancestry
German on father's and mother's side.
2. Place and date of birth 18th St. and 1st Ave. Manhattan.
July 11, 1878
3. Family
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
4. Places lived in, with dates In 1880 moved to Bronx at The Hub.
Lived in Bronx all her life.
5. Education, with dates
6. Occupations and accomplishments, with dates
7. Special skills and interests
8. Community and religious activities
Attended Lutheran Church at 154th St. and Cortlandt Ave.
(called The Rooster Church because of its weathervane
9. Description of informant
Proud carriage. Strong German features, grey,haltr, blue eyes.
Large frame. Rind, indulgent, cooperative.
VD. Other Points gained in interview
As a child went to picnics on the Ball Field at 136 St.
Strawberry festivals held there each Spring. This field was owned
by a man named Tobin (first name unknown.) The field was called
Tobin's University, and the rumour was that Old Man Tobin had once
been a College Professor.
FORM C
Text of Interview (Unedited)
STATE New York
NAiiE OF WORKER May Swenson
ADDRESS 228 West 22nd Street, Manhattan
DATE' August 18, 1938
SUBJECT REMINISCENCE OF BRONX, 1885
THE FROG HOLLOW GANG
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
When I was in my teens, we lived near 149th Street at the
corner of Oortlandt and Morris Avenues. And at the end of the block
was a ravine with a little creek running through it. A gang of petty
thieves lived down there much like hoboes in a "-jungle" in shacks
they had, oh, I guess, nailed together or plastered together out of
wooden slats and sheets of tin.
They were known as the Frog Hollow Gang, for the ravine
was full of frogs what with the river and all and it being rather
swampy.
Our neighborhood was scared to death of the Frog Hollow Gang
and every door was barred at night. Some of the neighbors kept a
light burning in the hall all night. It was said that those men
could see in the dark like cats or owls but couldn't see in daylight
and that if you kept a light burning they would be blinded and would
go away. Of course my father pooh-poohed that idea, but we children
used to believe it.