The next round of oral histories from the 2018 oral history project are now available. In this blog post, find the oral histories of Ruth (Jackson) Burton, Sharon Burton-Turner and Ron Burton, and Dr. Nancy Any Pi-Sunyer.
Ruth (Jackson) Burton, Sharon Burton-Turner and Ron Burton,
Ruth (Jackson) Burton and two of her children, Sharon Burton-Turner and Ron Burton were interviewed together. Their family has had a presence in Montclair since the 1880s, when Ruth’s Great Aunt Mary Williams arrived to work as a live-in cook for an Upper Mountain Avenue family. Feeling that Montclair was “a place of opportunity” for her siblings, Mary Williams brought her siblings to join her here, including her brother Elsie Williams (Ruth’s grandfather.) The Williams family had come from Middleburg, Virginia in Loudoun County. In addition to the employment opportunities in Montclair, the family was drawn by the quality of the public school system. Read more and listen here.
Dr. Nancy Arny Pi-Sunyer
Dr. Nancy Arny Pi-Sunyer was born in Montclair and while she has moved around a bit, plans to be here for the rest of her life. Her parents were Mary Wilson Travis Arny and Robert Allen Arny. Her family has a long history in town and has lived in the same home at 149 Watchung Avenue since 1921! Her maternal grandparents moved to Montclair around 1907. Her maternal grandfather had arrived in the U.S. from England with his family in 1888; her maternal grandmother’s family, also from England, had been in the U.S. since the 1700s. Read more and listen here.
In honor of the 150th anniversary of Montclair, the Montclair History Center compiled oral histories from people who grew up in Montclair and/or lived here prior to 1960. The project recorded the stories of people who grew up in Montclair in a wide variety of neighborhoods and decades, creating a multifaceted snapshot of Montclair in the early to mid 20th century.
This project was funded by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities (a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities). Interviews were conducted with the assistance of Montclair resident and Professor Dr. Christopher Matthews from Montclair State University.
These oral histories are an expression of the views, memories and opinions of the interviewee. It does not represent the policy, views, or official history of the MHC.