Betty L. Brown transcript, 1941-1945, Date acquired: 08/30/2007
Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Brown, Betty Lewis
- Extent:
- 1 folders
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Betty L. Brown transcript, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_06_0073.
Background
- Scope and content:
This collection includes an oral history interview transcript of a homefront worker during WWII. She served in a camouflage factory. She describes her experiences surviving the Great Depression, learning of Pearl Harbor, and hearing stories about relatives' military service. This collection also contains a personal photograph.
- Biographical / historical:
Betty L. Brown was born in Graymont, Georgia on August 21, 1930, to T.F. and Clotyde (Berryhill)Lewis. Brown and her mother cared for her father after an automobile accident and, during the Great Depression, her family lost their possessions at tax season. Brown's aunt had two sons stationed at Pearl Harbor, and she learned about the war's start while visiting Brown's family. Brown describes a couple of her cousins' service experiences; one fought at the Battle of the Bulge and another fought with Major General Chennault. In her first year of high school, the high school gym was turned into a camouflage factory. The minimum age required to work there was sixteen, but Brown lied to recruiters and was immediately hired. She details the process of making camouflage and her colleagues at the factory. She also describes the silence surrounding the war in the classroom, life on rations, aluminum drives, and the day President Roosevelt died. Brown eventually married her husband, Grayson Brown, and had two sons and two daughters. She was a resident of Okeechobee, FL, at the time of her death on October 28, 2015. Her obituary can be found at https://www.okeechobeefuneralhome.com/obituaries/Betty-Brown-28/#!/Obituary.
Note written by Jenna Pope
- Custodial history:
This collection was donated by Betty L. Brown. The collection was acquired by the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience on August 30, 2007.
Transferred from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience to FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives in July 2022.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
This collection is open to all researchers
- Terms of access:
All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
- Preferred citation:
[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], Betty L. Brown transcript, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_06_0073.
- Location of this collection:
-
116 Honors WayTallahasseeFL32306-2047USA
