Lucille Hicks Abbott (Bates Class of 1927), 1998

[Selected from the title page of Volume II]

This volume continues an oral history project begun in 1996 by a First Year Seminar class at Bates College. This year students in Economics s37, "The Great Depression," also studied the experience of the Great Depression in the Lewiston-Auburn area. The class conducted interviews in Lewiston and Auburn during the spring of 1998.

At the start of the class students read extensively about the 1930s and formulated questions to be asked about virtually all aspects of life during the Depression years. Although there was no formal interview questionnaire, each interview covered most of the broad areas of interest.

The class then focused on interviewing individuals born in 1930 or earlier who had lived in the Lewiston-Auburn area during the 1930s, who still lived here in 1998, and who were able and willing to participat in a one-hour interview.