Interviewer
Gladys Peterson
Files
Description
Mary McDorney describes growing up on her family’s homestead in Eastern Montana. She talks about attending Montana State Normal College in Dillon, Montana, to earn her teaching certificate and then teaching in rural Montana schools from 1926 to 1935. McDorney discusses how during the Great Depression female teachers who married while under contract lost their jobs. McDorney describes the poverty and poor conditions that many of the farmers in Eastern Montana suffered during the Depression. She also talks about the negative effects of the Depression on Missoula, Montana residents. McDorney reminisces about the concerts and plays that she and her family attended in Missoula, and how budgeting and rationing during World War Two wasn’t much of a hardship after the Depression. She concludes by discussing the prejudice against married women in the workforce between the 1930s and 1950s, and the positive and negative aspects of being a teacher.
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Document Type
Oral History
Subjects
Great Depression (1929-1939); Homesteaders, Montana; Teachers, women, Montana; Education, Montana; Young Women’s Christian Association [YWCA]; Civilian Conservation Corps [CCC]
Original Date
10-8-1985
Time Period
Twentieth century
Geographic Coverage
Montana
Language
eng
Original Collection
Depression Years in Montana Oral History Project, OH 131, Archives and Special Collections, Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula
Digital Publisher
University of Montana--Missoula. Mansfield Library
Rights
Copyright to this collection is held by the interview participants and by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula. Permission may be required for use. For further information please contact Archives and Special Collections: (406) 243-2053 / library.archives@umontana.edu
Oral History Number
OH 131-035
Media Type
Sound; Text
Original Format
1 sound cassette (01:00:00 min.) analog + 1 transcript (24 p.: 28 cm.)
Digital Format
audio/mp3; application/pdf
Run Time
00:55:04 minutes
Local Filename
OH_133_035.mp3; OH_133_035.pdf
Citation
McDorney, Mary Frances, "Mary Frances Alexander McDorney Interview, October 8, 1985" (1985). Depression Years in Montana Oral History Project. 4.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/depressioninmissoula_oralhistory/4