The following oral history interviews are available at the University of Louisville Oral History Center, in the University of Louisville Archives and Records Center (UARC). They may all be accessed on-site in the Archives. For information on visiting UARC, see our Planning a Visit page. If you would like to order a copy (CD, audiocassette tape, or, when available, a transcript), please contact Carrie Daniels, co-director of the Oral History Center by email, or by telephone (502-852-6674). For information on pricing, see our Obtaining Copies page. A few transcripts are available online; you may access those transcripts directly via a link in the entry for the interview.
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Interviews: R
| Interviewee | Date | Interview Number(s) | Summary information | Transcript? | Interviewer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rabb, Maurice | 8/15/1977 | 404-405 | Dr. Rabb discusses his childhood in Columbus, Miss., undergraduate career at Fisk University, medical education at Meharry Medical College, internship at Kansas City General Hospital, and medical practice following 1946, Rabb discusses medical practice in the black community in Louisville, including the Red Cross Hospital, the Falls City Medical Society, and the integration of the Jefferson County Medical Society and the medical staff of Louisville Hospital. Other topics include the sit-ins in Louisville and Rabb's work with the NAACP and the Human Relations Committee. | Yes | Cox, Dwayne | 120 min. |
| Rademaker, Norbert | 11/14/1979 | 924 | The narrator discusses his personal history. | No | Byler, Theresa | 60 min. |
| Ramirez, Ailen | 7/5/2000 | 2000-1-48, 2000-1-49 | Refugee interview series (Cuba) | Cummins, Peggy | 120 min. | |
| Ramsey, James | Oct. 26, 2007 | 2007-148-2 | President of the University of Louisville discusses the university's presence on and involvement in the resurrection of Main Street (includes the Frazier Museum, Cressman Center, Muhammad Ali Center, Science Center and the U of L arena). | No | Foley, Susan | 37 min. |
| Ratterman, Francis A. | 4/15/1986 | 1986-202, 1986-203 | History of St. Matthews, KY. | No | Olympia, Lynn | 120 min. |
| Ratterman, John | 11/30/1984 | 1985-44, 1985-45 | A Funeral director. The narrator discusses life in the St. Matthews area. | No | Olympia, Lynn | 120 min. |
| Ray, Amelia | 8/25/1978 | 633 | Ray discusses her early years in Tennessee; her grandparents and great-grandmother, who were slaves; childhood and early education; teaching experiences in Webster County, Kentucky; education at the Louisville Municipal College, from which she received a degree in social science; and working and race relations in Louisville and elsewhere. | Yes | Chumbley, Kenneth | 60 min. |
| Ray, Joseph, Jr. | 3/12/1979 | 734 | Ray and his family discuss Joseph Ray, Sr., who served as assistant to the head of the Housing and Home Finance Agency during the Eisenhower administration; their lives in Louisville; and changing racial attitudes in the city. | No | Bobo, Mary | 60 min. |
| Ray, Stepney | 6/14/1977 | 341, 342 | Reverend Ray is a 87-year-old black man, who is a long time resident of the Parkland area. He discusses his life, his childhood in downtown Louisville, the growth of the downtown area, Fourth of July celebrations in the Chestnut-Walnut-Eleventh St. area as well as the changes and growth of the Parkland area. | No | Bruggman, Marsha | 90 min. |
| Ray-Kirby, Mary Irene | 2/22/1993 | 1993-51-20 | Ms. Ray-Kirby never took the bar exam, and discusses this during her interview. She discusses discrimination and how it might have affected her career. Ms. Ray-Kirby graduated from law school in 1952. She currently works as a realtor. | Bean, Kathleen | 60 min. | |
| Receveur, Mrs. William | 9/14/1985 | 1985-114 | The narrator discusses life in the St. Matthews area. | No | Olympia, Lynn | 60 min. |
| Redmon, Charles | 3/27/2002 | 2002-9-1 | No | Yeager, Pam | 90 min. | |
| Reed, Bob | 8/27/1997 | 2000-6-58, 2000-6-59 | Deindustrialization in Louisville | Hart, Joy | 180 min. | |
| Reed, Bob | 8/6/1997 | 2000-6-55, 2000-6-56, 2000-6-57 | Deindustrialization in Louisville | K'Meyer, Tracy | 120 min. | |
| Reed, Dwight | 2/19/2004 | 2004-88-16 | Veterans History Project | No | Eiden, Robin | videotape; unknown |
| Reed, Marilyn | 8/26/1997. 9/10/1997 | 2000-6-62, 2000-6-63 | Deindustrialization in Louisville | Hart, Joy | 90 min. | |
| Reed, Marilyn | 8/5/1997 | 2000-6-60, 2000-6-61 | Deindustrialization in Louisville | K'Meyer, Tracy | 120 min. | |
| Rees, Larry | 11/29/1988 | 1989-29-44, 1989-29-45 | Narrator, Manager of Main Library, talks about Louisville public libraries. | No | Miller, Barbara | 75 min. |
| Reichspfarr, Mary | 1/4/1985 | 1985-56 | K.M.I. secretary. The narrator discusses life in the St. Matthews area. | No | Olympia, Lynn | 60 min. |
| Reid, Mike | 8/20/1997 | 2000-6-64, 2000-6-65 | Deindustrialization in Louisville | Hart, Joy | 120 min. | |
| Reid, Mike | 8/28/1997 | 2000-6-66, 2000-6-67 | Deindustrialization in Louisville | K'Meyer, Tracy | 120 min. | |
| Reinhart, Frank | 10/6/1997 | 2000-6-68 | Deindustrialization in Louisville | Hart, Joy | 60 min. | |
| Reinhart, Frank | 11/18/1997 | 2000-6-69, 2000-6-70 | Deindustrialization in Louisville | K'Meyer, Tracy | 90 min. | |
| Reynolds, Louise | 6/13/1979 | 761-762 | A prominent local black woman recalls her early years in Lewisburg, Tennessee; moving to Louisville; association with the Louisville Municipal College and the University of Louisville; her start in local politics as a ward committee woman and precinct captain; field secretary to former 3rd District Representative John M. Robinson, Jr.; the election of 1961, which resulted in the victory of a Republican mayor (William Cowger) and county judge (Marlow Cook) after years of Democratic dominance of these offices; the meaning of these developments for Louisville and Jefferson County blacks; local black political organizations during the 1960s; the passage of a public accommodations law under Cowger; Louisville's reputation as a city with good racial relations; views on the administation of Louisville mayor Kenneth Schmied; "block busting" during the 1960s; work with the small business administration; views on west Walnut Street before Urban Renewal; and general views on changes in the black community in Louisville. | Yes | Bobo, Mary | 90 min. |
| Rhodes, Robert (Kenny) | 10/15/1997 | 2000-6-72, 2000-6-73 | Deindustrialization in Louisville | Hart, Joy | 60 min. | |
| Rhodes, Robert (Kenny) | 10/15/1997 | 2000-6-71 | Deindustrialization in Louisville | K'Meyer, Tracy | 120 min. | |
| Rhodes, Nova | 6/30/1998 | 2002-2-11 | Rhodes worked at Beatty-Cummins making shells, and then at Curtiss-Wright. Discusses employment conditions, union participation, and attitudes toward work during and after the war. | Yes | Harmon, Shirley | |
| Rhodes, Thomas | 10/16/1997 | 2000-6-76 | Deindustrialization in Louisville | Hart, Joy | 120 min. | |
| Rhodes, Thomas | 10/16/1997, 10/4/1997 | 2000-6-77, 2000-6-74, 2000-6-75 | Deindustrialization in Louisville | K'Meyer, Tracy | 120 min. | |
| Rhyne, Janie | 11/11/1975 | 99 | Art Therapy. Personal history and the growth of the American Art Therapy Association. | No | Ryant, Mary Lou | 60 min. |
| Richardson, Anna L. | 3/26/1983 | 1983-13 | Mrs. Richardson discusses her early life on a farm in Kentucky and Illinois and her life during the Depression. Interview encompasses the years 1900-WW II. | Yes | Hollis, Dae Lynn | 60 min. |
| Richey, Harper | 6/16/1975 | 81 | Senior House Project. Dr. Richey discusses his term on the Board of Directors of Senior House, beginning in 1970. | No | Bruggman, Marsha | 60 min. |
| Richmond, Jack B. | 2/11/1980 | 925, 926 | The narrator discusses his personal history, including his experiences in the military during World War II. | Yes | Callan, Virginia R. | 120 min. |
| Rieser, Stanley M. | 11/24/1981 | 1982-37 | A glossary of racetrack terms and a time index are included. Mr. Rieser is a trainer. He discusses life on the backside; including superstitions, remedies and training methods. | No | Starr, Claudia | 60 min. |
| Riester, George | 3/6/1976 | 306 | Louisville during the Depression. Riester, who was a jewler, discusses his recollections of the Depression. | Yes | Shirrel, Mitchel J. | |
| Riggs, Bill | 4/16/1979 | 744, 745 | No | Bruggman, Marsha | 120 min. | |
| Riley, Timothy | 1/19/2004 | 2004-88-17 | Veterans History Project | No | Morgan, CJ | videotape; unknown |
| Rinehart , Hudson B. | 11/5/1988 | 1989-28-5 | Narrator, a former lieutenant, talks about his experiences in WWII. | No | Milliner, Donald | 75 min. |
| Ringol, Beatrice Brownstein | 1/2/1991 | 1991-129-27 | Her father, an MD, graduated UL 1908, 1st resident at Jewish Hospital in 1909. Parents married in 1910. Grandfather, arrived US 1884. Charter member, Anshei Sfard. Moved to Highlands in 1931, married Louis Ringol in 1935. Discusses Peerless Manufacturing Co. (men's clothing); uncle, Simon Agranot (Israeli Chief Justice who handed down Eichmann Decision). Remembers living at Floyd & Walnut, YMHA basketball games, Adath Jeshurun Sisterhood, 4th Street, Brown Hotel, Canary Cottage, livinga t 2nd & Hill, front porch gatherings, the Great Depression, 1937 flood, Pearl Harbor, WWII, USO, old Talmud Torah, Riva Waldman Entertainment. Limited Access Medical, Dental School. Husband was a dentist. Related families: Haskell, Brownstein, Goldstein, Bronstein, Urdbach, Baker, Levitch. | No | Weinberg, Elizabeth | 45 min. |
| Ringol, Beatrice Brownstein | 1/2/1991 | 1992-102-11 | Jewish Community Center interviews | No | Weinberg, Elizabeth | 60 min. |
| Ritchie, William | 6/3/1985 | 1986-137 | Discusses developments and issues in the bottling aspect of the industry; also his recollections and observations on the distilling industry in general; Ritchie is a bottler with Barton Brands Distillery. | Yes | Syvertsen, Thomas H. | 60 min. |
| RoBards, Martin J. | 5/28/1980 | 842 | Narrators has family connections with the L&N, including Mrs. RoBards's father who was a Diamond Button man. Discusses the old L&N Magazine, the importance of the L&N to the growth of industry, institutions, and Southern agriculture. Special trips and trains; changes including dieselization and competition from trucking. A more detailed summary of this interview is available on the L&N Oral History page. | Yes | Bobo, Mary | 60 min. |
| Robards, Mildred Wilson | 6/18/1985 | 1986-30 | The narrator lived in Butchertown for 35 years. She worked at Cohen Dry Goods for 23 years. | No | Mandlebaum, Helen | 30 min. |
| Roberts, Barksdale | 10/02/2004 | 2005-87-1 | Fundraiser for the establishment of the Louisville Science Center. | No | Wilson, Jennifer | 23 min. |
| Roberts, Barksdale | 10/06/2005 | 2007-22-1 | A founder of the Main Street Association and one of the original supporters of the Louisville Science Center recalls the state of Main Street in the 1960s and how it has been resurrected. | No | Foley, Susan | 60 min. |
| Roberts, Charles | 12/15/1976 | 193 | Mr. Roberts was the former Director of Sanitation was served as the Cabinet Director for Public Works and Services. This interview covers the reorganization of Louisville's city government. | Yes | Staiger, Charles | 60 min. |
| Robinson, Marcella | 9/8/1990 | 1991-73-30, 1991-73-31 | Parent and school bus driver remembers the first months of busing in Jefferson County. | No | White, Ethel S. | 120 min. |
| Robinson, Sam | 9/26/2000 | 2002-1-117, 2002-1-118 | Civil Rights movement in Louisville | Yes | K'Meyer, Tracy | 90 min. |
| Robuck, Lucille B. | 2/9/1993 | 1993-51-21, 1993-51-22 | Ms. Robuck served many years as a member of the parole board for the state of Kentukcy. Ms. Robuck graduated from law school in 1952. | Bean, Kathleen | 120 min. | |
| Roby, Brenda Darlene | 8/9/1988 | 1989-29-29, 1989-29-30 | Narrator, manager extension services, talks about Louisville public libraries. | No | Miller, Barbara | 90 min. |
| Rogers, Robert | 7/6/2004 | 2004-77-7 | Veterans History Project | No | Chafin, Barry | videotape; unknown |
| Rohe, Edward | 6/20/1985 | 1986-180 | Rohe, a production operator with Brown-Forman, has worked with them since 1946; talks about the effect of computers on his job, women in the labor force, safety problems. | No | Ryant, Carl | 14 min. |
| Rollings, Curtis with Rollings, Ernest Jr. | 9/27/1979 | 795, 796 | Curtis and Ernest Rollings trace their family history with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. The interview also covers such topics as changes in technology, company policy, labor relations and Louisville's role as a rail transportation center in the state and the nation. | Yes | Bobo, Mary | 120 min. |
| Romines, Delma | 3/8/2004 | 2005-30-6 | Veterans History Project | No | Morgan, Tyler | videotape; unknown |
| Rosen, Harold | 10/31/1980 | 1991-129-28 | Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Father and mother were born in Romania. Mr. Rosen remembers life in Canadian Jewish neighborhood; Orthodox family; drafted to Fort Knox, WWII; YMHA during the war. Married wife Selma in 1942. Her grandparents married in Luoisville, came from Germany and Lithuania. Began joint Brotherhood meetings. | No | Abramson, Betty | 40 min. |
| Rosenbaum, Barbara | 4/22/1993 | 1991-51-23 | Ms. Rosenbaum graduated from University of Kentucky law school in 1943. She practiced law in the firm of Rosenbaum and Rosenbaum in Lexington, KY, and was interviewed in her office. She speaks in general about practicing law in a family practice. | Bean, Kathleen | 90 min. | |
| Rosenbaum, Ben | 11/27/2006 | 2007-22-20 | Ben Rosenbaum III, great-grandson of the founder of Isaac Rosenbaum and Sons, a wool and hide business at Floyd and Market Streets that was founded circa 1900, recalls family memories of the business in its heyday and its eventual demise. | No | Foley, Susan | 45 min. |
| Rosenberg, Sam | 4/19/2004 | 2004-106-12 | Veterans History Project | No | Ward, Joseph | videotape; unknown |
| Roth, Thomas Jefferson | 6/21/1986 | 1986-215, 1986-216 | Thomas J. Roth is the grandson of Isaac W. Bernheim, his mother being Bernheim's daughter, Helen Bernheim Roth. Roth grew up primarily in Cincinnati, Ohio. He visited his grandfather many times in Louisville and once in Denver, Colorado. Summary available. | No | Holmberg, James J. | 120 min. |
| Roulston, Mrs. Foster | 112, 113 | Mr. John L. Gruber and the history of the Louisville Conservatory of Music. Gruber was the business manager for the conservatory from 1920 and its president from 1925 until its closing. | Yes | Money, Mary Grace | 120 min. | |
| Rowntree, Gradie R. | 11/5/1980 | 1981-42 | This tape concerns the Sons of the American Revolution. The time period covered is 1965-1980. Topics included activities, accomplishment, national committees and the headquarters of the SAR. | Yes | Schultz, Christine | 60 min. |
| Ruby, Earl | 5/7/1981 | 1981-112, 1981-113 | Ruby began work as a news boy carrying both the Courier-Journal and Louisville Herald. He served as sports editor from 1938-1968. Ruby still writes outdoor column that appears in the Sunday edition. | No | Bobo, Mary D. | 75 min. |
| Rudy, Hubbard E. | 11/26/1984 | 1985-41, 1985-42 | A retired surveyor. The narrator discusses life in the St. Matthews area. | No | Olympia, Lynn | 120 min. |
| Ruffra, Jean | 8/15/1988 | 1991-73-32, 1991-73-33 | A member of Save Our Community Schools (SOCS), an anti-busing organization describes her resistance to busing in the 1970s and her subsequent election to the Jefferson County School Board in 1974 as a result. | No | White, Ethel S. | 120 min. |
| Russell, John | 1/23/1985 | 1985-59 | The narrator discusses life in the St. Matthews area. | No | Olympia, Lynn | 60 min. |
| Russman, Milton | 3/19/1991 | 1991-129-29 | Russman remembers observant home; lived Chestnut Street, personal poverty unrecognized. Early childhood friends: Macy Abrams, Young: Catholic neighborhood, very good relationship. He recalls Jewish bread man - Harry Davis; Rabbi Zarchy's funeral; drafted in 2nd group (18 years old); WWII, active Zionists, 1937 flood. | No | Bronner, Betty | 40 min. |
| Rutledge, Howard W. | 2/24/2004 | 2004-88-18 | Veterans History Project | No | Carroll, Mitzi | videotape; unknown |
| Ryan, Frank and Ryan, Mary Alma | 4/9/1983 | 1989-45-9 | Describes growing up in the Tyler Park neighborhood. Summary available. | No | Smith, Shawn , McElderry, Andrea | 60 min. |
| Ryan, Norma | 10/6/1982 | 1989-45-4 | Describes her life in Highlands and Edenside. Summary available | No | McElderry, Andrea | 60 min. |