The Red River Floods of 1997 Oral History Project: Interview with Mary Barrett

Titles: The Red River Floods of 1997 Oral History Project: Interview with Mary Barrett (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Mary Barrett was born and raised in Grand Forks, North Dakota. After several years raising a family, in 1981 Barrett became a migrant school nurse connected to the Polk County Head Start program in Crookston. In 1996, when an office of the Head Start program was opened in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, she became the director of that new office. As of 1999 Barrett remained as director of the East Grand Forks Head Start program and continued to live in her rural home east of the town. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Barrett discusses the flood of 1997 in the Red River Valley and its impact on East Grand Forks. She devotes special attention to the difficulties that the residents of East Grand Forks faced in obtaining child care after the flood receded. She describes in detail the steps that her office took to provide temporary child care during the summer of 1997, and the role of the Head Start Program in helping regular day care businesses reopen after the flood. She explains how the flood affected young children and describes the ways in which child care was connected to how successfully families were able to rebuild after the flood. She concludes the interview with some speculations on the future of East Grand Forks as it rebuilds.

Dates

• 06/19/1998 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Barrett, Mary
• interviewer: Shoptaugh, Terry L.

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 57
• Accession Number: AV1999.66.2

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'The Red River Floods of 1997 Oral History Project' <OH 57>

Quantity: 2 hours sound cassette 38 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 85 minutes length

Subjects

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