Oral History Program Alida Alberts Interviewed by Mack S. Taft circa 1960s Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Alida Alberts Interviewed by Mack S. Taft circa 1960s Copyright © 2016 by Weber State University, Stewart Library iii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The Great Depression in Weber County, Utah, is an Oral History Project by Mack S. Taft for completion of his Master’s Thesis at Utah State University during the summer of 1969. The forty-five interviews address the Great Depression through the eyes of individuals in several different occupations including: Bankers, Laborers, Railroad Workers, Attorneys, Farmers, Educators, Businessmen, Community and Church Leaders, Housewives, Children and Physicians. All of these individuals lived in Weber County from 1929 to 1941. The interviews were based on what they remembered about the depression, how they felt about those events and how it affected their life then and now. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Alberts, Alida, an oral history by Mack S. Taft, circa 1960s, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. 1 Abstract: This is an oral history interview with Alida Henrietta Alberts. Ms. Alberts discusses her husbands’ work and salary during the Depression, as well as recreation and cost of living during that time. The interviewer is Mack Taft. MT: What was your husband's name? AA: John Alberts. MT: When were you married? AA: The 28th of August, 1929. MT: Your husband was working at the time you were married, and how much did he earn? AA: He was getting $25.50 a week, but sometimes they were only working three, four, or five hours, but they were getting the straight $25.50 per week. He worked for American Pack at that time. Swift took over right after that, and that's when they started paying by the hour that you worked. MT: Approximately how much did he earn after they switched to the hourly scale? AA: Well, $10- $12, but not anymore. Once in a while he got a check for $15, which was considered a good check for us - that's per week. MT: How many children did you have? AA: Three, but at that time, we just had Jack. MT: Where did you live? AA: We lived at 3234 Wall Avenue. MT: What did you consider your greatest problem at that time - securing food, or clothing, or what? 2 AA: Well, Mr. Alberts was sick a lot. He had rheumatic heart, and he was off five weeks at a time real often at that time. MT: During those times, which was the greatest problem - food, or clothing, or what? AA: Well, my parents were farmers, and so Father used to bring us vegetables, in that line. But in the meat line, we could either spend 50 cents on Sundays for a piece of meat, or we could keep that 50 cents and go out and visit with the folks. We did without that. MT: What type of transportation did you have, at that time? AA: Well, we had an old Essex, and half the time we couldn't afford to keep gas in it. So Mr. Alberts walked to work from 32nd and Wall to Swifts, many, many, many times. And I walked to town many times when I had to shop. When Jack came along, I'd put him in the buggy and push him all the way up. Our biggest problem was that we were buying a home and paying on an old car, and then our little baby came along, so trying to get our doctor bill paid. Then he was off work, and I remember the Relief Society president came down one time, and she said, "Sister Alberts, you've got to have help." And I said, "Oh no, as long as we can keep our baby fed, I'd never take help from anybody." And we made out, but it was really a struggle. I can't accept help from anybody. MT: Do you think of any amusing or interesting things that happened to you during that time? AA: Well, for recreation, we could go to a show. And I think my little baby was six months old, and I had never been anywhere. If we went to a show, we paid a baby sitter, and then we'd walk all the way up and all the way back, and that's all 3 we could afford. The show cost about 25 cents or 50 cents, I guess. We had the bus that run right in front of the house, but we just didn't have the money. MT: Did you go dancing in those days? AA: No, I think our boy was about a year old, and we were going to a dance, and I got me a new dress and new shoes. Then Mr. Alberts got sick, so we couldn't go. But my sister and her husband used to come over quite often, and we played Pollyanna a lot. That was about the only recreation we had. MT: Do you remember the prices of any of the things that you used to buy through those years? AA: I don't have a very good memory, but it was cheap. A quart of milk was cheap, and eggs were cheap, but we just couldn't afford them. We had them for the baby and that, but not for us. We really had a struggle. Everybody was in the same boat. When our baby was about a year old, he got pneumonia, and the doctor said we would have to take him to the hospital. I said, "If they'll let me stay with him." He was my pride and joy. And then we had a nurse come every morning to bathe him and take his temperature, and tell us how he was doing. Then the doctor generally came around 10 at night to check him again. Then it was a Saturday night, and they said, "We'll have to tap his spine." So my folks lived in Tremonton, and they came down. My father said, "If it were my child, I wouldn't have that done." And I said, "But, Dad, the doctor said he has to have it done." But I wasn't an honest tithe payer and I felt like I wasn't entitled to the Lord's help. So my father administered to Jack and during the night he vomited just terribly. 4 And the next morning, Dad said again that he wouldn't have it done. But I was scared to tell my parents that I wasn't paying a full tithing. So the doctor came, and he made a bed on the dining room table, and he put the needle in his spine to draw out the fluid, and there wasn't any. And he said, "I can't understand this." He said, "Last night he was full of fluid." And I said, "Well, Doctor, last night my father administered to Jack, and during the night he vomited terribly." And he said, "Oh, why didn't you tell me, and we wouldn't have had to do this." And this was really a testimony to me.