Rockland oral history interview transcripts
Creation: 1999-2011Abstract
Rockland is an unincorporated old mill village in New Castle County, Delaware, and was later surrounded by du Pont family estates. The collection contains twelve edited oral history transcripts by Mary Laird Silvia (1938-2013) with people who lived in Rockland.
Dates
- Creation: 1999-2011
Creator
- Silvia, Mary Laird, 1938-2013 (Interviewer, Person)
Extent
12 volume(s)
Biographical Note
Mary Laird Silvia (1938-2013) was a historian interested in the people and events that shaped the Brandywine Valley.
Silvia was born March 26, 1938, the eldest child of William Winder "Chick" Laird (1910-1989) and Winnifred Moreton Laird (1912-1996). She grew up on the banks of the Brandywine, opposite the Hagley Powder Yards. She graduated from Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Following graduation, Silvia and a Radcliffe classmate traveled the world, including visits to Hawaii, Afghanistan, Egypt, Malaysia, and Lebanon. She worked as a licensed interpreter/translator for the United Nations, an assignment working for Sergeant Shriver at the Peace Corps in Washington, DC, Director of American Studies at the French International Lycée in Washington, and bi-lingual guide in the nation's capitol.
In 1975, she married Peter A. Silvia, a nautical architect-engineer for the U.S. Navy.
After her father's death in 1989, Silvia discovered boxes of family papers that she used to tell the story of the area where she had grown up. This soon expanded into a series of oral histories based on interviews with former DuPont Powder Mill workers and their descendants and a monograph on the settlement of Rockland and its many families.
Scope and Contents
Twelve edited interview transcripts by Mary Laird Silvia (1938-2013) with people who lived in Rockland, an old mill village that was later surrounded by du Pont family estates. See individual interviews for a more detailed description.
Access Restrictions
No restrictions on access; this collection is open for research.
Use Restrictions
May be used for research only. Not to be quoted or reproduced without permission of donor.
Language of Materials
English
Subjects
Related Names
Subject
- E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (Organization)
- Russell, Mary Biddle, 1922- (Person)
- Newman, Libby Goldberg, 1922- (Person)
- Clark, Sarah Phillips Brown, 1926- (Person)
- Hearne, Rodney Lee, 1923-2006 (Person)
- Ewing, S. Tyson (Samuel Tyson), 1919-2010 (Person)
- Braun, Thomas (1917-2003) (Person)
- Porter, Luther, 1909-2000 (Person)
- Bispham, Edward K., III, 1923-2011 (Person)
- Paschall, Barbara Bispham, 1931-2012 (Person)
- Twer, Beatrice Goldberg, 1919-2003 (Person)
- Finnie, Betty Comegys, 1922-2006 (Person)
- Ayres, Eunice Bambary, 1914-2002 (Person)
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- Rockland oral history interview transcripts
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2021: Ashley Williams
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
