Scope and arrangement
The Robert Hamburger transcripts and research materials are arranged in three series:
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1973
The first series contains materials relating to Our Portion of Hell. Within the series are interview transcripts recounting the civil rights struggles that took place in Fayette County, Tennessee, one of the poorest counties in the United States at that time. The transcripts present a first person account by the African American residents of Fayette County, describing the events that transpired after they organized their first voter registration drive in 1959. The violence and discrimination that ensued continued for decades, ranging from local stores blacklisting voters to evicting people from houses where in some cases the families had lived for generations. The residents were subsequently forced to create temporary homes in a "tent city". In addition to the transcripts of those represented in Our Portion of Hell, there are several transcripts from people whose testimony does not appear in the published book, including Joe Henry Griggs, Marjoreen Jefferson, Mary Jones, Dorothy Marie Lewis, and Eunice Wright.
The Introduction and general description folder holds introductory and background information on the author, the project, and the situation in Fayette County. However, this lengthy introduction is not included in its entirety in the published book. In addition, there is a timeline, a description for the interview process, and an outline for the structure of the book.
There are a number of research materials in this series; they include photocopies of court transcripts, printed materials on the history of Fayette County, and news articles. The research focuses on the civil rights abuses endured by the residents of Fayette County and the work of the Fayette County Civic and Welfare League. The League, founded by John McFerren, a resident of Fayette County, was responsible for organizing the voter registration drive and promoting and protecting civil rights in the county. Among the League materials are photocopies of conference proceedings and samples of the publication, The League Link, 1961-1963. Additionally, there is a photocopy of the transcript for the February 12, 1961, radio broadcast of the As We See It series; Viola McFerrin (wife of the League founder), Senator Hubert Humphrey (D. Minn), Don Slaiman, and moderator Harry W. Flannery discussed "Tenant Farmers and Voting Rights" (it appears that the transcripts were on legal size paper; the photocopies were done on letter size paper, thus the bottom third has been cut off). The School system folder contains photocopies of legal documents relating to the education system in Fayette County, including a consultant's report about school integration in 1975, and news articles.
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1978
The second series contains transcripts (including multiple annotated drafts) and an introduction for A Stranger in the House. This collection of oral histories includes interviews with thirteen African American women employed in households in New York City and the surrounding area. Each woman presents her personal perspective on domestic work. Several of the women have used pseudonyms in the book but in the transcripts their actual names appear. Pseudonyms appear in parentheses. Along with the interview transcripts there is an annotated introduction by Hamburger. As with Our, Portion of Hell, the introduction that appears in the book was an edited version. Additionally, there are descriptions of the interviews, including the details of how Hamburger met each participant, the environments in which he visited them, and his assessment of each interview.
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Hamburger also wrote All the Lonely People: Life in a Single Room Occupancy Hotel in 1983 for which there are two short pieces ("The Whitehall Hotel: A Community of Outcasts, a Proposal for an Oral History Project" and "Castaways: or Last Chance Hotel") explaining his interests in writing a book on this subject. Additionally, there are various drafts for "A Journal of the Plague Year", which does not appear to have been published.