Oral History Interview with Harry Luck, 1976 May 17
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Summary Information
Title: Oral History Interview with Harry Luck
Inclusive Dates: 1976 May 17

Creator:
  • Luck, Harry, 1902-
Call Number: Tape 568A

Quantity: 1 tape recording

Repository:
Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:
COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:
Interview, May 17, 1976, with Harry Luck, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, in which he reminisces about his childhood in Russia; his family's immigration to the United States via England in 1928; the cattle business and farming in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, 1939-1969; the family's Jewish religious practices; and Luck's political involvement and opinions. Interviewed by Historical Society staff member Peter Gordy.

Note:

Forms part of the Wisconsin Jewish Archives.



Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-tape00568a
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Contents List
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   0:50
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Scope and Content Note: Name, date (1902), and place of birth, number of brothers and sisters, number of siblings who came to the United States, father's occupation.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   1:55
ABOUT FATHER'S CATTLE DEALERSHIP IN RUSSIA,
Scope and Content Note: Size of business, sales volume, Jewish and non-Jewish customers, location of business.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   2:55
THE SMALL TOWN WHERE LUCK GREW UP, NEAR THE POLISH BORDER, RUSSIA
Scope and Content Note: Physical description of the town, lack of sanitary amenities, going to the well, Jews in this small town, proportion of Jews to non-Jews, relations between the two groups, segregation of the Jews.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   4:30
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE IN THE LUCK FAMILY, RUSSIA,
Scope and Content Note: Strict observance of the Sabbath, details, going to cheder, kinds of courses given there, language spoken in the home and in the synagogue, HL's continuing ability in Hebrew.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   5:55
ABOUT THE OTHER JEWS IN THIS RUSSIAN VILLAGE
Scope and Content Note: Occupations, skill of Jewish truck farmers in Russia, cheap labor.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   7:00
WAR AND REVOLUTION CHRONOLOGY,
Scope and Content Note: World War I, revolution, civil war, date of HL's arrival in U.S.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   7:20
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE REVOLUTION AND CIVIL WAR IN RUSSIA,
Scope and Content Note: Age at the time of these events, Kerensky and Bolshevik government, early euphoria and later suffering after revolution, comparison with Tsarist times, Bolsheviks and civil war in family's decision to leave Russia, expropriation and billetting of soldiers, plundering by the rabble.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   10:20
LEAVING RUSSIA,
Scope and Content Note: Difficulties in leaving Russia and in getting into United States, Johnson Immigration Act and a long hiatus in England, route of flight.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   11:10
YEARS IN ENGLAND,
Scope and Content Note: First farming experience and reasons that farming work was possible him in England, duration of stay in England, type of farming and location, language proficiency in English and reasons, date of leaving farm in England and date of coming to U.S.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   12:40
ARRIVING IN THE UNITED STATES,
Scope and Content Note: Difference between HL's experience in immigration after imposition of rigid immigration quotas and Jewish settlers at the turn of the century, HL's advantages, brothers in New York and Milwaukee, moving to Milwaukee, first jobs, joining brother in the cattle business.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   14:35
CATTLE BUSINESS IN SOUTHERN WISCONSIN,
Scope and Content Note: Area of sales, getting started in the cattle business, high hopes, low expectations, and the Depression, date of change to the farming business.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   16:50
GETTING INTO THE FARMING BUSINESS,
Scope and Content Note: Rental of the farm, reasons for going into farming, location of the first farm, moving from Milwaukee to Hartford, good neighbors and learning from them, advantages of a conscious rural background in getting under way.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   19:15
MACHINERY ON THE LUCK FARM
Scope and Content Note: Kinds of machinery used at the outset, crops grown during the Second World War, HL's championship peas.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   20:40
FARMING TECHNIQUES,
Scope and Content Note: Learning from neighbors, reading farming publications in bed.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   21:10
JEWISH OBSERVANCE ON THE LUCK FARM,
Scope and Content Note: Young Hebrew student boarder, children's education in Hebrew, going to shul (synagogue) in Milwaukee, impossibility of building a shul in area, the closest Jewish farmer.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   23:10
THE LUCK FARMS AND THEIR PHYSICAL PLANTS,
Scope and Content Note: Size and locations of rented and purchased farms, circumstances of purchase.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   24:15
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AT THE TIME OF LUCK'S MOVE TO THE FARM,
Scope and Content Note: Better times and expectations of same, after-effects of the Depression, degree of mechanization, effect of the war on mechanization.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   25:30
ANTISEMITISM BEFORE AND DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Scope and Content Note: Lack of antisemitism among neighbors, decency and friendliness of neighbors, willingness of neighbors to work hard together, haying together with neighbors during the Second World War.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   26:55
ZIONISM IN LUCK'S NATIVE VILLAGE,
Scope and Content Note: Degree of interest in Zionism, how this interest was manifested, Hebrew schools.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   27:45
POLITICAL ACTIVITY OR ABSENCE THEREOF,
Scope and Content Note: Reasons for lack of partisan. political involvement, names of farm organizations of which HL was member, reason for quitting NFO.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   28:40
PROGRESSIVE PARTY IN WAUKESHA COUNTY,
Scope and Content Note: Degree of interest in party, Henry Wallace and his small chances for political success, on Wallace's Communist backing, Norman Corwin's visit to HL's farm, his relation to Luck family, Wallace's lack of political success explained.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   30:40
THE LUCK FAMILY IN AMERICA
Scope and Content Note: Date of marriage, number and ages of children.
Note: Timing on tape begins again from 0.00.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   0:50
CONNECTIONS WITH THE JEWISH AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
Scope and Content Note: HL's lack of recollection about details.
Tape/Side   1/1
Time   1:40
END OF INTERVIEW