Patricia Carino Pasick collection of Johnson Street Filipino-American oral histories

Call Number

2013.001

Date

2004-2014, inclusive

Creator

Pasick, Patricia (Role: Creator)

Extent

10.38 Gigabytes

in 169 files, total running time: 6 hours, 11 minutes, 32 seconds

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet

in one half manuscript box

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The collection contains nine interviews (with eight individuals) who were part of a Filipino-American community that was located at 72 and 74 Johnson Street in the Downtown neighborhood of Brooklyn in the early twentieth century. In addition the interview recordings and transcripts, the collection contains digital images relating to some of the narrators.

Biographical note

Patricia Carino Pasick was born in Queens, New York to a Filipino American father (born and raised in Brooklyn) and a mother of Scotch-Irish and English descent (born and raised in Tennessee). Her family moved to West Islip (Long Island) when she was a young child. Later her family relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where her father worked in the aerospace industry. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan (bachelor's degree and PhD.) and Harvard University (Master in Education). As a psychologist, she became interested in her own heritage, and began investigating the roots of the Filipino American community, which resulted in this collection of oral histories. Pasick also contributed historical essays on the Filipino American community in In Our Uncles' Words: We Fought For Freedom, which was published by the Filipino American National Historical Society - Hampton Roads Chapter.

Historical note

In the years following the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), many Filipino men found work with the U.S. Navy and Merchant Marine as cooks and stewards (the only positions Filipinos could hold until 1973). As a result, Filipino American communities began to arise in U.S. port cities. In Brooklyn, these men resided in boarding houses near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Some of the men married American women and started mixed ethnic families. The community generally resided on Johnson Street in the Downtown neighborhood of Brooklyn, and a Filipino American community center on Fulton Street served as a gathering place for families. By the mid-twentieth century, the community began to leave Brooklyn for suburban communities in Queens, Long Island, and beyond.

Source: Filipino American National Historical Society. Hampton Roads Chapter. In Our Uncles' Words: We Fought For Freedom. San Francisco: T'Boli Publishing and Distribution, 2006.

Scope and Contents

The collection contains nine interviews (with eight individuals) who grew up as part of the Filipino-American community that was located on Johnson Street in the Downtown neighborhood of Brooklyn in the early twentieth century. The narrators include both ethnically mixed Filipino-Americans, as well as two women who married into mixed Filipino families. They discuss growing up in Brooklyn, the local Filipino community, and their mixed ethnic heritage and identity. The interviews were conducted between 2004 and 2014 by Patricia Carino Pasick, a psychologist and scholar who is related to many of the narrators featured in this collection. In addition the interview recordings and transcripts, the collection contains digital images relating to some of the narrators.

Subjects

Organizations

New York Naval Shipyard; United States. Navy

Genres

DVDs; Oral histories (document genres); Transcripts

Topics

Places

Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.); Downtown Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.); DUMBO (New York, N.Y.); Johnson Street (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.); Philadelphia (Pa.); Vinegar Hill (New York, N.Y.)

Conditions Governing Access

Open to researchers with varied restrictions according to narrator agreement. Oral histories can be accessed onsite at the Brooklyn Historical Society's Othmer Library and online on the Oral History Portal. Additional research and background materials are available in the collection's electronic accession file and are open to researchers upon request.

Conditions Governing Use

Use of the oral histories other than for private study, scholarship, or research requires the permission of BHS. Please see the Oral History Note for guidelines on using Brooklyn Historyical Society's oral history collections. For assistance, please consult library staff at library@brooklynhistory.org.

Preferred Citation

[Narrator Last Name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer First name Last name], Interview Date [Month day, YYYY], Patricia Carino Pasick collection of Johnson Street Filipino-American oral histories, [Object ID], Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Patrcia Carino Pasick, 2013, 2015.

Related Materials

In addition to this collection, there are five oral history recordings with Filipino Americans in the Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations oral history collection (2011.019).

Our library holds the following titles related to Filipino Americans:

Filipino American National Historical Society. Hampton Roads Chapter. In our uncles words: "we fought for freedom" (Main collection E184.F4 F38 2006)

Hyung-chan, Kim and Cynthia C. Mejia. The Filipinos in America, 1898-1974 : a chronology & fact book (Main collection E184.F4 K55 1976)

Oral History note

Oral history interviews are intimate conversations between two people, both of whom have generously agreed to share these recordings with the Brooklyn Historical Society archives and with researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. Researchers will understand that:

1. The Brooklyn Historical Society abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association (2009) and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.

2. Every oral history relies on the memories, views and opinions of the narrator. Because of the personal nature of oral history, listeners may find some viewpoints or language of the recorded participants to be objectionable. In keeping with its mission of preservation and unfettered access whenever possible, BHS presents these views as recorded.

3. Transcripts created prior to 2008 or by a thrird-party serve as a guide to the interview and are not considered verbatim. The audio recording should be considered the primary source for each interview. It may contain natural false starts, verbal stumbles, misspeaks, repetitions that are common in conversation, and other passages and phrases omitted from the transcript. This decision was made because BHS gives primacy to the audible voice and also because some researchers do find useful information in these verbal patterns.

4. Unless these verbal patterns are germane to your scholarly work, when quoting from this material researchers are encouraged to correct the grammar and make other modifications maintaining the flavor of the narrator's speech while editing the material for the standards of print.

Collection processed by

John Zarrillo

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 11:20:39 +0000.

Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Language: Finding aid written in English

Repository

Brooklyn Historical Society

Container

Box: 1 of 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)