Mathews County Historical Society, Inc.
Connecting People to the Past

  • Home
  • Search the Collections
    • Catalog
    • Digital Archives
  • Museums
    • Tompkins Cottage Museum
    • Thomas James Store
  • Shop
    • Publications
    • Ornaments
  • Features
    • History of Mathews County, Virginia
    • Mathews County Archaeological & Architectural Survey
    • Historic Homes & Properties
    • Fort Nonsense Historical Park
    • Mathews Oral History Project
    • Mathews County's First Registered Black Voters
    • New Point Comfort Lighthouse
    • Sally Louisa Tompkins
  • About MCHS
  • Related Links
Mathews Oral History Project

The Mathews County Historical Society is engaged in an ongoing project to record and create permanent records of stories that residents have to tell.

The purpose of the project is to capture aspects of Mathews history that otherwise would be lost. The project began in 2014, with a grant from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. The historical society hired University of Florida graduate student and professional oral historian Jessica Taylor to conduct interviews of local people. The participants were selected from a list of names suggested by county residents, and matching funds for the grant were provided by the county as directed by the board of supervisors.

These interviews have been transcribed and are now available through the University of Florida Digital Collections archive. The transcribed interviews will soon be available at the Mathews Memorial Library.

The project is part of the Virginia Fieldwork in Folklore and is co-sponsored by the Mathews County Historical Society, the Mathews Memorial Library, the Fairfield Foundation, and the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program.

Mathews Oral History Project Participants

Click on the name for transcribed interview.
​
Dennis Baker
John Bateman
Don Bowman
Catherine (Callis) Brooks
​Franklin Brooks
​James Brown
​John & Rebecca Brown
David Callis
​Mabel Cray
Betty (Wrenn) Day
​Edward & Louise Diggs
​John Dixon

Helen & Charles Forrest
Kevin Godsey
Gilbert Hall
Katherine (Miller) Hendrick
Robert Hudgins
Arthur & Thelma Hurst
Clarence Minters
​Greti Monroe
Catherine Morgan & Jody Diggs Hudgins
Forrest Morgan
​Allen Moughon
​Raymond Owens

Susan Powell et al
William Benjamin Richardson
​Mary Jo Robins
Ronald & Nancy Rowe
Earl Soles, Jr.
​
Diana Swenson
Jean Tanner
​David Teagle
​Morris & Altha Thompson
Wallace & Nancy Twigg
​​
​Elsa (Cooke) Verbyla
John "Jack" Ward

Floyd & Jean Ward
© 2023 Mathews County Historical Society, Inc. All rights Reserved. Mathews, VA.
Contact Us
Proudly powered by Weebly