Browse Items (42 total)

Armand DiStefano (1912-1987), the son of Italian immigrants, grew up in a small row house in South Philadelphia. There, his father instilled in him the value of hard work and a love of opera. In his 1984 interview, DiStefano shared the story of how…

Bangde "Annie" Fu (b. 1998) grew up in a small town in Guangxi, China. In search of a better life, Fu moved with her mother to the United States to join her father. Once in Philadelphia, Annie was immersed in a whole new world, which she welcomed…

Born in Austria, Bertha (Sanford) Gruenberg (1888-1987) moved with her family to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1893 and then to Philadelphia in 1910. There, she and her husband volunteered at two settlement houses, joined the Philadelphia Ethical…

Catherine Ehrmann came with her family from Hungary to Philadelphia in 1904, when she was two years old. She grew up right around the corner from the Stetson Hat Company in the Kensington neighborhood. In 1916, at the age of 14, she began to work at…

David Kaplan (b. circa 1889) was born in a Russian village to a Jewish family. With his father in America, Kaplan had to work as a child to support his family. Fearing military conscription, he fled Russia in 1911 and immigrated to Philadelphia. In…

Dennis Clark (1927-1993) grew up in the Kensington neighborhood of north Philadelphia during the Great Depression. A glazer by profession, Clark's father could rarely find employment during the 1930s, so the family struggled to afford rent or food…

Dennis Clark (1927-1993) grew up in the Kensington neighborhood in north Philadelphia during the Great Depression. A glazer by profession, Clark's father could rarely find employment during the 1930s, so the family struggled to afford rent or food…

Kelsey Bastien interviews Dale Grewal about his experience immigrating to America. Grewal speaks about the start of his life in India and discusses his experience being spread out from his family as his father went to medical school in England.…

Enitan Aigbomian shares the story of her arrival and transition into the American lifestyle. Aigbomian is a 25 year old Nigerian immigrant who moved to the United States at the young age of 8 with her mother and sisters. Aigbomian talks about her…

Born in 1908, Esther Davalos was born as a third generation American; her family came from Spain and settled in the part of Mexico that later became Texas. After the Mexican Revolution, which her father fought and died in, the family moved to…