New Haven Oral History Project

“You could classify Oak Street back then as a slum, but it was a thriving slum…”

Robert Silverman on the Hebrew Free Burial and Loan Association

Robert Silverman was born in the Hill neighborhood, but moved to Oak Street after the Great New England hurricane of 1938 destroyed his house. He remembers Oak Street as a place with filled storefronts and thriving businesses, even if the neighborhood appeared to be dilapidated. Silverman describes his frustration with the process by which the Redevelopment Agency used eminent domain to assume ownership of the Hebrew Free Burial and Loan Association, a community organization of which he was an officer.

To find out more, visit The Life in the Model City Online Exhibit.

Interviewed by Andy Horowitz on May 6, 2004.

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Visit the "Life in the Model City" Exhibit Online

www.modelcity.org

In New Haven, Connecticut, from 1954 to 1969, some 25,000 people were relocated from their homes. Neighborhoods were transformed. One was totally eliminated. New Haven, residents were told, would be the “model city.” What was life like in the midst of such massive changes? How did neighborhoods and families react?

A major interviewing project and subsequent exhibition at the New Haven Colony Historical Society used oral history interviews with community residents to understand the lingering effects of urban renewal. This project was made possible by a grant from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

What is the New Haven Oral History Project?

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Preservation, Education, Community Building

The New Haven Oral History Project documents the oral history of New Haven, Connecticut. The NHOHP pursues three interrelated goals: preservation, education, and community building. Preservation involves building the New Haven Oral History Collection, a publicly-accessible archive of oral history about the city at the Yale University Library. We educate by teaching students to conduct the interviews, and bringing interviews into the classroom. Community building means putting our history to work in in public forums in our community, creating a common understanding of the past as the basis for a shared vision of the future.