T.
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Lucy Romero COLLECTION: 4700.0514
IDENTIFICATION: A woman who sewed for the Acadian
Handicraft Project (1942 – 1962)
INTERVIEWER: Pamela Rabalais and Yvonne Olivier
PROJECT: Acadian Handicraft Project
INTERVIEW DATES: August 11, 1995
FOCUS DATES: 1940s – 1960s
ABSTRACT:
Tape 736,
Side A
Romero lives in
Erath, Louisiana; Her parents, Whitney Lang and Paula Lopez Lang, were born in
Vermillion Parish; Romero was born on October 18, 1916 and at the time of the
interview was married 58 years; Romero has two children, six grandchildren and
2 great-grandchildren; Romero made children's clothing for the Acadian
Handicraft Project (AHP promoted French culture and heritage in Louisiana);
Romero developed the patterns herself; She made diaper shirts, bibs, gowns and
pants; Olia Lang, Romero's cousin, taught her to sew; Romero used the money she
made from the AHP for things she wanted; Interviewers and Romero discuss how
Louise Olivier (director of the AHP) would send order requests to Romero and
how she would pay her through the mail; Interviewers and Romero talk about the
prices charged for clothes (pinafore sold for $1.75 in 1961 and a diaper shirt
and pants sold for $1.50 in 1957); Romero did her sewing work when she had a
chance, she did not have a particular time of the day to sew; Romero sewed for
the AHP until Louise Olivier died; Romero likes to make little gowns better
than the other items; Interviewers and Romero look at her pattern book; Romero
sews for a shop in Lafayette, Louisiana; The price of a bib, at the time of the
interview, is between $5 - $6; Romero also sells to another vendor, Orleans
Product, in New Orleans, Louisiana; The shop in Lafayette, Louisiana, requires
that their own labels are sewed into the clothes that Romero makes; Romero does
not remember the AHP having their own labels; Romero only met Louise Olivier
once; Romero describes Louise Olivier as
a happy, nice person; Romero attended Louise Olivier's funeral in Carencro,
Louisiana, with Mrs. Webie Lang and Mrs. Frank Romero; Romero did not sew clothes for herself;
Romero sewed on batiste fabric for the AHP; Romero's work history includes
working in the kitchen at a hospital both in Abbeville, Louisiana, and in
Erath, Louisiana, and in a nursing home; Romero used a sewing machine on the
clothes for the AHP, the only hand work was on the embroidery; Romero's family
was happy about the opportunity she had to work for the AHP; Romero's husband,
Willis Romero, was a farmer.
TAPES: T736 TOTAL
PLAYING TIME: 45 minutes
# PAGES
TRANSCRIPT: 41 pages
OTHER
MATERIALS: None
RESTRICTIONS:
None