T. Harry
Williams Center for Oral History Collection
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Leona Spaht
Huff (1909-2002) #
4700.0508
IDENTIFICATION: LSU alumna
INTERVIEWER: Katherine Huff
O'Neill
PROJECT: LSU History
DATES: 25 April 1995 FOCUS
DATES: 1909 - 1937
ABSTRACT:
Tape 730
Huff born in northwestern Missouri in
1909 at family farm in Gentry County; family; father dairy farmer; parents'
education; Huff's siblings; one sibling dies in flu epidemic just after
graduating high school; Huff and five remaining siblings attend LSU; Alma Lee
Saurage, Huff's sister; chores; positive influence of parents; mother raised
her younger siblings as well as own children; family moves to Albany, Missouri;
Huff recalls school days in Albany; recalls English teacher; limited career
choices for women; Huff on high school basketball team; before move to Albany,
oldest sister had boarded in town in order to attend high school; Presbyterian
youth group, Christian Endeavor; Huff's
father makes and sells ice cream; family moves to Baton Rouge in spring of
1925, in order to give children access to college; family lives on small farm
out on Highland Road, no longer in dairy business; all family members work
outside home; hazing of LSU freshmen; Huff majors in home economics at mother's
suggestion; chemistry her favorite class; recalls Biology Professor Gates; Home
Economics Club; only twelve home ec majors in class of 1931; family only has
one car, must take turns; LSU dress code; cafeteria; dances and socials; fraternities
post invitations to dates on bulletin board; Huff lives too far out to
participate often; students hitch rides in town; students live in dormitories
or with families, not in apartments; Huff's family couldn't afford a sorority;
Huff's brothers in R.O.T.C.; Huff's first job teaching home ec and English in
Berwick, Louisiana; school year cut short because of the Depression; Huff works
for Emergency Relief Association as a caseworker; Huff marries and moves to New
Orleans in 1935; continues working for ERA until 1936; conditions worse for
poor in New Orleans; works with both black and white families; beauty of LSU
campus; Memorial Oak Trees by union planted while Huff was a student; Home
Economics department name change to Human Ecology; Huff is unaware of name
change; O'Neil prefers old name.
TAPES: T 730 TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 45
minutes
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 44
RESTRICTIONS: