East Longmeadow Public Library

"You must remember this....*"

Many of you who listen to National Public Radio have probably heard reminiscences as part of the oral history project, StoryCorps (http://storycorps.net/). We thought it would be fun to do something similar here in East Longmeadow, through the Library’s web site.

Our Memories on the Web page will display events or songs from a particular era, and anyone who wants to share a brief memory inspired by that posting can send it to us. (If the era was before your time, talk to an older relative to elicit a memory they’d like to share). We’ll select some to put on the web page (without identifying information, if you’d prefer) and all the stories received will be added to our local history collection. We may have to do some editing for the web version, but the printed version will be preserved just the way it is written.

The 1950s

We’re continuing our “Memories on the Web” project and moving on to the FIFTIES. The song was “Unforgettable”, 1951, photo of Nat King Cole words and music by Irving Gordon and sung by Nat King Cole. Other hits included “Mack the Knife”, photo of Bobby Darin “Jailhouse Rock”, “Love Me Tender”, and “Daddy’s Little Girl”. The Fifties were a time of great change in this country, defined not so much by an Event as such but by changes—in culture (television, rock and roll), and lifestyle (migration from the city to the suburbs, fast food franchises, interstate freeways). There were events of course: Puerto Rico became a U.S. commonwealth, and Alaska and Hawaii became States. The Supreme Court, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, unanimously overruled the “separate but equal” doctrine and declared that schools must be desegregated “with all deliberate speed”. The Army-McCarthy Hearings were televised in 1954. And the Korean War began in 1950, with a U.S.-drafted UN resolution creating a UN Command in Korea under American leadership (General Douglas MacArthur), and lasted for over three years.

You are not limited to the events or songs we’ve chosen. If you have an unrelated memory from the 1950s that you’d like to share, we’d love to read it.

If you’re still polishing your story for the FORTIES, feel free to send or bring it in as well.

Unforgettable, That’s What You Are…

E-mail your stories to our webmaster at sbelleno@cwmars.org, or mail them to the Information Services Department, East Longmeadow Public Library, 60 Center Square, Suite 2, East Longmeadow, MA 01028-2459, or drop them off the next time you’re in the library.

Updated 11/04/05

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East Longmeadow Public Library, 60 Center Square, East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Tel. (413)525-5400 ext.9

Welcome to the East Longmeadow Public Library

"You must remember this....*"

The 1950s

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