Interview with Bertha B. Kretzer, November 5, 1988

Project: Appalachia: Family and Gender in the Coal Community Oral History Project

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Interview Summary

Bertha Kretzer married at sixteen years of age in 1922, and gave birth to her first child shortly thereafter. She had thirteen children all told and explains that she does not believe in birth control. She was born in Rush, Kentucky near Ashland and moved to Van Lear, Kentucky in 1924 where her husband got a job in a coal mine. She states that she worried constantly about the dangers of mining. In fact, two of her husband's brothers were killed in the 1935 mine explosion in Van Lear. The Kretzers also lived in West Virginia for five years. She remembers an African American man who worked for her husband and came to dinner at their home several times. She describes her daily work, her children's schooling, and her husband's drinking habits. Kretzer remembers her mother, who was a midwife, and helped with the delivery of her children.

Interview Accession

1988oh183_app180

Interviewee Name

Bertha B. Kretzer

Interviewer Name

Glenna Graves

Interview Date

1988-11-05

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.

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Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.

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Kretzer, Bertha B. Interview by Glenna Graves. 05 Nov. 1988. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Kretzer, B.B. (1988, November 05). Interview by G. Graves. Appalachia: Family and Gender in the Coal Community Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.

Kretzer, Bertha B., interview by Glenna Graves. November 05, 1988, Appalachia: Family and Gender in the Coal Community Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.





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Persistent Link for this Record: https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7mgq6r222b