Research Guides

Understanding the Collection

Cleveland Voices contains a wide range of interviews of varying provenance. Interviews are organized into dedicated collections. This guide provides an overview of the different types of collections.

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African American Experience

Cleveland Voices includes many interviews with African American men and women, who recount their experiences and accomplishments in the Cleveland area, illustrating themes of both struggle and success.

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Women's Experience

Women’s experiences in history too often remain untold. Cleveland Voices features interviews with many women, highlighting their varied experiences, from raising families to piloting airplanes, participating in politics, and much more.

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Featured Collection

LGBTQ+ Cleveland

This collection features oral history interviews with LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Same-Gender Loving) community members, leaders, and activists in the greater Cleveland area. Interviews explore the history of Cleveland’s LGBTQ+ communities, groups, organizations, places, and spaces both past and present. Interviews in this collection were conducted by Riley Habyl, a graduate student at Cleveland State University Department of History, beginning in the summer of 2023.…

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Featured Interview

Norma McLaughlin Nelson Interview, 2010

Norma McLaughlin Nelson was born in Alcorn, Mississippi on the college campus of Alcorn A & M (now Alcorn State University) where her father was a professor. The family later relocated to Greensboro, North Carolina, when Norma's father took a position as Dean at North Carolina A & T. Norma's mother was a friend of Jane Edna Hunter, the founder of the Phyllis Wheatley Association and was given a job as a dietitian in the cafeteria. Due to this relationship, Norma and her sister attended Camp…

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