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Oral histories are intimate conversations between and among people who have generously agreed to share these recordings with BHS’s archives and researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. BHS abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.
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[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.
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Pedro Guanill
Oral history interview conducted by Monte Rivera
June 18, 1974
Call number: 1976.001.026
0:05 - Biography, migration, life in Downtown Brooklyn and Williamsburg, factory jobs, marriage
6:13 - Politics, political/social clubs, employment and Carlos Tapia
12:20 - Social, cultural, economic and migration history of Puerto Rican community in 1930s-1940s
18:26 - Late 1930s boxing career and life as merchant seaman
Interview Description
Oral History Interview with Pedro Guanill
Pedro Guanill was born in 1915 in Puerta de Tierra, Puerto Rico. He migrated to the United States in 1933, at the age of eighteen. Arriving in Brooklyn, he first worked in factories, then as a boxer, and finally as a merchant marine. Guanill resided in numerous New York City neighborhoods - including long periods spent in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn and Downtown Brooklyn. In 1943, he married Elizabeth Guanill, whom he had met in Williamsburg. At the time of the interview in 1974 Guanill and his wife lived in Bayshore, Suffolk County, on eastern Long Island. He died in 1997.
In the interview, Pedro Guanill talks about his experiences as a factory worker, boxer and merchant seaman during the interwar and World War II period. He also describes the Williamsburg and Downtown neighborhoods of Brooklyn in the 1930s and 1940s. Guanill touches on the life of community leader and businessman Carlos Tapia, as well as the Baldorioty Democratic Club. There are some specific references to Carlos Tapia's restaurant and other Puerto Rican-owned small businesses during that time. Interview conducted by Monte Rivera.
This collection includes recordings and transcripts of oral histories narrated by those in the Puerto Rican community of Brooklyn who arrived between 1917 and 1940. The Long Island Historical Society initiated the Puerto Rican Oral History Project in 1973, conducting over eighty interviews between 1973 and 1975. The oral histories often contain descriptions of immigration, living arrangements, neighborhood ethnicities, discrimination, employment, community development, and political leadership. Also included are newspaper clippings, brochures, booklets about Brooklyn's Puerto Rican community, and administrative information on how the project was developed, carried out, and evaluated.
Citation
Guanill, Pedro, Oral history interview conducted by Monte Rivera, June 18, 1974, Puerto Rican Oral History Project records, 1976.001.026; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- Guanill, Pedro
Topics
- Employment
- Ethnic neighborhoods
- Factories
- Games
- Puerto Ricans
- Work environment
Places
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Williamsburg (New York, N.Y.)
Finding Aid
Puerto Rican Oral History Project records