Annalou Christensen, Full Interview

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Collection: Queens Memory Project Collection at Queens College Libraries' Department of Special Collections and Archives: Annalou Christensen

Date: Time Period: 1920 - 2010; 2010-06-22; Interview recorded: June 22 - June 29 2010 Material: Digital audio recording made using TASCAM DR-07 digital recorder and Audacity. Dimension: Total running time: 3:14:00

Creator: Annalou Christensen interviewed by Natalie Milbrodt Identifier: aql:20643 christensen_annalou_full

Description: 92-year-old Annalou Christensen (née McQuilling)’s parents purchased the lot for their home in the 1920’s from the original developers of the Waldheim Neighborhood in Flushing, Queens. Her father was from New Orleans and her mother was from New England. Annalou’s family has a long history in America, including a McQuilling who fought in the Civil War. As a child, she remembers neighbors renting out rooms in their mansions for extra income during World War II. McQuilling married her neighbor, Wayne Christensen whose family settled into the neighborhood in 1936 when both he and Annalou were freshmen on different campuses of St. John’s College. Annalou and Wayne had two children before Wayne left to fight in WWII like many of their friends and neighbors. When Wayne returned home safely from the war, he and Annalou went on to have five more children. They lived in a house her father bought for her in a handshake deal over the backyard hedge shortly after her marriage. Annalou went back to school for her masters degree in education after her last child was born and became one of the first Special Education teachers in the nation, pioneering teaching techniques for children with special needs. Mrs. Christensen remembers many aspects of daily life in Flushing over nine decades from the ice delivery trucks she chased as a child in the summer to a dangerous time in the early 1980’s when she survived a robbery alone in her home. Mrs. Christensen’s daughter, Susan Christensen is with her during both interview sessions and helps her mother recall dates and events during the interview. There is an additional 54 minute recording from October 31, 2010 that is not described in the content outline. In this session, Annalou and Susan Christensen review family photographs with interviewer, Natalie Milbrodt, to provide dates, names, locations and other information that has made its way into the catalog records for the images in their digitized form on the Queens Memory Project site.

Title : Annalou Christensen, Full Interview

Collection : aql:20455; aql:20659

Creator : Annalou Christensen interviewed by Natalie Milbrodt

Date : Time Period: 1920 - 2010; 2010-06-22; Interview recorded: June 22 - June 29 2010

Summary/Description : 92-year-old Annalou Christensen (née McQuilling)’s parents purchased the lot for their home in the 1920’s from the original developers of the Waldheim Neighborhood in Flushing, Queens. Her father was from New Orleans and her mother was from New England. Annalou’s family has a long history in America, including a McQuilling who fought in the Civil War. As a child, she remembers neighbors renting out rooms in their mansions for extra income during World War II. McQuilling married her neighbor, Wayne Christensen whose family settled into the neighborhood in 1936 when both he and Annalou were freshmen on different campuses of St. John’s College. Annalou and Wayne had two children before Wayne left to fight in WWII like many of their friends and neighbors. When Wayne returned home safely from the war, he and Annalou went on to have five more children. They lived in a house her father bought for her in a handshake deal over the backyard hedge shortly after her marriage. Annalou went back to school for her masters degree in education after her last child was born and became one of the first Special Education teachers in the nation, pioneering teaching techniques for children with special needs. Mrs. Christensen remembers many aspects of daily life in Flushing over nine decades from the ice delivery trucks she chased as a child in the summer to a dangerous time in the early 1980’s when she survived a robbery alone in her home. Mrs. Christensen’s daughter, Susan Christensen is with her during both interview sessions and helps her mother recall dates and events during the interview. There is an additional 54 minute recording from October 31, 2010 that is not described in the content outline. In this session, Annalou and Susan Christensen review family photographs with interviewer, Natalie Milbrodt, to provide dates, names, locations and other information that has made its way into the catalog records for the images in their digitized form on the Queens Memory Project site.

Subject : Special Olympics; Trolley cars; Housing development; Neighbors; Recreation; Families; Moving, Household; Motion picture theaters; Special education educators; Taft Theatre; Queens College (New York, N.Y.); St. Michael's Church (Flushing, New York, N.Y.); Prospect Theatre; RKO Keith's Flushing Theatre

Relation : Queens Memory Project Collection at Queens College Libraries' Department of Special Collections and Archives: Annalou Christensen

Rights : This recording is the property of Queens College Libraries' Department of Special Collections and Archives. Please contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.

Coverage : Locations discussed: Waldheim, Flushing, Queens, NY Flushing (New York, N.Y.) Queens (New York, N.Y.)

Type : Oral history

Format : Digital audio recording made using TASCAM DR-07 digital recorder and Audacity.; Total running time: 3:14:00

Identifier : aql:20643 christensen_annalou_full

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Subject:
Special Olympics; Trolley cars; Housing development; Neighbors; Recreation; Families; Moving, Household; Motion picture theaters; Special education educators; Taft Theatre; Queens College (New York, N.Y.); St. Michael's Church (Flushing, New York, N.Y.); Prospect Theatre; RKO Keith's Flushing Theatre