When were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Where did you go to school (elementary, high, college)?
What is / was your profession?
Father’s name, mother’s name, siblings?
What responsibilities did your father have as related to family and household life?
What responsibilities did your mother have as related to family and household life?
What responsibilities did you and your siblings have as related to family and household life?
Describe life on the farm during the 1950s.
What crops did you grow or livestock did you raise?
What was the best thing about life on a farm in the 1950s? What were the most pressing concerns for farmers in the 1950s?
How did technology change for farmers during the 1950s?
What types of social gatherings did your family host during this time? What types of social activities did you engage in with your friends during this time?
Describe life in your neighborhood during the 1950s.
Describe the physical landscape of your neighborhood during the 1950s.
What types of social gatherings did your family host during this time? What types of social activities did you engage in with your friends during this time?
What town would you say served as the economic hub of your community during the 1950s? Has that changed at all since? Why?
What stores do you recall being in your community during the 1950s? What restaurants do you recall from the 1950s?
What was the most important social or cultural institution to the life of your community? Why? What was it about this institution that made it central to community life?
Describe a community event that you participated in during the 1950s. Where did this take place? How often did it occur? Who sponsored this event? What types of activities could you engage in at this event?
What did you perceive as the biggest civil or human rights issue in America during the 1950s?
What national, state / regional, or local events do you recall related to civil or human rights during this era?
What observations did you make about how society excluded or marginalized certain groups of people in America during this time?
What advances in civil or human rights did you witness during the 1950s?
What memories do you have of the Korean War?
What memories do you have of President Truman? What memories do you have of President Eisenhower?
Describe the McCarthy era. What was society like during the McCarthy era?
What conversations do you recall having, or information do you recall hearing, about communism or spies in school, community, church, or at home?
What was it like growing up in the nuclear age? Describe any activities your school (or workplace) had you do related to civil defense drills or preparation for nuclear war?
What do you recall about 1950s popular culture?
What was your favorite: TV show, movie, musician? Why was this significant to you? What impact do you think this media / person had on society during that time?
Describe what life was like as a teenager growing up in the 1950s. What types of social activities did you participate in as a teenager? What was dating like as a teenager in the 1950s? Where in your community did teenagers typically hang out in the 1950s? What were the social norms for appropriate teenage behavior, and how did they change over time?
Describe your first car. What do you remember most about it? Share a special memory associated with your car. Why was this automobile significant to you?
Describe a site within Nebraska that your family visited for vacation. What was it like? Why do you think your family went there? What was the lodging like? What were some of its most interesting features?
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