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McDonald, Grace (audio interview #1 of 2)

INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first of two interviews with Grace Burnham McDonald, conducted at the dining table in her home in the San Jose area. The table, and practically all the other available surfaces in the house, was piled high with papers. In a small cottage outside, several people were working on her newsletter. Additionally, Irving Tabeshaw. MD was visiting at the time and going through some of McDonald's papers. He can be heard on the tape periodically. It was difficult to establish rapport with McDonald, who seemed to be determined to present a sanitized version of the history of the Workers Health Bureau. (See also the interview with Charlotte Todes Stern, who was one of the three staff in the organization.) She was also resistant to participating in an oral history project, as she explicitly states in the second interview, that delved into her personal life. To make matters worse, and perhaps because of the problematic nature of the relationship we had, one side of the tape was inadvertently taped over. Despite these difficulties, there is valuable information about the working of the bureau, and a few glimpses into her personal background. The interview was conducted as part of the labor history work of the Feminist History Research Project. A separate lengthy series of interviews conducted by Ros Baxandall with Charlotte Stern includes discussion of the Workers Health Bureau.