This oral history interview is an intimate conversation between two people, both of whom have generously agreed to share this recording with Oral History Summer School, and with you. Please listen in the spirit with which this was shared.

This interview is hereby made available for research purposes only. For additional uses (radio and other media, music, internet), please inquire about permissions.

All rights are reserved by Oral History Summer School.

Researchers will understand that:

  • Oral History Summer School abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association (2018) and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.
  • Unless verbal patterns are germane to your scholarly work, when quoting from this material researchers are encouraged to correct the grammar and make other modifications maintaining the flavor of the narrator’s speech while editing the material for the standards of print.
  • All citations must be attributed to Oral History Summer School:
    Narrator’s Name, Oral history interview, YYYY, Oral History Summer School
Library

Linda Mussman

July 17, 2012

|

Hudson, NY

Song

Recorded by

Hiram Perez

This interview is available in-person only. Please get in touch if you would like to listen.
Is this your interview?
Click here to respond.
x
Summary:

I met Linda Mussmann at her workplace, Time and Space Limited (TSL) for our Interview. Linda Mussmann, together with her partner Claudia Bruce, co-directs TSL, a theater company and independent movie house in Hudson, New York. TSL also hosts programs by the Metropolitan Opera. Linda was born in Gary, Indiana, at the hospital closest to her farm home. Early on she realized she was different and that she would need to leave the farm for an urban location. After studying theater at Purdue University, and a year in Chicago, Linda made her way to New York City in order to pursue a career in the theater. She was primarily drawn to experimental theater and names Samuel Beckett as a major influence in her life. The cost of living in New York City led Linda and Claudia to Hudson, where they decided to permanently settle and where Linda founded TSL. This interview may be of special interest researchers of women in theater, women and farm life during the mid-Twentieth Century, and histories of lesbians growing up in rural areas. Due to interviewer error, part of Linda’s response to the first question is missing at the very beginning of the audio. There is a follow-up interview.

Interviewer Bio:
Hiram Perez

Hiram Perez is an Assistant Professor of English at Vassar College, affiliated also with the programs in Africana, Latin American and Latino/a, and Women's Studies. He teaches courses on immigrant writing, Latino/a literature, methodologies for literary criticism, as well as interdisciplinary seminars on Queer Theory, Queer of Color Critique, Gay Harlem, and Racial Melodrama. In his spare time, he volunteers at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, helping to coordinate a Black Gay and Lesbian Archive. He also volunteers with the Vassar Prison Program.

Additional Info:
Interview language(s):
English
,
Audio quality:
Medium

Audio Quality Scale

Low - There is some background noise and the narrator is hard to hear.

Medium - There is background noise, but the narrator is audible.

High - There is little background noise and the narrator is audible.

Permissions: 

This interview is hereby made available for research purposes only. For additional uses (radio and other media, music, internet), please click here to inquire about permissions.

Part of this interview may be played in a radio broadcast or podcast.

Oral history is an iterative process. In keeping with oral history values of anti-fixity, interviewees will have an opportunity to add, annotate and reflect upon their lives and interviews in perpetuity. Talking back to the archive is a form of “shared authority.”

Is this your interview?
Click here
to leave updates or reflections on your life, your interview or your listening experience.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.