WELCOME!

Taxi cabs undoubtedly constitute one of the most enduring symbols of New York City and we would argue that, like the image of the yellow cab, the city’s cab drivers also represent a unique and valuable facet of the New York City experience. The New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project is designed as a collection of oral history interviews with New York City taxi drivers. We did not set out with a thesis question to answer or a hypothesis to prove; we envision the Project as a documentation of a particular moment in the history of the city's taxi industry and a venue for drivers' opinions, perspectives, and voices to reach a public audience. Our hope is that the website will foster dynamic and accessible public engagement with our oral history collection. As such, our project will constitute a bridge between oral history, digital history, and grassroots documentation of New York City.

Additionally, we have partnered with the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive at New York University and will be donating our collection of interviews to the Archive in May, 2011.

Through full length oral history interviews with a diverse body of taxi drivers, we hope to capture some of the ways in which race, nationality, gender, class, and religion shape the cab driver’s experience. We anticipate that our oral histories may also reflect such pressing concerns as immigration processes, labor issues, and the intricacies of the taxi industry. Thus, we are at once interested in the individual life histories of our subjects as well as in the unique perspectives that cab drivers may shed on the landscape, character and people of New York City.

ABOUT THE PROJECT COORDINATORS

Samantha Gibson holds a BA in History from American University in Washington, DC and an MA in Public History from New York University. Though she began work on the New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project to fulfill her degree requirements in the Fall of 2010, Samantha is committed to seeing the project through to completion this year and hopefully beyond. Samantha's interests include New York City history and plans to pursue a career in one of the city's history museums.


Margaret Fraser has a BA in History from Bryn Mawr College and is currently in her last semester in the Archives and Public History MA program at New York University. Her interest in oral histories stems from her experience working in archives cataloging oral histories of men and women who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during WWII at the Brooklyn Historical Society. She hopes to continue to work with oral histories, promoting their access and use in archives, libraries, museums and beyond.

CONTACT US!

nyctaxisoralhistory@gmail.com

[Untitled]

A page selection from Gil Avineri's 'Late 2008' journal

Gil Avineri

2008

All Rights Reserved by Gil Avineri

[Untitled]

A page selection from Gil Avineri's 'Late 2008' journal

Gil Avineri

2008

All Rights Reserved by Gil Avineri

[Untitled]

The back cover of Gil Avineri's 'Late 2007' journal

Gil Avineri

2007

All Rights Reserved by Gil Avineri

[Untitled]

A page image from Gil Avineri's 'Late 2008' journal

Gil Avineri

2008

All Rights Reserved by Gil Avineri

[Untitled]

A page selection from Gil Avineri's 'Late 2008' journal

Gil Avineri

2008

All Rights Reserved by Gil Avineri

[Untitled]

Gil Avineri

[n.d.]

All Rights Reserved by Gil Avineri

[Untitled]

The front cover of Gil Avineri's 'Late 2008' journal

Gil Avineri

2008

All Rights Reserved by Gil Avineri

James Kernochan

A native Brooklynite, James Kernochan began his career in the NYC taxi industry in the 1950s. He returned to the industry in 1983 and remains involved in the business to this day at the age of 82. In his interview, Jim discusses what the business was like in postwar New York as well as the changes that have taken place since then. Jim also shares his experiences as a medallion-owner in addition to his perspectives as a driver for over twenty-five years.

April 1, 2011

All rights are reserved by the New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project unless otherwise noted.

We ask researchers and public viewers to understand the following:

1. These interviews were conducted keeping in mind the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History provided by the Oral History Association (2009). The Oral History Association states that those using oral histories “should strive for intellectual honesty and the best application of the skills of their discipline. They should avoid stereotypes, misrepresentations, and manipulations of the narrator’s words. This includes foremost striving to retain the integrity of the narrator’s perspective, recognizing the subjectivity of the interview, and interpreting and contextualizing the narrative according to the professional standards of the applicable scholarly disciplines.”

2. As we believe that the audio version of an oral history is the primary source and contains important silences and intonations, we have provided access to the full length audio interviews on this website. As these interviews contain verbal stammers, repetitions, stutters and grammatical mistakes that are natural when conversing, please be respectful of this when listening to and quoting from these interviews.

4. The New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project is a documentation project and is designed to document the voices and perspectives of selected taxi drivers at a given moment in the history of the NYC taxi industry. The project directors have not and do not intend to cast judgment, interpret, or draw conclusions based on these interviews.

5. The opinions and perspectives recorded as part of The New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project reflect only those viewpoints of the drivers themselves. The project directors do not necessarily share any of the opinions voiced by the interviewees.

6. Citations must take the following form:

"Narrator’s Name," in The New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project, Item #, http://nyctaxisoralhistory.com/project (accessed Month Day, Year).

audio

English

Bill Lindauer

Bill Lindauer is a born and bred New Yorker. He grew up in the Bronx and attended Stuyvesant High School and Northeastern University in Boston. Lindauer began driving a cab in the 1970s after working in editing and reporting. Lindauer retired in 2010 and is currently on the Organizing Committee at the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.

During the interview, Lindauer relates many stories of interacting with passengers and with the every-changing New York City. Much of the interview focuses around his work with the New York Taxi Workers Alliance and the political landscape of New York City from the 1970s until today. As a veteran driver, Lindauer speaks of the growing challenges and struggles that drivers face including safety concerns and violence, health problems, stress, and navigating the complicated industry as an immigrant.

March 24, 2011

All rights are reserved by the New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project unless otherwise noted.

We ask researchers and public viewers to understand the following:

1. These interviews were conducted keeping in mind the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History provided by the Oral History Association (2009). The Oral History Association states that those using oral histories “should strive for intellectual honesty and the best application of the skills of their discipline. They should avoid stereotypes, misrepresentations, and manipulations of the narrator’s words. This includes foremost striving to retain the integrity of the narrator’s perspective, recognizing the subjectivity of the interview, and interpreting and contextualizing the narrative according to the professional standards of the applicable scholarly disciplines.”

2. As we believe that the audio version of an oral history is the primary source and contains important silences and intonations, we have provided access to the full length audio interviews on this website. As these interviews contain verbal stammers, repetitions, stutters and grammatical mistakes that are natural when conversing, please be respectful of this when listening to and quoting from these interviews.

4. The New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project is a documentation project and is designed to document the voices and perspectives of selected taxi drivers at a given moment in the history of the NYC taxi industry. The project directors have not and do not intend to cast judgment, interpret, or draw conclusions based on these interviews.

5. The opinions and perspectives recorded as part of The New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project reflect only those viewpoints of the drivers themselves. The project directors do not necessarily share any of the opinions voiced by the interviewees.

6. Citations must take the following form:

"Narrator’s Name," in The New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project, Item #, http://nyctaxisoralhistory.com/project (accessed Month Day, Year).

Audio

English