The Maverick Oral Histories

The Maverick Oral Histories

In 1968 Jean Gaede and Fritzi Striebel began the task of documenting Woodstock's Maverick Art Colony, founded in 1905 by Hervey White as a utopian community for musicians, artists, writers, and actors. As one of the founders of the Byrdcliffe Colony at Woodstock, White had become disillusioned with its management and goals and set out to found his own colony, where creative individuals could be free to pursue their own avenues of expression. Gaede and Striebel were enchanted with the Maverick story and started an oral history project, recording the recollections of artists who had been an active part of the Colony. The result is a collection of some 47 oral histories recorded between 1968 and 1979 preserved on 40 casette tapes. A small selection of these recollections were transcribed and can be found in Woodstock Gatherings: Apple Bites and Ashes, Jean Lasher Gaede, Woodstock, (n.d.).

Those participating in the Maverick Oral History Project

Isaac Abrams (1970s)
Grant Arnold 1974
Lucile Blanch 1971

Alan Carey
Jim Cooney
Aileen Cramer 1975

Gwen Davies 1975
Ken Downer, Gladys Feeley 1968

Eleanor Edwards
Hanno Schrader 1975

Sophie and Jack Fenton
Karl Fortress
Eugenie Gershoy

Alan Gordon 1971

Nina Graboi
Allison Goodrich 1970s

Grace Greenwood 1974
Agnes Hart, Eugenie Gershoy 1975

Rosella Hartman

Adolph Heckeroth 1970
Wilna Hervey 1974
Nan Mason 1974

Virginia Hubbell 1975

Jane Jones 1975
Bill Lubinsky 1979
Eugene Ludins 1975

Frank Mele
Brock Palmer 1971

Clemmie Randolph 1968

Bob Reynolds
Karen Goldstein 1975

Bob Reynolds 1971-1973
Gertrude Robinson 1975
Hannah Small 1975
Ben Webster 1968
Day Yusco