Oral history interview with Susan Burt

Oral history interview with Susan Burt

Susan Burt describes growing up in New Jersey and briefly attending Rutgers University. Reflecting that 60s "free love" often seemed more applicable to men than to women, she describes finding herself in the role of a single mother in 1969 near Putney, Vermont. She speaks of being invited to live with other mothers in an ad hoc women's collective, and describes advantages of this arrangement, which included mutual child care that made work and an extended social life possible. Later her son attended one of the first day care centers, in Putney. She also describes the flexible working arrangement she and her housemates had with the Putney Inn. In 1974, she enrolled in a nursing program at Keene State College through a Vermont educational assistance program, then completed her bachelor's degree at Castleton State College and, in 1988, received dual master's degrees from Boston University and Harvard University through a federal program in occupational health. She reflects on ideas from the 1970s that have become generally accepted, especially concerning women in the workplace, and women's and men's parental roles

3 August 2015

AudioFile1970s-54

MP3

Audio File

Putney (Vt.)

Permission to publish material from the Vermont 1970s Counterculture Project must be obtained from the Vermont Historical Society.

Rowell, Leslie

Burt, Susan, 1949-

Brattleboro (Vt.)

1 hr., 47 sec.

Vermont Historical Society Library, 60 Washington Street, Barre, VT 05641-4209