Morenci, a copper mining town in Arizona, was the location of a core group of Mexican American families who settled there in the late nineteenth century. These people were economically linked to the mining companies in the area yet they also had a cultural identity independent of the mining companies.

This project, conducted from April to July, 2001, collected the oral history of Mexican Americans who lived in Morenci during the Depression and World War II. The individuals were interviewed by Elena Díaz Björkquist and audiotaped. Their collections of photographs were scanned into a computer by Kurt Björkquist.

History is the central discipline of this project. Oral history is a recognized method of gathering and preserving historical information through recorded interviews with participants who share events in their past and their ways of life.

The town was razed in the late sixties to expand the open pit mine. A new Morenci was located in the former Plantsite area. These houses were all owned by the company and only employees of Phelps Dodge Corporation could live in them. As the men retired, they were forced to move elsewhere. The families who had lived in the tight knit community were scattered. Some moved as close as Clifton, York, and Safford. Others to Tucson, Phoenix, and other parts of the Southwest.

In 1921 many Mexicans and Mexican Americans were loaded onto railroad cars and taken to the U.S. - Mexico border. During the Depression the same thing happened. What effect did this have on the families that were sent away and on the ones that stayed in Morenci?

World War II brought prosperity in the form of jobs, but also rationing for civilians. Young men went to fight in Europe and the Pacific. Some never returned. Others returned heros. Young Mexican American women left home to work in factories or train as nurses. What effect did the war have on the people of Morenci? What happened when the men returned home from the war?

Some of the people of Morenci came from the town of Metcalf, another booming mining town that was destroyed. These people were displaced from their homes twice. How did it feel to lose their physical roots?

Morenci residents felt their town was a very special place. What made it so unique?

These questions and others will be addressed by the people who lived in Morenci during those turbulent years.