About This Item

  • Call NumberOSOS_OH_0069
  • TitleOral history interview with Irvin Schonfeld conducted on 2020 May 7.
  • Summary(1:08) Location: Grand Army Plaza -- (2:15) Wife away, Irvin home teaching -- (3:05) Fell ill March 22 -- (4:50) Tested positive for antibodies -- (7:30) Deeply affected by death of friend William (Willy) Helmreich, author of book on Holocaust survivors in NYC, and other friends -- (10:22) Irvin helped with data analysis for Helmreich’s book -- (12:20) Donations to charitable organizations -- (14:45) Keeping virtual contact with friends and family, puppet shows with grandchildren -- (17:01) PhD in Psychology, post-doc in Epidemiology with focus on mental disorders, stress, and health -- (18:35) Concerned about the mental health effects of pandemic -- (25:35) Exercise -- (27:49) 72 years old -- (29:55) Thoughts on remote learning -- (32:40) Closest experience to the pandemic was 9/11 -- (37:30) Wrote about concern for 9/11 first-responders -- (40:00) Memories of moving from Flatbush to Park Slope in 1970s -- (42:17) Changes in neighborhood since the outbreak -- (46:20) Food shopping, Park Slope Food Coop -- (47:36) Future effects of pandemic: people will leave the city -- (48:25) Concerns about future political developments -- (48:55) Concerned that budget cuts will affect him as a public employee -- (50:16) Important to practice safe procedures -- (51:13) Important to learn from history of other pandemics.
  • Date2020-05-07
  • Formatsound recording-nonmusical
  • Physical Description1 sound file (52 min.) : digital, WAV
  • Genrenewsletters
  • NoteAudio interview conducted on May 7, 2020, by Micah Langer. Collected for the Covid-19 Oral History Project through Our Streets, Our Stories, an oral history project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is a partnership with Services for Older Adults and the Brooklyn Collection.
  • CreatorSchonfeld, Irvin
  • SubjectQuarantine ; COVID-19 (Disease) ; Epidemics ; Coronaviruses ; Helmreich, William B. ; Distance education ; Stress (Psychology)
  • CollectionBrooklyn Covid-19 Stories
  • PlaceProspect Heights (New York, N.Y.)
  • Cite AsOur Streets, Our Stories collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  • RightsCopyright restrictions apply to the use of this work. For more information or to obtain a reproduction of this work, contact the Center for Brooklyn History at Brooklyn Public Library.
  • Digital Public Library of AmericaThis item is represented in the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).