Scope and Contents

Interviewer: Laura Ek

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Lillian Miller, a previous history study participant and current independent contractor on the Post Deepwater Horizon project contracted with BARA discusses her feelings about being involved in, and the subject of, a short film on her life and work in both peace activism, her offshore work, and her thoughts on both. Laura and Lillian discuss the process of their collaboration and making the video.

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Preetam PrakashAffiliation: University of ArizonaJeremy Zirlott had been referred to me by his parents who had been involved in the local seafood industry for a long time. They had said that Mr. Zirlott operated large freezer boats that went shrimping in the deep waters of the Gulf and that he could give me some insight into the historical and current state of this particular facet of the seafood industry. I had tried contacting Mr. Zirlott soon after...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Preetam PrakashAffiliation: University of ArizonaI had been told some time ago to contact Patricia and Victor if I wanted to learn more about the history of the fishing and shrimping industry in the area. I eventually called and spoke with Patricia who was enthusiastic about the idea of meeting for an interview and told me to come on over to the house later on that day to speak with herself and her husband Victor. I interviewed Patricia and Victor in...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Preetam PrakashAffiliation: University of ArizonaI was referred to Chris Zirlott when I had asked about people in the area who might be able to speak about the history of the local shrimping and fishing industry. I had called Chris a few weeks later and had spoken with him and his wife. He had said that he would likely be available to do an interview the following week. When I called back the following week, Chris said to come on over to his house in...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Preetam PrakashAffiliation: University of HoustonI had interviewed Mr. Zirlott’s parents for the oral history project a few months prior and they had mentioned that they had two sons involved in the shrimping and fishing industry whom I might try to interview as well. I actually happened to arrive at Mr. Zirlott’s house by accident, while I was searching for an oyster processing plant. Mr. Zirlott and I had spoken for a while on this occasion about the...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Jason TheriotAffiliation: University of HoustonLarry Baker II followed his father into the offshore fabrication business at the Orange, Texas yard of the Levingston Shipbuilding Company, where Larry Baker, Sr., had worked since 1948. Larry Baker II started out in the 1960s as a pipefitter helper, rising quickly through the ranks. After spending several years in Singapore on assignment for Levingston, Larry Baker, Jr., returned stateside to find himself...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonBenton Baugh was born and raised in Houston, where he decided he wanted to be an engineer. After graduating from the University of Houston, Baugh nearly went to work for NASA in 1965, but delays in acquiring a security clearance pushed him towards working for Camco and Cameron in the offshore petroleum industry. At Cameron, Baugh installed computer hardware on drilling rigs. After about five years, Baugh...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Jason TheriotAffiliation: University of HoustonGeorge Benoit hailed from Lafayette, Louisiana, and signed up with Tennessee Gas Transmission Co. (Tenneco) in 1960. There, he assisted in surveying and clearing the right-of-way for the Muskrat line. After being promoted to a corrosion technician at Tenneco in 1965, Benoit finished a degree at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. By 1972, Benoit was transferred to Houma, to work in Tenneco’s...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonIvar Brandt was raised in the suburbs of Oslo, Norway, and after university was hired in 1974 by SINTEF, a large research and development organization. There, Brandt called upon knowledge gained in nearly two years spent in the Norwegian navy, working on naval architecture. At SINTEF, Brandt helped to develop and market several sophisticated software packages used by offshore oil and gas operators for...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonRobert J. Brown found his first job in the petroleum industry in 1950, working as the tail chainman on a Tennessee Gas pipeline survey crew. His tenure with Tenneco took him between sites in New England and Texas, and then on to the Muskrat Pipeline in the marshes of Louisiana. By 1969, Brown left to serve as chief engineer for the Collins Construction Company, and in that position he took on work as far...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonCurtis Burton grew up in both Mississippi and India, and graduated from the University of Texas in 1979 with a degree in engineering. Burton took on with Otis Engineering, and was able to work on the landmark Argyll floating production system in the North Sea, the first of its kind. Next employed by Seaflo, Burton relocated to London to help establish its office there, and became involved in the Balmoral...

Scope and Contents From the Collection: When UH’s Center for Public History and the University Libraries collaborated to create the Houston History Archives (UH-HHA), part of their mission included a repository for oral histories that tell stories of the growth and development of the Gulf Coast region from multiple points of view. To that end, the Houston Oral History Project in the Center for Public History trains history graduate students to research and interview Houstonians with recollections of the city’s civil rights,...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonJohn Carter’s father worked for a quarter of a century as a production manager for Burma Oil, and his son followed him into the oil business. Living in Glasgow, Scotland, Carter studied mechanical engineering and graduated in 1964, then promptly joined Shell. He soon went to work in the North Sea, and then served in various positions in the United States, Asia, and beyond. He worked on the landmark...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Tyler PriestAffiliation: University of HoustonGlenn G. Chance was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1930, and enlisted in the Marines when he came of age during the Korean War. He returned in 1951 to work for the Lee C. Moore corporation, manufacturing drilling tools. A few years later, Chance started his own firm, Chance Sales & Service. He was soon after scooped up by Drilco, and Chance relocated to Morgan City to oversee a manufacturing shop. Chance,...

Scope and Contents Interviewer: Jason TheriotAffiliation: University of HoustonDepp Cheramie went to work for Texaco in his native Louisiana in 1971, when he was 19 years old. After a decade with the firm, Cheramie moved on to Shell Oil in 1982, working as a senior operator on an offshore platform located in Eugene Island. After focusing on training in electronics, Cheramie was tapped to work on the landmark Auger tension-leg platform (TLP) project in 1992. In 1999, he was...