Oral history interview with Loraine Janowski

Oral history interview with Loraine Janowski

Loraine Janowski speaks of growing up in Rutland, Vermont, her move to Cambridge, Massachusetts, participating in anti-war protests, and then returning to Vermont to live at the Maple Hill Commune in Plainfield. She describes founding Mullein Hill Commune in 1970 in West Glover, Vermont ,with others, including Craig Neal and Jim Higgins, the Gathering of the Tribes in Franklin, Vermont, the home birth of her daughter, Rahula, in 1971, and being interviewed by then-journalist Bernie Sanders. The bulk of her interview relates to their lives at Mullein Hill Commune and she describes building a geodesic dome, surviving harsh winters, organic gardening, her developing skills in food preparation, and her marriage to Larry Janowski. She further reflects on the role of music, their ideas about a new social order, associations with members of other communes and old-time Vermonters, and her growing feminist reaction to the attitudes of commune men. As well, she discusses Larry’s work with Dennis Gibson, trucking produce for food cooperatives, the role of the Orleans County Council of Social Agencies (OCCSA) in providing employment through VISTA and CETA programs, and establishing the Northeast Kingdom Cooperative Cannery in Barton, Vermont. She concludes the interview with description of the dissolution of Mullein Hill Commune

12 February 2015

AudioFile1970s-43

MP3

Audio File

Plainfield (Vt.)

Glover (Vt.)

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

Rowell, Leslie

Janowski, Loraine, 1948-

Saint Johnsbury (Vt.)

1 hr., 26 min., 46 sec.

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