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Oral history interview with Zsuzsanna Vamos

 Collection
Identifier: SR12293

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Zsuszanna Vamos was conducted by Sankar Raman and Briana Ybanez on August 20, 2018. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States. In this interview, Vamos discusses her family background and early life in Budapest, Hungary, including conditions under the Communist government, her education, and listening to American radio as a teenager. She talks about her interest in chemistry and her admiration for Marie Curie, as well as her experiences attending Semmelweis University to study pharmacology. She discusses her marriage to Istvan Adany and his career, and she talks about her career in biomedical research and frustration at her inability to do the research she wanted. She then talks about applying for jobs in other countries, which led to a job offer from Kansas University Medical Center. She describes the process of immigrating to the United States and adjusting to life afterward. She talks about her children, their careers, and their families. She discusses getting her green card in 1997, Istvan Adany’s career in the U.S., and their move to Hillsboro, Oregon. She closes the interview by talking about her work as an artist, her thoughts on the American Dream, and her reaction to the treatment of refugees at the time of the interview in 2018.

Dates

  • 2018 August 20

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and The Immigrant Story. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/.

Biographical note

Zsuzsanna Vamos was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1953. She attended Semmelweis University in Budapest and earned a master’s degree in pharmacology in 1977. In 1978, she and Istvan Adany were married; they later had three children. In 1988, she earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology. She immigrated to the United States in 1989 and first settled in Kansas, where she worked at the Kansas University Medical Center. She became a U.S. citizen in 1997. She and her family relocated to Hillsboro, Oregon, in 2009, and she became a pharmacist for Albertson’s in Hillsboro. She is also an artist and has had her work exhibited in several galleries in the Pacific Northwest.

Extent

1.16 Gigabytes (1 online resource (1 audio file (1 hr., 48 min., 11 sec.))) : WAV

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Oral history interview with Zsuzsanna Vamos conducted by Sankar Raman and Briana Ybanez on August 20, 2018, for The Immigrant Story. Vamos immigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1989. She worked at the Kansas University Medical Center, became a pharmacist in Hillsboro, Oregon, and exhibited art at galleries in the Pacific Northwest.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of The Immigrant Story, July 2020 (Lib. Acc. RL2020-018).

Publication note

An article about Zsuzsanna Vamos, "The Gift of New Opportunities" by Nancy E. Dollahite, was based on this interview and published on The Immigrant Story website at https://theimmigrantstory.org/new-opportunities/.

Creator

Title
Guide to oral history interview with Zsuzsanna Vamos
Status
Completed
Author
Sarah Stroman
Date
2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library Repository

Contact:
1200 SW Park Ave.
Portland OR 97205 United States
5033065204
5033065240