Blog

School students interview US veterans

More than 30 veterans from Eastern Connecticut were interviewed by Griswold High School students Wednesday.  The veterans talked about their military experiences, which ranged from World War II to Desert Storm and Iraq, as part of a national oral history project. For full story click here.

Three American War Veterans Tell Their Stories

Originally organized in 1865 by freed slaves to honor Union Civil War dead in Charleston, South Carolina, First Decoration Day evolved into Memorial Day, a federal holiday to honor Americans who died in all wars while serving in the armed forces. Today on Memorial Day we take the time to remember and celebrate men and women who have given their talents, their time and, too often, their lives to serve their country.  During World War II, the entire Martha’s Vineyard community mobilized to support the War effort, both on the home front and overseas. At the Martha’s Vineyard Museum the personal stories of Vineyard people who survived the war years are a part of the Museum’s oral history collections. These stories bring alive the horror and confusion of battle, the exhilaration of victory and the shared sacrifice and anxiety experienced by those on the home front.  For full story, including excerpts from interviews, click here.

Bahaman Oral History Project

The wisdom of Africa suggests: “Every time an elder dies, we lose a library”. Recognising this ancestral truth, the Island Stewards Camp and Spelman College participated in a joint oral history project to document the personal histories of eight women of wisdom in the Bahamas.  Over the course of four days, starting on March 15, 2012, seven young Bahamians, stewards from the annual Island Stewards Camp, and six Spelman scholars, accompanied by project facilitators, recorded vital history from elder women, while building cross-border relationships. For full story click here.

Oral history based plays

Narooma’s pre-war history is the setting for a new play currently being developed by South East Arts.  “Sunshine” follows the story of two characters, Alma and Bill, who live in the bustling town of Narooma in 1939 – a town of fishing, timber and shipping, as well as a summer playground of the well-to-do set from out of town. But war will soon change the world they know and love. For full story click here.

Musgrave Park Indigenous History

Aboriginal history expert Dr Carroll Go–Sam says southeast Queenslanders generally know very little about the Brisbane region’s indigenous history.  Very few indeed would know about the indigenous history of South Brisbane and what was now called Musgrave Park, widely known as a meeting place for Aboriginal people, she said.  For full story click here.

Carrying mail in Alaska

According to William S. Schneider, professor emeritus and retired curator of oral history at University of Alaska Fairbanks, the postal delivery men generally considered enduring extreme cold, high winds, driving snow and other inclement weather conditions just part of the job when they contracted to carry mail to remote regions of Interior Alaska during the first half of the 20th century. In his brief yet informative new book, “On Time Delivery,” Schneider documents the rise and heyday of rural postal service between the many small settlements that dotted the landscape during and immediately after the Gold Rush. It’s the story of men who braved the elements to maintain a connection to the outside world for people who were otherwise wintered in and largely left to their own devices. For full story click here.

Fleeing Khmer Rouge

A new short documentary film was screened at the Art Theater in Long Beach over the weekend, part of the Freedom and Hope Film Festival.  “The End/Beginning,” narrated by Sophal Ear, a Cambodian-American academic, traces the route his mother took to escape the Khmer Rouge through Vietnam and provide for her family along the way.  For full story click here.

Interviewing with tablet computers

Staff at Ballarat library are using tablet computers and a wireless hotspot to record and preserve people’s childhood memories at the Ballarat Heritage Weekend.  Australiana librarian Edith Fry loves her touchscreen tablet computer. During Ballarat Heritage Weekend she will be putting it to good use as she records and edits video interviews with anyone wishing to share their childhood memories. For full story including video link click here.

Australian Generations Project in Tasmania

The Australian Generations Oral History project is interviewing 300 people across Australia to examine the formation and significance of Australian generations. Ben Ross is the Hobart-based interviewer and told the ABC it’s really important that the stories of Tasmanians are part of the collection.  The story includes a audio interview with Ben Ross about the project. Click here for full story and contact details about the project.

Kashmiri Oral History Archive

A Kashmir native and current clinical Associate Professor of Urology at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has launched the Ladi Shah Project, Kashmir’s first digital oral history archive.   Khurshid A. Guru, MD, a Buffalo surgeon noted internationally for his advances and teaching in the field of robotic-assisted surgery, has created the project as an initiative of the Guru Charitable Foundation, founded by Guru and his wife, Lubna Guru, MD, a pediatrician. The project has been in development since 2009. For full story click here.