2024 Oral History Association Annual Meeting

This introductory workshop serves as an informative overview to the field of oral history from initial idea through finished product. The workshop will cover specifics within three subcategories of oral history: Pre-Interview, Interview, and Post-Interview, including the basics of oral history, project planning, technology, interview setup, writing interview outlines, release forms, legal and ethical considerations, providing access, and a variety of available resources for further information. Additionally, the workshop will include a series of audio question and answer examples from several oral history interviews to help individuals hone interviewing skills and provoke additional discussion in the workshop.

For COVID-19 safety, as well as participant and instructor accessibility, we would like to request that all who attend this workshop wear a face mask.

Participants in this workshop will learn tools, tips, and strategies that support actively creating a sustainable career in oral history in solidarity with other freelance professionals.

ABSTRACT: Utilizing the Independent Practitioner Toolkit’s most popular chapters, this workshop will balance instruction with exercises that will get people more comfortable with real world scenarios related to cultivating and maintaining sustainable oral history work. Participants will leave with tools, tips, and strategies that support actively creating a pathway for the kinds of oral history work––and pay––they want in the future. Instructors will address how to:- establish fees and rates that allow you to thrive- negotiate pay and deliverables like a professional who knows their value- develop scopes of work and contracts that won’t leave you feeling burned out- protect your intellectual property so you can utilize your past work as you grow your career- build your portfolio so you can get the kinds of work you want- decline unfairly paid or unpaid work so that you––and your peers––can all be compensated fairly. Published in 2021 as a result of an intensive, two-year project of the Independent Practitioner Task Force of the Oral History Association, the Independent Practitioner Toolkit will form the basis of this in-depth workshop. Suitable for both new and experienced practitioners, this workshop will be applicable to people who work within the fields of oral history and allied documentary and cultural work as freelancers, independent contractors, consultants, artists, community historians, and small business owners/sole proprietorships. Folks who have recently experienced a career change are welcome. 

Hear about OurStoryBridge: Connecting the Past and the Present, and the free tools available to create community-driven online short-form oral histories. This innovative, adaptive oral history methodology is used by libraries, museums, historical societies, and nonprofit organizations and addresses challenges faced by oral historians using traditional methods.

ABSTRACT: OurStoryBridge: Connecting the Past and the Present is a free, online resource and tool kit that supports the production of low-cost crowdsourced, short-form community oral history projects. Learn about OurStoryBridge and practice taking short-form oral histories.OurStoryBridge uses an innovative, adaptive model for the creation of three- to five-minute, locally produced oral histories accompanied by related photographs made freely accessible online via individualized websites to create a 21st century bridge between the past, present, and future. We encourage OurStoryBridge adopters to lean on our experience and resources to get started and then to shape their story projects to meet their own needs and goals. In just three years since release of OurStoryBridge, over 20 communities in 13 states have created online oral history projects using this innovative, online methodology, with 800+ stories available through an online Teacher’s Guide for classroom use, with more stories added daily. OurStoryBridge Inc. incorporated in 2022 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit helping libraries, museums, historical societies, and issue-oriented organizations use free, online resources to support the production of low-cost, community oral history projects. At the 2023 OHA Annual Meeting, participants in the four-hour workshop attended by oral historians from around the world were enthusiastic about OurStoryBridge, especially how it successfully addresses challenges they struggle with. In this multimedia and interactive session, we will include sample oral histories from across the country, personal narratives on themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and relate how OurStoryBridge, through its Teacher’s Guide, shares stories with educators so they become an important part of their pedagogy. Our vision is that OurStoryBridge empowers every community to cultivate connection across the generations, encourage civic engagement, celebrate diversity, and engender shared and durable kindness. 

Meet at the registration desk 15 minutes prior to tour time.

Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood was settled in the mid to late nineteenth-century and home to Cincinnati’s German immigrant population. Its large collection of Italianate architecture has recently brought wealthy residents to this formerly low-income urban enclave. As change moves through the neighborhood, the Over-the-Rhine Museum is using oral history to preserve and celebrate lesser-known stories of this now-trendy urban hotspot. This tour will focus on life in Over-the-Rhine’s tenements across time.

Meet at the registration desk 15 minutes prior to tour time.

Living in a border city and listening to the stories told by her formerly enslaved neighbors, enabled Harriet Beecher Stowe to write the wildly popular antislavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Through this tour experience, you will visit the Harriet Beecher Stowe House and learn about its unique two time-period interpretation. You will also embark on a walking tour of the surrounding neighborhood to expand on a discussion of its Abolitionist and African American heritage. You will learn about recent exhibits that feature an oral history component, and discover ways that the Harriet Beecher Stowe House and the Walnut Hills Historical Society are working towards preserving and enhancing those stories.

Meet at the registration desk 15 minutes prior to tour time.

Thea Tjepkema, Music Hall Historian, Historic Preservationist
Experience the awe-inspiring architecture of Cincinnati Music Hall, its surrounding cityscape, and the stories behind this iconic National Historic Landmark. Thea Tjepkema, Music Hall’s Historian and Historic Preservationist, leads an engaging narrative celebrating this extraordinary example of the High Victorian Gothic style and its significance to the cultural life of the city and the Great Midwest. This 1-hour outdoor walking tour will present a captivating storyline within its design and extraordinary events, celebrities, artists, and agents of change that define the ethos of our region.

This workshop introduces a updated integration software for the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS) and Omeka, aimed at oral historians, librarians, and archivists. The new suite of plugins and modules updates and extends the original work of the OHMS+Omeka project, and expands its application to Omeka.net, Omeka Classic, and Omeka S.

ABSTRACT: This workshop introduces a updated integration software for the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS) and Omeka, aimed at oral historians, librarians, and archivists. The new suite of plugins and modules updates and extends the original work of the OHMS+Omeka project, and expands its application to Omeka.net, Omeka Classic, and Omeka S. The session will demonstrate how the new, improved software facilitates a more streamlined, efficient process for embedding oral histories into digital collections. Participants will learn practical skills for utilizing OHMS within Omeka to enhance the discoverability, accessibility, and interactivity of oral history archives. By the end of the workshop, attendees will be equipped to transform their oral history projects with advanced metadata synchronization and digital exhibition capabilities.

Objectives:1. Introduce the new software integration between OHMS and Omeka.
2. Demonstrate the streamlined process for synchronizing oral history metadata with digital collections.
3. Provide hands-on training for embedding oral histories into Omeka sites, enhancing user engagement and accessibility.
4. Highlight best practices for metadata management, digital preservation, and user interface design to maximize the impact of oral history projects.

Format:The workshop will be a half-day session, including:- An overview of OHMS and Omeka functionalities and benefits.- Step-by-step tutorials for setting up and managing oral histories in Omeka using OHMS.- Case studies showcasing successful integrations and outcomes.- Interactive Q&A and hands-on practice sessions.Target Audience:Oral historians, digital archivists, librarians, and anyone involved in the management, preservation, and dissemination of oral history collections.Outcomes:Attendees will leave the workshop with the knowledge and skills to:- Efficiently integrate oral history content into Omeka platforms using OHMS.- Enhance the accessibility and discoverability of their collections.- Engage wider audiences through improved digital narratives and exhibitions.

This pre-conference workshop helps participants plan an oral history project. Participants, whether conceptualizing or developing a project, are introduced to a step-by-step project planning "tool kit," aiming to help them create an implementation plan and gather resources for their unique oral history projects.

ABSTRACT: This half-day pre-conference workshop, co-led by Jen Cramer and Doug Boyd builds upon previous evolving versions of this workshop presented at the Oral History Association conferences over the years. It concentrates on the logistics of planning and implementing oral history projects and is designed for individuals and teams who are conceptualizing an oral history project or are already in the process of developing one. The workshop introduces participants to a project planning “tool kit,” a step-by-step resource for effective and ethical oral history projects. This hands-on, interactive, capacity-building workshop offers an intense focus on engaged project planning, looking especially at the question in the title, “What Does Done Look Like?” Then, from that question, we will use a project planning document, breakout groups, and peer and instructor feedback to work together to create a plan for an oral history project of any size or budget. The goal is for each participant or team to leave with an implementation plan and resources for their unique oral history project. It would be helpful if participants were already familiar with the basics of oral history best practices. 

Can modern platforms aid women's search for novelty, equity, opportunity and validity within an established patriarchy? Can empowering a chorus of present-day female voices to own artistry, spoken trauma and thoughts on autonomy through lived female experience, honor, recognize and amplify women's authorship, survivorship and narratives lost to time?

Becca Schall (she/her), Creative Media Producer, Filmmaker, Casting Director
MoPoetry Phillips (she/her), Co-founder, Regal Rhythms Poetry, Founder, Hit the Mic Cincy, President, Arts Equity Collective, Community Engagement Manager, WordPlay Cincy, Poet, Spoken Word Artist Director of WordPlay
Deej Ragusa (she/her), Musician, Songwriter, Sound Healing Practitioner
Torie Wiggins (she/her), Playwright, Actor, Assistant Artistic Director of Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati
Pauletta Hansel - (she/her), Cincinnati Poet Laureate Emeritus
Holly Brians Ragusa (she/her), Author, Speaker, Poet, President Ohio Poetry Association

ABSTRACT: In order to bridge an unjust past to a more equitable future, we must acknowledge that women, inspired by duty, role and creativity alike, called forth the preponderance of oral tradition through storytelling, song, rhyme and recipe and yet, in name and status, their contributions are largely unrecognized throughout thousands of years of history. Building a “platform”, a modern term for access to any form of microphone, is where “Her story” has only recently (by comparison) begun. Whether songwriting, storytelling, authoring or speaking, it is women who are less requested and compensated for telling their lived experience, and still struggle to get the word out as society continues to undervalue their worth and question their stories and motives. Summary, Conclusions, and Audience Takeaways:In 2024, female songwriters make up only 14% of a male dominated industry. Only two of 42 fabled authors and only four of 51 poets surface in a google search. Given the bullhorn or priviledge of print for millennia, men have conveyed the morals, instructions and strategies for interpreting family, war and beauty. History cannot accurately represent women’s silenced past and therefore present day women must rewrite the narrative by contributing heavily and honestly to it. Audience members will be exposed to layers of unlearning and empowered to create content. Envisioning a panel with strong Cincinnati female voices: Poets, Yalie Saweda Kamara, Pauletta Hansel, MoPoetry Phillips and Zeda Stew. Songwriter Deej, and playwright Torie Wiggins.

The OHA’s International Committee invites you all to the welcoming event of the 2024 OHA Annual Meeting. This reception provides an opportunity to build new relationships with oral history practitioners from around the world. Information about the International Oral History Association will also be available. Open to all & free to attend

You just need a mat or towel! Leslie’s yoga training consists of 200 YTT in Ashtanga Yoga, 300 YTT in Rocket Yoga and certifications in Yin Yoga, Prenatal Yoga and Mindfulness. She completed her 50 YTT at Modo Yoga Nicaragua and currently teaches hot yoga and workshops for Embra Yoga Cincinnati. She also leads a yoga studies program for The University of Cincinnati. When it comes to teaching, Leslie’s goal is to help students use yoga to stay connected both spiritually and physically on and off their mats.  

This listening session will generate conversations about how undergraduates learn to collect, interpret, document, and circulate the stories of marginalized voices from on-and-off campus communities. Audio excerpts from interviews with student athletes and adults in substance-use recovery will be presented by undergraduate researchers and their professors, opening discussions about student engagement, retention, and the ethical implications of collecting such material.

ABSTRACT: This listening session will generate conversations about how undergraduates learn to collect, interpret, document, and circulate the stories of marginalized voices from on-and-off campus communities. Audio excerpts from interviews with student athletes and adults in substance-use recovery will be presented by undergraduate researchers and their professors, opening discussions about student engagement, retention, and the ethical implications of collecting such material. Two students from an underfunded state university will describe ongoing oral history projects that culminate in campus and community events, speaking to national issues like traumatic brain injury among athletes and substance-use disorder. Two professors will offer perspectives on successfully integrating cultural awareness through cross-disciplinary projects into existing general education and creative writing curricula. These projects allow students to understand the historical value of both campus and local communities linked to the present construction of narrative, institutional and autobiographical. As an explicit act of writing the self, autobiography is both personal and communal, extending from the interview subjects to the undergraduate interviewers, helping everyone understand how collecting stories from the past and present impacts the future. As one undergraduate interviewer noted, “Without the tools to cope with substance use, without having built up resilience to temptation, and without the support of his community, the recurrence of my father’s substance use is no longer a mystery to ponder.” For this student the efficacy of community engagement changed her relationship with her own family and the future. Panelists will share an interactive poster linked to audio excerpts and a hand-bound anthology of interviews to encourage audience participation. During the conversation portion student and faculty presenters will offer a list of challenges they faced—ethical, curricular, and procedural—so audience participants may engage in brainstorming and discussion about paths for creating and/or refining their own oral history projects with undergraduates in the future.

“A Life of Listening” is a panel that presents three senior scholars’ reflections on their lives as oral historians. Rather than the standard fifteen minutes, each scholar will speak for a full twenty-five minutes so that they can develop their ideas and create a meaningful oral history life narrative about listening.

ABSTRACT: Inspired by the American Council of Learned Society's annual keynote lectures, "A Life of Learning" in which scholars present intellectual autobiographies, “A Life of Listening” is a panel that presents three senior scholars’ reflections on their lives as oral historians. Rather than the standard fifteen minutes, each scholar will speak for a full twenty-five minutes so that they can develop their ideas and create a meaningful oral history life narrative about listening. The 2024 panel features distinguished oral historians, Claytee White, LuAnn Jones, Paul Ortiz, and Martha Norkunas (chair) who have served the field as Directors of Oral History Research Centers, Oral Historians for the National Park Service, authors, OHA Council presidents and members, activists, teachers, directors of oral history projects, and most importantly, as listeners.

Narratives of Hurricane Ian: Moving Forward in the Aftermath - Frances Davey and Joanna Salapska-Gelleri, Florida Gulf Coast University

ABSTRACT: On September 28, 2022, Hurricane Ian hit southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of up to 155 MPH and a storm surge of up to15 feet. Ian moved northeast before pushing inland. Heavy rainfall exacerbated the destruction, causing major riverways to flood. Ian devastated property, collapsed critical infrastructure, and caused over 100 deaths in Florida. Lee, Collier, Charlotte, and Hendry Counties were the hardest hit. The slow-moving hurricane lasted six grueling hours. It is now nearly eighteen months past this event, but Floridians at present are still recovering from the most devastating natural disaster in this area in over 80 years. We are now collecting stories of those who experienced the storm itself and grappled (and in many cases, are still grappling) with the fallout. As we archive this collection, we look toward the future and ask: How do we prepare under resourced communities who took the brunt of the storm’s impact as evidenced by the immediate response as well as the long-term economic, social, and personal deficits and losses? In conducting oral history interviews with residents across the area, it has become evident that socioeconomic factors heavily influenced the extent to which individuals experienced this catastrophic natural disaster. A Lee country resident J.G. considered that “really there is a relationship between kind of where you live and how safe you are.... And kind of what people who lived in...much more vulnerable people who live in, in low lying areas, much more vulnerable. And there tends to be this relationship between, you know, rent prices and, and safety.” Recalling past hurricanes, Fabian E. said, “I know with Irma there was a lot of government aid, but that was like after it happened, but I think with Ian there was really nothing.”

Past and Present Environmental Change in the Chesapeake: Tangier Island's Cultural Landscape and Oral Anticipations of the Future - Lincoln Lewis, University of Virginia

The presentation analyzes how oral histories can document extreme environmental change and the impact on cultural landscapes. Tangier Island in the Chesapeake is the context for oral histories by watermen and the community that recount past and present environmental change, and residents’ anticipations for the future.

ABSTRACT: The presentation analyzes how oral histories can document extreme environmental change and the impact on cultural landscapes. Tangier is the last inhabited island in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay and has been known as the soft-shelled crab capital of the world. First settled in the 18th century with primarily English emigrants from Cornwall, the unique dialect remains distinctly constant. However, what has changed is the island losing almost 70 percent of its land area between 1850 and 2015 because of environmental factors such as wave action and erosion, together with sea level rise and soil subsidence. In tandem since 1930, Tangier’s population has decreased by more than 70 percent. These local changes have been paired with wider transitions in the Chesapeake significantly impacting the watermen who rely on crabs and other bounty. Tangier’s licensed watermen once numbered nearly 200, however now only eight active watermen remain working with crabs and a few with other catch. Oral histories captured from both active and retired watermen describe their cultural working landscape of Mailboat Harbor and the wider Chesapeake. For the first time beyond a handful of historic photographs, oral histories have captured and animated the transition of crab house architecture and technology from floats to molting tanks. Such histories are important because of the island’s dwindling population and the pressures on the community increasingly suggesting potential resettlement to the mainland. Because of this, the oral histories importantly capture residents’ anticipations of the island’s future. Insights from Tangier’s oral histories inform methods of how specific traits of cultural landscapes can be better understood. The study also demonstrates how observed environmental change, social justice, and present-day scientific findings supporting climate change are approached in dialogues with interviewees. Research for this project was supported by the University of Virginia’s Center for Cultural Landscapes and the Environmental Institute.

NOAA Voices Oral History Archives | Past, Present & Future
Molly Graham, NOAA's Voices Oral History Archives
Micro-land Sales, CAFO’s and the Future
Alexander Timon Primm, Oral History of the Ozarks

NOAA Voices | Oral History Archive is a repository for firsthand accounts of environmental changes, serving as a crucial source of qualitative data for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), aiming to preserve and share experiences from communities nationwide and beyond, with plans to expand its accessibility and integration into NOAA's data landscape.

ABSTRACT: NOAA Voices | Oral History Archive is the oral history repository for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA Voices brings together, preserves, and shares first-hand accounts of the changing environment from communities across the US and beyond. NOAA Voices represents a unique and essential source of qualitative data related to the human experience associated with the NOAA mission. This presentation will describe the background, purpose, scope, and scale of this program. We will also explore the project's current accessioning focus and consider the next steps in integrating qualitative data into NOAA’s data landscape, expanding the archive's utility and relevance for researchers, educators, and the public.

Potholes & Pitfalls: Presenting Oral History over Time - Dena Scher, Professor Emerita at Marygrove College

The past was a struggle, the present brought opportunities, the future is bleak.

ABSTRACT: Past: In the past, oral histories were tapes often with an inaccurate record or a summary of the recording. Interviewers often focused on well-known (famous) individuals. The potholes of this time were big bulky recorders, the time or expense needed to provide an accurate paper transcription, and the focus on the famous or wealthy.Present: Technology opened opportunities for more oral historians with better recorders. The recorders had become tiny handheld and could be downloaded directly into a computer. Then more technological advances came with cell phone technology. Correspondingly, less expensive transcription services became available, and some newer AI (artificial intelligence) software increased the reach of oral histories. Cultural values had changed so that the voices of many people were collected adding historical material about the lives of women, immigrants, individuals who are black, brown, or red and the list goes on. The potholes of this time were the need for agreed upon standards for interview collection and a standard of training for interviewers. The placement and storage of interviews was uneven, mostly in educational settings but in some other venues as well.Future: Now we have increased interviews in different venues and there are interviewing guidelines and ethical directives from the Oral History Association (OHA) as well as libraries, and academic settings. The pitfall of the future is that we are losing interviews and whole collections of oral histories because of the lack of technological support and inattention to need for frequent updating and synching with new technologies. When a technical system is not supported, when a college or library closes, when staffing changes and loses the ability to update the interface, oral histories can be lost and disappear forever. There is not a paper copy, or a voice as there may have been in the past. The future is bleak if we do not pay attention to storage, updating, and technical support of oral history collections.
The Importance of Context to Oral History: Past, Present, and Future Perspectives - Mary Larson, Oklahoma State University Library

The importance placed on providing context for oral histories has waxed and waned over the last few decades, in large part as a result of the formats we have used to make interviews accessible. This talk considers the changing role of context and how the lack or presence of it can change how we have made meaning from oral histories in the past and how we might be able to do so in the future.

ABSTRACT: The potential meanings that researchers and the general public have been able to draw from oral histories have evolved over the years along with the context provided by the media on which they are recorded and through which they are presented. A transcript can be a pale representation of an interview, while making audio recordings available provides more depth and emotion. Having video recordings adds body language and visible interaction to the mix, and, more recently, online videos with contextualizing information such as photographs, maps, and documents bring us yet a fuller understanding of the moment that was recorded. But what happens to these oral histories in the age of big data and AI? There is certainly valuable research that can be accomplished in areas like digital humanities, particularly, with oral histories contributing to spoken-word corpora creation and being available for language analysis. But, how does this change of format -- the conversion from contextualized interview to possibly decontextualized or differently contextualized data -- impact how we make meaning from oral histories, and what does that suggest for us as practitioners?
Remembering Our Firsts: Reflecting and Reconnecting with Past Projects - Lauren Kata, NYU Abu Dhabi

Do you remember your first oral history project? This talk, "Remembering our Firsts: Reflecting and Reconnecting with Pasts Projects," considers my first project over 20 years ago and the questions and considerations that arise when we reflexively look back on earlier moments of oral history practice.

ABSTRACT: Do you remember your first oral history project? “Remembering our Firsts: Reflecting and Reconnecting with Past Projects” discusses my project of revisiting the first project I developed and managed over 20 years ago. I consider the process of “going back in time” to re-listen and re-read my own interviews of earlier eras. Questions I ask include, how might I engage the project today? Would I ask the same questions? What do I wish I would have done that I didn’t? Now an open archival collection, how have others engaged these interviews since I co-created them? These questions and this project are not meant for navel gazing; rather, I believe reconnecting with our earlier work can be a cathartic, reflexive, and even pedagogical exercise around one’s oral history practice, and can be an affirmation of growth within the discipline.
H.O.P.E.: History Orally Passed Eclectically - Tanya Finchum, Oklahoma State University

C.R. Snyder's theory of hope will be discussed and applied to various oral history collections demonstrating hope as a bridge between the past, present, and future.

ABSTRACT: Thirty years ago, “The Psychology of Hope: You can get there from here” was published. Snyder anchored hope to a concrete goal and suggested that hope reflects a mental set in which we have the perceived agency as well as pathways (or bridges) to get to our destination. We get inspiration from various sources (such as OHA) to help us move toward and accomplish our goals. Reflecting on almost twenty years of OHA membership and thinking about Snyder’s theory, I conclude that I arrived at my first OHA conference, Little Rock 2006, with hope. I had demonstrated agency and had transversed pathways by choosing to attend a ROHO Summer Institute, by reading numerous articles, and by having conversations with folks like Terry Birdwhistle and Nancy McKay. I came armed with years of social worker and librarian interviewing experience and with enthusiasm for a career change. I left with homework to do, which led to reviewing the proceedings of OHA conferences held in the 1960s where I found connections to librarians such as Elizabeth Dixon and Louis Shores. OHA indeed has an eclectic mix of members and mentors, many of whom have contributed to an eclectic collection of oral histories, hence history orally passed eclectically. Further, our narrators come from various walks of life which further contributes to the patchwork tapestry of documenting humanity. For this presentation I will share about a few of the practitioners that inspired my path as well as highlight some examples of collections I have contributed to that I think demonstrate Snyder’s theory of hope and how hope can connect the past, present, and future.

The San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum’s (SAAACAM) Church History Harvest Project is a showcase of African American living history and Black church culture. By giving community members an outlet to share their oral histories, we aim to build a bridge between the past founders of the churches and the present members that stand on their shoulders.

ABSTRACT: The historical Black churches in San Antonio date back to as far as 1886 and were founded by the Freedmen's Bureau shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Still under the shadow of slavery, these churches were not just sites for worship but were powerful tools in aiding the African American community in their fight for civil rights and are unique examples of African American perseverance in the American South. In our history harvests, we gather digital and physical donations of photos and documents that display the history of the church, but the focal point of the harvests are the stories collected from the present members of these churches that help to better understand the legacy of the past, its impact on the present, and allow us protect and preserve it for the future. During these harvests, SAAACAM currently utilizes mobile scanners, camcorders, and audio recorders to capture the oral histories. We expect the interviews taken from this project will give the community a resource to learn about local Black church history, an opportunity to utilize audible transmissions of genealogy, and listen to anecdotes of church life in the mid 20th century. The African American story is often ignored and forgotten, SAAACAM’s goal is to change that and to not only collect, preserve, and share those stories, but to bring them to the forefront.The hope is that the audience will take away from the presentation that the practice of conducting oral histories should become normalized as something that is accessible and necessary; that all you need – a recording device like a smart phone and questions – are within reach. In communities of color where storytelling has always been a given, it’s especially important to normalize speaking to the older generations and getting their stories before they can no longer speak.

Can storytelling build empathy? In this session, empathy will be interrogated as to whether or not it is a morally worthy emotion. Based on students’ stories, collected on four flagship campuses (University of Kentucky, West Virginia University, University of Florida and University of Mississippi), the prospect of intersecting oral histories with efforts to overcome social and political divides is explored.

ABSTRACT: With an emphasis on urban-rural divides and class differences, this session is based in a project that enlisted students as oral historians to document the experiences of their peers at four flagship public universities in the south and Appalachia: Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, and Mississippi and resulted in the book, Campus Candor: Students’ Stories Unmasked (Cognella 2023). The book asks what challenges diverse students face in navigating not only their coursework, but also their social lives and campus traditions such as spring break, Greek culture, and even parents’ weekend, especially students with limited family resources. The oral histories give voice to the ways in which the culture at state universities can be unforgiving for those with limited resources.But more than simply chronicling the stories and the adversities students face, this emotionally resonant work affords the opportunity to explore how the practice of collecting oral histories can be transformative. Traditionally, the focus has been on end-products—archived interviews or books that present narratives. But this work draws on oral history practitioners who view the craft as an exercise in enlarging democracy and dialogue. The question then is whether the process of collecting and disseminating stories can foster empathy across identity divides. In this work, the stories gathered mirrored the stories of the student interviewers. In the very oral history process we entered difficult terrain including class, geographic, and racial tensions, and efforts to overcome the difficulties as we collected stories infused with similar struggles. Now, as we share students’ stories, we are exploring ways to expand empathy and dialogue in the very act of circulating the work.

This roundtable is a discussion with adults with disabilities who attended college many years ago, work in community employment, live independently, and plan for the future and retirement. As a marginalized group their life stories are rarely heard but they have much to teach us about their needs and contribution to the community via an oral history project recording their stories.

ABSTRACT: “Sharing Their Voices” is a long-range oral history project ongoing since 2019, recording the life experience of adults with intellectual disabilities (ID), a marginalized population whose stories are absent from past and present historical records. The project progressed from the past with initial concept and idea development, to actual implementation of oral history methodology interviewing adults; to the present collecting additional stories; while bridging the future when stories and research will be disseminated and archived. Past project history included qualitative university research initially funded through a faculty grant. It utilized oral history methodology and practices to video record interviews with 15 adults with ID who were the first to attend college years ago, to share their journey toward a full adult life in the community. Video recording was an essential accommodation to enable narrators to circumvent limitations in reading and writing due to their disabilities, and to speak freely in their own words, eliminating past tendencies of researchers speaking for them. The project echoes the words of pioneering oral historian Willa Baum: “The goal is a good historical account, firsthand, preserved, and available”, whose work serves as a guide for this project.Present activities include ongoing transcribing and analyzing interviews; conducting more interviews; and seeking additional funding. Future plans include creating a repository to develop and disseminate this unique oral history collection and make a substantial contribution to the fields of postsecondary education, disability studies, and oral history. The narrators are eager to share their past, present, and future with school-aged students with disabilities to impact their lives proving that everyone can contribute and influence the future.Audience discussion and questions with presenters, including adults with ID, are encouraged once presenters share their experiences with the project and priorities for future project goals.

Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz, Ed.D. is a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist who moves between realms of oral history, art, media and ritual to produce meaningful forward-facing cultural projects that creatively weave together folk narratives, popular culture, music, food, and art. Mi’Jan is a 2023-2024 Andrew Mellon Foundation Fellow at the Huntington Library researching Octavia E. Butler’s archives, and was a 2023 Fulbright Specialist Awardee to Ecuador, where she advised the design for the nationally mandated arts-based higher education university's new pedagogical model. She is also an inaugural Fellow with New America’s Us@250 program which supports individuals who champion the spirit of a more inclusive America. Previously, Mi’Jan curated and hosted Unfinished Network’s first public salon on the theme of multiracial democracy with CNN’s Van Jones and MSNBC’s Maria Teresa Kumar; designed and led the Gloria Steinem Initiative’s public policy digital storytelling pilot; served as a New Mexico Humanities Council Scholar; and has held various academic and scholarly appointments at Columbia University, New York University, and The Banff Centre in Canada. One of Mi'Jan's greatest joys is connecting to audiences through her visionary, story-rich talks at a range of institutions, from Carnegie Hall to the Institute of American Indian Arts to SXSW. Making history contemporary, personal and futures-dependent, she surfaces the stories that need to be heard.

This session will outline the parameters for creating and maintaining a community-driven oral history project that privileges Indigenous data sovereignty. The presenters will share lessons learned in developing a new Indigenous archive that builds upon digitizing unprocessed archival materials about the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, previously collected by scholars, along with those currently being processed by undergraduate students who are collecting and transcribing interviews to document life histories of Lumbee elders.

ABSTRACT: This session will outline the parameters for creating and maintaining a community-driven oral history project that privileges Indigenous data sovereignty. The presenters will share lessons learned in developing a new Indigenous archive that builds upon digitizing unprocessed archival materials about the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, previously collected by scholars, along with those currently being processed by undergraduate students who are collecting and transcribing interviews to document life histories of Lumbee elders. Together, the presenters will introduce the conception of the project, training, implementation, and efforts to reach a memorandum of understanding with tribal leaders. They will also explore the ethical issues at stake with managing culturally sensitive materials and traditional knowledge, grounded in meaning-making to benefit Indigenous communities as well as share how they resolved copyright issues between the tribe and university and determined access and use of materials for future use. The resulting co-owned archive—and the steps taken to preserve Indigenous sovereignty—creates an opportunity to consider how power, representation, and ownership shape oral history collections, underscoring the need to decolonize archival records and continue the work of preserving Indigenous history to empower present and future community partnerships. Presenters will then lead a Q&A session to engage audience participants in best practices and social justice efforts in leading Indigenous oral history projects.

Listening to the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Community: Experiences from the Oral History Centre, Singapore
John Choo, Oral History Centre of the National Archives of Singapore, National Library Board

The Oral History Centre (OHC) of Singapore considers its experiences with the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, in expectation of making the future of oral history within the small Asian nation-state more inclusive and accessible.

ABSTRACT: The Oral History Centre (OHC) of the National Archives of Singapore (NAS) has long collected stories surrounding the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, but not of and by the members of the community themselves. Only recently have we begun to do so, as part of more topical and time-bound collection efforts. This presentation will seek to crystallize the lessons that we have learned as well as our observations of the challenges that we have yet to overcome, thereby offering a tentative reflection on these first steps in our journey towards greater inclusion and accessibility.
Sounding Out Oral History: Toward the Inclusion of Signed Languages in Methodologies
Jannelle Legg, Gallaudet University  
Brian Greenwald, Gallaudet University

This presentation discusses the historical exclusion of Deaf people from full participation in the oral history academy, the nuances of doing oral history in American Sign Language (ASL), and offers suggested best practices for inclusion of lived experiences of those in ASL and other signed languages.

ABSTRACT: As a field, oral history has the capacity in part to document diverse stories which capture profound details, record linguistic expression, and reveal cultural meanings embedded in lived experience. Across the academy, however, Deaf people have been excluded from full participation in these practices.This presentation will identify historical barriers to entry in the field, discussing structural biases which have reinforced the primacy of sound and dissuaded the inclusion of signing people as subjects and practitioners. Next, our presenters will outline practices for inclusion across the stages of an oral history project. Our methodological approach to oral history has evolved over several narrative projects. Working among and as members of the signing Deaf community, we have resolved cultural, linguistic, and technological challenges in the documentation of signing narrators, developing a set of best practices for the inclusion of deaf and hard of hearing subjects.

This interactive, crafts-based session explores the value of the sensory as a key to encouraging intergenerational research participation. Using a primary school oral history case study, it invites attendees to reflect on ways to creatively share authority with both children and adult participants in oral history projects.

ABSTRACT: This session demonstrates creative approaches to testing the sensory as an oral history research technique with intergenerational participants. It stems from the UK-based project ‘The School Meals Service: Past, Present – and Future?’. The project combines oral history and ethnographic approaches to explore the aims, achievements, and limitations of the UK School Meals Service from its inception in 1906. Through semi-structured interviews and school and community-based events, a focus on the sensory has proved useful for eliciting school food memories, while creating opportunities for participation across generations through creative methods like food tasting, drawing, and craft activities. Our focus on sensory experiences has helped to bridge temporal boundaries, encouraging participants to reflect on school food in the past and present to outline their hopes for future provision. This hands-on session models a particular activity used within the project to facilitate children and adult participation. Using arts and craft supplies, conference participants are invited to create their own elicitation object(s) focusing on school food. In our work, this has provided children with opportunities to engage not only with their present experiences of school food, but also to materialise imagined pasts and futures, encouraging reflection on what might have changed over time and what could change going forward. Their creations then underpin interviews between children and adults that span past, present, and future experiences of school food. In this session, conference participants are invited to test similar conversations with one another using their newly created elicitation objects, before ending with reflective discussions about the benefits and challenges oral historians might face in applying such creative methods to their own research projects. Ultimately, the session explores how methods centring the sensory can support and empower intergenerational participation in oral history projects, helping to creatively share authority and challenge understandings of the ‘researcher’/‘researched’. 

Producers Eric Marcus, Nahanni Rous, and Inge De Taeye provide windows into the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies and the Making Gay History audio archive through public facing podcasts, sharing decades old oral histories in a contemporary format that bring these stories into the present with the potential to positively affect the future.

ABSTRACT: How do you make existing oral history archives that are typically used only by scholars accessible to the public in an easy-to-use and engaging format? Producers/journalists Eric Marcus, Nahanni Rous, and Inge De Taeye have been doing exactly that in their work with the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies and the Making Gay History archive. Together they produce two successful podcasts that have been downloaded millions of times by thousands of listeners around the world. The Making Gay History podcast is principally drawn from more than 100 recorded interviews that Eric Marcus conducted for the two editions of his original Making Gay History book beginning in the late 1980s. Those Who Were There: Voices from the Holocaust is drawn from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University, which consists of more than 4,000 videotaped interviews that were conducted beginning in the 1970s. During the panel discussion, Eric, Nahanni, and Inge will share the process by which they shaped archival recorded oral histories into digestible and engaging podcasts, including the challenges and limitations of the podcast format. As part of the discussion they will share several audio clips from each of the two podcasts. (Just FYI, the Making Gay History podcast received an award from the Oral History Association in 2017 for "Oral History in a Non-Print Format.")

Oral History and Philanthropy Study
Huitan Xu, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

The paper seeks to examine how researchers use oral history to inform studies exploring philanthropy topics and to enrich our understanding of individuals, organizations, or events pertinent to philanthropy.

ABSTRACT: This paper delves into the use of oral history as a methodology to explore philanthropy. Initially, it reviews literature from Scopus, a multidisciplinary abstract and citation database, examining how oral history has been utilized in philanthropy studies. The paper then shifts to a case study, presenting the research design for an investigation into the organizational history of the Amity Foundation, a notable faith-based organization established in 1985 in China. This section highlights the methodological approach and potential contributions of the study. The final section summarizes existing oral history resources and projects in the philanthropy field in the United States and China, revealing a significant scarcity of such sources despite the rapid growth of the philanthropic sector in both countries. This gap underscores the need for more oral history to enrich the available resources and deepen understanding of the evolution of philanthropic culture and practices in both countries.

Visual Oral Histories from East Indonesia: Reverberative Trauma and Healing
Julie Gaynes, University of California, Los Angeles

In sharing visual vignettes from the researcher’s forthcoming graphic novel featuring verbatim oral history transcriptions from East Indonesia, Gaynes proposes that artistic-symbolic expressions of oral histories (including surrealist fine art, sculpture/installation, and symbolic photography) complicate popular assumptions that material archives stifle the vitality of oral testimony. This presentation invites discussion about how artistic and particularly surrealist expressions of oral histories can enhance empathic connections between oral historians, narrators, and readerships in ways that help narrators’ voices “travel” across time and space.

ABSTRACT: Historians for centuries have documented cyclical violence over land disputes on the island of Adonara, East Indonesia. Until today, retaliative violence persists beyond control of the national justice system. So long as war etiquette conforms with local ontological understandings of divine justice, Adonara islanders consider violence in service of their “nara” or kinship circles justified. In Adonara, oral history provides the only means for reversing the stigma surrounding the region German anthropologists once reduced as “The Killing Island.” Education theorists Nicholas Ng-A-Fook and Kristina R. Llewellyn’s visions for community-directed oral history inspired field methodologies for “re-storying” narratives of trauma and kinship in the Solor Archipelago. Over thirteen months of oral history research in Adonara (2023-3034) led to four dozen life history recordings from victims, witnesses, and perpetrators of domestic violence, violence against purported communists, and inter-village warfare. Propelled by Miriam Hirsch’s insights on “post-generational memory”, the graphic novel version of my dissertation textures the reverberations of violence and presents research in an accessible format for my field collaborators who prioritize orality and visual media over the written word. Hirsch insists that memory is a “living connection” that can be reflected in literature, photography, and testimony, and can affect readerships who wish to understand the reality of trauma by proximity. In doing so, art expressions of oral history connect past, present, and future. In sharing visual vignettes accompanying verbatim oral history transcriptions, I propose that artistic-symbolic expressions of oral histories enhance empathic connections between oral historians and narrators, and additionally evoke humanistic connections between narrators and readerships across time and space. I conclude that creative combinations of orality and literacy on difficult pasts can expose complex historical factors that enable violence; meanwhile, artistic research expressions in oral history can also extend the reach of indigenous knowledge central to identity conservation.

Creating a Black Oral History Digital Archive of Black Life in Vancouver, Canada: 1950-2023
Annette Henry, University of British Columbia

To date, few studies have examined the status, representation and lived experiences of later 20th century African Canadians in Vancouver and thus, current understandings rely on research from the U.S. or eastern Canada. The study addresses the lack of knowledge about Blacks in Vancouver, sharing findings and discussing some pitfalls, and pleasures in the process conducting a multiyear oral history and developing a digital archive.

ABSTRACT:The Black Oral History and Digital Archive (BOHDA) is a 5-year study that acknowleges Black people as central to the fabric of British Columbian society. The goal of this time-span oral history study is to advance theoretical and practical knowledge about the social and cultural history of Black Canadians in Vancouver in academic and archival institutions, through a critical intersectional analysis. Along with race, the project takes into account, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class, colonialism, migration, work, education and transnational realities. The analysis was initiated by finding a long-forgotten corpus of interviews sitting on a back shelf in a Black women's community organization office. These 50 audio-recorded interviews with Black Canadians between the ages of 28 and 85 at the time, representing a range of, national, ethnic and cultural backgrounds and identities were conducted in 2006/2007. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly using Zoom, oral histories were gathered from these same participants in 2021-2022. I was interested in how participants navigated their identities and challenges and how political activism and leadership in Vancouver’s Black community have changed over time for rich theory creation and tapping into continuities, life changes and insights about societal issues and how the respondents have navigated them. Additional participants were included to more accurately reflect the range of people, backgrounds and identities in the city and for more explanatory power. Using diaspora theories, critical race perspectives, oral history methods and documentary analyses, this multiyear project will culminate in an easily accessible, interactive Black oral history digital archive (2025) as well as a book, articles and curriculum materials. These artifacts begins to address the gaps, silences and the violence of official archives and official history.Having Our Say-Oral Histories and Ways of Remembering and Telling
Gloria Rhodes, San Diego State University Library

The presenter will discuss how personal narratives intersect with history through the social justice lens.

ABSTRACT: Oral histories documenting the African American experience in San Diego are a hallmark resource in the San Diego State University Library. Recordings collections from community members are an essential addition to primary source materials. This project is a permanent and vital educational resource about the history and culture of local African Americans and their contributions to San Diego and surrounding communities.Narratives and digitization of materials from this collection allow users to explore the past in classrooms and homes worldwide. Everyone knows about civil rights and social justice struggles in the South, and this collection will expand the knowledge of the civil rights movement in the West.The oral histories, accompanied by personal papers, newspaper articles, and photographs, provide an engaging and educational experience for all who use the resource.California State University’s mandates for Ethnic Studies in the K-12 and beyond can be significant in using these materials. The online and in-house exhibits visually display San Diego’s history, which benefits learners at multiple proficiency levels. African American religious organizations can use materials in their education programs for congregations, particularly youth groups.The presentation will focus on how one project has the impetus to create an indispensable source of wealth for researchers, community users, and anyone interested in the unique perspective of African American life in San Diego County. The oral history community members will take away information, ensuring they can replicate instructions for a similar project in their organization.From George Bonga to George Floyd: The Struggle for Freedom is Transgenerational
Ayaan Natala, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

How can we reclaim the practice of oral histories for Black public history and place-based storytelling efforts around social justice? This presentation seeks to provide a counter-memory of the 2020 Minneapolis uprisings to discuss oral history's significance for marginalized communities neglected in historical archives.

ABSTRACT: My talk comes from the first chapter of my larger dissertation titled, “Welcome to Black Minnesota*: Recovering Black Freedom Dreams Amid the Black Lives Matter Movement.” This talk shows how oral histories are a necessary tool to revisit Black Minnesotan history to lift up the stories of fugitive slaves, early Black migrants, and descendants of influential Black Minnesotan families (via archives, newspapers, literature, and oral histories) to question: How could a progressive state become an epicenter for a global uprising around a larger Black freedom movement (Black Lives Matter) and police abolition when Black Americans make about 7% of the population in Minnesota? I contextualize why Minnesota's unique history, geography, and race relations make it an epicenter to reflect on freedom, emancipation, and the futurity of Black social life and movements. I argue Black Minnesotans naturally gravitate toward embodying and experimenting with Black radical ideologies due to witnessing the stark contradictions of "achieving" racial justice while living in a predominately white, liberal, and progressive epicenter; thus, generations of Black Minnesotans reflect on the bounds of freedom by witnessing the limitations of American liberalism and democracy.Beyond the Railroad Tracks
Joanna Hadjicostandi-Anang, University of Texas Permian Basin

This presentation focuses on African American community development in Odessa Texas, that was desegregated in 1982, through the analysis of oral histories of the members of the community.

ABSTRACT:This presentation is based on the collection of oral histories and multimedia digital humanities database that provides video clips from the oral histories interviews of the elderly in the Odessa/Midland, TX African American and other minority communities. The term minority is used here in the sociological sense of people who do not hold the economic and political power, since the Latinx or Hispanic population numerically exceeded the Anglo population in the area. The book “Friday Night Lights” (B. Bissinger, 1990), a published account on race relations in Odessa, was the only literature to be found was not far from the truth. Indeed, as noted in the book, there was a physical separation of communities by race, and desegregation came about in 1982.. Latinx (typically referred to as Hispanic in West Texas) families predominantly inhabited the West Side, while the railroad tracks marked the boundaries to the South side of town, the Black community. Shortly after moving in the area, I attended the funeral of one of the most respected doctors in the South Side, and indeed the entire community, Dr. Stewart. He single-handedly during the period of segregation served for about 40 years as the sole doctor of the entire Black and Latinx community. Many noteworthy events were forever gone with the loss of Dr. Stewart, like many more people before him. I, at that point, felt the urgency of critically examining the history of the early development of the communities through the mouths of the people who really could tell it best, its members. The project Beyond the Railroad Tracks was born, that

HerStory: The Trinity Washington Univeristy Oral History Project
Joshua Wright, Trinity Washington University

This session explores the use of oral history to tell the stories of women attending single-sex colleges and universities. It also demonstrates how oral history is being used to document the impact that racial integration and increasing opportunities for enrollment in coed institutions has had on these schools over the last sixty years.

ABSTRACT:Trinity Washington University is a hidden gem in our nation’s capital. For much of the 20th century it was home to the nation’s top collegiate women. Distinguished alumnae include Nancy Pelosi, Maggie Smith, Kellyanne Conway, Kathleen Sebelius, Joy Ford Austin, Caryle Murphy, Peggy Lewis, and Judge Jeanette Jackson Clark. Trinity was integrated in 1958 but remained predominantly white and middle class. As more schools became co-ed after the 1970s, Trinity’s enrollment dropped. In the 1990s Trinity began recruiting Black women from DC's working-class communities. During the 2010s similar efforts were made to attract Latinas; many of whom were first generation or DACA recipients. Today The U.S. Department of Education designates Trinity as a Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) and a Hispanic Serving Institution (HIS). It is the only university in the D.C. region and one of only a few nationwide with the dual designation. As the student population has transformed, so has the faculty. I came to Trinity in 2019 and launched HerStory, an oral history project to collect audio and video recordings of Trinity alumnae who graduated between the 1960s and the present. HerStory is aligned with the Trinity DARE Initiative (Driving Actions for Racial Equality), launched by our president in the wake of the George Floyd protests. Undergraduate students enrolled in my oral history course conduct interviews using digital audio recorders and zoom. HerStory documents the stories of our students, Trinity's racial evolution, and how this evolution connects to the school’s mission to promote social justice. This presentation will provide an overview of the project, the steps taken to train students and recruit alumnae, challenges we encountered starting this during the pandemic, preservation of our interviews, and our efforts to share this information with the larger DC community.

The 1959 Project at the University of Michigan-Dearborn: Oral History as Part of a Complex Methodology for Inclusive History
Camron Amin, University of Michigan-Dearborn

ABSTRACT: The 1959 Project is a “project site” under development at the University of Michigan-Dearborn with funding from the University of Michigan’s Inclusive History Project. The IHP aims to support existing institutional work around diversity, equity and inclusion but also to incubate new initiatives that have the potential to become self-sustaining endeavors that advance work in accordance with four frames: origins and trajectories, people and communities, sites and symbols, and research and teaching. The oral history component of The 1959 Project has several aspects: digital curation of archived oral history interviews, highlighting and developing content in existing digital collections and using several methods (“snowballing,” focus group networking, survey-driven outreach) to recruit and curate new oral history narratives. The other challenge for developing DEI-informed collections is that some interviewees may have had painful - even traumatic- experiences of exclusion, inequality and discrimination at our institution. For some university stakeholders, there may also be concerns about social standing or vulnerability to retaliation if they share their experiences. Therefore, methods to develop and curate interviews for discoverable digital collections need to be coordinated with other research methodologies to ensure insights that are earned ethically. Our initial solution is to articulate transparent procedures during the consent and intake process for interviewees to control access to their narratives. The procedures will also allow interviewees to anonymize their interviews or to shift towards sharing their experiences via more confidential methods. The presentation will include excerpts of interviews which feature an individual’s connections (and difficulties in finding connection) to the Dearborn campus, their local community and the full University of Michigan system.

"Fiat Lux," Let there Be Light: The Legacy of Bishop College
Adrienne Cain Darough, Baylor University Institute for Oral History

Bishop College was a historically black college (HBCU) founded in Marshall, TX, in 1881, that experienced significant growth after relocating to Dallas in 1961, but ultimately found itself in dire financial straits and closed its doors in 1988. This presentation will discuss the impact of Bishop, the effort to preserve its legacy and history by working with alumni, administrators, and former board members, and uncover some of the mysteries and misunderstandings surrounding the closing of the college.

ABSTRACT: Bishop College was founded in 1881 by Nathan Bishop and the Baptist Home Mission Society and was established to serve as an educational beacon for African American Baptists in East Texas. By the 1920s, the college expanded and began offering more courses; in 1931, an in-service training institute for ministers and lay church workers was established, which was named the Lacy Kirk Williams Institute in 1943.    In 1961, the campus moved from Marshall to Dallas, where enrollment grew drastically along with the programs and degrees offered, and remained healthy until the late 1970s. In 1976, it was even reported that 70 percent of Bishop's faculty held terminal degrees. Unfortunately, the college endured financial troubles and eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1988. Upon its closing, Paul Quinn College, another Texas HBCU, took over the grounds and facilities of Bishop College in 1990 and remains there to this day. Since the university no longer has a physical presence, this project serves to preserve the history and legacy of Bishop College through the stories of alumni, former faculty and administrators, and board members. Also, due to its abrupt closing, many rumors circulated on why the college closed and a misunderstanding of Bishop’s financial state. Through the collected oral history and an archival donation of materials from Bishop alumni, the effort to piece together this puzzle will be reflected in this presentation.This presentation will also discuss the pros and challenges of working with alumni members, dealing with conflicting stories and contradictory narratives, deciding who gets to be interviewed, and how to preserve the legacy of something that no longer physically exists.

Bridging Generations and Academics: Oral Histories about Grandparent University
Karen Neurohr, Oklahoma State University

Grandparent University (GPU) at Oklahoma State University has been bridging family generations with the Alumni Association and faculty members since 2002. Oral history interviews have captured a variety of perspectives from this unique annual program.

ABSTRACT: The Oklahoma Oral History Research Program at the Oklahoma State University Library has developed more than thirty oral history projects since its inception in 2006. Projects designed to record alumnus stories include “O-STATE Stories,” “Cowboys in Every County,” and “OSU Diversity Sexuality and Gender.” In 2023, our “institutional biography” expanded to include interviews documenting the history of Grandparent University (GPU), a unique intergenerational learning opportunity offered by the OSU Alumni Association. GPU is a 3-day summer camp experience for grandparents, grandchildren, and faculty members. A variety of interviews have yielded rich stories, memories, and programmatic changes over time. The significance of GPU is conveyed through the perspectives of former attendees, facult

Meet at the registration desk 15 minutes prior to tour time.

Thea Tjepkema, Music Hall Historian, Historic Preservationist
Experience the awe-inspiring architecture of Cincinnati Music Hall, its surrounding cityscape, and the stories behind this iconic National Historic Landmark. Thea Tjepkema, Music Hall’s Historian and Historic Preservationist, leads an engaging narrative celebrating this extraordinary example of the High Victorian Gothic style and its significance to the cultural life of the city and the Great Midwest. This 1-hour outdoor walking tour will present a captivating storyline within its design and extraordinary events, celebrities, artists, and agents of change that define the ethos of our region.

This presentation explores a Connecticut initiative to build a local and state infrastructure to support inclusive and relevant collecting, curation, preservation, archiving, and programming around oral histories.This presentation highlights how the state is responding to the need for a coordinated effort to leverage oral histories for civic engagement, public education, and inclusive storytelling through four sample projects and a new partnership with the TheirStory platform.

ABSTRACT: How do you build a local and state infrastructure to support inclusive and relevant collecting, curation, preservation, archiving, and programming around oral histories? This interactive presentation highlights a new initiative to respond to the need for a coordinated effort in Connecticut to leverage oral histories for civic engagement, public education, and inclusive storytelling. TheirStory, Connecticut Humanities, the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, and the University of Connecticut have partnered to tell fuller, more inclusive stories about the state through collaboration and capacity building with community organizations, K-12 teachers, historical societies, public libraries, and individuals. Presenters will highlight case studies from across the state of how to revisit newly digitized collections to reimagine how we can tell new stories based on underused oral history archives; how to build capacity for organizations to use oral histories to design inclusive collecting practices and programming; and how to train a new generation of practitioners, scholars, educators, and the public to consider stories as artifacts. This initiative represents an important step towards democratizing access to a digital platform that addresses fragmentation in workflows for recording, transcribing, indexing, and sharing existing oral histories while streamlining the process for collecting new ones. Attendees will have an opportunity to learn how the project design applies to a 1778 colonial house, a statewide curricular initiative on African American and Latino histories, a 20th century Caribbean social organization building its own museum, and a Puerto Rican Parade that is using oral histories to preserve its legacy of community engagement. These sample projects offer a more expansive view of the possibilities oral histories hold as artifacts in conversations with the communities of their origin and new audiences through access to emerging platforms and technologies.

Led by the owners of Bright Archives, an independent archival production house, this hands-on session: 1) offers practical tips for recording audio and video oral histories, 2) discusses how oral history technology and equipment have changed over the years, and 3) reviews the pros and cons of incorporating filmmaking techniques in oral history practice. We will include live editing demos, and attendees will walk away with equipment recommendations and ideas on how to reach public audiences with oral histories through podcasting, social media, and more.

ABSTRACT: Your interviews are great, but can you make them look nicer so we can promote them online and on social media?” We were asked this very question back in 2016. With a small budget and a team of two and without compromising oral history best practices, we developed a series of techniques, tips, and tricks for recording YouTube and Instagram-worthy interviews, resulting in a 10x increase in views and user requests. Now, we want to share this information with you. Led by the owners of Bright Archives, an independent archival production house, this hands-on session will offer practical tips for recording audio and video oral histories, discuss how oral history technology and equipment have changed over the years, and review the pros and cons of incorporating filmmaking techniques in oral history practice. We will also show live audio and video editing demos. Topics we will address: What is the best equipment to purchase on a tight budget? What software should I use to record and edit audio and video? Should I record audio or video or both? Do I need a microphone? How do I record interviews remotely? How do I create an oral history podcast? How do I create social media videos to promote oral histories? Can I use my smartphone to record an oral history interview? We will use examples from our work to illustrate challenges and successes and hope to generate dialogue about the demand to “storify” oral history for modern online audiences. Recording oral histories with good production value can open up more opportunities for use and access, such as incorporation into documentaries or archives. Attendees will walk away with equipment and technology recommendations and ideas on how to reach public audiences with oral histories through podcasting, social media, and more.

This listening session highlights elements of the Oral History Center's ongoing Japanese American Intergenerational Narratives Oral History Project, including: trauma-informed practice, project planning, and bridging the gap between conducting interviews and reaching an audience through various modes of interpretation. The panelists will play clips from oral histories and the project podcast, as well as share graphic artwork inspired by these interviews.

ABSTRACT: This listening session explores the UC Berkeley Oral History Center's ongoing Japanese American Intergenerational Narratives Oral History Project, which documents and disseminates the ways in which intergenerational trauma and healing occurred after the US government's incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. The first phase of this project, funded by the National Park Service's Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant, features 100 hours of oral history interviews with 23 Japanese American narrators who are survivors and descendants of World War II-era sites of incarceration. Initial interviews in this project have focused on the Manzanar and Topaz prison camps in California and Utah, respectively, and pose a comparison through the lens of place, popular culture, and collective memory. This listening session will include discussion about trauma-informed oral history practice, project planning, themes that emerged from interviews, and how to bridge the gap between conducting interviews and reaching an audience through various modes of interpretation. The session will highlight clips from the oral histories, as well as original interpretive work, including The Berkeley Remix's eighth session, "'From Generation to Generation': The Legacy of Japanese American Incarceration," and graphic artwork inspired by these interviews.Topics this panel will address include: building more inclusive and accessible archives; shifting focus from firsthand accounts of incarceration to intergenerational narratives and collective impacts; trauma-informed project design, including ongoing community engagement, recruiting project advisors, and sponsoring healing circles as a resource for narrators; impacts of contemporary contexts on projects and interviews; making space for contested memory; and the ethics of conducting and interpreting oral histories as community outsiders.

Oral History in the Wake of the Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh  
Ani Schug, Rerooted

Rerooted Oral History project, received the OHA's Emerging Crises grant in 2023 to collect testimonies from ethnic Armenians who were displaced from their homeland by Azerbaijan's 2020 war against Artsakh. Just weeks before beginning the project, another armed attacked started and the entire population of Artsakh was forcibly displaced, with no Armenians living in that land for the first time in 5 centuries. What can the role of oral history be at such a critical moment to preserve the past and build the future of a nation that no longer physically exists?

ABSTRACT: Rerooted received the OHA's Emerging Crises grant in 2023 to collect testimonies from ethnic Armenians who were displaced from their homeland by Azerbaijan's 2020 war against Artsakh. Just weeks before beginning the project, another armed attacked started and the entire population of Artsakh was forcibly displaced. After centuries of Artsakh being home to a rich Armenian community with their own dialect, customs, and heritage sites, no Armenians remain there today. Armenians in the Diaspora who are descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors understand intimately that losing a homeland, especially to a hostile government, also inevitably entails the loss of unique dialects, cultural heritage sights, customs, and traditions of our ancestral home. The establishment of oral history archives and documentation projects was not possible in the first decades after survival. Without a strong bank of preservation tools and testimonies, communities faced assimilation, cultural loss, a lack of documentation of human rights violations, and ultimately, widespread denial of the Genocide. Now with Artsakh, we are unfortunately watching history repeat itself, but we have the resources, tools, and opportunity to ensure proper documentation and prevent cultural loss by acting immediately. This presentation will explore the following questions with practical perspectives from on the ground in Armenia, and the distance of intergenerational reflections: What can the role of oral history be at such a critical moment to preserve the past and build the future of a nation that no longer physically exists? How soon is too soon to collect testimony, but how late is too late? How do we create a manifestation of collective memory for a community that is completely in exile?
Documenting the US Afghan War - An Oral History Archive
Halima Kazem, University of California - Santa Cruz

How documenting the US Afghan war through oral histories has the potential of changing the way grand narratives about Afghanistan have been told and understood.

ABSTRACT: America’s longest war ended in August 2021 but the lessons learned from 20 years of America’s fighting and foreign policy in Afghanistan will take decades to process, reflect on, and learn from. The Hoover Institution’s Library and Archives at Stanford University is documenting the important stories of Afghans, Americans and others who took part in and experienced the war and rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s history, especially versions popular in North America and Europe, has most often been written about by non Afghans and with very few Afghan sources. The Hoover Afghanistan project is working to change this by focusing on capturing the stories and experiences of Afghans who fled the country after the US withdrawal, the Taliban regime takeover, and the collapse of the Afghan government.This presentation will explore the potential that oral history methodologies have in the study of Afghanistan’s historical pasts, especially in a country that has been in conflict for more than 40 years. Oral and life histories create opportunities for suppressed or underrepresented voices of people from Afghanistan to contribute to historical memory and be treated as historical subjects. These new and varied historical narratives and counter narratives have the potential to contextualize or change grand narratives that have dominated how Afghanistan’s history has been recorded and shared. This project also grapples with the ethics of interviewing individuals who may have committed war crimes and human rights violations.
Palestinian Oral history of the Nakba and its Relevance to Gaza Today
Carol Gray, University of Alaska Fairbanks

This presentation explores earlier interviews of Palestinian immigrants speaking about the mass exodos of their parents, grandparents and friends during the 1948 "Nakba" (catastrophe) where the State of Israel was created while 750,000 Palestinians became refugees. These interviews help shed light on some issues unfolding in Gaza now as Gazans discuss their fear that the bombardments in Gaza may lead to a second Nakba.

ABSTRACT: As the death toll continues to rise in Gaza (presently almost 30,000), it is important to remember how the past influences the present and future. Drawing on Palestinian oral history narratives, this article address critical questions relevant now in Gaza. Why do many Palestinians want to remain in Gaza even when their cities are in rubble? Why has Egypt refused to open its border to offer sanctuary to Gazans who wish to flee? Why does the U.S. demand that the future Gaza be controlled by Palestinians with no reduction in size? The answer lies in the past. In 1948, Israel was born following a 1947 U.N. resolution partitioning Palestine by designating land for the creation of Israel despite Arab peoples already living in the region. This resulted in the forcible (and voluntary) displacement of 750,000 Palestinians, the “Nakba”, meaning catastrophe.Using past interviews conducted by this writer with Palestinian immigrants, this article explores how stories of the Nakba passed on to interviewees by their parents, grandparents, and friends are critical to understanding the current situation in Gaza. Media footage from Gaza discusses concerns that Gaza is a second Nakba and that Palestinians leaving their homes and cities in Gaza will be permanently dispossessed. Palestinian oral histories also provide missing links in the historical record. Khalidi (1997) discusses how the formation of Palestinian identity suffered from the loss of historical archives and the personal libraries of Palestinians due to forced and voluntary migration. Saraee Makdisi (2010) discusses the process of erasure of Palestinian identity. Palestinian oral histories add to the fabric of Palestinian identity and provide greater understanding of attitudes toward current events, recognizing that the potential for future peace in Palestine and Israel relies on coming to terms with the past.
Tracing the Forgotten Memory: Unearthing the Inherited Oral History of the 1965-1966 Mass Violence in Indonesia through History Learning
Nur Fatah Abidin, Sebelas Maret University

A new approach for unpacking forgotten or controversial oral history through education (history learning).

ABSTRACT: From 1965 to 1966, a mass massacre and killing of those who identified as members, partisans, and likely affiliated with the Indonesian Communist Party happened in Indonesia. The survivors of the tragedy were then politically and socially marginalized in the later political period and now some of them seek justice for the past while others remain silent. To unpack the history of mass massacre and violence in Indonesia, 1965-1966, Extensive historical research and advocative projects have been carried out. The project included a massive testimonial record collection from survivors. However, many of the survivors are still afraid to speak up leading to collective forgetting. It is crucial to have an updated method of recording to record the memories of the survivors. Hearman (2009) and Roosa (2013) have recommended the use of oral history as an alternative method for recollecting historical fragments. In this approach, the memories of survivors are partly or wholly passed down to t

This panel will explore the horrors, or challenges, of doing oral history and considerations for collection management, preservation, and access. From working with members of the deaf community to inheriting legacy collections, panelists will address concerns across the oral history lifecycle and ideas for building more accessible bridges going forward.

Not As An Afterthought: Building Accessible Bridges to include Deaf and Signing Communities
Corinna Hill, Department of Liberal Studies, Rochester Institute of Technology, National Technical Institute for the Deaf

I will address some of the accessibility challenges facing our field and discuss how we can improve documentation of Deaf and singing stories and discuss ways to improve our interview practices, including sharing my "horror" story from when I conducted oral history interviews through Zoom and relied on the transcript from my notes. Overall, my aim is to talk about how we, as a field, can build accessible bridges going forward to include accessibility from the beginning, not as an afterthought.

The Perils of Inheritance
Kopana Terry, University of Kentucky

I will discuss the perils of inheriting a large archive that isn't necessarily together, especially when the digital archive differs slightly from the analogue archive, and the oil and water of balancing administrative and sustainability concerns.

The Complexities of Achieving Narrator-Centeredness in Oral Histories
Kierstin Stager Muroski, Rochester Institute of Technology, National Technical Institute for the Deaf

I will share some considerations I have about navigating the collection of oral histories from the Deaf community as a hearing interpreter. As a new researcher in this field, I will talk through my initial thoughts about what I see as the importance of achieving narrator-centered interviews and ensuring that myriad intersectionalities are met with shared agreements and shared accountability among the team.

Four Cadets (Students) at the United States Military Academy highlight the work they've done with Oral Histories in their research and professional development. This is an undergraduate level panel consisting of four history majors who are doing exciting work in the field of Oral History.Coming To Terms With The Rwandan Genocide Through Oral History - Kari Malatak, United States Military Academy
This presentation relies upon oral histories in the aftermath of mass atrocities, specifically the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, to help understand the tragedy that occurred there. It examines the role that storytelling plays in the healing and reconciliation processes, as well as its role in countering denial.

Establishing A Narrative: The Ethical Responsibility of the Oral Historian - Isabella Colitsas, United States Military Academy
In a rapidly expanding technological landscape where "everyone becomes their own historian," the process of recording and presenting the truth becomes more complex and contested. The oral historian has a responsibility to be open to multiple interpretations of an event, attempting to triangulate various perspectives into a coherent narrative. What is truth when oral accounts come from individuals' lived experiences?

Generational Differences Among Jamaican Immigrants In Connecticut - Marqus Hubbard, United States Military Academy
In the post-World War II era, a majority of Jamaican immigrants have immigrated to Connecticut. Generational differences have developed within the Jamaican diaspora based on when new arrivals came to America, why they immigrated, and what their experience was when they arrived.

Countering Terrorism and Gang Violence In Latin America: Developing Solutions To An Evolving Challenge - Taylor Root, United States Military Academy
Oral history interviews with military professionals from the United States and Latin American countries grapple with the complexities of terrorism and gang violence in the region and the search for a solution.
ABSTRACT: Oral History is an important component of the history curriculum at the United States Military Academy, where America’s future leaders are educated. Excerpts from interviews recorded by the West Point Center for Oral History are incorporated into electronic textbooks, classroom presentations and discussions, interactive library exhibits, and summer educational enrichment opportunities (Staff Rides). Oral histories educate and inspire Cadets, enabling the current generation of aspiring Army leaders to learn valuable insights from their predecessors’ experiences while humanizing the history being learned. The West Point Center for Oral History is an integral part of the History Department’s Digital History Center, which also includes Material Culture Studies, the United States Military Academy Band, the Black History Project at West Point, and the West Point Museum. Oral history is an exciting field, and important to research being conducted at the United States Military Academy. Four Cadets (undergraduates) have developed individual projects based on personal interest and academic pursuits. One conducted a Staff Ride to Rwanda to study and understand the Rwanda Genocide. During the process of the Staff Ride, she interviewed Cadet and faculty participants, as well as survivors and perpetrators of the Genocide. Another Cadet analyzed different perspectives of the Class of 77 Honor incident and how it is remembered by those who lived through it. She highlights how different memories shape the narrative. A third Cadet delves into an immigrant community in his home state of Connecticut to understand differences among various generations of Jamaican-Americans. Finally, the fourth Cadet analyzes different perspectives concerning terrorism and gang violence in Latin America through interviews with United States and International military professionals. These four Cadets illustrate the variety of academic research and intellectual curiosity among the students in the History Department at the United States Military Academy.

Panelists will be discussing their studies and efforts to document and preserve the histories of Arab American and MENA (Middle Eastern or North African) American communities through their respective academic fields and practices.

SESSION ABSTRACT:
This panel will explore the growing field of Arab American and MENA oral history collection which remains historically underrepresented in US oral history scholarship. In light of the current rise of anti-Arab hate and racism, as well as misinformation about the community at large, this panel will demonstrate how various professionals and academics have been documenting the MENA and Arab American narrative with the hopes of teaching oral historians and professionals how to approach the community and work with them in an ethical, empathetic, just, and respectful manner. The featured panelists have spent decades working with the Arab and MENA community to preserve and document their lived experiences through ethnographic, archival, and genealogical work. Maria Curtis has been conducting ethnographic projects in the Middle East for decades now and recently began engaging with Arab immigrant communities in Houston; Reem Awad-Rashmawi, has been conducting both her own interviews for her efforts to connect families as well as genealogical work both in the U.S. and the Arab world, through means of record researching, oral history documentation and DNA research; Laura Lethers, is an archivist at the Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies where she corroborates her work with artifacts and objects with relevant oral histories in their collections. Rose Esber has been an oral historian and academic for decades and has conducted and collected many oral histories over her career to inform her wider projects on the Arab and MENA communities.

Documentation of Oral Histories in Arab American Communities
Shatha Najim, Arab American National Museum
Shatha Najim, a Community Historian at the Arab American National Museum (AANM) in Dearborn, MI, will provide an overview of the museum, its initiatives, its extensive oral history collection, and archival materials. Najim's work and research highlights the importance of oral history collection through documentation of Arab American communities in the United States, and how it has become integral to the development of AANM's core exhibits, serving as a valuable resource for community members, scholars, researchers, and professionals seeking to explore Arab American narratives from authentic voices.

Arab American Oral Histories: Collecting, Preserving, and Storytelling from Lebanon, and Palestine to North Africa
Rosemarie M. Esber
Dr. Esber will be presenting her research together with contemporary photographs taken by Arab American veterans of WWII who served in North Africa. This research will illuminate the devastation and suffering wrought on the native peoples of North Africa as well as their interaction with US troops, for which there is scant first-hand documentation.

Arab American Public and Oral History: Foundational Collections and New Directions 
Maria Curtis, University of Houston-Clear Lake
This presentation reflects on the preponderance of oral histories as a foundational part of disciplinary scholarship and examines the ways that oral history may live side-by-side with large archival collections.

Uses of Oral History Interviews in Arab American Genealogy Research
Reem Awad-Rashmawi, National Society for Arab and Arab American Genealogy
Oral history interviews play a key role in Arab American genealogy research and documentation. Pairing document and historical research with oral history interviews gives not only the foundation for building a family tree but also adds the life and stories of families to pass on to younger generations and ties the community to its roots.

Oral Historians Have No Standards - At Least Around Transcription Style Guides
Michael Sesling, Audio Transcription Center
Hanassa Wicks, Audio Transcription Center

As a transcription service, we have a unique view of the plethora of style guides that exist among oral historians. The diverse landscape of style guides for transcribing oral histories presents a notable dichotomy. Our role allows us to offer a unique view, requiring us to delve into the minutiae of each style guide that we receive. In turn, this intricate process allows us a comprehensive understanding of the different approaches within the field.

ABSTRACT: As a transcription service, we have a unique view of the plethora of style guides that exist among oral historians. The diverse landscape of style guides for transcribing oral histories presents a notable dichotomy. Our role allows us to offer a unique view, requiring us to delve into the minutiae of each style guide that we receive. In turn, this intricate process allows us a comprehensive understanding of the different approaches within the field.In this session, we’d like to observe some of the various style guides that are used as a standard in the oral history world, and open a dialogue with the audience about all of the numerous and varied guidelines that exist.We’ll explore the potential of creating a more customizable style guideline for oral historians that utilize the centralized commonalities of the various guidelines used, and work with the audience to find a methodological approach to creating a more standardized concept that will help alleviate the challenges and difficulties encountered by transcriptionists, while remembering the nuances of each.Oral History Indexing (OHI)
Douglas Lambert, University at Buffalo, SUNY

In the Fall of 2023 I published an article in the Oral History Review called "Oral History Indexing (OHI)." In this presentation I will recap and comment on OHI's first 25-year innovation period, and discuss prospective new directions for this work in light of new technology opportunities.

ABSTRACT: Oral history indexing (OHI) is a set of practices that emerged for content management of large audio/video (A/V) collections. Driven by curators who wished to publish complete collections of interviews, and made possible by computer-based media, innovators in OHI introduced a variety of new modes of electronically linked A/V access, as early as the mid-1990’s. OHI typically involves creating thematic passages within recordings, with segments defined by media timecodes--providing access within and across interviews. Akin to an indexed book, OHI systems allow cross-referencing to specific points within media documents, describe content through natural language, and promote browsing and exploring modes rather than literal text searching. In this presentation I will summarize OHI between the 1990’s and 2023, when it existed as a set of markup processes facilitated by software tools but overseen by human intelligence. I will highlight a range of methodological approaches and system attributes from major institutions who pursued OHI and illustrate how the concepts and skills involved are applicable for other long-form A/V content. I will also discuss how emerging technologies such as automatic speech recognition and large language models are already changing oral history transcription practices, and OHI.The Warrior Women Project: Applying Ethics and Core Values in the Auditing and Editing Work of First Nations Oral History Transcripts
Eric Gaither, Columbia University

This session focuses on the praxis of oral history transcript auditors and editors who make an active commitment to honor nation and community-centered approaches and core values in the process of generating textual remembrances as artifacts.

ABSTRACT: The Warrior Women Project (WWP) is a collaborative of matriarchs, historians, community organizers, and multimedia storytellers working to bring to light the critical impact of Indigenous women throughout recent history. Over the past two and a half decades, WWP has generated thousands of hours of audiovisual content requiring some level of non-AI acknowledgement in the process of transcription. Multiple speakers interweaving remembrances across time, space, and language communities represent an embodied form of cultural practice that leads with the expectation an auditor and/or editor both hear and listen to narrators as expert, inter-legible community voice(s).This presentation focuses on auditory work that values deep, poly-vocal listening as a commitment to de-center self and center collective voice articulation within the aesthetic fabric of the oral history transcript. Rather than correct the voice in print, the approach employed here seeks to center and honor the voice; to approach the message and its speaker(s) with respect and humility; to engage in the work of translation from audio and visual to textual with integrity; and to acknowledge the wisdom of the matriarchs.Enhancing Oral History Collections in South Africa through Artificial Intelligence, Case Studies of Gauteng Unsung Sport Heroes and South African National Parks Board Conservation Records
Isabel Schellnack-Kelly, Department of Information Science, University of South Africa 
Nampombe Saurombe, Department of Information Science, University of South Africa

The article focuses on trying to encourage two oral history collections to consider utilizing artificial intelligence tools to make their collections more accessible to archivists, researchers and interested members of the public. The challenges specifically relate to those encountered in South Africa.

ABSTRACT: Oral history collections serve as invaluable repositories of cultural heritage, offering insights into the lived experiences, perspectives, and narratives of individuals and communities. In South Africa, these collections play a crucial role in preserving and promoting the country's diverse heritage, yet they face significant challenges in management and accessibility, including labour-intensive transcription and indexing processes and the need for culturally sensitive approaches to archiving. In recent years, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have provided new opportunities for enhancing the management and accessibility of oral history collections. By leveraging AI technologies such as speech recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning, archivists and researchers can automate tasks such as transcription, translation, and metadata tagging, thereby streamlining the archival process and expanding access to oral history materials. By undertaking a qualitative research within a postmodernist approach, this article explores the potential of AI in enhancing oral history collections in South Africa, with a focus on case studies of Gauteng unsung sport heroes and South African National Parks Board nature conservation records. Through these case studies, the researcher examines how AI technologies can address the challenges of managing and accessing oral history collections, while also considering the ethical implications and best practices for integrating AI into archival workflows. 

Throughout the two years of the Russo-Ukrainian war, numerous research groups have created archives addressing various aspects of everyday life and social transformations caused by the military conflict. At this roundtable, the speakers will present their work and reflect on the methodological adjustments they had to make, the risks they took and mitigated, and the overall challenges interviewers face while recording oral history of war.

ABSTRACT: One of the most visible and profound effects of war is that it tears the connection between past and present while also making the future the object of intense anxiety. How does that shape oral historians’ work? Oral history is one of the key methodologies applied in documentation of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Relying on a strong oral history research tradition, Ukrainian scholars started recording interviews with people fleeing the military conflict within the first months of the full-scale invasion. Throughout the two years of the country surviving through massive military action, numerous research groups have created archives addressing various aspects of everyday life and social transformations caused by the military conflict. At this roundtable, the speakers will present their work and reflect on the methodological adjustments they had to make, the risks they took and mitigated, and the overall challenges interviewers face while recording oral history of events associated with drastic and very painful change. Panel participants will focus on several topics pertaining to field research at the time of war. Svitlana Makhovska will reflect on her experience of crisis interviewing on de-occupied territories of Chernihiv region, Ukraine. Iuliia Skubytska will further the discussion with the analysis of oral history research with people who did not leave their homes in Kharkiv region despite that fact that it became a combat zone. Natalia Otrishchenko will examine the peculiarities of knowledge production in war documentation projects involving scholars from different personal and professional backgrounds. Finally Natalia Khanenko-Friesen, will address the topic of displacement by looking at how Ukrainians who fled the war are trying to create a new home in Canada. 

Hear about OurStoryBridge: Connecting the Past and the Present, and the free tools available to create community-driven online short-form oral histories. This innovative, adaptive oral history methodology is used by libraries, museums, historical societies, and nonprofit organizations and addresses challenges faced by oral historians using traditional methods.

ABSTRACT: OurStoryBridge: Connecting the Past and the Present is a free, online resource and tool kit that supports the production of low-cost crowdsourced, short-form community oral history projects. Learn about OurStoryBridge and practice taking short-form oral histories.OurStoryBridge uses an innovative, adaptive model for the creation of three- to five-minute, locally produced oral histories accompanied by related photographs made freely accessible online via individualized websites to create a 21st century bridge between the past, present, and future. We encourage OurStoryBridge adopters to lean on our experience and resources to get started and then to shape their story projects to meet their own needs and goals. In just three years since release of OurStoryBridge, over 20 communities in 13 states have created online oral history projects using this innovative, online methodology, with 800+ stories available through an online Teacher’s Guide for classroom use, with more stories added daily. OurStoryBridge Inc. incorporated in 2022 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit helping libraries, museums, historical societies, and issue-oriented organizations use free, online resources to support the production of low-cost, community oral history projects. At the 2023 OHA Annual Meeting, participants in the four-hour workshop attended by oral historians from around the world were enthusiastic about OurStoryBridge, especially how it successfully addresses challenges they struggle with. In this multimedia and interactive session, we will include sample oral histories from across the country, personal narratives on themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and relate how OurStoryBridge, through its Teacher’s Guide, shares stories with educators so they become an important part of their pedagogy. Our vision is that OurStoryBridge empowers every community to cultivate connection across the generations, encourage civic engagement, celebrate diversity, and engender shared and durable kindness.

When engaging with minority languages and cultures, how do we make sense of the past, navigate the grief and excitement of their present evolutions, and build a future where these languages and cultures can continue to be integral to our identities and experiences? In this session, we will listen to highlights from the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project collection, exploring people’s relationships to a diasporic, so-called “post vernacular” language—Yiddish—that represents the past for so many, despite being spoken by hundreds of thousands of people around the globe.

ABSTRACT: When engaging with minority languages and cultures, how do we make sense of the past, navigate the grief and excitement of their present evolutions, and build a future where these languages and cultures can continue to be integral to our identities and experiences?As oral historians, we are motivated by a temporal imperative to collect the earliest memories of our living elders before it’s too late. Yet there is also value in documenting younger voices to represent the breadth of engagement with language and culture now. In listening deeply to those carrying a minority culture and language, oral history allows us to both record the past and document the continuing evolution of the culture and language use.In this session, we will listen to highlights from the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project collection, exploring people’s relationships to a diasporic, so-called “post vernacular” language—Yiddish—that represents the past for so many, despite being spoken by hundreds of thousands of people around the globe. We will hear from people of a myriad of ages and life experiences as they reflect on issues of language, identity, and meaning-making in the past, present, and their visions for the future. We will hear stories that have been passed down generations as well as accounts of how people are reinventing, reinvigorating, and creating new Yiddish culture. Through looking at the specific case of Yiddish language and culture, these stories illuminate the value of an intergenerational, international collection of diaspora cultures.  

Situated within the context of disaster and communal trauma, this listening session will share excerpts from two narratives published in the collection Mi María: Surviving the Storm, Voices from Puerto Rico, those of Zaira Arvelo Alicea and Miliana I. Montañez León. These selections are shared with the intent of building a conversation around the question of how we can ethically listen and respond to, transcribe, translate, preserve, and amplify oral histories that contain eyewitness testimonies related to death and near-death experiences.

ABSTRACT: The Oral History Lab at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez is dedicated to recording the living history of people in the Puerto Rican archipelago, especially as it relates to climatological and stratified disasters and the complex sociopolitical issues surrounding a just and dignified approach to members of frontline communities. During the six years we have been recording life stories in the archipelago, we have interviewed survivors who have shared eyewitness testimonies involving witnessing death or having near-death experiences. In the hopes of beginning a larger conversation related to the ethics of listening and responding to, recording, preserving, and amplifying life narratives of trauma survivors, this listening session focuses on elements of narrative transaction, witness intent, listening to trauma, and narrative dissemination through data curation, all of which must be of service to storytellers and their local communities, and then perhaps larger groups of stakeholders.Situated within this context of disaster and communal trauma, this listening session will share excerpts from two narratives published in the collection Mi María: Surviving the Storm, Voices from Puerto Rico, those of Zaira Arvelo Alicea and Miliana I. Montañez León, with very different approaches to sharing their experiences. These selections will be read with the intent of sparking a larger conversation around the question of how we can ethically listen and respond to, transcribe, translate, preserve, and amplify oral histories that contain eyewitness testimonies related to death and near-death experiences, with a focus on maintaining dignity for the narrator and those who they discuss in their narratives, including upholding an ethical approach to oral history in the aftermath of disaster. 

Commons systems seem to hold ecologically regenerative power, and oral history has emerged as a central method for commons scholarship. Drawing on a trio of cases from Appalachian eastern Kentucky, and putting these in conversation with cases from India, Canada, Scotland, and South Africa, panelists will discuss their use of oral histories, emphasizing how oral narratives allow definitions of commons community to arise from those who built them themselves, and reflecting on the regenerative possibilities of commons-minded oral history scholarship.
Narratives of Appalachian Old-Growth Forests and Indian Sacred Groves: Protecting Biodiverse “Hope Spots”
Sinu Rose, University of Kentucky
Emma Kiser, University of Kentucky

Old-growth forests of the Appalachians and Sacred Groves of India have survived as repositories of biodiversity and as sanctuaries of collective memory and cultural identity. By centering oral narratives and community voices, this comparative co-presentation explores how the survival and protection of these “hope spots” has roots in commoning practices and oftentimes reveals common values, while also regenerating the forest commons for present and future generations.
Oral History and Regenerative Commons: A Transatlantic Case Study of Scottish Tenant Farmers and the Mi’kmaq First Nations in Eastern Maritime Canada
Rachel Herrington, University of Kentucky

Before they were enclosed or marginalized from their ancestral lands, 18th and 19th century Scottish tenant farmers and the First Nations Mi’kmaq of Eastern Maritime Canada used their native languages as unique commons systems necessary for their survival. This transatlantic case study uses historic oral interviews and Indigenous language connections to environment as tools for reclaiming commons and applying traditional ecological knowledge of land and resource stewardship towards future global climate justice.
Defining the “Public Good”: Commons and State Conservation in Appalachia and South Africa
Paolo D’Amato, University of Kentucky

State conservation efforts globally have had a heavy impact in both displacing and silencing the commons, replacing it with state narratives of industrialization and progress. Oral histories in both Appalachia and South Africa are vital to ‘rediscovering’ the commons and the communities built upon them in the wake of state power.
Divided Community: Strip Mining, Commons Environmentalism, and the Energy Crisis in Floyd County, Kentucky, 1972-1977
Jacob Johnson, University of Kentucky
Oral histories reveal how local residents of eastern Kentucky used commons environmentalism to fight against strip mining in the 1970s. By coalescing as the Floyd County Save Our Land (FCSOL) group, communities sought to defend their property, gardens, and waterways from the devastation of strip mining, and also challenged state agencies to properly enforce regulations already on the books.

ABSTRACT: Oral history methods have proved important to commons studies scholarship in a variety of fields. Appalachian examples include folklorist Mary Hufford’s extensive Library of Congress Collection, “Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia,” which features hundreds of oral history sound recording excerpts, and historian Kathryn Newfont’s Blue Ridge Commons: Environmental Activism and Forest History in Western North Carolina, which grew from oral history interviews collected through the Southern Oral History Program. This panel builds on that scholarship by exploring the importance of oral history methodologies in commons scholarship, and specifically by putting Appalachian cases from eastern Kentucky in conversation with cases from India, Canada, Scotland, and South Africa. Commoning systems have Indigenous roots, and define community to include more-than-human as well as human elements. They have existed in many cultures across time and space, and still do despite many threats. These threats include enclosure, climate change, biodiversity loss, and “natural resource” extraction. How might utilizing oral history methods to study commons systems offer regenerative possibilities, and lessons toward creating brighter futures? A constellation of scholars at the University of Kentucky places commoning at the center of historical study, and offers preliminary results here. This panel uses oral history to highlight commons and commoning from multiple perspectives and suggest the regenerative power of such systems. Presentations will discuss ways oral history can document and illuminate commons livelihoods practices; commons as biodiverse cultural, lingual, and spiritual reservoirs; and commons environmental activism against strip mining and deforestation. Drawing on oral histories, cross cultural comparisons examine commons practices and enclosures in the Appalachian region, India, Mi’kmaw territory, the Outer Hebrides, and South Africa. Considering the regenerative potential of commons systems through oral history provides hope for climate mitigation and for revitalizing local and global ecologies including our beyond human relatives.

Getting Word Oral Historians and leaders from local descendant communities discuss the project's thirty year history charting the histories of families once enslaved by Thomas Jefferson, the project's continued relationships with multiple generations of descendant families, and contributing to a future that understands the centrality of these voices in the story of this country.

ABSTRACT: The Getting Word African American Oral History Project at Monticello is an ongoing, collaborative oral history project that charts the histories of families once enslaved by Thomas Jefferson. For the past thirty years, Getting Word oral historians and generations of brave and tenacious descendants have worked hand-in-hand to record their personal histories, with the steadfast resolve that their family’s histories are essential American history. Through the collaborative process of recording oral histories with generations of descendants, as well as building and maintaining relationships with descendant communities locally and nationally, Getting Word seeks to contribute to a growing national and international consciousness of the centrality of these voices in our shared American story.The hundreds of oral histories and accompanying family photographs, documents, and other heirlooms that form our archive are a testament to the relationships, built and sustained, with over 1,000 individuals descended from the enslaved at Monticello. In 1993, TJF historians Cinder Stanton and Dianne Swann-Wright founded the Getting Word project to find and record oral histories of enslavement at Monticello, working in partnership with genealogist and historian Beverly Gray. Not only has project has documented the history and humanity of the people who lived and labored on the mountaintop, but it has revealed a relentless pursuit of rights and freedom across generations of descendants, from colonial America to the present.Through diligent archival research and collaboration with descendants, Getting Word historians have reconnected families riven apart by slavery and its aftermath. The project, as an archive and as a community, has helped to recontextualize Monticello as a Black heritage site of reflection, remembrance, and reunion. Today, our team works to steward the invaluable archive co-created by Stanton and Swann-Wright, sustain and grow our relationships with descendant families, and foster partnerships with other descendant communities nationwide.

This roundtable discusses the planning stages, initial recording experiences, and early findings of the HBCU Radio Preservation Project’s oral history program. It demonstrates that broad-based oral history initiatives can never succeed in isolation, but must be pursued and nourished through collective actions that bridge communities and deeply respect the subjects and institutions being engaged.

ABSTRACT: HBCU radio stations are a bridge for those who have attended, worked for, or returned to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. They remain vital sources of news and information, as well as cherished entertainment platforms that spark joy across regions. HBCU radio station archives speak to unforgettable historical moments and lived experiences, with some dating back fifty years. But these rich collections are in danger of being lost. Tape deterioration, obsolete formats, and environmental hazards pose major retention challenges. This has encouraged audio archivists to conserve HBCU radio’s legacies in partnership with current station managers and campus libraries. The recently launched HBCU Radio Preservation Project honors and preserves these vibrant cultural resources through a stand-alone, cross-organizational initiative.Recorded audio is not the only resource at risk. The memories of the people who made and sustained HBCU radio over the years are fading, too. Oral history is, therefore, a foundational pillar of the project. In addition to restoring and conserving archival materials, the team is interviewing scores of current and former station employees, volunteers, students, and stakeholders. It is doing so by reaching out to stations and developing lasting partnerships, both with HBCU radio personnel and surrounding communities. For example, the project is working to create a hub in North Carolina that will bring in trusted local organizations to help deepen community ties, outreach, and connections. It is also assembling educational materials and workshops that will help guide similar preservation efforts and establish a usable model for other stations.In this roundtable, the HBCU Radio Preservation Project’s director, assistant director, oral historian, and fellow will discuss the role of recorded storytelling in this broad-based initiative. We will demonstrate that such efforts can never succeed in isolation, but must be pursued and nourished through collective action that is collaborative and responsive.

The roundtable will discuss an ongoing NEH-funded project that will produce an oral history repository and Open Educational Resources (OER). The project addresses the following topics: experiences of refugees and immigrants at the border; transnational identities; and diversity in Georgia created in part by recent waves of immigration from Francophone and Hispanic countries.

ABSTRACT: The roundtable will discuss an ongoing NEH-funded project that will produce an oral history repository and Open Educational Resources (OER). The project addresses the following topics: experiences of refugees and immigrants at the border; transnational identities; and diversity in Georgia created in part by recent waves of immigration from Francophone and Hispanic countries. The first three speakers will look to the recent past. Katherine Roseau will introduce the project, information about the grant itself, and our major goals (i.e., engage students in culture and target language without leaving the U.S.; amplify the voices of overlooked or misunderstood communities; provide resources and a model for other language teachers interested in experiential learning). Alana Alvarez will then present the outcome of the faculty development workshop she will lead in summer 2024. Specifically, she will share best practices for designing and carrying out oral history in language service-learning or service abroad courses. Next, Cynthia Osorio-Magana will give a student perspective of the experiential learning French and Spanish classes that have led to our current oral history project. She will also speak about the oral history interviews conducted at the U.S./Mexico border just a few weeks before OHA. Libertad Aranza will then bring the conversation to the future. She will present our next steps, including how we will engage our students with these oral histories this year and beyond, and our plans for OER creation. Finally, we will open discussion to talk about challenges, questions, hopes, and how we are continually connecting with our community partners to ensure that we do oral history with cultural competence, often in less structured environments, and to prepare ourselves and our students to follow the maxim “go with the flow” as needed.

Abstract
 Family history has taken hold from the European Atlantic to the Pacific with applications to oral history in general. We will hear directly from England and the US.To start, using quotes from interviews and visuals, Mary Gordon will share what she discovered from her research for the Routledge publication of Family Oral History Across the World. She will address integrating elements of a family history with one diagram. Then: changing demographics, factors of memory, emotion, ethics, interviewing approaches, incorporation of visuals, integrating stories from many interviews into an engaging family history. Mary Stewart , here from the British Library’s oral history programs will present some observations on the intersections of family history and oral history from a UK perspective. At the end of the session Mary and Mary will introduce some of the diverse individuals interviewed from several countries and their thoughts through slides for which they have given consent.Michael Frisch will focus on transformative new possibilities for transcripts, such as Multidimensional Transcription especially customized to family histories. He will also address suggestions for oral historians from articles by journalists in the Oral History Review. Laura Laura McNeice, Ph.D. Student will focus on the importance of letting the transcription speak for itself and the of being authentic to the interviewee's voice when transcribing the materials. She will also give tips to help families who find challenging the level of commitment it takes to transcribe the work. Kara Nelson, a student working a gap year at the Baylor Institute for Oral History will address the Baylor processing and preservation process for the 50 recordings and transcriptions from the work for Family Oral History book to include the work as received and the process thereafter. The last 20 minutes will be for Questions.

Meet up with this informal group of Kentucky and Appalachian oral historians and oral history fans to share your current oral history project,  talk about best practices, brainstorm ideas for growing the network, and meet new people! OHA membership is encouraged but not required to take part in this meeting.

Are you participating in the mentorship program for this year's OHA annual meeting? If so, make sure to come by the Mentorship Meet & Greet at the Hilton Cincinnati Plaza in the Rosewood room on Thursday, October 31 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. This event is a great place to meet and connect with your mentor or mentee and mingle with other participants in the program. 

Since October 2023, the Israeli military has been committing genocide in Gaza. 2.3 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced, and more than 100,000 people have been killed or wounded. We will discuss current and future oral history projects related to this human catastrophe, and ways that the field of oral history can play a pivotal role in opening a discussion on this topic.

This reception will honor 2023-2024 OHA President Kelly Elaine Navies and the 2024 Award Winners. Open to all & free to attend.

Long has The Lady in Green haunted the halls of the Netherland Plaza hotel, desperately seeking her husband who met an untimely end here nearly 100 years ago. You are invited to view this special Live Halloween Night Dungeons and Dragons adventure as an intrepid band of oral historians examine the supposedly true story of the Netherland's most famous guest.

Is this your first time attending an OHA conference? Please join us for breakfast and for the opportunity to meet other first timers! Open to all newcomers & free to attend.

Creators of the Kolot Chayeinu Oral History Project, Professor Lana Povitz and her student Kristen Morgenstern will share excerpts from interviews with congregants of a progressive Jewish community in Brooklyn. Povitz and Morgenstern will discuss the benefits and limitations of using oral history as a tool to strengthen community during a time of major transition for Kolot Chayeinu.

ABSTRACT: In 1993, Rabbi Ellen Lippmann founded the progressive, non-denominational Jewish community known as Kolot Chayeinu. A small gathering around R’Ellen’s dining room table gradually expanded into a congregation of over six hundred members. Based in Park Slope, Brooklyn, Kolot serves as a spiritual home for people seeking social justice-oriented Jewish community, including activists from ACT UP, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and Jews for Racial and Economic History (JFREJ). In 2022, a team of congregants, including Professor Lana Povitz and her student Kristen Morgenstern, began the Kolot Chayeinu Oral History Project. To date, thirty-four people have been interviewed, focusing on themes of community, growth & challenges, and endurance. Many narrators reflected on changes within Kolot over its nearly thirty-year history, including the rabbinic transition Rabbi Miriam Grossman, following R’Ellen’s retirement in 2018.How can the past intervene in the present and shape the future? This listening session will weave excerpts from interviews with discussions of how Kolot Chayeinu has used its oral history project during another period of transition: in 2023, R’Miriam stepped down, leading the congregation to embark on a multi-year search for a new settled rabbi. As the community attempts to navigate big questions and even bigger feelings surrounding the future of Kolot, the oral histories give voice to moments of deep joy, belonging, disappointment, and yearning. Over the last six months, the oral history team has hosted two listening parties for congregants to connect and process.In moments of institutional vulnerability, when the communal fabric is torn or frayed, narrators’ personal stories can offer common ground for moving forward together. Through sharing excerpts with our audience and discussing our process as project designers, interviewers, and event producers, we will discuss the possibilities and limitations of using oral history as a tool for strengthening relationships and discussing leadership and values in a tight-knit but diverse community.

Keeping it Local will share tips and tricks from three GLAM (Gallery, Library, Archive, Museum) professionals who have worked with community members and their stories for much of their respective careers. This session hopes to empower attendees to think about “Keeping it Local” in their communities and seek new ways to help disseminate information to their patrons and community members.
Keeping it Local: Building Community Memory Through Oral History
Dave Schroeder, Kenton County Public Library

The Kenton County Public Library’s oral history project, stories from local veterans, library personnel, community members from Northern Kentucky. This presentation will discuss specific programs and skillsets that will help train individuals to conduct interviews, specifically relating to the Kentucky Arts Council’s Community Scholars Program.
Keeping It Local: Collecting and Sharing Oral Histories with the Community

Larry Richmond, Genealogy & Local History Department at the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library
This presentation will be discussing the Ohio River Flood of 1937 and the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library’s online ArcGIS Storymap exhibit that features oral histories and images that make the events come alive. Website: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/33ce2215515e40e0986cd044f76fdaac
Keeping it Local: Using AI to make Underrepresented Community Voices Accessible
Arabeth Balasko, Cincinnati Museum Center

Using AI Technology to generate transcriptions of BIPOC voices in the Cincinnati Museum’s oral history collection. These oral histories have been sitting unused and inaccessible for decades and have not been shared publicly until now. These underrepresented voices are currently being uploaded, along with their transcriptions, onto our recently updated database portal, ArchivEra. This presentation will highlight the challenges and triumphs of incorporating AI into Cincinnati Museum Center’s oral history collection workflow.ABSTRACT: Keeping it Local will explore the diverse ways that GLAM (Gallery, Library, Archive, Museum) professionals can create community relationships in a technologically driven world. Each panelist will share their tips and tricks, their triumphs and challenges when it comes to working with 21st Century technology and fostering relationships with local community partners. By focusing on preservation, action steps, access, and staying human in a technically evolving world, the presenters in this session hope to inspire participants to Keep it Local in their own respective communities and organizations.

This panel explores oral histories which highlight twenty-first century examples on struggles for procedural justice by examining case studies of Indigenous Bolivian gender and sexual diversity, the Tribe of the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation’s forced relocation in Louisiana, and the Native American Churches’ political mobilization against drug policy reform that decriminalizes mescaline, the psychedelic compound in peyote. Each case centers on the perspectives of Indigenous people and their political representation within multiple social landscapes.

Indigenous Sexual Diversities and the Politics of Language and Mobilization in Contemporary La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia
Natalie Kimball, College of Staten Island - CUNY

Drawing on approximately 30 oral interviews I conducted in 2022, this paper explores the ways in which queer individuals and activists in the Bolivian cities of La Paz and El Alto think and talk about, and mobilize for, rights and recognition. In particular, the paper explores the differences between indigenous and Euro-descendant perspectives toward sexual and gender diversity and LGBTQ activism in contemporary Bolivia.

End of the Road: Forced Exodus from Isle de Jean Charles
Heather Stone, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Interviews collected since 2015 share how the ancestors and current Jean Charles Choctaw Nation members have watched their inherited homeland wash away and become less habitable year to year, month to month, and even day to day. With it went a part of their cultural identity, and its loss, in effect, creates an abolishing of their community as environmental changes have forced the Tribe into surrounding areas.
ABSTRACT: Centering approximately 60 oral history interviews collected from three U.S-based scholars conducting independent projects between the years 2016-2024, this session explores the ways in which Indigenous communities think, talk about, and mobilize for, rights and recognition across multiple political landscapes. Voices include queer individuals and activists who criticize the role of western knowledge systems and NGOs on determining priorities in the struggle for queer rights in the Bolivian cities of La Paz and El Alto. Oral histories from this collection demonstrate how organizations and groups formed by individuals of indigenous Bolivian descent typically identify with pre-Colombian notions of sexual diversity and eschew the use of the language they deem western. The second case study in this panel explores engagement with politically active members of the Native American Church from the American southwest and Rocky Mountain region who advocate for Peyote protection/conservation in the wake of 2020s psychedelic drug policy reform. The contentious political background surrounding the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) is considered by tribal members to be a major historical backdrop of contemporary drug policy reform in the U.S. Finally, the oral histories of tribal members from the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation facing the both the effects of climate change and the legacy of forced relocation in the American south are amplified within educational spaces. This project brings attention to Indigenous residents in Louisiana deeply impacted by rising sea levels. Inspired by this year’s conference theme, this session engages with the ways in which the long history of indigenous mobilization coincides with present-day, global struggles for political representation. Despite the historical marginalization of Indigenous populations and knowledge systems in Indigenous communities globally, the session illustrates how indigenous activists are employing organizational forms to mobilize for rights, recognition, and protection of their bodies, language, land, and sacred ceremonies.

From Collectivism to Individualism: Tracing "Normative" Sexuality in Israel's Formative Era
Roi Irani, Department of History at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

This presentation reveals a radical shift in sexuality during Israel's first years, which was formerly considered as a sexually stagnant era. This conclusion is derived by implementing techniques developed for research of marginalized groups' sexuality to the research of "normativity".

ABSTRACT: In his book 'Men Like That' (2001), John Howard challenges the image of repressed queer sexuality in the rural South during the era preceding the so-called "sexual revolution". Using oral history, and focusing on lived practices, he manages to show that queers practiced a rather active and dynamic sexuality. This paper employs Howard's oral history methodology, along with tools from post-colonial sexual studies, to create a new image of sexuality in Israel in its formative era. By focusing on urban heterosexuals, the paper demonstrates the importance of expanding the tools of oral history research beyond marginalized groups. Herein lies immense potential to reevaluate older perceptions about individuals that historical contemporaries have considered the "normative". Based on twenty oral interviews conducted with petite-bourgeoise men born between 1934 and 1948, the paper argues that the 1950s and 1960s constituted a turning point in the transition from a collective-oriented sexual culture to a new, more individualistic kind in Israel. Sexuality was one main tool in men's attempts to create a masculine self, one they felt the need to master but for which they lacked mediators to consult with. Moreover, their immediate culture encouraged them to gain sexual experience before marriage, but simultaneously warned against focusing on sexuality as a sign of unwanted individualism. This led to confusion, frustration and eventually secretive and unsupervised sexual experiences and practices, some pleasurable for both partners, yet others abusive. It also created new power dynamics between youths of different backgrounds around access to private spaces and encouraged youths to enter relationships with experienced women. These changes show that the 1950s and 1960s in Israel were not a time of stagnation, as most scholars argue based on written sources, but a time of radical change in sexual behavior and eventually of norms, a change traceable through oral history.A Tale of Roma-ism (?): Views of Greek Roma Women on History and Reproductive Justice
Elektra Kostopoulou, Rutgers Newark 
Cynthia Malakasis, Panteion University (GR)

This paper focuses on the reproductive experiences of Greek Roma women, in terms of child bearing and identity continuity within the racialized, gendered, and classed structures of Greek nationalism

ABSTRACT: Based on the narratives of Roma women in the Athens metropolitan area, this paper focuses on reproduction, in terms of lived experience and identity continuity within the racialized, gendered, and classed structures of Greek nationalism. Our research involves a historical and a contemporary component. First, it touches on the contested advent of Roma people into the multifaceted terrain(s) that have shaped Greece since the previous century. Second, it engages with contemporary reproductive care, agency, and practice. Epistemologically, we are guided by the concept of reproductive justice (Ross and Solinger 2017), which demands emphasis on the structural and systemic inequalities that shape people’s reproductive experiences. Methodologically, we subscribe to feminist oral history, which we understand as the documentation of oppressed, marginalized voices and, most importantly, as the means to “revise[s] received knowledge” (Gluck and Pataki 1991: 1-2). Hence, our interlocutors are Roma women, whose behaviors are rooted in complex socio-structural causes obscured when stereotyped within national paradigms and culturalist explanations. (How) do Roma women perceive themselves as members of a political community that often denies them access to material and symbolic resources? How do Greece’s socio-structural hierarchies and historical paradigms—which shape female experiences, subjectivities, and life chances—mediate these perceptions? What are the limitations of Western feminist theory in said context? To address this latter question, we try to identify a sense of Roma feminism constructed historically and in the present time as a narrative of care that touches upon Motherism (Moreton-Robinson 2002), Womanism (Alkali M et all 2013: 237-253), and Indigenous Feminism (Green 2020). Our commitment to honest and radical scholarship involves reflective emphasis on the intersubjective dynamics that produced our material, with a critical look at the hierarchical elements of our own encounters with our informants.Red Days on the Calendar? Remembering Soviet Menstrual Trauma in Contemporary Russia
Pavel Vasilyev, HSE University in St. Petersburg

This paper builds on the collection of 70+ semi-structured oral history interviews about the experiences of the menstrual cycle in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia that I have gathered over the last several years. This analysis is supplemented by the readings of medical publications, popular press, fiction, and early Internet archives from the Soviet and the post-Soviet period.

ABSTRACT: Within global menstrual history, the Soviet Union stands out as a peculiar case. While at least since the 1930s it claimed to belong to the group of ‘developed’ industrialized countries, the chronic neglect of light industry and personal care products meant that unlike other economies of similar size and structure, the Soviets never launched the manufacturing of reusable menstrual products until the socio-economic transition of the late 1980s. Consequently, throughout the 20th century Soviet menstruators had to rely on DIY techniques and improvisational bodily practices to manage their cycles.This paper builds on the collection of 70+ semi-structured oral history interviews about the experiences of the menstrual cycle in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia that I have gathered over the last several years. This analysis is supplemented by the readings of medical publications, popular press, fiction, and early Internet archives from the Soviet and the post-Soviet period. The paper also includes methodological reflections on conducting oral history interviews on menstrual trauma and analyzing this data.I argue that the Soviet menstrual experience is overwhelmingly remembered in contemporary Russia as a kind of trauma that is either silenced through the preservation of the menstrual taboo or actively suppressed with the help of modern reusable products (usually imported from the West). This trauma is discursively linked to the shame culture around human body, sexuality and reproduction that is attributed to the Soviet past. While there is a growing awareness about financial and environmental benefits of reusable menstrual products (especially around younger and more educated Russians), they are explicitly rejected as a kind of return to the dreaded ‘Soviet rags’. Overall, the paper suggests that the personal memory of past menstrual experiences informs not only the seemingly mundane choices of intimate care products, but also a range of socio-economic, environmental, and even political sensibilities.Femicide in the Conflict Zone: Unveiling Untold Stories of Women's Resilience and Struggle in Abkhazia
Ia Shalamberidze, Taso Foundation
Tina Tsomaia, Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA)

This groundbreaking project delves into the silenced narratives of women who endured the war in Abkhazia, now a breakaway region of Georgia, under Russian occupation for over three decades.

ABSTRACT: Focused on femicide during the early 1990s conflict, our initiative seeks to bring to light the untold stories of violence against women and the profound impact it has had on the c

The Kru/Krao Coast Heritage Initiative: Oral History, Local Memory, and Archival Silences in Sinoe County, Liberia
Megan Crutcher, Texas A&M University 
Prince Kondeh, Kru Coast Heritage Initiative

This paper discusses an oral history project undertaken as a preliminary phase for historical archaeological research in Sinoe County, Liberia. Our project works with community members and elders to investigate Kru history, tempering eurocentric archival sources with local knowledge in an area that has been wracked by conflict and largescale disruption and mobility throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

ABSTRACT: Of the sailors and canoemen in West African history, none have been so famous as the Kru of Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire. They shaped and reshaped the maritime trade landscape from the moment of contact with Europeans in the 16th century. However previous historical studies have mostly relied on European documentary evidence of Kru history across the world ocean, rather than on oral histories and ethnographic interviews. This is especially true in Sinoe County, Liberia, despite coastal Sinoe County being the origin point of the Kru identity. This paper discusses an oral history project undertaken as a preliminary phase for historical archaeological research in Sinoe County, investigating some of the strategies used to temper archival sources with local knowledge in an area that has been wracked by conflict and largescale disruption and mobility throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This paper discusses ethnographic methods, oral history methods, objectivity, and our experiences in the field, especially given the subjective nature of face-to-face interviewing and the deep investment we have within the community in which we have worked. As such, this presentation is both a methodological and theoretical intervention and a report from an understudied topical field and area of the world within oral historical and historical research. Ultimately, we seek to illustrate how our oral history project has challenged archival silences in ways that blur the disciplinary boundaries of history, ethnography, narrative, and archaeology.A Museum of Stories
Donna Harris, Over-the-Rhine Museum

The Over-the-Rhine Museum is creating a new museum that seeks to tell the rich, diverse stories of people who left their homes to create new lives in this densely populated neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Our focus is to tell the stories of people whose stories are less well known: people of color, low-income residents, and women. Oral histories are part of the museum’s collection, increase community engagement, inform the interpretive plan, and will one day be a vital part of the exhibitions.

ABSTRACT: The Over-the-Rhine Museum uses oral histories in four separate, but interdependent ways to tell the neighborhood’s history from 1860 through today. Community Engagement: As a new organization, the Over-the-Rhine Museum needs to build trust among long-term residents of the neighborhood. Encouraging people to share their stories has been integral to connecting with residents. Collection: Museums often begin with a collection of historic artifacts. The Over-the-Rhine Museum began instead by collecting stories. Stories of people that many were unfamiliar with, that were not always represented in mainstream history. In 2017, museum volunteers began collecting oral histories from people in Over-the-Rhine. We have over 40 recordings and videos archived with the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky. The archive is linked to our website and ensures that the collection is accessible to the public. Interpretation: The Over-the-Rhine Museum is restoring an 1870s tenement to create an immersive experience for visitors by interpreting the apartments from 1865 through the early 2000s. Each interpreted space will tell the larger stories of a specific time through the individual stories of a specific family. Historians researched each family through primary and secondary sources to document their lives. Oral histories added family stories and apartment descriptions to develop richer, more nuanced representations. Exhibition: Oral histories give visitors a fuller picture of the lives of residents. In the current window exhibition family stories inform how objects were used by residents. In the future, photos collected from families that lived in the neighborhood could include a button that allows the viewer to hear the story behind the picture from a person who was there. Docents could use quotes from the transcripts during tours, and multimedia exhibitions could combine audio, video, still pictures, and artifacts. The actual voices of past residents add depth to exhibitions.Oral History in Re-claiming the Memory of "Forgotten" Bangladesh Genocide
Ummul Muhseneen, University of South Florida

An individual presentation focusing on the oral histories of a particular mass killing site of the Bangladesh Genocide. The collected oral testimonies of the survivors and victim family members narrate the atrocities of this particular killing site during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. This presentation elevates how oral history played role in the claim of a genocide and the justice process of local collaborators.

ABSTRACT: Bangladesh won its independence from Pakistan in 1971. The struggle was short, but bloody. All across the country Pakistani soldiers and local collaborators murdered thousands of civilians and quickly buried the evidence of their crimes in mass graves. The memory of these killings has remained a significant part of Bangladeshi identity, even though Pakistan and its allies to this day refuse to acknowledge what happened in 1971. This presentation focuses on one of the killing sites—Jalladkhana, a name that means “butcher’s den” in Urdu—and the role of collected oral testimony clarifying the past and healing long-standing wounds. Even though locals had knowledge on the existence of this mass killing site, the political instability in the country made it challenging for the survivors and the victim family members to talk about their loss. After the excavation of this killing site in the late 1990s, the survivors and victim family members came forward with their narratives in the claim of a genocide. Once the oral testimonies—largely collected by the Liberation War Museum, Dhaka, Bangladesh—were complied, it opened the discussion on the extent of brutality committed during the Bangladesh Genocide. This presentation offers how oral history acted as a media of re-claiming the memory of a genocide by the survivors and victim family members, providing a sense of closure for them. Oral history acted as a tool to drive the national justice process and to ensure removing the local perpetrators from national politics— thus bridging the past, present, and future.

Panelists Pauletta Hansel (Urban Appalachian Story Gathering Project), Amanda Jo Slone (The Appalachian Way) and Matthew Smith (Peck’s Addition: An Oral History of Hamilton, Ohio’s Forgotten Appalachian Neighborhood) share three projects in urban and rural Appalachian communities that connect the past and the present through interviews and oral histories. These projects serve as tools for community identity, advocacy and leadership development among direct participants and beyond.Urban Appalachian Story Gathering Project - Pauletta Hansel
The Urban Appalachian Story Gathering Project began in 2021 as a means of capturing the experiences of greater Cincinnati’s urban Appalachian people while connecting participants to each other and to the organization. 

The Appalachian Way - Amanda Jo Slone
The Appalachian Way is focused on examining leadership through the lens of Appalachian identity. At the heart of the project are interviews with various leaders from the region to uncover their unique leadership journeys and the ways in which Appalachian culture has shaped their leadership style

Peck's Addition: An Oal History of Hamilton, Ohio's Forgotten Appalachian Neighborhood - Matthew Smith
Peck’s Addition: An Oral History of Hamilton, Ohio’s Forgotten Appalachian Neighborhood explores the oral history of Hamilton, Ohio’s Peck’s Addition neighborhood, a redlined Appalachian port-of-entry community that became home to Miami University’s branch campus in 1968ABSTRACT: Greater Cincinnati is home to tens of thousands of individuals whose families migrated from Appalachia for economic and related reasons from the twentieth century to the present. The Urban Appalachian Community Coalition (UACC) serves as an organizing force for this community, while keeping close ties to Appalachian regional organizations. This panel brings together three projects, two from greater Cincinnati and one from southeastern Kentucky, that use interviews and oral history collection as key components. UACC’s Urban Appalachian Story Gathering Project began in 2021 as a means of capturing the experiences of greater Cincinnati’s urban Appalachian people while connecting participants to each other and to the organization. It empowers individuals to collect short interviews with family members, friends, neighbors and colleagues to be made available on UACC’s website. The Appalachian Way is focused on examining leadership through the lens of Appalachian identity. At the heart of the project are interviews with various leaders from the region to uncover their unique leadership journeys and the ways in which Appalachian culture has shaped their leadership style. Peck’s Addition: An Oral History of Hamilton, Ohio’s Forgotten Appalachian Neighborhood explores the oral history of Hamilton, Ohio’s Peck’s Addition neighborhood, a redlined Appalachian port-of-entry community that became home to Miami University’s branch campus in 1968. Through ongoing research at Miami Hamilton, this project seeks to re-stitch the fabric of community memory, highlighting the voices of former residents.Each project combines oral history collection with specific goals for advocacy, leadership and community development. Collectively, we provide examples of community and academic partnerships that may be models for oral historians in other locales. The presentation will explore both the challenges inherent in community-based projects, and strategies used for overcoming these. Panelists will discuss future plans for these ongoing projects and their benefit to their communities.

Holly Werner-Thomas, Oral History Review Editor, will discuss the past, present, and future of the journal’s mission and content, including the two upcoming planned special issues and other potential special sections and, more generally, what the new editors are looking for from authors. She will also talk about the calendar and publishing process, the Review’s new focus on multimedia, and developing the book and media review sections. Holly will also act as moderator.

Stephen Sloan, Executive Director of the OHA, will talk about the relationship between the association more broadly and the Oral History Review. Included in this will be a general discussion of arrangements between other American Council of Learned Societies members and their publications and general trends in research journal publishing

Geraldine Richards represents the Oral History Review’s publisher at Routledge, Taylor & Francis. She will share an overview of Open Access, including the current scholarly publishing landscape, what is and what is not OA, how Open Access works in the Oral History Review currently, as well as read-and-publish agreements, and how all authors—whether institutionally affiliated, independent, or practitioner—can continue to publish within OHR and gain visibility for their contributions.ABSTRACT: In this timely panel on the past, but mostly present and future, of both the Oral History Review and on academic journal publishing more generally, editors from the Oral History Review will join Geraldine Richards, portfolio manager at our publisher, Routledge, Taylor & Francis, and OHA president Stephen Sloan to discuss the economic model and structure of the Oral History Association, the Oral History Review, and Routledge. The panel will also talk about trends in how academic journals are funded today more generally, Open Access versus Open Select, and why the Review is an Open Select journal. Finally, editor Holly Werner-Thomas will present an overview of Oral History Review content over time, the reasons behind its development arc, and what the new editors are looking for today. Holly Werner-Thomas will also act as moderator. Ample time will be left for questions.

Hosted by the Emerging Professionals Committee, this event is a great change to meet and interact with people in a fun environment. Open to all & free to attend.

The Task Force has already started some small group virtual description, for which processes were developed and a small pilot has commenced. Many photos still need to be identified. What better way to accomplish this than calling on our own community of members? Anyone looking for a way to volunteer or contribute to the organization outside of serving on formal committees will have an opportunity to volunteer their time to identify people or moments they may remember as attendees of past meetings (or from their own networks). We see this as not only a volunteer opportunity, but also a way to foster engagement among OHA attendees. In-person crowdsourcing projects such as Descript-a-thons provide opportunities for people to connect over organizational memory.

Meet at the registration desk 15 minutes prior to tour time.

Hundreds of Holocaust survivors rebuilt their lives in Cincinnati in the years during and after World War II. Many first arrived by train at historic Union Terminal, and today this train station is home to the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center. Join us for a tour of the museum as staff share stories of local survivors and how the lessons of the Holocaust can inspire us to become upstanders today. Staff will also give a behind the scenes view of designing a museum that is deeply rooted in the personal experiences of Holocaust survivors and draws upon decades of regional oral history collection. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with interactive exhibits, including Dimensions in Testimony, a gallery where you can ask a two-dimensional display of a Holocaust survivor questions and receive responses in real time. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to see iconic Union Terminal and engage with the powerful stories of Cincinnati’s Holocaust survivors and the upstanders that are making an impact in Cincinnati today.

Does AI simply impose its own biases, or can it be guided to help create more inclusive, accessible, and dynamic oral history collections? In this proposed presentation, I will use a real-world case to demonstrate ways that data and AI can be used to assist with curation, research, and analysis of oral histories.

ABSTRACT: The proliferation and consumer accessibility of artificial intelligence tools has inspired hope and fear among many—including oral historians. As with the advent of any technological advance—the tape recorder, the iPhone, and so on—oral historians have carefully considered how new tools can be adopted into their practices. The time to consider AI is now.In this session, I will guide participants through a case study using one of my recent projects, either the Elder Project or the Obama Presidency Oral History, demonstrating the steps that were taken to turn these massive, opaque collections into a web of interconnected stories using natural language processing, a branch of AI dealing with human language. Both of these projects have interactive collections, with the Elder Project launching on April 16, 2024. While preserving the continuity and integrity of full-length interviews, these websites create new pathways for displaying stories in nonlinear ways that serve their respective project designs.I will use case-based education, developed at business schools such as Harvard Business School and Ivey Business School to lead a discussion about generating and using data to guide curation. Participants will leave the session with improved knowledge of what artificial intelligence tools are at their disposal, how these tools might be used, how to design topic and data structures for collections, and ultimately, how to inform curatorial decisions with data.

People have been predicting the death of MARC records for decades—but it seems to be here to stay. The Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project staff will guide an exploration of how to find flexibility in the MARC format and use it to our advantage in the rise of linked data and collections in our digital future.ABSTRACT: People have been predicting the death of MARC records for decades—but it seems to be here to stay. So how can we make the format work for us oral historians?The future of the digital world is increasingly interconnected. With the increasingly widespread use of linked data within MARC records, it is now possible to connect collections and seemingly disparate items across the Internet. To participate in the broader virtual landscape, we need to start thinking about how to break down individual organizational website silos.With support from the NEH’s Division of Preservation and Access, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler oral historians and metadata librarian have collaborated over the past several years to create a workflow for using MARC to catalog oral history interviews and enhance the collection’s accessibility. While MARC records are often viewed as an arcane, rigid format not ideal for oral histories, we have come to see MARC records as a key component of creating access to our oral histories in the present and future.In this session, we will begin by discussing our process of molding MARC records to our needs, finding the flexibility within the MARC record structure to accommodate oral history’s particularities, and working within a custom schematic structure to create MARC records. We will then guide an exploration of the components of a MARC record and discuss how specific fields and subfields can be useful for describing oral history collections. Finally, we will workshop how participants could use this cataloging format in their own projects. Participants will come away with vocabulary and understanding of the structure and key components of a MARC record in order to have new and deeper discussions about the role of these older cataloging formats in the future of our field. 

How does a child interpret war, and how does that memory change over decades? Which silences are kept, or when and how are they finally shared? We will present audio/visual clips that explore the oral histories of octogenarians and nonagenarians who experienced World War II as children in Europe, Japan and the U.S.
Oral Histories of the Kindertransport in Wales
Anne Cardenas, Independent Oral Historian

Fleeing Estonia During World War II to Escape the Brutal Soviet and Nazi Regimes
Rebecca Kiil, Independent Oral Historian

Japanese and Japanese Americans in Japan During World War II
Sach Takayasu, Independent Oral HistorianABSTRACT: How does a child interpret war, and how does that memory change over decades? Which silences are kept, or when and how are they finally shared? In this session, we will hear from men and women who were children under authoritarian regimes during World War II, as well as the intergenerational stories of the children's descendants. We will hear recollections from narrators from around the world: Europe, Japan and the U.S. The narrators' stories may have forever been untold had they not shared them after nearly 80 years of silence. We will discuss how oral history contributed to the breaking of those silences. These stories from the past hold particular relevance today as authoritarian regimes thrive around the world, with formerly democratic societies devolving into dictatorship. We look forward to exploring with the audience how oral history can help bring out these stories so that current and future generations can better protect their children. We will hear stories from the Kindertransport before WWII began. Anne will share the voices of these Jewish children who fled the Nazi regime and were settled with families and orphanages throughout Wales and the UK. Rebecca will share stories of people with memories traveling as child refugees from Estonia through Europe and displaced persons camps. Sach will share how oral history approach opened up the 90-year-old Hiroshi to talk for the first time, his life as a 12-year-old being sent away 140 miles from his home as a part of jidou-sokai (mass evacuation for children). She will also share stories of a Japanese American girl's experience being bullied as an alien in her two mother countries, US and Japan. We invite the audience to join us in honoring these narrators and sharing their own experiences with oral history and its power to break silences.

This year’s centennial of the creation of the modern Foreign Service has opened new audiences and creative avenues for sharing the expansive diplomatic oral history collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST). We are using oral history excerpts and gathering new firsthand narratives to present and celebrate the contributions America’s diplomats have made to our country’s prosperity and security over the past 10 decades and build public support for diplomacy as a tool for advancing our national interests.

ABSTRACT: In 1924, the Rogers Act merged America’s diplomatic and consular services, laying the foundations for the Foreign Service as a career institution. To mark the centennial, ADST is drawing on our expansive diplomatic oral history collection and collecting new first hand accounts to strengthen public appreciation for the role diplomacy plays in advancing American security and prosperity. Oral history is proving to be an effective vehicle for humanizing the practice of diplomacy for audiences not typically focused on foreign policy issues, providing concrete examples of diplomats serving American citizens and interests abroad, and farmers, businesses and workers back home. ADST is contributing to civic education and building public support for the Foreign Service and American diplomacy.During the session, ADST will share insights from the following Foreign Service centennial year initiatives:Centennial Anthology - a book of the most notable excerpts from our 2,600 published diplomatic oral histories, covering 100 years of diplomacy around the globe. Century of Service and Sacrifice - a public awareness campaign to share narratives–gathered both from our oral history collection and from Foreign Service personnel–of diplomats making concrete contributions to American interests.“Moments in U.S. Diplomatic History” Centennial collection - an online and print compilation of the most compelling narratives from our archive of more than 1,000 “Moments” capturing diplomats’ experiences during historic or dramatic events around the world. U.S. Foreign Service Commemorative Coin - state-by-state oral history excerpts to help secure Congressional support for the minting of a commemorative coin marking the 100th anniversary of the Foreign Service. Discussion during the session will focus on innovative ways to use oral history excerpts to change public attitudes and the challenges of adapting oral histories to condensed formats. Audience members will leave with appreciation for the value of first-hand accounts in humanizing abstract concepts. 

This session will include a fifteen minute presentation overview introducing folks to the oral history project, "Painting a Legacy: Louisville's African American artistic communities, 1950s-1970s". After sharing the conceptual framework behind the project, two-three interviewees will join a thirty-minute discussion reflecting on the impact of this project in Louisville, and their insights on the successes and challenges of preserving historically overlooked moments in art history. The session will include with a public Q&A.

ABSTRACT: "Painting a Legacy" is an ongoing oral history project documenting Louisville's African American artistic communities between 1950-1980. Over the last three years, "Painting a Legacy" has become a scholarly foundation for a curatorial initiative, and one way local stakeholders have relearned about this historically ignored moment in American art. This session will introduce the project before welcoming two-three artists/interviewees for a conversation on the legacies of Louisville's Black modern art: their involvement in the project; their recollections of this significant period in the Ohio River Valley area; and what we all must consider when documenting historically overlooked moments in American (art) history.

This panel features the collaborations of Indigenous communities, educators, and students who are a part of the growing initiatives for Indigenous truth telling of boarding schools, which seek to understand and share oral histories that introduce the public and Native American youth and communities to complicated Native American boarding school experiences.
Oklahoma Catholic Native Schools Project
Lisa Lynn Brooks, Montclair State University

Success of projects focused on Native American boarding school experiences depend on their intrinsic sensitivity and collaborative nature to develop trusting relationships with participants. However, the political landscape that provides the backdrop to this type of oral history collection can have an indelible mark on the collection process and the ultimate successfulness of the project. In 2021, the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City funded the Oklahoma Catholic Native Schools project to determine the effect of Catholic Indian boarding schools on the assimilation of the Native people in Oklahoma. Missteps in the early stages involving listening sessions at parishes near historic boarding school sites and negative press coverage diverted early attempts at participant recruitment for oral histories that focused on individual and family experiences with Catholic Boarding schools. This talk navigates the impact of cultural narratives in Oklahoma, including implicit bias, Catholic triumphalism, and wokeness, that stoked fear in religious and political entities to prevent an expansive investigation. Participant recruitment, public perception, and press coverage were ultimately impacted by fear and collective reframing of harm done to Native people in Oklahoma.Oral Histories of the Sac and Fox Boarding School
Ashley Moelling, University of Oklahoma

As a student research assistant and Indigenous archaeology scholar, Ashley Moelling (a Muscogee/Creek citizen) delves into archival sources to find and listen to voices of Sac and Fox boarding schoolers in Oklahoma. She is an intern at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. She joined a team of researchers, led by Dr. Farina King, to learn about the Sac and Fox boarding school. She is spearheading the efforts to collaborate and follow the guidance of the Sac and Fox Nation in creating more curriculum and educational resources about boarding schools and how they affected communities.Voices of Oklahoma: Indigenous Archeology and History of Boarding Schools
Cheyenne Widdecke, University of Oklahoma

Cheyenne Widdecke is a graduate student studying anthropology with an emphasis on archaeology at the University of Oklahoma. She works for a program that has focused on archaeologies and histories of Native American boarding schools for high school students known as Voices of Oklahoma. She is also an assistant director of operations for the Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network (OKPAN), an OU organization that foster conversations about heritage across community and disciplinary borders, including the Voices of Oklahoma program. She highlight the work of Voices of Oklahoma and her work with ongoing relationship-building with the Sac and Fox Nation.Exploring the Legacy of Colonialism on Oklahoma Education: Using Historical Foundations of Education in Oklahoma to Understand Contemporary Education in Oklahoma and its Impacts on Native Youth
Savannah Slayton, University of Oklahoma

Savannah Slayton, a Cherokee citizen, is an undergraduate school who began to work with oral histories of boarding school survivors to understand the legacy of colonial settlement in Oklahoma and its impact on Native youth. She focuses on how Native youth learn through the lens of colonialism and the education system’s historical injustices. Under her mentored research with Dr. Farina King, she focuses on the perspectives of Native youth, educators, and community leaders to understand the ongoing impacts of colonialism, specifically boarding schools, on the education system in Oklahoma.Intergenerational Strength in Kiowa Family Oral Histories
Codie Horse-Topetchy, University of Oklahoma

Codie Horse-Topetchy is the descendant of boarding school survivors and shares the oral histories of her Kiowa family. She underscores the significance of intergenerational strength, which her family oral histories carry despite intergenerational trauma. She is a student researcher who assists Dr. Farina King with Indigenous oral histories in Oklahoma, especially relating to ecologies and traditional knowledge.
ABSTRACT: This panel features the collaborations of Indigenous communities, educators, and students who are a part of the growing initiatives for Indigenous truth telling of boarding schools, which seek to understand and share oral histories that introduce the public and Native American youth and communities to complicated Native American boarding school experiences. Oklahoma has one of the highest concentrations of Native American boarding schools, and this panel highlights various working relationships to listen and learn about the diversity of Indigenous experiences and contexts of the many peoples and Native Nations. Some of the panelists have been in service-learning and research-focused courses that feature Indigenous community-centered work to understand tribally specific and intertribal boarding schools and impacts on Native American education and people with storymaps and oral histories. Other panelists have launched a summer program for Native American high school students to work with Native Nations in Oklahoma to learn the histories and archaeologies of Native American boarding schools. Some panelists have launched oral history projects for denominational and non-denominational boarding school experiences. All the panelists will address the constellations of Native American boarding school experiences, which vary but are interconnected in Oklahoma where Indigenous peoples from over 39 Native Nations have been affected by over 70 different boarding schools.

The next generation of Oral Historians has much to contribute. This panel will examine four unique and compelling histories collected for the purpose of preserving the histories of underrepresented groups whose stories add richness and complexity to the history of the US.
"The Other Country": Challenging the Cultural Concepts of Motorcycle Clubs
Cody Reinhard, Northern Kentucky University

This oral history project examines the change over time in motorcycle club culture by collecting oral histories from members in several clubs in multiple locations and US states. These oral histories will capture not only the first person stories of club members, but will illustrate how cultural forces, both internal and external, affected the zeitgiest of the motorcycle club from the 1950s to the present.

The Griots of New Richmond: Black History as Oral History
Jamie Thompson, Northern Kentucky University

The focus of my research is on the preservation of the stories of the African American community in New Richmond, Ohio, where I have collected stories from both residents and local historians. These oral histories have been showcased in my podcast, "Our History Matters," and illustrate why focusing on smaller, rural communities is important to history.

The Sisters of Charity and the Second Wave: Remaining Faithful after Vatican II
Keegan Brown, Mount St. Joseph University

This oral history project focuses on collecting oral histories from the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, and will build on the relatively limited oral history archive of women religious that exists in the US today. By placing the Sisters of Charity into the larger historical context of US history, I will examine their significant but overlooked role in supporting local communities and providing education to contsitutencies that would have otherwise been overlooked, as well as explore the reasons they chose to remain part of a religious order when second wave feminism began to provide women with opportunities that had earlier been denied them.

From the Convent to Consulting: An Oral History with Virginia Riehl
Christopher Riehl, Northern Kentucky University

Virginia Riehl, who grew up in Bellvue, Kentucky, found herself heavily influenced by the Catholic community that thrived there at the time, and she eventually took holy orders and became a Sister of Notre Dame-a safe and legitimate way to 'run away from home' and pursue her education beyond grade twelve. She eventually left the order due to the changes that occured as a result of Vatican II and the concurrent feminist movement, founding her own consulting firm and living out a compelling story that illustrates how both her Catholic upbringing and the opportunity to pursue her education are part of the larger national story that was unfolding at the time with regard to the roles of women.ABSTRACT: Gen Z, often touted as eschewing books, spending countless hours scrolling on their phones, and as unambitious, have been unnecessarily mischaracterized. What is true about Gen Z, however, is that they love to read, care deeply about the planet, and, in the case of this panel, are passionately committed to the field of history. The projects included in this panel range from collecting conversations with descendants of enslaved persons to motorcycle gang members to women who have wrestled with their place in US society and found creative solutions to carve out their niche. Using past practitioners such as Taylor Branch and Urvashi Butali as inspiration, they have made the best use of today’s technology to preserve these histories for presentation in myriad formats. They aspire to bridge the past, present, and future of oral history and understand the value of collaboration, sharing techniques and solutions. And, they are finding new and exciting platforms through which to share their work to inform and inspire future generations.

At a time when the long-form biographical interview is being challenged by tight budgets, ‘instant’ social media memory-sharing, and outcomes-focused methodologies, this roundtable discusses the enduring value of the life story.

ABSTRACT: In recent years the primacy of the long life story method - which characterised much of the way oral history was practiced in Europe, North America and Australasia from the 1970s - has been eroded. Relatively few archives, organisations, projects and academic theses now gather in-depth biographical interviews, preferring to collect more focused testimonies for specific purposes and outputs. ‘Instant’ and ‘crisis’ oral history, and short-form social media platforms for sharing experiences and ‘stories’ have proliferated. Funders are increasingly questioning the efficacy of long interviews and there has been little academic debate about the value of the life story for analysis and re-use. National Life Stories at the British Library in London has been a leading advocate for the life story within oral history practice and will publish (summer 2024) a special issue of Oral History Journal [UK] devoted to the role of life story recording in oral history fieldwork, analysis and archiving. This roundtable will explore the benefits of the life story method for interviewees and researchers, and the impact of new technologies such as AI on outputs, access, archiving and analysis. It seeks to revive awareness of and interest in the long-form life story approach to oral history by initiating discussion with roundtable attendees. The panel is also actively seeking at least one additional American practitioner who uses life story techniques to participate and reflect on their work and bring forth comparisons to the UK context. 

Oral history with Latinx communities centers on cultural practices rooted in testimonial traditions,
comunidad, and cariño. Over the past two decades, projects centered on Latinx communities have been foundational to our understanding of their contributions. Amplifying our knowledge are the fantastic recovery efforts of practitioners and the promotion of findings through presentations, publications, digital archives, traveling exhibits, and primary study texts. As such, it is crucial to learn to engage with this community and how to promote ethical practices where narrators, scholars, and students experience mutually beneficial outcomes from these interactions.

In this plenary, Dr. Elena Foulis, Assistant Professor of Spanish at Texas A&M University—San Antonio,
will discuss with Dr. Maria E. Cotera, Associate professor of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at University of Texas, Austin, and Dr. Jesús Jesse Esparza, Associate Professor of History at Texas Southern University, how they have used oral history to develop their projects and the future of Latinx oralhistory.

Meet at the registration desk 15 minutes prior to tour time.

Brewing high quality beer was an art form to many Cincinnati breweries and the buildings that housed their operations needed to be an extension of this passion. Come and witness the evolution of the brewing industry through the size, complexity, and architectural grandeur of the city’s historic breweries. Tour will meet at hotel, and then group will trolley to the Brewing Heritage Trail “Hop On” sign at Findlay Market. From there, we walk along the western portion of the Brewery District and marvel at the many remaining 19th and early 20th century structures, while sharing stories of those who built or doomed these brewing empires during beer’s industrial revolution. Tours include a visit into the vast subterranean lager cellars of the historic (non-operating) Jackson Brewery, as well as outdoor visitation to the Sohn/Mohawk Brewery, several Christian Moerlein sites, and the location of the Bellevue Incline. The Jackson Brewery cellars were excavated from the hillside under the brewery, so we enter from street level and there are no stairs to climb going in or out, making these cellars very accessible and the total walking distance for this tour is less than half a mile.

This session presents excerpts from oral history interviews with health care providers and community members involved with the provision of reproductive and gender care in Minnesota, a state now referred to as a “refuge” or “safe haven” for essential health services. The presenters follow the excerpts with critical questions for the audience about the role oral history holds surrounding issues of reproductive healthcare, gender-affirming care, and reproductive justice.

ABSTRACT: With abortion and gender-affirming health care under sustained attack across the US, Minnesota has been publicly framed as a “refuge” for these health services. Our team consists of historians, a rhetorical critic, a medical provider, and a reproductive rights legal advocate. This interdisciplinary and community-focused project brings critical reflexivity to public discourses that exhort Minnesota as a “safe haven.” We gathered provider and community member experiences through oral history interviews. To promote those stories to the public, we produced a zine and developed a website.We will present excerpts from our oral history interviews and copies of the zine, reflecting on our approaches to the following questions: 1) How can oral history teams help fill gaps in the history of reproductive health and gender-affirming care? 2) How can oral history teams be active and collaborative participants in ongoing healthcare rights and equity questions?3) How do we build interdisciplinary research teams who may have reproductive justice expertise but lack method/methodological experience? 4) When histories of this moment are written in 50 years, what factors should we consider now when creating a longitudinal archive of stigmatized health histories? The excerpts for our listening session include stories from narrators working in sex education, gender-affirming care, and abortion-care provision throughout the region. We welcome feedback on our project’s ethical principles; the role oral history teams hold in connecting the past, present, and future of reproductive healthcare; and how to overcome tensions between holding space for narrators to tell their stories and asking questions that are relevant to audiences far into the future. Taken together, this project serves the human rights grounded tenets of reproductive justice as outlined by Sistersong–"the right to not have children, the right to have children, and the right to parent children in safe, sustainable communities."

Informed by years of developing ethical storytelling principles and practices, the human rights oral history nonprofit Voice of Witness will lead a conversation on narrator agency and community-driven projects. We’ll discuss how we as practitioners can revisit and expand our current definitions of narrator participation, as well as challenge ourselves and our storytelling projects to truly engage as meaningfully as possible with community members.

ABSTRACT: How do we define “narrator agency” and how has that definition evolved over time? What does it mean for narrators to participate in all stages of an oral history project, including years after a project has taken place? Are archives meaningful and accessible to community members–if not, how might we reimagine the spaces (physical, digital, and beyond) in which communities engage with storytelling? What does it mean to truly commit ourselves and our oral history practices to community? These are just some of the questions that our interactive roundtable will consider. Our conversation will be led by staff from Voice of Witness, a human rights oral history nonprofit that develops books and educational resources that explore issues of race-, gender-, and class-based inequity through the lens of personal narrative. Over 15+ years, Voice of Witness (VOW) has worked with a range of oral historians, journalists, educators, community advocates, and narrators to develop a framework of ethical principles for conducting community-rooted oral histories and centering narrator agency. VOW will share insights, challenges, and examples from their oral history projects and invite discussion on how these ethical principles may, in fact, be limiting and how they may continue to evolve in the future. VOW will be joined in conversation by other oral history practitioners who are currently leading community-based projects and exploring these similar questions. Speakers may include Fanny Garcia (from “Separated: Stories of Injustice and Solidarity,” which amplifies stories of family separation at the US-Mexico border) and Lynn Lewis (from “The Picture the Homeless Oral History Project,” which highlights the voices and valuable community organizing insights of people experiencing homelessness). We will invite audience members to join the conversation, sharing their experiences, questions, reflections, and imaginings for deeper narrator and community engagement.

This panel features projects led by young adults of color, high school students, college students and recent college graduates, narrating pandemic and protest, through the lens of the working-class and immigrant communities from which they derive.
The Long Struggle to Confront Anti-Black Violence in NYC: Undergraduates Archive and Analyze Stories from Peers and Elders Still Seeking Racial Justice
Samantha Ruiz-Correa, Guttman Community College

During World War II, Civil Rights leader A. Philip Randolph organized the Double V Campaign, demanding victory against fascism abroad and against racism at home. While Randolph’s movement led to significant gains for African Americans, today, yet another generation has been forced to continue the struggle for Black liberation. With more than 300 oral histories gathered over five years and in six languages, Voices from the Heart of Gotham: The Undergraduate Scholars Oral History Collection at Guttman Community College houses student-designed and produced interviews that elevate rich, complex and buried counter-narratives about the past and present focusing largely on black, immigrant and activist experiences in NYC. By collecting and writing about these oral histories, undergraduates at Guttman have become producers of knowledge amid a historic movement for Black Lives. NYC’s history of systemic violence against Black communities, and powerful movements of resistance, position our city as a site for critical racial history. For us, students at CUNY, our home has become a focal point in the struggle for racial justice. Given the experiences in our social networks and those of our peers, we realized the testimonies collected at Guttman were vital to challenging the white supremacist and nativist systems that founded the United States and have proven central to the shaping of diverse experiences in our city. This paper will focus on testimonies narrated between 2020 and 2024, centered on themes of protest in the aftermath of highly publicized incidents of police brutality. We will unveil and honor the pain and perseverance of largely working-class communities of color as they grappled with their place in society, often taking to the streets and their devices demanding a more just home.Digital Dreams and Hurricanes: 9th Graders Study Themselves Coming of Age in time of Protest, Pandemic and an Ever-Evolving Online Social Universe
Ixchel De Dios, School in the Square High School

We are the School in the Square (S2) Youth Research Collective; A group of rising 9th graders, who have worked with educators in Washington Heights, NYC since Fall of our 6th grade year to design a school-wide oral history project of our peers as a strategy to enrich the cultural and socio-emotional well-being of our school. Beginning with New York State’s required SEL intervention, we developed a Longitudinal Oral History Project, led by middle school students at S2, where we gathered peer-to-peer narratives about socio-emotional dynamics, from middle schoolers growing up in working-class and immigrant households in times of pandemic and racial uprisings. As we, the youth researchers, have taken more of a decision-making role in the project starting in 7th grade, we have evolved the study to look into our lives as mostly Latinx youth in Washington Heights. We are now studying a constantly evolving cyber universe that supercharges our anxiety, the impact of rising xenophobia on our immigrant families, and how the particularly brutal devastation wrought by COVID-19 on our community has shaped our childhood. As we begin life in high school, this paper will narrate rich and complex stories of joy, fear, courage, and care. We will detail how this project centers the expertise of students of color from immigrant families, coming out of COVID-19, in the throes of early adolescence, who found great relief in discovering that our fears and anxieties were widespread. Through this work we note the sense of empowerment we felt as our research project influenced school policy. Further, we will discuss the transformative impact of the oral history experience, illuminating new ideas for both interviewee and interviewer. The act of oral history in the context of this project nurtured a school consciousness with young people coming of age in times of pandemics, uprisings, and remote learning in a wildly unequal and segregated city. This presentation unveils the challenges and opportunities that this project presented in a difficult moment of national -- and local -- history.Parenting the Elders: First Generation Children Guiding Parents/Guardians Through Cultural and Legal Obstacles in Uncharted Waters
David Surrey, Saint Peters University

First generation children, usually the oldest and most frequently female, have traditionally had to play the role of interpreting for their elders the rules for adapting to the United States. This ranges from pleading with their grandmothers not to bargain for vegetables in the supermarket to filling at the right forms for admission to college. It is more frequently involving dealing with the related topics of immigration, housing exploitation and employment challenges. And finally there is the burden of raising their younger siblings in an environment that their own parents are not familiar with.Students from Saint Peter’s University, as first-generation immigrants, have been creatingOral history project to study their family dynamics in this age of increasingly harder challenges to their communities. They are trying to balance their roles as cultural interpreters and protectors with being college students in the face of a dwindling number resources. Their stories are a first-hand reality checks that we all must be made aware.
ABSTRACT: This panel features projects led by young adults of color, high school students, college students and recent college graduates, narrating pandemic and protest, through the lens of the working-class and immigrant communities from which they derive. Guttman Community College students and alumni, members of the inaugural School in the Square High School 9th grade class and activist undergraduates at Saint Peter’s University Undocumented Student Center will respectively present the ties that link each oral history project to the movements and struggles that their community and/or generation is pursuing and enduring. They will further explore the impact of oral history as pedagogy – how producing knowledge, by documenting marginalized lives, has transformed them and their informants. Further, these presentations will explore the social and societal impact of the pandemic and demands for immigrant/racial justice on city dwellers. This panel illuminates what it means to study oneself despite historic obstacles.

This panel looks at how oral histories help bridge the past with the future, through new research practices and methods, or simply by acknowledging an underrepresented group, tying together layers of connection through time, space, and various groups of people. We look at those practices through oral histories and the archives they are housed in, more specifically within the Oklahoma Oral Research Program (OOHRP).

ABSTRACT: Many of the archives and collections we work in offer unique opportunities to bridge the past with the future, through new research practices and methods, or simply by acknowledging an underrepresented group. This panel looks at those practices through oral histories and the archives they are housed in, more specifically within the Oklahoma Oral Research Program (OOHRP). Savannah Waters’ contribution centers Indigenous perspectives on the intersections between gender and sexuality. Thirty-nine Native nations reside within the boundaries of the state of Oklahoma creating a unique bridge between the history and identity of two-spirit Indigenous individuals. Oklahoma is also known for staunch Christian conservative values that has repeatedly attempted to circumscribe the liberties of queer communities. Native peoples established two societies in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that became a support network for two-spirit people who work against homophobic attitudes. By prioritizing two-spirit oral histories, researchers can better elucidate Indigenous perseverance in the Bible Belt. Katanna Davis centers her discussion around specific collections within OOHRP. She provides information about these collections, along with their contributions to history about Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, and how working through the metadata has produced discussions on ways to improve the collections and expand their presence throughout the university and other Oklahoma communities. Her position with OOHRP provides her with a unique view of the collections and their potential for growth. Arlowe Clementine’s centers queer oral history methodologies in their work looking at the lived experiences of 2SLGBTQIA+ Oklahomans. Arlowe is interested in exploring who stays and who migrates out of Oklahoma due to state, religious, and familial violence against their queer bodies. Clementine also explores methods of combating historical erasure of progressive queer Oklahoma resistance tactics. These works tie together to showcase layers of connection between the past and future practices and collections within Oklahoma oral histories and archives.

Transcriptions, Translations, and Representation: Oral Histories in a Second Language among Return Refugees 
Mary Patrice Erdmans, Case Western Reserve University

This presentation draws from my current oral history project on return refugees, specifically, members of the Solidarity movement in Poland who became political refugees after martial law in 1981 and returned to Poland after the collapse of communism in 1989. In this paper, I address three methodological tensions regarding transcription, translation, and representation. Most of the oral histories (35 of 40) were collected in English. All of the English-speaking respondents had been refugees in English-speaking countries (median of 20 years abroad) and have some proficiency in English. Language issues, however, complicated oral history practices. Initially I transcribed verbatim but as I began coding and working with the transcripts, I questioned the utility of verbatim transcripts, and stopped transcribing verbatim. A second issue related to translation. For interviews conducted in Polish, sometimes the translator did not translate fully. I know enough Polish that I was able to translate some of the interview while transcribing. Should I then include the translator’s translation in the transcription along with my own? I did. But then, whose words should I use in published texts? A final issue is how to represent their oral histories, in their own words, when I publish books and articles. For some, especially those less proficient in English, my inclination is to tell their story for them, and yet I specifically use this methodology because it allows people to speak for themselves. I want the orality. This tension is centered in debates around the politics of representation. Do I correct minor grammar errors? I find myself making corrections for these reasons: it more fairly represents class and educational location; the speaker wants their mistakes corrected; and it helps readers read the text. I am interested in what the audience and panel think about these issues.
Bringing Oral History to the Spanish Classroom: The Development of the "Voces de la Diáspora" Project at Princeton University
Alberto Bruzos Moro, Princeton University

This presentation outlines the development of "Voces de la Diáspora," an oral history project dedicated to collecting, sharing, and preserving the narratives of the Spanish-speaking community in Princeton, New Jersey. This initiative is a collaborative effort between "Voices of Princeton," an oral history endeavor jointly sponsored by the Princeton Public Library and the Historical Society of Princeton, and Princeton University's Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Department of History, and Program for Community-Engaged Scholarship (ProCES).Seeking to address a significant gap in the historical record, the project aims to capture the diverse experiences of Spanish speakers in Princeton (New Jersey), a community often overlooked despite comprising approximately 5-6% of the town's population since the 1990s. This oversight stems from various factors including linguistic barriers, immigrant status, racial and cultural disparities, and socioeconomic differences. Notably, Latinos are prominently represented in low-paid occupations such as childcare, landscaping, janitorial services, and food service within both the town and Princeton University. Furthermore, the project entails the creation of a curriculum comprising Spanish and History courses designed to equip students with the necessary skills for conducting oral history research. The presentation will delve into the complexities encountered in establishing a collaborative project between the Departments of Spanish and History, as well as navigating the intricate partnership model involving university and public stakeholders. Key questions to be addressed include strategies for bridging the divide between an Ivy League institution and a predominantly immigrant, working-class community; methods for conducting background research when traditional sources are limited; approaches for preparing students to conduct interviews in a second language; and adherence to ethical principles and guidelines inherent in oral history research within this unique context.Oral Histories for Linguistic Justice in Health Care: Pandemic Stories from Kansas Latine and Mayan Communities
Rachel Showstack, Wichita State University
Michelle Enke, Wichita Public Library

Building on an oral history project at the Wichita, Kansas Public Library, the community-based health equity initiative Alce su Voz at Wichita State University is conducting COVID story interviews with Kansas residents in Spanish and Mayan languages. Our aspiration is to depict the history of our communities during a pandemic so that our state can be more prepared to make sure that all Kansans receive equitable care, resources, and safety information during the next public health emergency.

In 2018, Librarian and Archivist Michelle Enke attempted to create an exhibit on the 1918 flu pandemic and how it affected the city of Wichita, Kansas, but she was unable to locate any sources besides the newspapers and some governmental reports. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Enke knew that it was important to record the personal histories of individuals who were living through it, and she conducted and publicly archived 45 English-language oral history interviews with Wichita residents, offering them an opportunity to tell stories about their experiences related to COVID-19. While the interviewees were carefully selected to represent a broad demographic, Enke noted that there was a part of the story that was missing from the collection: the pandemic stories of individuals who experience difficulties communicating in English. During the pandemic, Latine and Mayan communities in Kansas experienced high infection rates and were initially very likely to report vaccine hesitancy, due to factors including inadequate information dissemination, distrust of medical practitioners motivated by historical abuses, and incongruence between community health practices and the dominant biomedical perspective. Furthermore, social distancing protocols led to challenges for the use of in-person interpreters, and noisy ventilators and masks hindered communication using remote interpreting services. Despite these obstacles, Latine and Mayan Kansans demonstrated considerable resilience; individuals and organizations collaborated to develop information campaigns on social media, advocated for vaccines for meatpacking workers, and disseminated resources.This year, Alce su Voz at Wichita State University is conducting COVID story interviews with Kansas residents in Spanish and Mayan languages. With the two sets of interviews, our aspiration is to depict the history of our communities during a pandemic so that our state can be more prepared to make sure that all Kansans receive equitable care, resources, and safety information during the next public health emergency.

The Schizophrenia Oral History Project is an ongoing project that began as a way to give voice to underrepresented individuals as they were previously believed to be incapable of coherent thought, much less the ability to provide an understandable life history. It has since expanded to include linguistic analysis of narrators’ transcripts in an effort to understand differences in speech patterns that can deepen our understanding of the losses and successes they experience in pursuit of their core values.
Narrators’ Impact on Changes in Knowledge about Schizophrenia
Tracy A. McDonough, Mount St. Joseph University
Lynda L. Crane, Mount St. Joseph University

The Schizophrenia Oral History Project is an ongoing endeavor that currently archives the life stories of more than 65 narrators that not only belie stereotypes but have acted as a catalyst for such change. In this presentation, we will highlight stories that show the ways that persons with schizophrenia are not only proving their detractors mistaken but are also having a significant impact on the improvement of psychiatric treatment itself, both in terms of the interpersonal treatment received and the kinds of therapies and medications offered.
Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count as a Tool to Objectively Code Oral Histories about Schizophrenia Diagnosis and Values
James H. Bodle, Mount St. Joseph University

We used Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) to code 20 narrators’ transcripts looking for passages where they discussed their diagnosis, and passages where they discussed important values in their life, such as relationships, goals, and career ambitions to tap into psychological processes which may not be fully conscious (Chung & Pennebaker, 2007). These processes can show us when people become defensive, assertive, or feel differences in power with others and could be useful tools in examining oral histories.Fondly remembering the past, but hopeful (though cautious) for the future
Kory L. Phelps, Mount St. Joseph University

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is the theoretical framework for the linguistic analysis conducted, describing the ways in which our narrators bring up both their values and their diagnosis when telling their story. When narrators discussed their values, they were more likely to use positive emotion words, talk about their friends, and their past; however, when discussing their diagnosis, they are more likely to use negative emotion words, talk about their family, and the future.ABSTRACT: Schizophrenia is a severe psychopathology characterized by positive symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions and also by negative symptoms such as emotional withdrawal and impoverished thought. Unfortunately, many sufferers are stigmatized in the public eye, both by mental health professionals and the average layperson. Label someone as “schizophrenic” and people mistakenly fear them as potentially violent, which can cause them to isolate and/or avoid seeking treatment. Fortunately, that reaction seems to be fading, and it appears to be the case that the more contact we have with people with this disorder, the more accepting our attitudes become. The Schizophrenia Oral History Project is an ongoing project that began as a way to give voice to these underrepresented individuals as they were previously believed to be incapable of coherent thought, much less the ability to provide an understandable life history. Since then, it has expanded to include linguistic analysis of narrators’ transcripts in an effort to understand differences in speech patterns depending on content discussed. And current work is connecting the results of this linguistic analysis to narrators’ core values to deepen our understanding of the losses and successes they experience in pursuit of their core values. During the panel, we will share the progression of this oral history project intended to allow audiences to connect with the humanity of those with a condition that was previously thought to render people incapable of purpose, love, and hope.

War conditions stimulate researchers to be especially diligent in developing an understanding of the needs and challenges of various groups within the society affected by the military conflict. The participants of this panel will talk about the fieldwork they conducted over the past two years in Ukraine with children and adolescents, teachers, and cultural heritage workers examining how belonging to a particular age or a professional group shapes a person’s experience of war.
An Adventure, a Trip, an Everyday Life: How Children Describe the Russo-Ukrainian War (2014 - 2024)
Viktoriia Nesterenko, Karazin Kharkiv National University

This presentation is a nuanced study of the way children tell stories about their war experiences and the effect these experiences have on children’s personalities. It also addresses what can be done to support children who live through a military conflict.

The Impact of War on the New Ukrainian School: the Hazards and Opportunities of Oral History Methodology in Documenting Youth Aspirations during Wartime
Carl Mirra, Adelphi University

This presentation explores how researchers can tackle the ethical challenges of “crisis” oral history. It also examines the strengths and limitations of the use of a constructivist grounded theory coding system for understanding broader analytical categories related to civic values, democratization/agency and resilience among Ukrainian high school students and teachers during the acute phase of Russo-Ukrainian war.

Cultural Heritage under Fire: Expert and Activist Narratives of Preservation in the Wartime
Iryna Sklokina, Center for Urban History

In my presentation I am going to focus on the oral narratives from different regions of Ukraine focused on two aspects of the wartime experience: physical threat and damage caused by the Russian aggression and rethinking the heritage canon in the light of decommunization, recolonization, and derussification.ABSTRACT: Wars bring drastic changes into people’s lives. Some of them affect everyone, however describing an experience of war as something homogenous would be a mistake that often contributes to stereotypes associated with the images of war survivors. Oral history research is one of the best methodologies that helps scholars tackle these stereotypes allowing people from different backgrounds and with different life paths to tell their stories the way they see them. Creating opportunities for these stories to be recorded, archived, and communicated is not an easy task, however. War conditions impose severe limitations and require careful considerations of possible repercussions both interviewers and interviewees may face due to participating in an oral history project. They also stimulate researchers to be especially diligent in developing an understanding of the needs and challenges of various groups within the society affected by war. The participants of this panel will talk about the fieldwork they conducted over the past two years in Ukraine with children and adolescents, teachers, and cultural heritage workers examining how belonging to a particular age or a professional group shapes a person’s experience of the military conflict.

This Roundtable explores how a US Caribbean community is bridging past, present, and future through the creation of a collaborative oral history network in the US Virgin Islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John. A diverse panel from non-profits, museums, libraries, archives, government, and the university will discuss the challenges facing oral history collection, preservation, transcription, and digitization in the Caribbean, as well as their current project to build community partnerships and curriculum to empower the next generation.

ABSTRACT: The United States Virgin Islands are an exceptional site of cultural and linguistic production and innovation. Across the islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John the movements of people over time created unique historical and contemporary cultural patterns resulting in a dynamic, diverse community. Serious threats, however, exist to the preservation of the unique cultural, historical, and linguistic resources of the US Caribbean. The back-to-back category five hurricanes of Irma and Maria in 2017 revealed again the precarious state of cultural resources in the United States Virgin Islands. The storms damaged heritage resources on each island including physical archival holdings, libraries, and museums, but they further destroyed many families’ collections of records, photographs, and diaries. As the storms damaged homes and destroyed hospitals, many elderly community members relocated to the American mainland. Recent US census data indicates that over twenty percent of the population has left the islands between 2010 and 2020. The global COVID-19 pandemic further threatened the precious cultural resources of the US Virgin Islands by again disrupting community gatherings, causing the dislocation of community members, and endangering community culture bearers. These are oral history archives at risk. As a Caribbean community, oral tradition is at the heart of knowledge. We are a community where the colonial archive has never represented the lived experience. Drawing from across the Islands and from a variety of professional backgrounds, this Round Table discussion highlights how a dedicated group of students, volunteers, curators, culture bearers, historians, writers, artists, anthropologists, genealogists, and others are working to preserve past oral history collections, train a new generation of oral historians, and engage the community in cultural preservation. As our VI network tackles the difficult questions of transcription, digitization, and design, we welcome a chance to learn strategies from more developed projects, build bridges of expertise from Mainland communities, and dialogue with others working in the field. (Note about Submission - we have created a network for anyone who is engaged in oral history in the VI through the University of the Virgin Islands, a Land-Grant HBCU). We have our own group correspondence through Whats App that has worked better than emails due to the fact our panelists draw from government employees, teachers, university professors, volunteers, directors of major projects, etc. Some of the presenters will represent larger groups or non-profits either as the Director or Board Member. Dr. Molly Perry of UVI serves as the communications liaison - molly.perry@uvi.edu). 

Working remotely is now an ongoing and necessary methodology in the oral historian’s toolkit. In this roundtable, staff of Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History will discuss adapting traditional best practices and procedures to a remote environment while maintaining the high standards oral historians hold dear, and facilitate conversations with participants on the experiences—both good and bad—with remote interviewing and it’s permanence in the oral history profession.

ABSTRACT: Since the global COVID-19 pandemic, working from a distance is now an ongoing and necessary approach in the oral historian’s toolkit. Based on the research and content of their new publication, Oral History at a Distance (2024), the experienced team members of Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History provide a road map for examining traditional best practices and procedures in this remote environment while maintaining the high standards oral historians hold dear. The four authors present the range of oral history practice—project design, ethical considerations, project management, interviewing, technology, and preservation. At the core oral historians are concerned with how to do remote oral history well. This roundtable will also facilitate conversation to examine the changed dynamics and new considerations of moving from face-to-face projects to distance work. The roundtable will begin with introductions, a short summary of each author's contribution to the book and the research conducted, and then will shift to a moderated conversation with attendees about the changes and challenges they have faced while adjusting and adapting to conducting remote oral histories. This roundtable will also provide space for questions about the content and process of creation of this book.

Chi ku (吃苦), directly translated as "eating bitterness," once described the notion of perseverance through hardship without complaint but evolved into sessions where community members recounted experiences of perseverance and suffering to inspire societal change. By bringing the tradition of chi ku into conversation with transformative justice practices and current events, we aim to show participants how participation in storytelling can transform mere complaints into community change, and how articulations of suffering can transcend into collective power.

ABSTRACT: This workshop will introduce participants to the revolutionary history of chi ku (吃苦), directly translated as "eating bitterness," which once described the notion of perseverance through hardship without complaint. The concept was transformed during the Mao era, in which revolutionaries cultivated class consciousness through su ku (诉苦), or “speaking bitterness,” sessions where people recounted their experiences of perseverance and suffering. This workshop will reclaim this radical oral tradition by teaching participants how to transform trauma into fuel for collective healing and class solidarity.By bringing the tradition of chi ku into conversation with transformative justice practices and current events, we aim to show participants how participation in storytelling can transform mere complaints into community change, and how articulations of suffering can transcend into collective power. Participants will have a chance to experience chi ku and su ku through a transformative justice circle to learn how oral historians can have a trauma informed lens to their practice, making oral history transformative and rewarding for narrators.

This panel explores oral histories surrounding the Russo-Ukrainian War and Afro-Brazilian Candomblé communities. The research focuses on cultural resistance through religion, social media, and the roles of women in war.
Cultural Resistance in the Russo-Ukrainian War - Thomas Wood, West Chester University

Thomas Wood interviewed Ukrainian university students who took part in the project. His research investigates how this group of Ukrainians participated in and views acts of cultural resistance through social media and identity.

War is No Place For Women - Skylar Painter, West Chester University

Skylar Painter interviewed Ukrainian women about their experiences during wartime, whether that be past instances of Soviet aggression or during the current Russo-Ukrainian War.

The Centrality of Oral Tradition to the Study of Candomblé - Isabela Carvalho, West Chester University

Isabela Carvalho researched the Afro-Brazilian Candomblé community. Candomblé is a religious resistance movement that used oral traditions to pass down their culture during the intense years of persecution in the twentieth century.

Education Through War: At Home and Abroad - Wibke Meurer, West Chester University

This panel analyzes how education has changed for Ukrainian university students since Russia's full-scale invasion. The research focuses on the challenges and possibilities which students are exposed to in their student life in Ukraine and abroad in Germany.ABSTRACT: This panel consists of oral history research from three West Chester University of Pennsylvania students. Students’ projects focus on testimony from narrators with Ukrainians experiencing war firsthand and members of the Candomblé community in Brazil. While the narrators’ cultures are distinct from one another, the research shares a common thread of studying the use of cultural resistance in the past, present, and future to subvert oppression. Isabela Carvalho researched the Afro-Brazilian Candomblé community. Candomblé is a religious resistance movement that used oral traditions to pass down their culture during the intense years of persecution in the twentieth century. Carvalho’s interviews highlight how this community persevered to the present day. Skylar Painter interviewed Ukrainian women about their experiences during wartime, whether that be past instances of Soviet-aggression or during the current Russo-Ukrainian War. Painter’s role was as a part of a broader project in partnership with Saarland University, Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University, the Ukrainian Catholic University, and West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Painter’s research explores how women’s identity has impacted their modes of resistance. Thomas Wood worked on a different subproject within the international partnership of universities. Wood interviewed Ukrainian university students who took part in the project. His research investigates how this group of Ukrainians participated in and views acts of cultural resistance through social media and identity.These three projects seek to raise the voices of historically marginalized communities through the use of oral history. By amplifying the stories of communities experiencing various forms of violence and oppression, we empower them to further resist their oppressors. Our projects explore a history of oppression and resistance, how this history manifests in the present, and finally how we can move forward to a world where Ukraine is a sovereign nation and the Candomblé can practice their religion in peace.

Informed by an understanding of gaps in its collections, the University of Kentucky (UK) Nunn Center for Oral History has turned its collection efforts inward, to the people and the stories at the university. In this session, three UK archivists and oral historians describe the Center’s recent efforts to interview and engage with groups on campus who have been historically underrepresented in the collections.
Legal Histories: Documenting Law School Alumni from the Post-Civil Rights Era
Anu Kasarabada, University of Kentucky

Anu Kasarabada will discuss the UK College of Law’s efforts to strengthen ties with Black alumni from the post-Civil Rights era through oral history interviews. These alumni have historically been left out of the law school’s narratives about itself; now the school hopes to build new relationships with its former students by recording their stories.

Building Bridges: A Chronicle of Diversity and Dialogue - The Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies Oral History Project
Matthew Strandmark, University of Kentucky

Matthew Strandmark will discuss his oral history project, focused on the scholarship and lives of faculty members of the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies, a multi-disciplinary research institute that serves as a “think tank for Black Studies” at the University of Kentucky. Interviews with CIBS faculty cover the importance of community when building a diverse faculty, as well as the importance of cross cultural conversations and multi-disciplinary inquiry.

Expanding Horizons: The Evolving Work of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History
Kopana Terry, University of Kentucky

Kopana Terry will discuss the evolving nature of The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky. Traditionally focused on political figures, the Center has expanded globally in the past 15 years, incorporating diverse life histories. Initially centered on Kentucky, the collection now includes stories worldwide, spanning topics like Black experiences, LGBTQ+ narratives, and climate and health challenges. Recently, the focus shifted to capturing diverse stories within the University of Kentucky community.ABSTRACT: For most of its 50 years, the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky (UK) focused on collecting interviews with political and public figures in the Commonwealth. Over the past fifteen years, however, the Nunn Center has broadened its collections beyond politics and state borders by adding thousands of interviews from across the country and around the world, from Pennsylvania to Egypt. This effort has resulted in the inclusion of the life histories of Black people, women, LGBTQ+ groups, people with disabilities, people grappling with climate change and COVID-19, and other subject areas previously outside the collection scope. Now, the Center’s collection efforts have turned inward, to the people and the stories at the University of Kentucky. In this session, three archivists and oral historians from the University of Kentucky describe the Nunn Center’s recent efforts to interview and engage with campus communities that have been historically underrepresented in the collections. Kopana Terry will provide an overview of the Center’s current projects and documentation strategies, particularly as they relate to oral histories of academics and other educators. Anu Kasarabada will discuss the UK College of Law’s efforts to strengthen ties with Black alumni from the post-Civil Rights era through oral history interviews. And Matt Strandmark will talk about his oral history project focused on the scholarship and lives of the UK Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies, a multi-disciplinary research institute that serves as a “think tank for Black Studies.”

Graduate students and staff from the Eastern Michigan University Oral History Program dissect the progress of the program as well as the rationales and decisions behind the occasional and sudden veerings from the original strategic plan. An archivist who never expected to become an oral historian, an oral historian who never expected to be a teacher, and graduate students who have increasingly determined the overall direction of the program will discuss their progression from good talkers to good listeners.

ABSTRACT:  Since its inception in 2018, the Eastern Michigan University Oral History Program (OHP) has gone from a single, self-trained graduate student to a campus wide, community-partnered, student-driven initiative to capture the recollections of community members on and off campus. In 2021, the EMU OHP debuted the EMU Aerie, a mobile oral history recording booth designed to eliminate physical barriers to campus that often discourage potential narrators from in-person interviewing. Three years into the Aerie experiment, the Oral History Program has seen itself on the road and embedded in various cultural events, curriculums, and fundraising events, fostering and sustaining relationships with SE Michigan residents of all ages, genders and cultural backgrounds. However, the road to the OHP has not always been barrier-free. While program coordinator Matt Jones and University Archivist Alexis Braun Marks have worked in tandem to effectively empower students to come face to face with the history they are documenting, thorny issues of empathy vs. exploitation, trauma-based interviews, narrator end-of-life considerations, and discussions of who tells whose story are always at the forefront of daily operations amongst an increasingly diverse set of student interviewers. Jones and two graduate students will highlight the projects, predicaments, curriculums and conundrums of an oral history program struggling to bridge the stories of the past with the listeners of the future. 

Grassroots Oral History: The Legacy of Robert Dawkins in Alexandria, Virginia and the Necessity for Stakeholder Driven Oral History Projects
Kerry Reed, The Alexandria Oral History Center
Michael Johnson, The Alexandria Oral History Center

This presentation will showcase the legacy of a grassroots, oral historian named Robert Dawkins from Alexandria, Virginia, and detail the methods and challenges of conducting an oral history initiative at a historic, black cemetery.

ABSTRACT: This past year in 2024 a celebrated and beloved public historian, Robert Dawkins, passed away in Alexandria, Virginia. Mr. Dawkins relentlessly produced public history resources that drew upon his 300+ oral history collection about African Americans in Alexandria. Without his work and collection, much of the history about African Americans in Alexandria would not have been as widely shared or known. This presentation will reflect upon the legacy of Mr. Dawkins’ work as an oral historian, share his collection, and provide insight into how he approached oral history. Additionally, the presentation will delve into the challenges that community members, like Mr. Dawkins, face with powerholders when constructing alternative historical narratives and memories that highlight the trauma and experience of racial segregation and white supremacy in the South. The presentation will also highlight the latest public history project in Alexandria that was inspired by Mr. Dawkins’ work. This latest project is focused on interpreting and preserving the history of a historic black cemetery named Douglass Memorial Cemetery. Records suggest that over 2,000 people may have been buried in Douglass Memorial Cemetery; yet fewer than 700 grave markers are visible today. Some markers have fallen over or have sunk into the ground, but many burials may have been originally marked with only an impermanent wooden marker, or with no marker at all. While the cemetery is no longer managed or maintained, it has not been forgotten by the friends and families of those buried at the Cemetery.Due to the advocacy of Michael Johnson (a descendent of Douglass; a co-presenter for this presentation; and a mentee of Mr. Dawkins) and a descendent community group named the Friends of Douglass Cemetery, attention has finally been drawn back toward the Cemetery. Over the past year (2022-2023), a restoration project has commenced to physically restore the cemetery. Additionally, the Douglass Memorial Cemetery Oral History Project was launched early this year (2024) to document the individuals buried in Douglass Memorial Cemetery, celebrate and honor their lives, and support their descendants. Co-authored by Michael Johnson and Francesco De Salvatore (manager of the Alexandria Oral History Center), this presentation will grapple with the challenges and successes that have occurred during the initial stages of the Douglass Memorial Cemetery Oral History Project and how Mr. Dawkins’ work has influenced the process of this latest oral history project.Laboring in Obscurity: Louise Epperson and her Battle Against Urban Renewal
Katie Singer, Independent Scholar

This presentation tells the story of Louise Epperson through her oral history, an African-American woman who started the Committee Against Puerto Rican and Negro Removal in order to save her neighborhood from demolition. It is said to be one of the touchpoints of the 1967 rebellion in Newark, New Jersey.

ABSTRACT: In the book Making All Black Lives Matter, historian and activist Barbara Ransby writes, “While high-profile activists have emerged from Ferguson, and from the Black Lives Matter Movement…and have gained new levels of celebrity, most have labored in relative obscurity. It is the latter group whose stories are in some ways most revealing” (77).The story of Newark, New Jersey’s Louise Epperson, and her Committee Against Puerto Rican and Negro Removal, is certainly revealing. From occupational therapist to political agitator, Mrs. Epperson and her committee fought against the demolition of their neighborhood. And they won -- for the most part. This is a story that illustrates how everyday people can affect change; that women of color continue to receive unequal attention for their activist work; and that successful movements look many different ways. This research comes from my book which is due out from Rutgers University Press in August of 2024, entitled Alien Soil: Oral Histories of Great Migration Newark. Utilizing Louise Epperson’s interview, among others, from the Krueger-Scott Oral History Collection, in this presentation I will foreground an urban renewal battle that many suggest helped spur on Newark’s 1967 rebellion. It is a battle that could easily be taking place in most any city today. Beginning with a snapshot of some of my own recent activism, this piece then travels back to Newark 1967, illustrating the importance of knowing our history in order that we might do something about our present -- and also activate citizens for a better future. I hope to include some live readings of the selected transcripts as I am very interested in the art of oral interpretation and how it might be incorporated into oral history presentations.
Oral History through Creative Approaches: Cincinnati Opera Singer Nadine Roberts Waters
Clarity Amrein, Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

This presentation explores methods and approaches to presenting and remediating oral histories through a creative lens, using a famous Black Cincinnati opera singer as a case study.

ABSTRACT: How can historians approach oral history collection when the subject has already passed away? Through my role at the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, we discovered the detailed personal scrapbook of a famous Black Cincinnati opera singer from the 1910s and 20s, Nadine Roberts Waters, and chose to preserve it digitally. Through the scrapbook, we realized the prominence of this singer and the many places around the world that she had performed. We agreed that her story needed to be told in more depth. Nadine had since passed away, but artifacts of her life and legacy and people that knew her were still alive. Nadine's life was told through an oral history interview with a personal friend and mentee of the singer, as well as an interview with a prominent Cincinnati opera historian, who focuses on the experiences of women of color in opera, and provided context around her career as a Black women in the early 1900s. We felt that the research needed to go further to bridge the past, present, and future. We had the opportunity to gather an oral history from a current Black Cincinnati opera singer following a similar path, Noel Walton, whose mother was also a Black female opera singer who experienced many of the things that Nadine did in her time. These elements were used to create an oral history documentary that included artifacts from her scrapbook and most poignantly, a video of Noel singing one of Nadine's signature songs - in the very concert hall where she performed it 99 years ago. Through these various mediums, we were able to tell Nadine's rich story through historical context, videography, music, and spirituality – synthesizing past, present, and future to tell a holistic story about an experience not often heard about.

The Past, Present and Future of Antifascism in Eastern Germany
Mary Beth Stein, George Washington University

This paper examines what remains of anti-fascism in the memories and oral histories of former East Germans and why support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is on the rise in eastern Germany. Whereas there was broad consensus in both German states for de-nazification after 1945, today’s right-wing populism represents a global threat in a number of democratic, liberal societies that did not have a fascist past to overcome. The oral histories of former East Germans can help us better understand both the challenges of today's anti-fascism as well as the appeal and dangers of right-wing populism as a German and global phenomenon.

ABSTRACT: Anti-fascism was the foundational myth in the German Democratic Republic’s effort to break with the Nazi past, legitimize Communist rule, and justify its separate existence from West Germany. After WWII, East German anti-fascism served the imperative of denazification along with the desire to offer positive role models for future socialist generations. Memorials were built and textbooks were written commemorating the anti-fascist sacrifice of Communist party leaders Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxembourg and Ernst Thälmann. With greater distance from the Nazi period, however, anti-fascism lost much of its personal and political significance. Younger people in particular participated less enthusiastically in the rituals of anti-fascism in the last decades of East Germany’s existence. After unification, some of the worst incidents of right-wing extremism occurred in the eastern areas of Germany, despite surveys showing that the majority of former East Germans identified anti-fascism as a source of pride and distinctive East Germanness.This paper examines what remains of anti-fascism in the memories and oral histories of former East Germans and why support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is on the rise in eastern Germany. Oral histories with former East Germans who support the AfD as well as those who demonstrated on the January 20-21, 2024 weekend against the AfD’s secret plan to deport millions German citizens of foreign origin reveal important differences in the historical and present-day contexts of anti-fascist discourses. Whereas there was broad consensus in both German states for denazification after 1945, today’s right-wing populism represents a global threat in a number of democratic, liberal societies that did not have a fascist past to overcome. The oral histories of former East Germans can help us better understand both the challenges for today’s anti-fascism as well as the appeal and dangers of right-wing populism as a German and global phenomenon.The Orlando Plan: Saving Volos
Lisa Camichos, Hickory High School

This presentation discusses the efforts of the citizens of Orlando, Florida to save the people of Volos, Greece after Nazi Occupation, it what was known as The Orlando Plan.

ABSTRACT: In 1940 Nazi Germany invaded Greece and began a five year occupation of the country. In 1946, Greece became embroiled in a Civil War that pitted the communists against the Greek Nationals. Thousands of Greeks died during this period from starvation, sickness, and murderThis paper examines the development of a non-governmental organization, “The Orlando Plan.” Through Oral Histories, this presentation pieces together how the Orlando Plan was formed, the reasons it was formed, and its significance in the historical narrative. Oral histories, previously lost until the death of the man responsible for The Orlando Plan, my grandfather, and Greek immigrant John Camichos show, in detail, the issues faced by those living inside Nazi Occupied Greece. As one letter Mr. Camichos received from a family member stated, “those who have nothing beg you that have everything to help us.” Using primary source documents such as the Orlando Sentinel, the New York Times, and oral histories from the Camichos Family Archives (http://orlandomemory.info/search?combine=camichos), this paper pieces together the realities of life in Nazi Occupied Greece, specifically focusing on Volos. Letters from Camichos’ family, friends, and strangers in Volos and the Pelion region show the harsh reality of everyday life in Nazi Occupied Greece. Lastly, this presentation examines how these correspondences from Greece drove the city Orlando, Florida to save over 60,000 people in Volos from certain death at the end of Nazi Occupation.Fractured Legacies: Impacts of the Austrian Victim Myth on Descendants of Shoah Survivors
Amanda Riggenbach

Austrian Victim Myth was both a political strategy and a coping mechanism utilized in post-World War II Austria with ramifications for both perpetrators and survivors of Nazi persecution. Fractured Legacies examines the impact of this mythology on the descendants of survivors through the lens of oral histories.

ABSTRACT: Austria ceased to exist as a country on March 13, 1938, when the Nazi army entered the country and assimilated it into “Greater Germany.” Though an active military takeover, it was accepted and even celebrated by a large percentage of the Austrian population. Yet, in 1943, the Allied Forces declared Austria to be the first victims of Hitlerite aggression at the Moscow Conference. Following the so-called liberation of Austria, the newly formed government clung to this. This Victim Myth became a part of everyday life in the new republic, influencing laws and impacting the treatment of survivors rebuilding their lives in Austria. Though officially rejected in the 1990s, the remnants are still tangible today. Fractured Legacies is a Fulbright project examining the Austrian Victim Myth through the lens of oral histories by interviewing descendants of survivors. However, the Austrian legacy is complicated and there are descendants with mixed heritage of both perpetrator and survivor. Their experiences grappling with this heritage are unique and their understanding of the victim myth is also particularly profound.There have been many interviews done with survivors, but the topic of the Austrian Victim Myth is just now being disseminated. It simply was not something that was discussed. There is a story in the stories that were not shared. Moreover, as the survivors reach old age, it is important to empower the next generations to claim their voice and history. This project aims to bridge a dual purpose of filling a gap in oral history while also empowering these generations. In this sense, oral history is not simply for future generations to better understand the past through the experiences of people who lived but can be used as a tool to help narrators navigate complicated historic legacies.Bridging Past, Present, and Future through Oral Histories of Holocaust Survivors in Cincinnati
James Deutsch, Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Between 1980 and 1982, oral historians in Cincinnati recorded 86 Jewish Americans who had escaped Nazi Germany before it was too late to do so. The lessons learned from Holocaust survivors in Cincinnati may serve as bridges between past, present, and future.

ABSTRACT: Cincinnati has served as a city of refuge for German Jews since at least the 1830s, even becoming a center of the Reform Judaism Movement in the mid-19th century. Accordingly, when the National Socialists seized control of Germany in the 1930s, many of the Jews who were able to escape sought refuge in Cincinnati. Of the 140,000 Jews who left Austria and Germany between 1933 and 1941, approximately 1,000 settled in Cincinnati. Fortunately for oral historians, between 1980 and 1982, the Cincinnati Section of the National Council of Jewish Women, in partnership with the American Jewish Archives of the Hebrew Union College, interviewed 86 of those who found refuge in Cincinnati before it was too late. The collection, titled “Survivors of Hitler’

Some archival mandates suggest preserving documentary materials for 100 years, but when we contemplate the most pressing issues of the twenty-first century—the climate crisis, systemic racism, the rise of fascism, etc.—we realize that we may be running out of time if we don’t participate in actively shaping our current future. What strategies can oral historians and archivists employ to disseminate the essential information held in their repositories, including findability and searchability, as they work to create social justice?

ABSTRACT: Some archival mandates suggest preserving documentary materials for 100 years, but when we contemplate the most pressing issues of the twenty-first century—the climate crisis, systemic racism, the rise of fascism, etc.—we realize that we may not have that time if we don’t participate in actively shaping our current future. What strategies can oral historians and archivists employ to disseminate the essential information held in their repositories, including findability and searchability, as they work to create social justice? 

In this roundtable, our participants will share the history of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program's Art of Aging Oral History Project, and our reflections on the method and ethics of conducting oral interviews with elder individuals in the third phase of life. Based on our narrators' interviews, this project positions aging as a transformative and enriching experience, and we will explore the nuanced interplay between individual growth, societal perceptions, and the inherent beauty and challenges of advancing years.

ABSTRACT: In this roundtable, participants will share the history of the Art of Aging Oral History Project and our reflections on the method, findings, and ethics of conducting oral interviews with individuals in the third phase of life. At the University of Florida’s Samuel Proctor Oral History Program (SPOHP), we developed the Art of Aging Oral History Project in three stages. The first was in 2017, when SPOHP collaborated with the University of Florida College of Medicine to develop an oral history project to explore the intricacies of communicating with an older population in Northern Florida. In 2022, this project expanded to the Oak Hammock Retirement Community in Gainesville, Florida, where SPOHP staff documented the residents' rich life experiences. This year, SPOHP is conducting interviews with senior living community residents of The Village at Gainesville. The current goal of the Art of Aging is to record the changes that residents of the retirement communities are experiencing, as well as the challenges and opportunities that such residencies are providing both to individuals and society. We are learning from our narrators that in finding a community that stimulates physical health and life-long learning, individuals tend to embrace aging through solidarity. The Art of Aging challenges and redefines societal attitudes toward aging by documenting these histories. This roundtable will delve into the process of aging as a transformative and enriching experience, exploring the nuanced interplay between individual growth, societal perceptions, and the inherent beauty and challenges of advancing years. The process of this oral history project invites a profound appreciation for growing older. As we learn to honor and celebrate aging through a more inclusive lens, we aim to enrich human experiences for all generations. 

Meet-up is free & open to all Independent Practitioners. Hosted by the Advocacy Committee.

This meet and greet, hosted by these the Southern Oral History & the Samuel Proctor Oral History Programs, will jump start regional and national conversations, spark potential collaborations, and celebrate the work we have done and are yet to do.  

This interactive installation aims to invite attendees to listen, reflect, and reconstruct their understanding and experiences of discrimination. Attendees use their smartphones to access QR codes that link to an oral history or narrative from individuals recounting a specific instance when they faced discrimination. They are also invited to build the collection and our understanding by offering their own stories of discrimination or insights about how to foster social change and social justice.

The Diversity Committee invites you all to join us for their annual reception. This gathering is a wonderful opportunity to network and meet new colleagues. Open to all & free to attend.

“The Other Hunt Brothers” is a post-modern play that’s a series of monologues that speaks to structural racism, the prison industrial complex, mythologies of black criminality, generational disenfranchisement, and it roots it all here in the present. The play is a series of monologues from interviews and news clips performed by 3 real life brothers retelling their family’s personal history and relationship to the criminal justice system.

Accompanying is a 1hr 50 minute audiovisual oral history documentary that takes us through the extraordinary lives of Staughton and Alice Lynd. The film explores nine decades of the Lynds life journey, traversing social movements including the Southern Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam Draft resistors movement, the labor movement, and the prison abolition and prisoner support movements.