Mari Metzke and Rob Renew of ASHET (the Australian Society for the History of Engineering Technology) have been recording interviews with inventors of mining and processing machinery at Lightning Ridge, as part of a project funded by the Australian government’s Your Community Heritage grant program, being run in partnership with the Australian Opal Centre and Lightning Ridge Historical Society. For full story click here.
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University of Nevada Oral History Program
The 1897 heavyweight title fight between champion James Corbett and challenger Bob Fitzsimmons in Carson City has been well documented in the history books of Nevada. But did you know that Fitzsimmons, while training for the fight, attended church services at Nevada State Prison? Lucy Davis Crowell knew that. In fact, she and Fitzsimmons "sang out of the same hymn book more than once." Crowell's recollections of that interaction with Fitzsimmons — and her memories of Carson City at the turn of the 20th century — are part of a treasure trove of Nevada history in the collection of the University of Nevada Oral History Program, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal (http://on.rgj.com/10T7pD5). For full story click here.
Students interview Holocaust survivors
Eighth-grader Benjamin Barth of Teaneck used to think that all Jews affected by the Holocaust were in either ghettos or concentration camps. Now, as a result of his participation in the oral history film project “Names, Not Numbers,” he understands much more about the Shoah. “It’s not just a single story of Jews in ghettos and concentration camps,” said Benjamin, who is a student at the Moriah School in Englewood. “There are other aspects, like people resisting all over Europe.” For full story click here.
Hurricane Katrina Oral History Project
Ian Breckenridge-Jackson, a Ph.D. student in sociology at the University of California, Riverside, witnessed the devastation as a volunteer gutting flood-damaged homes in 2006. The experience altered the course of his life and led in 2011 to his co-founding the Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum with another volunteer, Caroline Heldman, now chair of the Department of Politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles. The two serve as co-executive directors of the museum. “The Lower Ninth Ward was and is a unique community,” Breckenridge-Jackson explained. “Prior to Hurricane Katrina it had one of the highest rates of home ownership by African-Americans in the country, and many of those homes went back generations. This was a very family-oriented place where multiple generations lived near each other.” For full story click here.
Valley Rattler – Gympie
The Valley Rattler will resume regular passenger services from next Sunday, though the Rattler itself won't leave the station. The services will be operated by heritage railmotors from the Rattler fleet, and run on the second and fourth Sundays of each month, as well as during the Twilight Markets on the third Saturday. They will initially operate north from the heritage-listed Old Gympie Station, for a 25-minute round trip out towards Bath Tce. For full story click here.
Civil Rights oral history (USA)
Cassidy Porter is only 13 years old, but the Fruitvale Junior High School seventh-grader feels a deep connection to the Civil Rights Movement. It started a couple of years ago, when she watched director Spike Lee's 1997 documentary "Four Little Girls." The film chronicles the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. The attack killed four girls ages 11 to 14, sparking nationwide outrage and providing the Civil Rights Movement with a burst of momentum. For full story click here.
Oral history in India
For 28-year-old Chanakya Vyas, his grandmother’s stories about her childhood were more than just bedtime stories. With roots in Zanzibar, East Africa, Mr. Vyas has been trying to piece together his family’s history. One step towards accomplishing this is the oral history course being offered by the Centre for Public History, Bangalore. Mr. Vyas is one of the 15 participants at the first such course offered by the institute, and the first of its kind in India. For full story click here.
LGBT stories – Princeton University
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender alumni attendants at the recent Every Voice conference had the opportunity to record their personal narratives as part of an audio and visual oral history project organized by the Alumni Association of Princeton University and funded by the institutional equity and diversity efforts of the Office of the Provost. Representatives from the alumni association conducted 24 interviews during the three-day conference. The participants represented a wide range of class years, with alumni from the 1950s to the 2010s sharing their experiences as LGBT students — whether out or not — at the University. For full story click here.
History of surfing in Britain
The First Wave oral history project, run by volunteers on behalf of Porthtowan Surf Life Saving Club in Cornwall, is capturing people’s memories about the early days of surfing and how it has changed over the decades, by collecting up to 100 audio and video interviews with the people who have been involved in its development. The full archive will be stored at the Museum of British Surfing and the museum will also take over the running of the website from the end of the year, allowing oral histories to be collected even after this project has been completed. http://www.museumofbritishsurfing.org.uk For full story click here.
Ambrose Award to Michael Beschloss (USA)
The Rutgers Living History Society will present its 2013 Stephen E. Ambrose Oral History Award to presidential historian Michael Beschloss, familiar to millions of Americans for his many appearances on PBS’s The News Hour. The Rutgers Living History Society, comprised of participants in the Rutgers Oral History Archives program, will honor Beschloss at its annual meeting on Friday, May 17. Rutgers President Robert L. Barchi will present the award. “Oral history – the art of listening to people tell their own stories, and then making those stories available to others – is an essential tool of every practicing historian,” Beschloss said. For full story click here.