“Matt Herron a photojournalist who vividly memorialized the most portentous and promising moments from the front lines of the 1960s civil rights movement in the Deep South, died on Aug. 7 when a glider he was piloting crashed in Northern California. He was 89. A child of the Depression and a protégé of the Dust Bowl documentarian Dorothea Lange, Mr. Herron assembled a team of photographers to capture the clashes between white Southerners and Black protesters, aided by their white Freedom Rider allies, as they sought to claim the rights they had been legally granted a century before.” Read full story and watch video link to his oral history interview here.
Author: ohadmin
American Indian Oral History Project
“Victoria Canby, interim director of the Museum of the American Indian in Novato, said she is sad that her son will never hear his grandmother’s firsthand accounts of the triumphs and tribulations of her Native American lineage. ” Read full story here.
Former Aboriginal stockman tells his story
“Harry ‘Bunda’ Darlow was a retired Aboriginal stockman and Ray Humphrys a farmer, journalist and budding historian. Both lived around Dalby, 200 kilometres west of Brisbane.” Humphrys interviewed Darlow in 1971. Read the full story and listen to an interview excerpt here.
Oral History and the Environment
Oral History Victoria online symposium, introduced by Prof Alistair Thomson. This is an edited recording of the symposium, ‘Oral History and the Environment’, conducted on 14 June 2020. Watch video here.
National Family History Month Australasia
There are a number of events for this month of August, something to please everyone. Find them here.
Tuam Tragedy
In 2014 Catherine Corless discovered that 798 babies and young children had died in the home for unmarried pregnant women but could find no records of their burial. Many of the babies had died of malnutrition and neglect. The babies and young children had been buried in an unmarked grave. Read full article with video here.
Important moment in history
“While we are always experiencing history, there are times you know that you are experiencing what will eventually be called a Historic Moment. The fall of the Berlin Wall. The breakup of the USSR. 9/11. But then the moment passes, society adjusts, and we are left with our experiences.” This article has some good ideas and links here.
Oral History of British Science
“Earlier this month the British Society for the History of Science hosted a successful online ‘Global Digital History of Science Festival’ in place of is usual annual conference. This event prompted me to reflect on how the interviews collected for An Oral History of British Science might be used to explore transnational histories of science and to think about what happens when we view our interviewees as nodes in transnational networks rather than as ‘British scientists’. I was also interested to see what oral history, particularly the extended life story approach used in An Oral History of British Science, might contribute to the project of writing transnational histories of science.” Full story with interview excerpts and links here.
COVID in Long Island, New York
“Listen to episodes of Life Under Coronavirus: Long Island’s Helpers, Newsday’s podcast on the pandemic hosted by Mark Chiusano and produced by Amanda Fiscina. It’s a look into how Long Islanders are meeting the challenge of COVID-19. Each episode features a Long Islander talking about his or her experience with coronavirus, with a focus on what people are doing to help. Join us to hear upbeat stories that show how LI is getting by under disease lockdown, an oral history for the period when this is all over.” Listen here.
New York Oral Histories
The New York library system’s Community Oral History Project has reached out to everyday people to hear stories of themselves and their neighborhoods — places ranging from Sandy Grounds in Staten Island, Roosevelt Island, and the Lower East Side. Of course, there’s also one for the many neighborhoods that constitute the Northwest Bronx: “Remembering Riverdale.” For full story click here. The link to the website is here.