“A collaboration project between Auckland Libraries and Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage launches a five-part podcast series today to commemorate one year since the level four lockdown. Called ‘Kei Roto I Te Miru: Inside the Bubble’, the podcast series is a culmination of short oral histories that were collected by oral historians from various communities around the country.” Read full article with links to interviews here.
Blog
Former NASA Flight Director Dies
“Glynn S. Lunney, one of NASA’s first flight directors, who had a major role in guiding astronauts to the moon and whose cool decision-making under pressure helped save the Apollo 13 mission in 1970 after an onboard explosion, died March 19 at his home in Clear Lake, Tex. He was 84.” Read the full article which includes a link to a documentary about Apollo 13, and also an oral history with Lunney, here.
Commonwealth Oral History Project
“The Commonwealth, an association of 54 countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific, has always been a rather mysterious organisation. It evolved gradually over the course of the 20th Century, making it difficult to pinpoint a precise starting date.” Read full story here and see the website here.
White House Guidebook
“The White House Historical Association has released the latest episode of its podcast, the 1600 Sessions: The First White House Guidebook: Mrs. Kennedy, National Geographic, and the White House Historical Association. In this episode, host and Association President Stewart McLaurin speaks with National Geographic Society’s Senior Director of Library and Archives, Renee Braden, who shares an oral history recorded with Bob Breeden, who was instrumental in the creation of the first White House Guidebook. The first Guidebook was published in 1962 as collaboration between First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, the new White House Historical Association, and the National Geographic Society.” Read full story here and click on the link above to listen to the podcast or watch the video of the story.
Indigenous Truth-telling Commission
“A brutal period in Victoria’s history is set to be retold as part of the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission, the state government’s truth-telling inquiry into the wrongs committed against Aboriginal people after white settlement. One of the most difficult of these truths to confront will be the wave of slaughter unleashed in the mid-1800s, when Indigenous people were massacred by white pastoralists and explorers across the state’s frontiers.” Read full story here.
Bronx COVID-19 OH Project
“A project that began shortly after the coronavirus pandemic emerged is detailing stories of what people, businesses and communities went through to survive the pandemic. A group of students at Fordham University have spent time documenting the stories of Bronx residents. It’s called the Bronx COVID-19 Oral History Project.” Read full story here and see the website, with video interviews here.
Cold War in the Heartland
“Growing up in the 1980s, Erik Scott experienced the resurgence of Cold War tensions that dominated the decade. “I remember seeing pop culture representations about the Soviet Union through movies like ‘Rocky IV’ and ‘Red Dawn,’” said Scott, associate professor of history at the University of Kansas. “But by the end of the decade, you also had this incredible opening of the Soviet Union and Socialist Bloc with the fall of the Berlin Wall. You were watching your ‘capital H’ history unfold on TV.” ” Read the full article here, includes a link to the website.
Keeping newspapers alive
“This project is about a group of people we’ve heard a lot about in the last year, though maybe not the ones we’re used to: essential workers.” In seven states in mid-America small newspapers worked hard to keep their readers informed about COVID-19 and other news. Read story here and scroll down to video explaining project then scroll further to hear the stories
Voices of the Pandemic
“The coronavirus pandemic has forced all of us to reconsider the most basic elements of how we live and move around. It’s tested us in ways we are only beginning to understand, and it’s taught us things about ourselves we might not have expected. In this series, we’ll hear from those at the front lines fighting this disease, as well as the many people impacted by the crisis in so many ways. And we want to hear your story. What have you learned? What decisions have you faced? How are you thinking differently about your future? Most of all, how are you surviving?” Listen to these interviews here.
General Meeting
You are invited to join us for our next General Meeting on 27 February, 10.00 to 11.00 am. The meeting will be held via Zoom – details are on the Agenda. See the minutes of our previous meeting in December 2020 here.
See the minutes of our previous meeting in December 2020. Email info@ohq.org.au with your RSVP and any further issues you wish to discuss.