One week after an assassin’s bullet exploded John F. Kennedy’s head on a street in downtown Dallas, Jackie Kennedy, deeply traumatised by what she had witnessed, summoned journalist Theodore H. White to her Hyannis Port home in Massachusetts for an interview. In the subsequent article, published in Life’s December 6 issue, Jackie gave birth to the Camelot myth that would define the Kennedy legacy. As they tussled over what White could and could not print, Jackie sought to influence how her slain husband would be remembered. Read full article here.
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Port Augusta Pollution
One person who was always certain about the root cause of health problems in Port Augusta was the fierce long-time mayor of the town, the late Joy Baluch. Baluch lost her husband – a non-smoker – to lung cancer, and had a child with severe asthma. In her many trips to Adelaide hospitals to seek treatment, she found many children from her town, all suffering similar problems. She was contemptuous of government attempts to blame smoking and other factors for the town’s burden of disease. In an oral history project recorded in 2008, she said pollution from the power stations was the spur for her entering local government. For full story click here.
Transgender Oral History Project
The Transgender Oral History Project has released the first batch of videos and transcripts. The Project is part of the Tretter Collection at the University of Minnesota, one of the nation’s largest collections of LGBTQ history. For full story with link to the oral histories, click here.
Serena Williams’ Oral History
"Serena Williams is poised to make history. With one more Grand Slam win, Williams will hold more Grand Slam titles than any other player in the Open era. To do so once, a player must win seven matches over two weeks on the sport's greatest stages. With a win at the Australian Open, which begins Monday, Williams, 35, will have done so 23 times in 29 Grand Slams and will surpass Steffi Graf's Open era record of 22. It is no longer a question of if, but of when, whether it be in Australia, at Wimbledon, the French Open or the US Open. Once she reaches 23, the buzz will turn to Margaret Court's all-era record of 24, and history will beckon again." For full story click here.
Last OUP Blog Post for 2016
As is becoming tradition, we want to use this, our last blog post of the year, to look back over last 12 months and remember all the fun we’ve had together. We have been drawn in by the “seductive intimacy” of oral history, and inspired by the power of audio to move “oral history out of the archives and back into communities.” We explored the world of transcriptionists and museum curators, and looked at projects that are putting oral history on the map. We asked practitioners to explain how they do oral history, and we are looking for contributors to expand this series in the coming year. For full article click here.
is becoming tradition, we want to use this, our last blog post of the year, to look back over last 12 months and remember all the fun we’ve had together. We have been drawn in by the “seductive intimacy” of oral history, and inspired by the power of audio to move “oral history out of the archives and back into communities.” We explored the world of transcriptionists and museum curators, and looked at projects that are putting oral history on the map. We asked practitioners to explain how they do oral history, and we are looking for contributors to expand this series in the coming year. – See more at: http://blog.oup.com/2016/12/oral-history-2016/#sthash.rP5qscH8.dpufis becoming tradition, we want to use this, our last blog post of the year, to look back over last 12 months and remember all the fun we’ve had together. We have been drawn in by the “seductive intimacy” of oral history, and inspired by the power of audio to move “oral history out of the archives and back into communities.” We explored the world of transcriptionists and museum curators, and looked at projects that are putting oral history on the map. We asked practitioners to explain how they do oral history, and we are looking for contributors to expand this series in the coming year. – See more at: http://blog.oup.com/2016/12/oral-history-2016/#sthash.rP5qscH8.dpuf
Great Thanksgiving Listen
The holiday season is a time when families gather, usually for food and fun. But in an age of video games, cell phone chats and abbreviated texts, sometimes, thoughtful conversations with elders are missed. This year, St. Louis Public Radio, in partnership with StoryCorps, invited students from Maplewood Richmond Heights High School to spend some time asking questions of an important person in their lives. And then to just let the other person talk. For full article with audio excerpts click here.
Minnesota Transgender Project
Josh Verges writes:
When the University of Minnesota set out to capture the stories of transgender people in the Midwest, the assumption was that similar projects already were taking place on the coasts. But when the Minneapolis poet and transgender activist Andrea Jenkins took on the project, she found that wasn’t the case. “When I talk about it, people get excited,” she said. “Nothing like this is happening really on a broad scale anywhere else in the country.” With a target of 200, Jenkins already has recorded interviews with 119 transgender people, discussing how they came to find their gender identity and broader issues affecting their community. For full story with audio excerpts click here.
A Community Oral History Project
Jerry Davich writes:
With two cameras set up, a video recorder humming, and a microphone clipped to my sport jacket, Allison Schuette asked her first question. "Would you please describe for me your neighborhood growing up?" asked Schuette, co-director of the Welcome Project at Valparaiso University. Full story with link to project here.
Forbes’ Wandering Jew
Rob Willis writes –
I have a fascination, probably obsession, to record and research the stories of the ‘characters’ of Australia for our Oral History and Folklore collection at The National Library of Australia. Those who dare to be different and are, perhaps, slightly eccentric yet contribute strongly to the social fabric of our towns and cities. Luckily I live in Forbes, a town that is richly endowed with these people and I am a strong believer we should acknowledge and promote them as part of our cultural heritage. Buildings, architecture, music, statues and art are truly wonderful things for a town but, in my mind, it is the stories of the people who lived in the buildings and created the art and music that are also vital. For full story click here.
Kentuckians Oral History Videos Now Online
During more than two decades as a filmmaker, Michael Breeding has accumulated dozens of hours of interviews with historically significant Kentuckians. But as always happens in film-making, most of that material ended up on the proverbial cutting-room floor — specifically, on hard drives and stacks of videotapes in Breeding’s Victorian home near downtown Lexington. For full story click here.