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Stories of the Great War

July 1, 2016, marked one-hundred years since the beginning of the devastating Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest of World War I. Dragging on for four months, it incurred more than a million casualties on both sides. By the time it finally ended – November of 1916 – the Allies had advanced less than 10 miles.  A new book, “The Great War,” by political cartoonist Joe Sacco, re-creates the first day of the Somme in a 24-foot long panorama. The images are rendered in relentless detail, starting with the beginning of the day, moving into the heartbreaking battle itself, and then the aftermath.This article has a number of links which are set out here:

World War I oral histories – these recordings were done in the 1970s or 1980s and don't have the best sound quality.

Joe Sacco, author/cartoonist of “The Great War” – Video of Joe Sacco showing his book.

Poetry of World War I

Read the full article here.

Sex Lives of Englishwomen

Author of The Sex Lives of English Women:  Intimate Questions and Unexpected Answers Wendy Jones states in her introduction, “through our sexuality our humanity is revealed”; and, as with the best oral histories, the personal widens out to become the political. It’s not surprising that Jones studied the great American statesmen of oral history, Studs Terkel, as part of her PhD and jokingly calls him “my homeboy”.  For full story click here.

 

First Nations Oral History

For centuries, First Nations people recounted the cultures’ histories orally. With decreasing use of traditional languages, the art of oral history is looking to film, audio and paper methods to pass the history on to younger generations. Reporter Alex Johnson asked Miriam McNab, assistant professor at the First Nations University of Canada, what prompted the change, and what the future looks like for the future of recounting First Nations history, after her panel discussion at the Reconciliation through Research Conference.  For full article, click here.

Women Awarded Grants for Oral History Projects (USA)

Two Smith alumnae are recipients of this year’s Helen Gurley Brown Magic Grants, which provide funding for innovative projects by Smith Ada Comstock Scholars and recent program alumnae.  Tanya Pearson ’16 and Meridith Baier ’14 will use the grants to support groundbreaking oral history projects.  Established at Smith in 2011 by the late writer and editor Helen Gurley Brown, who led Cosmopolitan magazine for more than three decades, the Magic Grant program honors Brown’s commitment to educating women with diverse life experiences through the Ada Comstock Scholars Program for nontraditional-aged students.  Read about the projects here.

AIDS Prevention

The Project is an online exhibit featuring graphics, documents, and photos from the Archives' Public Health collection, with video-recorded oral histories from leadership and staff from the AIDS Prevention Project. The oral histories were funded by a 4Culture Heritage Project grant.  See article here and link to exhibit here.

New books from Holocaust survivors

In the 21st century everyone is a writer with an important story to tell and easy access to publishing tools. Underpinning the phenomenon is a plethora of writing ­courses promoting the notion that all personal stories are equally interesting and should be shared. Is this a welcome advance on the quaint condition of the cottage industry known as publishing, where publishers acted as gatekeepers, editors edited and critics provided robust judgment?

Making sense of one’s life through writing and reflection can be useful. But so too is a stint on the therapist’s couch. In a period bloated by the fetish for the personal and a paucity of informed analysis, there is cause for concern. The compulsion to make a personal exercise public rests on the assumption that an individual’s story must be of interest to others.  For full story click here.