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.
Blog
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.
Oral History in the Digital Age
Welcome to "Oral History in the Digital Age" where we will connect you to the latest information on digital technologies pertaining to all phases of the oral history process. There are two primary locations for the OHDA Project online, the primary site and the OHDA WIKI. You are currently on the primary site where you have access to essays written by leading experts about recording, archiving and disseminating your oral history projects and you can view video interviews from our series Thinking Big which features conversations with many of these leading experts. The wiki links you to current best practices from around the web and includes many exemplary web sites which offer numerous examples for diverse and exciting ways to present oral history online. For more information click here.
YouTube used to show ancient oral history
SOCIAL media is helping to harness the ancient oral history of indigenous people in Central Queensland. A series of short videos show a rare insight into indigenous knowledge of country and ecology, and can now be seen on YouTube. For full story with video click here.
Artefacts at Adelaide Gaol
A recent dig in the old women's cell block of the Adelaide Gaol has uncovered a treasure trove of artefacts from the 1840s. Keryn Walshe, a researcher for archaeology at the SA Museum, led the excavation into the gaol's past. Keryn said the findings confirmed oral history that was recorded after the colonisation of South Australia that residents first settled along the banks of the River Torrens. For full story click here.
“Forgotten War” veterans
Some American heroes can finally get the recognition they deserve. Obscured by a tenuous ceasefire and subsequent Cold War crises, the Korean War is often described in terms of conflict, intervention or police action. Nevertheless, the service and sacrifice of these wartime veterans is a necessary component of our national heritage, and as such, the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP) actively seeks the oral histories, personal papers and photographs of these unsung heroes. For full story click here.
Sydney Jewish Museum wants films
The Sydney Jewish Museum has launched its Moving Image and Sound Archive…and is calling for communal contributions. Curator Shannon Maguire told J-Wire that the museum wants that family footage which is tucked away in a drawer in many homes throughout the State. She said: “Naturally we want to digitise it…but that is a long and expensive process. Unless those contributing can help us with the the cost of the process, it could take up to nine months before we can return the footage. But it will be held in safe hands and under special conditions to protect the material.” For full story click here.
Cowra stories
What started out as a PhD research project has culminated in a book recording the stories and traditions of the Erambie community in Cowra. Lawrence Bamblett, who is currently a Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, this month released his 'Our stories are our survival' book. Published by Aboriginal Studies Press, the book is a combination of Mr Bamblett's PhD document-based research project from 2008 and records of stories he grew up listening to about the feats of Erambie athletes. For full story click here.
Oral history of dance in Western Australia
Ausdance WA will be releasing its Oral History of Dance in WA, a collection of interviews with 20 WA dance identities, including Chrissie Parrott, Sue Peacock, Alan Alder, Lucette Aldous, Margrete Helgeby and Louise Howden-Smith. This project is a sequel to a 1990 oral history project kept at the Battye Library. For full story click here.
Reflection on war
77-year-old Werribee author and historian Margaret Campbell softly recites one of her poems included in her recently completed masters thesis, and reflects on how war has always been etched in her consciousness. As a child of the World War II years, Ms Campbell lived through the Korea and Vietnam wars and worked at the Point Cook RAAF base. She has lived in Wyndham since doing her "rookies" in 1954. Titled Searching the Silences of War, her study is part theory and part young adult novel. Finding Sophie, set in Truganina in 1997, is told from the perspective of a teenage girl staying at her grandparents' farm with relatives including a Vietnam veteran and an anti-war protester. For full story click here.