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.
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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.
Queering Oral History
The Oral History Review has written an article an interview with contributor Jason Ruiz, who explains some of the motivations behind the project, the erotics of oral history, and how others can build on the successes of the Twin Cities GLBT Oral History Project. – See more here.
Treading Air
Oral History Queensland is proud to announce that a member, former President, and author Ariella Van Luyn has published her first book. It is great to have the opportunity to encourage a young local author. Read more about Ariella's book 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.
Train Journeys in western New South Wales
This month the Orange oral hstory group revealed its own love affair with steam trains as well as admitting a sneaking admiration for "toast rack" trams, as we continued our examination of travel in days gone by. For full story click here.
Secondhand Time
For more than three decades now, voice-recorder and notebook always to hand, the winner of last year's Nobel Prize in Literature, Svetlana Alexievich, has been rummaging through the debris of the Soviet world, capturing the voices of those who lived, suffered or prospered in the USSR and in the chaos that followed its disintegration. For the full review of her new book click here.
Atlantic City Project
Their words can be heard amid the crackles of cassette tapes and read on typewritten pages from 38 years ago, in a collection at the Atlantic City Free Public Library. In a small room with a window facing Tennessee Avenue, the little-known collection exists amid stacked boxes, memorabilia, crowded shelves and a single computer. Here, hand-typed pages, reels of audio tape and gigs of memory hold the voices of Atlantic City’s past. For full story including podcast and video click here.
Wisconsin’s Vietnam Veterans
For decades, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum has been collecting the personal stories of people who've served in the military. They reflect on their time in uniform, the impact of their service, and their thoughts about it today. For full story, with audio excerpt click here.