The decision by the North’s Public Prosecution Service and the PSNI, Northern Ireland's police force, to seek the taped interviews of Anthony McIntyre, who carried out the interviews for most of the Boston College oral history project, is a sinister one. Read these articles here and here.
Tag: oral history
Why Love Oral History?
Today we return to our ongoing series in which we ask a variety of oral history professionals and practitioners how they ended up in the audio world and why they love oral history. Today Adrienne Cain discusses how she went from future astronaut to oral historian, and the value she sees in preserving the spoken word. For full article click here.
Oral History of HIV in Cuba
President Obama’s visit to Cuba this week has highlighted the fading of U.S.-Cuba alienation — but also the deep and lingering differences between the two countries, on issues from freedom of speech to free health care. Here, reporter Rebecca Sananes shares a chapter of medical history in which Cuba chose a policy diametrically opposite to America’s: Back in the 1990s, Cuba created a network of sanitariums, where people with HIV were confined indefinitely. It sounds barbaric, but as former patient Eduardo Martinez’s recollections reveal, it’s complicated. Life in the sanitariums was so much better than outside that some people purposely infected themselves with HIV. See full story here.
West Australian Aboriginal Oral Histories
The Indigenous Community Stories (ICS) project has been running since 2008 and is on track to complete 83 films by April next year. But program manager Michelle Broun said they were aiming to do 100 stories altogether — they just need a final injection of funds to do it. For full story click here.
Ted Kennedy Oral History
The late Senator Ted Kennedy was a Washington, D.C. legend, serving 47 years in Congress. This week, the University of Virginia’s Miller Center will release part of the oral history it compiled on Kennedy, working from 300 interviews it did with him and those who knew him. For full story click here and to read the transcripts (no audio) click here.
Canadian WWII Veterans
A new exhibit at the Dorval Museum of Local History and Heritage brings the bloody conflict to life with stories and souvenirs from some of Dorval’s own veterans. Survival and Resilience: A Tribute to World War II Veterans showcases artifacts belonging to more than a dozen veterans as well as a video featuring first-person accounts from three local veterans, still living and now in their 90s. See full story and watch video here.
Oral History and Artists
A collection of oral history interviews on the subject of an artist’s life increases the resources available to interpret her or his work. As an oral historian, Sarah Dziedzic always see this as a positive outcome. Hearing firsthand from a curator who spoke to the artist about the work, or a fabricator who lent material expertise, or from a fellow artist whose work comes out of a similar historical context, can generate volumes of new information with which to consider and understand an individual or collected body of work. For full story click here.
StoryCorps to enhance their app.
Samoan Police Band
Cross platform, collaborative, multi-disciplinary, regional, and embedded with storytelling and cross-cultural connection – this project certainly ticks all the boxes of what is hot now across numerous art sectors. And, yet, this project is far from “fashionable” – at its centre is a police band and a very un-sexy history of German colonisation. For full story click here.
Annual New Zealand Oral History Awards
“These awards enable people to tell their stories and ensure they are recorded for both current generations and those who follow,” Alison Parr, Senior Oral Historian, Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage (Ministry) said today. “Nine oral histories have received a total of more than $55,000 in NZOH awards funding for projects which will make a significant contribution to understanding New Zealand’s history,” Alison Parr said. For full story click here.