Recently I met a couple of librarians who advise individual families and communities on archiving their history. As I listened to them talk about their work, I recognized a connection among the work of archivists, historians, and community organizers. Convincing someone that her grandmother’s letters and the old photographs in the attic are valuable historical artifacts is a form of community organizing, akin to the work that activists do to convince people that they have a voice for change. Oral history work is parallel, too, in the way that historians go into communities and convince ordinary citizens that their memories are valuable and they should record them so that their voices and perspectives will not be lost to future generations. There is an urgency to all of this work, because for myriad causes–both cruelly accidental and shockingly deliberate–voices, memories, communities, and cultures are continually in danger of being lost.
Take a look at this beautifully produced publication “My History Is America’s History: 15 Things You Can Do to Save America’s Stories,” which was created at the NEH under Bill Ferris during the Clinton years.
It includes “How to do an interview” and “Playing detective with photographs,” among other useful sections. Some of the people doing this good work today will surely find it useful. I ordered a used print copy on Amazon for a negligible price.
As these commonalities of purpose come into focus, the connections among our LCRM project partners–the Center for Civil Rights (community organizers), the Southern Oral History Program (historians), the UNC Special Collections Library (archivists)–are clearer, and despite its complexity (it is unusual for a collaborative project to have four partners!) the project gains coherence. I’ll post more on project ideas and activities soon . . .
Thank you for sharing this fascinating concept – this type of work with private collections, families and in smaller communities is so important to help document history that happens under the radar of larger institutions. In my community, the vast majority of historical documentation is in private collections, and helping their caretakers care for them better and recognize their value beyond the family interest is incredibly important. I would be interested to learn who was presenting on this topic, as I would like to learn more.
Thank you for posting this – I believe that this kind of work is so important to fill in the enormous gaps of the historic record. Voices and stories from a smaller scale than is usually captured in our institutions and history books are essential for really understanding American people and communities. I would be interested to know who the librarians are that you heard discussing their work – I am interested in learning more and doing similar type of work in my rural community in Northern California.
Thank you for your comment! I am sorry not to have responded earlier. You might contact L. Teresa Church, Archivist and Consultant. She is one of the librarians to whom I referred, and she is based in Durham, NC. One of her ideas that I found especially interesting was her concern for institutions and communities to keep their archival materials on site in the community while preserving them and providing access. The other librarian I spoke with recently who was doing this kind of work was Andre Vann, an archivist at North Carolina Central University and professor in Public History. Both of these experts were particularly interested in the African American cultural heritage.