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Questions answered, stories told at 2008 Wisconsin Oral History Day, April 14
Posted 4/1/2008
MADISON, Wis. – Compelling stories from natural disaster survivors, discussions about digital technology for capturing oral histories as well as instruction in the theory and practice of collecting oral histories highlight Wisconsin’s first Oral History Day on April 14. The afternoon events in the Pyle Center on the UW-Madison campus are open to the public at no charge.
A morning how-to workshop, already fully booked, is followed by afternoon round tables with oral history practitioners from across the nation and a plenary session about digital technology.
At 4 p.m., Louisiana State University’s oral historian, Jennifer Abraham, will discuss the similarities in the oral histories taken two years apart from survivors of hurricanes Betsy and Katrina as well as the differences between documenting recent events and historical events.
Earlier in the day, digital technologies in the collection, preservation and publication of oral histories will be presented by the oral historian from the University of Kentucky Libraries, Doug Boyd.
Other panelists and speakers include Peter Gottlieb, Wisconsin Historical Society Library and Archives; Ken Frazier, UW-Madison Libraries; Mik Derks, Wisconsin Public Television; John Robinson, Madison's Children Museum; and Gayle Martinson, Veterans History Museum.
Staff from the UW-Madison Oral History Program (OHP), a unit of the campus libraries, organized the conference. Troy Reeves, head of OHP, says the effort is intended as a Wisconsin Idea initiative that offers the university’s knowledge and expertise to the general public. He says that in future years he would like to make the program one that travels to communities around the state
Several groups participated in the creation of Oral History Day, including the School of Library and Information Studies, the Wisconsin Humanities Council, the UW-Madison General Library System and the Friends of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries.
The OHP was established in 1971 and is now part of UW Archives, a division of the libraries. The OHP collection of 900 interviews includes oral histories with Nobel Prize winners, internationally-renowned faculty, 1960s student protesters and other campus activists as well as leaders in athletics and many current and former campus community members. The OHP Web site is http://archives.library.wisc.edu/ORAL/oral.htm.
For registration and the full Oral History Day program, see http://www.slis.wisc.edu/continueed/oralhist.
