Oral History Symposium – Spring 2026
Friday, May 15, 2026. 10-3:30 p.m.
Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 01262
How can we build community in our oral history and storytelling projects?
We will hear from an expert whose career has been build on this theme, from another group that recently finished their first community oral history project, and others.
Join us for a day of conversation and learning; meeting people, getting inspired.
Our presenters include:
- Alisa Del Tufo, founder of the Threshold Collaborative and co-founder of Groundswell: Oral History for Social Change. Alisa has had a long career focused on ways to center the experiences of people who have been marginalized and to collaborate on ways to make change. For decades her work centered on addressing interpersonal and family violence, racial and gender justice. She pioneered the use of oral history/narrative work to bring the ideas and experiences of those most impacted into the work of healing and transformation. She has founded 4 organizations and received 3 fellowships. Two of which, Groundswell: Oral History for Social Change and Threshold Collaborative work specifically using oral history in community settings.For the past 10 years she has taught at Bennington College. Her courses were built around the theory and practice of listening: Oral History for Social Change, Restorative Justice, and Participatory Action Research. During this time she continued to run the Threshold Collaborative. Working around the country, Threshold partnered with community organizations to help them use the power of narrative to build personal and social change.
- Sarah-Jane Poindexter, a Roving Archivist for Massachusetts State Historical Records Advisory Board, travels the state to provide support, advice, and encouragement to cultural heritage institutions working on care and management of their collections, including oral history collections. Prior to her work in Massachusetts, Sarah-Jane was Manuscript Archivist and Co-Director of the Oral History Center at the University of Louisville Archives and Special Collections and Curator of Special Collections at the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, KY.
- Jean Minuchin, director of World and Eye Arts Center, and Anaelisa Jacobsen, founder of Manos Unidas Multicultural Educational Collaborative, recently completed “Raíces de Cuentos/Roots of Stories,” a community oral history project in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Their project concluded with an art exhibition, and is being archived with the Digital Commonwealth, supported by a grant from Mass Humanities: Expanding Massachusetts Stories.
Tickets are $30 per person and include the symposium, coffee/tea, and lunch! Registration will be limited.
To register:
https://app.tickettailor.com/events/upperhousatonicvalleynationalheritagearea/2146263
For more information: Please send an email to Judith Monachina at jmonachina@berkshirecc.edu
Umbrella Photo: Kate Lauzon, for the Tyler Street Lab, Pittsfield, MA.