Story Circle Logistics
At the end of our first story circle about story circles, in February, participants wanted to talk about logistics. We agreed that our next session would be devoted to this: The logistics of story circles. Friday, March 10, 12-1, via zoom. We will talk about workflow, including setting up the room, in person or virtual,… Read more
Story Circle about Story Circles
Happy New Year We are experimenting with an idea: hosting a story circle for oral history practitioners who want to: •talk about story circles, or •learn about them, or •share their own experiences with story circles. Join us for an informal lunchtime gathering to chat about story circles in a story circle format, on zoom…. Read more
Berkshire Historical completes a legacy oral history project: Invisible Communities
Congratulations to Berkshire Historical Society Originally a Mass Humanities-funded project, with Barbara Allen, then Berkshire Historical Society Director as lead, and Frances Jones Sneed, Mass Humanities Scholar, this collection of 20 interviews of African American elders was initiated in the late 1990’s. A few years ago, we were able to act as stewards as the… Read more
Archives 101 begins tomorrow, zoom
Archives 101 When: Tuesday, October 04, 2022 10:00 AM, EDT Where: Zoom Will you be attending? Register Not attending EVENT DETAILS: A free, five-part webinar series running Tuesdays from 10 to 11 a.m., October 4 through November 4 This series of five, one-hour webinars provides information and instruction in the basics of… Read more
Archivist-Intern imports paper heritage recordings and gets them ready for the archive
We are working on our paper making collection, which documents paper making in the region, and in Lee, Mass, primarily. Making sure the digital files were safe was task number one. We are fortunate to be working with an archivist, Schuyler Fohrhaltz-Burbank, a recent graduate of the Simmons University MS Library and Information Science/ Archives… Read more
Incarceration, Oral History, Documentary & “Suave”, offered by Columbia University OHMA
Incarceration, Oral History, Documentary & ‘Suave’ SIGN UP NOW Where: Zoom – Sign up to receive the link here When: Thursday, September 22, 2022, 6:00pm-7:30pm EST Maria Hinojosa spent nearly 20 years documenting with David Luis “Suave” Gonzalez, who was incarcerated for a crime he was convicted of at the age of 17. The Pulitzer-Prize-winning… Read more
First of Boston Public Library’s oral history workshops is tonight
Dear Subscriber, We are re-posting this information because we learned that many of you had not received the original post. We are trying to troubleshoot our blog post problems. Thanks for your patience! Judith Monachina Director, Housatonic Heritage Oral History Center at Berkshire Community College jmonachina@berkshirecc.edu The first two of these workshops is offered via… Read more
Boston Public Library offers evening oral history workshops (zoom and in person)
The first two of these workshops is offered via Zoom; the third is in person only. Family Oral History with Kelly Elaine NaviesDate: Thursday, September 15, 2022Time: 6:00 PM – 7:30 PMRegistration RequiredThis online event is hosted on Zoom.Kelly Elaine Navies, Museum Specialist in Oral History at the National Museum of African American History and… Read more
Connecticut cultural groups seek input from History Organizations
Input from History Organizations Wanted: The Arts, Culture and Tourism Funding Roadmap Project In December 2021, representatives of the arts, culture and tourism sectors met in Hartford to discuss their priorities. Now, Connecticut Arts Alliance, Connecticut Humanities, and Connecticut Tourism Coalition are working together to follow up on that convening to advocate for meaningful, reliable, and equitable state funding for… Read more
Story Circles
We are about to plan a series of discussions about story circles. If you are interested, read on! We participated in one that the West Side Legends organized back in the spring. The theme of that story circle was living on the West Side of Pittsfield during the 1950’s and 1960’s, before the Urban Renewal… Read more
Site work
Hello Oral History Center blog subscriber, You may receive a few email messages with invitations to open old posts. We have been working on the site, and this seems to have happened as a result of a plug in. We apologize if this has caused any inconvenience. Thanks! Judith Monachina jmonachina@berkshirecc.edu
It Takes Many Lives: Jeff Vele, Stockbridge-Munsee Community member gives talk
About My Story: It Takes Many Lives to Make an Indian Trustees of Reservations, Mission House, Stockbridge, MA Registration required: https://thetrustees.org/event/78743/ Hear from Stockbridge-Munsee Community Member in Residence, Jeff Vele, as he shares personal reflections and lessons from his life– from his time as a Native American living in the city to moving back to… Read more
West Side Legends host virtual story circle
The group hoped to host an actual, in-person event at the Lichtenstein Arts Center in Pittsfield, but concern about the Covid numbers led to a change of mind. They decided to host their first story circle on Zoom. They will host a series of circles, with different sub topics (Red Lining, Urban Renewal and more)… Read more
Columbia University Oral History students showcase their work
Our students are creating this year’s exhibit in a moment of cautious venturing out. In New York City, spring is coming, and withdrawing, and coming back. We are now allowed to take our masks off in class, but many are keeping them on. We noticed that, in this moment, our work engages with the dynamics… Read more
Mass History Conference registration open
Registration is OPEN! The Massachusetts History Alliance invites you to the 2022 Mass History Conference: Embracing the New or Unexpected, to be held June 6 and 7, 2022.In the spirit of this year’s conference theme, we’ll be trying something new. We’ll gather Monday, June 6 at Historic Beverly’s Hale Farm and Tuesday, June 7 online for two… Read more
Mass State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) grants for archival supplies
The Massachusetts State Historical Records Advisory Board (MA SHRAB) is excited to announce, through funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), that a second round of grants up to $500 are now available to cultural institutions in Massachusetts for the purchase of archival supplies. Any institution or organization that maintains archival collections… Read more
Tickets available for Sunday, Black Legacy Project concert
Music in Common, a local nonprofit that strengthens, empowers and connects communities through the universal language of music, launched The Black Legacy Project (LP), a groundbreaking musical collaboration that celebrates Black history and builds solidarity to advance racial equity and belonging. The Black LP spotlights songs that reflect significant eras of the Black American experience,… Read more
Some ideas for setting up an interview for a narrator with a hearing impairment
At the Oral History Center, we have the pleasure of learning about many projects, and we hear lots questions. We try to find the answers and connect people who are asking the questions with those who know the answers. A question recently came our way that had to do with interviewing a person with a… Read more
Oral History Center brings in paper making heritage project
The Berkshire area was at one time home to more than 50 paper mills, 26 of which were in the town of Lee. Paper Town Projects was established as a 401 c (3) in 2008 to document the work of remaining six Lee mills at a time when it seemed they might all close. The… Read more
Conversations on the Commons: What is Community History and what can it do for you?
Conversations on the Commons invites you to:Community History: What is it, and what can it do for you?February 3, 2022, 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. With Lee Blake, President of the New Bedford Historical Society and Penni Martorell, curator of collections at Wistariahurst Museum and Holyoke’s City HistorianWhat is Community History? What formats does it take? What is… Read more
Free workshop on Relationship Building in an Oral History project, from Columbia University
February 3 | Lessons in Relationship Building from a Participatory Oral History Project February 3, 2022/ 7-8:30 p.m. Please contact Rebecca McGilveray at rlm2203@columbia.edu with specific access requests or questions. SIGN UP NOW Where: Zoom – Sign up to receive the link here When: Thursday, February 3, 2022, 7:00pm-8:30pm EST Oral history is the… Read more
What is Community History: A Conversation on the Commons event
Conversations on the Commons: Community History February 4 @ 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Details Date: February 4 Time: 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Event Category: Conversations on the Commons (events) Event Tags: Conversations Venue Online MA United States View Venue Website
Archival supplies small grants
(Photo Margaret Cherin, former archivist at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. She recommended that oral history project coordinators consider the archive where their work will go even before they begin to do interviews. We pass that advice along.) This post is a grant announcement from the Mass SCHRAB… Read more
A Sense of Place, our podcasts
The podcasts we are making are now listed on Spotify and a few other places. https://open.spotify.com/show/5ELmGlhFiIo1hVxINQO4Fw Of course, they are here on this site, too. (Podcasts and other Inspirations) We are fairly new at this podcasting thing, but we are learning, thanks to a few people, including Circle Round podcast (WBUR) creators Rebecca Sheir… Read more
Oral History Center informal Fall workshops, and Winter Chats
Planning and getting started on your oral history project …or, picking up a paused project November/December 2021 Workshop Series: From planning, to interview, to archive: An informal series to get you started or re-started Session 1, November 16, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Plan your oral history project: We will walk through the early planning to… Read more
Mass State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) info session on Veterans Heritage Grants, and the Roving Archivist
Archives Hour with the State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB): Veterans’ Heritage Grants and more October 28, 2021, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. Join representatives from the State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) to learn more about resources available to you and your organization for managing historical records. We’ll go over this year’s round of Veterans’… Read more
Bronx Covid oral history project hosts panel
The Bronx Community College Archives is pleased to announce that we are co-hosting an online panel next Tuesday that will be highlighting our latest oral history project, thanks to our collaboration with Mutual Aid NYC! Community Care during COVID Oral History Project documents stories of mutual aid, food justice and public health equity in the Bronx. We hope… Read more
Connecticut League of History Organizations: Colleague Circle on humanities/cultural grants
When: Friday, October 29, 2021 12:00 PM, EDT Where: Zoom Will you be attending? Yes Maybe No EVENT DETAILS: CT Humanities’ SHARP Capacity Grants are now live and accepting applications! These grants will provide a total of $640,000 to help humanities organizations and other cultural institutions respond to and recover from the coronavirus… Read more
Climate stories
What’s Your Climate Story? A Hunters Point Environmental Education Center Program Registration is required to join this event. If you have not registered, please do so. English : New York Time Event status: (Register) Date and time: Thursday, October 14, 2021 6:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00) Change time zone Duration:… Read more
Conversation on the Commons upcoming: Collaborations between historical societies, libraries, schools
Taking History Across Town: Collaborations between historical societies, libraries, and schools Friday, September 24, 2021, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. Join us for a conversation about collaborations across town. What do you do, and how well does it work? What does not work? Join our panelists, Sabrina Kaplan, Outreach Manager at the Duxbury Rural and Historical… Read more