Bill Tompkins forwarded your email to me. I direct the Smithsonian's oral
history project on Smithsonian history. I've done large scale oral history
days at the Smithsonian, and with a small budget.
For our 150th anniversary, as part of our folklife festival, we trained a
group of volunteers to do oral history interviews. We then set up schedules
so we had four interviewers at a time. We did have four tape recorders
available. We did some signage and encouraged people to come by, staff,
volunteers and visitors, and give us their recollections of the Smithsonian.
We had release forms for them to sign. We made sure we got their names
down correctly. We created a log to log them in as soon as they were done.
We put together a short chronology and a set of photographs, to jog
memories. We developed a general set of questions, as well.
For those who didn't want to be interviewed, we had memory sheets in which
they could write down their favorite stories.
The interviews vary greatly in quality but we did get some really wonderful
ones. The sheets were less informative but did have some interesting
stuff.
We've also done this at Easter Monday at the National Zoo to capture family
stories about their Easter Monday family celebrations.
I also had a set of handouts for people to pick up to show them how they
could record their own family or neighborhood history.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you need additional information.
Pam Henson
Note new addresses due to anthrax crisis:
Pamela M. Henson
Historian
Institutional History Division, MRC 414
Smithsonian Institution Archives
PO Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012
(All non-USPS such as FEDEX:
Pamela M. Henson, Historian
Institutional History Division
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Room 2135, Arts and Industries Building
900 Jefferson Drive, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20024)
Tel: 202-786-2735
FAX: 202-357-2395
[log in to unmask]
>>> [log in to unmask] 06/04/03 08:37AM >>>
Hello all!
I know that I have not been very participatory lately--sorry about
that. But I have been lurking around trying to keep up with at least some
of
the threads. Always fascinating reading.
Anyway, we have a huge event that opens the end of the month (oh,
geez, is it already June??). We are celebrating 175 years of railroad
history.
Originally when we started planning this almost 2 years ago, we were
coordinating our efforts with the B&O downtown in Baltimore who were going
to recreate
the Fair of the Iron Horse. I am sure most of you are aware that they
have
had to shut down due to the tragic roof collapse in February. We decided
to
go ahead with our 10 day event (June 27-July 6). We have many things
planned
but the reason I am writing to you, oh knowledgeable colleagues, is that I
need some guidance. I would like to have an oral history day but with
little $$
and our limited staff and volunteers going in a thousand different
directions--I was wondering if anyone had ever done this or had any
wonderful
ideas on how to do this. I know about the legalities of doing oral
histories, release
forms,etc. But this is a different beast than the typical oral history
gathering. I was thinking about producing Memory Cards, at least that way I
could have some record and perhaps get back to folks later. Maybe a
stationary video
camera area??? Any thoughts, suggestions and/or advice would be greatly
appreciated! I am a little bitter though, I won't get to attend the entire
ALHFAM conference this year. BUT I am going for two days--that affords me
some
sanity. Also, I would like to extend an invitation for everyone to come
down and visit
after the conference is over. We are within driving distance!
Thanks in advance and I look forward to seeing everyone is Princeton.
Lisa Mason-Chaney
Director
Ellicott City B&O Railroad Station Museum
2711 Maryland Ave.
Ellicott City MD 21043
410-461-1945
[log in to unmask]
www.ecbo.org
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