Oral History Section Meeting

Friday, August 29, 2008 12:00-2:00 pm

Agenda (draft)

Featured Guest Speakers
Howard Levin, Director of Technology at the Urban School of San Francisco who will speak about the “Telling Their Stories” Oral History Archives Project.

Joe Lambert, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Storytelling who will speak about the Center’s current initiatives, including co-sponsorship of the first “International Sharing Our Stories Day.”

Elections
Section members will be electing a Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, and two Steering Committee members.

2008 Slate of Candidates

Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect Candidates

The Vice Chair/Chair-Elect serves a three-year term: Year one as Vice Chair; Year two as Chair of the Section; Year three as immediate past chair and Chair of the Nominating Committee.

Ben Alexander is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College of The City University of New York where his research and teaching interests focus on archival theory and practice and the history of books and printing. His article, “‘For Posterity’: The Personal Audio Recordings of Louis Armstrong,” was the lead/cover article of the spring 2008 American Archivist. For several years Alexander served as Manuscript Specialist (archivist) for the New York Public Library where he administered an oral history project on preserving the history of Yaddo - the artists’ community located in Saratoga Springs, New York. Material from this project formed the basis of his article, “Excluding Archival Silences: Oral History and Historical Absence” (Archival Science, spring 2005) and will be included in his forthcoming monograph, Yaddo: A Creative History, published by the University of Georgia Press. Alexander also serves as the vice-chair/chair-to-be of the Archives in History Roundtable of SAA.

Mark Cave is Curator of Manuscripts/Oral Historian at The Historic New Orleans Collection. He is currently on the Steering Committee of the Oral History Section of the Society of American Archivists, and former chair of the Acquisitions and Appraisal Section. After Hurricane Katrina, he established an extensive oral history program to document the experiences of first responders. The project was highlighted in the current issue of Oral History Review as well as at the recent International Congress on Archives. He is a member of the Oral History Association’s Committee to Revise Guidelines and the Consortium of Oral History Educators.

Steering Committee Candidates

''The Steering Committee is composed of seven members, which includes the officers (chair, vice-chair/chair-elect, and the immediate past chair) and four members (two elected per year for two-year terms). The newsletter editor serves as an ex officio member (unless the newsletter editor also holds elected office). The Steering Committee directs and coordinates activities of the section and approves appointments made by the chair if vacancies occur. Committee members approve the section's annual program, sponsor SAA sessions, appoint a newsletter editor as necessary, contribute to the newsletter, establish and maintain liaisons with other professional organizations, and act as advocates for the section within SAA. Steering Committee members are expected to attend the annual meeting.''

Doug Boyd, Ph.D. is the Director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries. Previously, he managed the Digital Program for the University of Alabama Libraries, served as the Director of the Kentucky Oral History Commission and was the Senior Archivist for the oral history collections at the Kentucky Historical Society. Boyd is currently the media review editor for the Oral History Review and co-general editor of the oral history series at the University Press of Kentucky. Boyd specializes in digital technologies associated with the collection, preservation, and digital publication of oral histories. Recently, Boyd designed the Civil Rights in Kentucky Oral History Project Digital Media Database for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-authored with Henry Glassie the audio CD accompanying Glassie’s book The Stars of Ballymenone. Current research interests include oral history and usability regarding Web interfaces and long-term digital preservation solutions.

Scott A. Sharon is a graduate student pursuing two masters in history and archives at Simmons College. His concentration is Twentieth Century America, particularly World War II and the Cold War. In addition to being a student of history, he is also an avid music enthusiast and jazz vocalist with a tremendous music collection, so he definitely appreciates the value of old sound recordings. Sharon’s experience lies in his final assignment for an Oral History class he took recently; he interviewed his father and two of his father’s former classmates about growing up Jewish in Brooklyn from the Great Depression to postwar America. He paid careful attention to detail, evaluating his own questions, setting up the equipment properly and allowing for the perfect atmosphere for the interviewees. It was one of the most educational/entertaining exercises he ever did and he received an “A.”

Hermann Trojanowski has an undergraduate degree in history from Greensboro College and a master’s degree in library and information studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Since 2003, he has been Assistant University Archivist at UNCG. There, he teaches a freshman “History of the University” course; gives historic walking campus tours for alumni, faculty, staff, students and visitors; conducts oral history interviews; and is involved in other archival activities. Trojanowski has conducted over 100 oral history interviews for the Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project, the UNCG Institutional Memory Collection and the Preserving Our History: Rotary Club of Greensboro Oral History Project. Recently he trained a graduate student to conduct interviews for the Rotary Club project. He particularly enjoys conducting interviews with the women veterans who served during World War II, since his parents lived through that conflict in Europe.

Kristi A. Young is the curator of the Wilson Folklore Archives in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at Brigham Young University. As part of her responsibilities she is responsible for the Veterans History Project and the Utah Heritage Project. Both projects rely on oral histories to build their collections. While new to SAA, Young has been in her position for several years and is aware of the concerns surrounding oral history collections. She is excited about participating in the Oral History Section. Education: B.A. Brigham Young University, 1985; M.A. Brigham Young, 1995; M.L.S. University of North Texas, 2006. Professional Experience: Curator, Wilson Folkore Archives, 1995-present. Other Activities: Vice-president, Conference of Intermountain Archivists, 2006-2007; President, Conference of Intermountain Archivists, 2007-2008; Past President, Conference of Intermountain Archivists, 2008-2009; Member, Brenda McCallum prize committee, American Folklore Society, Archives and Libraries Section; Chair, Brenda McCallum prize committee, American Folklore Society, Archives and Libraries Section; Co-chair, Folklore Archive Conference, 2003.

''If you are an Oral History Section member who will not be attending the meeting, but would like to vote by absentee ballot, please contact Chair [mailto:lauren.kata@gmail.com Lauren Kata]no later than August 18, 2008.''

More information
For more information about the Oral History Section, and to view current and past issues of our newsletter, Dialogue,

see: http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/oralhist/index.asp