The program is supported by many individuals. Community members willingly share their experiences with us, and allow their experiences to be housed at the University and the Bell County Historical Museum. The recordings and transcripts are included in the oral history collection for anyone to access. Community leaders volunteer their time and resources to help organize community members for the oral history interviews. Students enrolled in graduate and undergraduate research seminars conduct and transcribe the interviews. Graduate student researchers analyze the material and contribute to our understanding of the history of the county and the community. The next step for the future of the program is to make the materials available beyond the local collection through the university web site.
In the process of developing this Oral History program, we had to balance the desire of the community members to tell their personal stories with the academic demands of the discipline. The student interviewers were trained in the issues related to “Protecting Human Research Participants,” through a course offered online by the National Institutes of Health Office of Extramural Research. Student interviewers also received instruction in the history and theoretical foundations of Oral History.
This poster presentation displays the process of creating the connections between the university students, the community participants, and the larger community in capturing and sharing these memories and experiences through Oral History. The poster displays the network of linkages between individuals and institutions, between ideas, theory, and experiences, between the past, the present, and the future of this community and this Oral History program.