Session Abstract

This roundtable brings together members of the University of Central Florida community to discuss how a local  history project, the Regional Initiative for Collecting the History, Experiences and Stories of Central Florida (RICHES), benefits the University and the history department in ways that were not foreseen when this project began.  In addition to tightening the university’s bond with diverse elements of the local community, it increases collaboration outside and inside the University, and demonstrates the history department’s value added to both the community it serves and the University at large. We hope this discussion will allow a larger audience to build on our experience and open a dialog on the surprising benefits of creating a local history project. 

Central Florida has often been associated with large-scale, commercial tourism and housing development, much of its history has remained unnoticed and under researched. By facilitating research that records and presents the stories of communities, businesses, and institutions in Central Florida, RICHES seeks to provide the region with a deeper sense of its heritage and a foundation on which Central Floridians can build a better sense of their history. While this project filled an important void in local history, it has also strengthened the University’s ties with diverse elements of the community. The RICHES umbrella is broad; it includes Central Florida’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, military veterans, and the local business community.

Moreover, RICHES enhances Central Florida’s collaboration with other universities; such as scholars at the University of West Florida and their “Next Exit™” history project.  Using cutting edge technology to enhance cultural tourism, “Next Exit™” relies on GPS and smart phone technology to deliver short audio and video podcasts about historic and cultural sites accessible from Florida's interstates. The RICHES project also collaborates with Florida Atlantic University’s “Surfing Florida: A Photographic History” a project that investigates the rich history of surfing and surf culture in Florida.

Within the university, it encourages interdisciplinary efforts such as the RICHES Documentary Film project, which produces short narrative documentaries that explore central Florida history. History department faculty and students collaborate with the film department to make documentaries about little known aspects of Florida’s Civil Rights movement. Other departments have had their students work on RICHES projects; journalism classes have participated in the Veterans History Project, collecting oral histories to capture the stories of Central Florida’s veterans. 

Finally, the enthusiasm of other members of the University community for these projects has been central to the History department’s efforts to build support for its efforts to increase the resources directed to its Public History program. Despite fiscal challenges facing many universities, particularly humanities departments, the University of Central Florida has been able to hire a number of new faculty members to expand its Public History program.