Oral History Education

Last week I was part of an all-day workshop sponsored by CERA, California Exhibition Resource Alliance, as part of the 2010 CAM conference for California museums. This free workshop offered information on technology and the visitor experience within exhibitions, how to create podcasts that inform the public about your museum, and mobile technologies that enable visitors to access information about your exhibits from their mobile phones. My presentation focused on collaborative projects that create digital media for You Tube, Flickr and museum websites that are designed to bring the untold stories of small museums to life. Here is the SlideShare presentation I’ve uploaded that includes examples of two projects on You Tube and my presenters notes. My hope is this short presentation will inspire small museums to reach big audiences with thoughtful digital media projects created with a team of museum professionals and students from a local university or school.

Two articles came across my Google Alerts today that highlight an important community benefit to oral history:  intergenerational dialogue. Through projects and programs that facilitate listening and storytelling between generations, we learn strategies for making change by an earlier generation that faced war, overcame injustice, and struggled to end racism in our country. The first article features four women who participated “quietly” in the civil rights movement and were recognized in their community for their participation: Recognizing Quiet Courage. The second article features a terrific collaboration between a history museum and the local chapter of the AARP, who put together a visitor program in which seniors shared their stories:  AARP Sponsors Free Day at National Civil Rights Museum.