An important product of our yearlong NEH-funded planning project was a directory of the audiovisual collections we identified around the state. The directory, Wisconsin’s Wartime Oral Histories, is now available online. It includes descriptions of 35 A/V collections from 25 Wisconsin libraries, archives and museums. These oral history collections document Wisconsin residents’ experiences of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War.
Heading into the planning process over a year ago, we knew that many local organizations were actively creating new oral history interviews with veterans and other community members. Our Digital Archives Assistant Dana Gerber-Margie worked with grant Advisory Committee members and oral historians Ellen Brooks and Troy Reeves to draft a set of basic guidelines and recommendations to assist Wisconsin cultural heritage institutions in developing oral history initiatives.
Thanks to their work, we now have three two-page handouts available for anyone to download, use and share as they plan an oral history project:
Part 1: Questions to Consider
Part 2: Best practices for collecting veterans’ oral histories
Part 3: Curated Resource List
