Learn about the Renewal of the Oral History Program
Date/Time
Date(s) - 08/09/2023
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Location
Tuolumne County Library Community Room
Categories
Kim Baker will be the August speaker for the Tuolumne County Historical Society. She is retired from the CA State Parks system, duties included Columbia park supervising ranger, collections manager & Superintendent, manager for Restoration of Sierra No3. She is an amateur historian who is fascinated by the history of Columbia, especially the period after it became a State Park in 1945.
In order to preserve the rich heritage of the Mother Lode, PROFESSOR DICK DYER organized Columbia College’s Oral History program in 1971, one of the first among state junior colleges. Columbia College’s Oral History Center was organized in the early 1970s. It included interviews by Dick and his students with copies of interviews from the Tuolumne County Historical Society, Yosemite National Park, community historians and later volunteers from KAAD community radio. The library collection now numbers almost 200 interviews recorded between 1949-2017. Through the support of the Wise Family Trust, the Columbia College Foundation, a digitization and transcription effort began in 2017. Since then there have been no additions to the series.
In 2023, support by the CCFoundation, the project is being resurrected for a three-year period. The library is recruiting and training volunteers to id subjects, conduct interviews, transcribe, and edit.
This program will review the History of the Oral History Program, and proved an overview of the plans for the new project. There will also be a discussion of the most recent equipment and technology available, and the best practices in the field.
If you are interested in history and the ways it is preserved don’t miss this presentation. Everyone is welcome.
