NANTUCKET, MA –The Nantucket Historical Association (NHA) is pleased to announce that the Volunteer Oral History Club will resume on Thursday, February 9, 2017, at 5:30 P.M. Update: This meeting has been rescheduled for Thursday, February 16 at 5:30 P.M. due to weather.
Oral history is the recording of personal history through long-form interviews. The NHA has been collecting and archiving oral histories for more than sixty years, most recently for the New Voices: Nantucket’s Diverse Immigrant Populations project.
The club focuses on using community volunteers to conduct interviews for collections that will explore the histories of longtime Nantucketers, as well as relative newcomers to the island. Last year’s volunteers contributed thirty new oral histories to the NHA collection.
“Oral histories are a vital addition to the historical record of Nantucket,” says Cathy Taylor, NHA Director of Museum Resources. “Not only do they provide us with rich personal and private experiences of people who live and work here, but they create a first-person record for future historians to use in the retelling of their lives.”
Interested volunteers are encouraged to attend an informational meeting on Thursday, February 16, 2017, at 5:30 P.M. at the NHA’s Research Library, 7 Fair Street. This meeting will outline the expectations of the club, which will operate during the 2017 spring and winter months. Volunteers will be asked to commit four hours of time each week and will meet regularly to discuss the collection and share their contributions.
New members are welcome. For more information, please contact NHA Museum Resources Associate Katie Schoorl at katie@nha.org or (508) 228-1894, ext. 306.
“I’m excited to be a part of this project,” says Katie Schoorl, NHA Museum Resources Associate. “Oral histories bring rich and unique perspectives to the island’s history. I look forward to working with our volunteers and bringing more of these stories to light.”