An Oral, Visual, and Documentary Archive of University of Virginia History
Phyllis Leffler, History
2000 TTI Fellow
Email: pkl6h@Virginia.EDU
Project website: http://nmc.itc.virginia.edu/OralHistory/
The Oral History Archives in Special Collections contain over 230 interviews related to the history of U.Va. and its surrounding region. These interviews provide a rich source of historical narrative, in which faculty, administrators, alumni, staff, and family of university employees share their personal stories. Their usefulness for institutional and local history is hampered by the lack of a cumulative index. Phyllis Leffler's project will make these historical sources more available by developing an interactive database to the interviews.
The index and abstracts to the Oral History Collection will be built by students enrolled in HIUS 330, The History of the University of Virginia in the 20th Century. Working from transcripts or CDs, students will code in keywords, concepts, place names, and proper names. From a pedagogical perspective, they will be developing skills of textual analysis, based on active reading or listening, as they assess these orally-based records for intent, credibility, and seriousness. This project applies a collaborative and process-oriented approach to learning. Once completed, the database can be used topically for research and analysis of broader themes.
A second phase of the project links written materials with sound. When completed, this resource will be used for teaching and for research. Students will be able to view the transcripts and compare them to the sound track. They will be able to assess the value of listening to stories or testimony. They will get a far better understanding of the role of oral history in the creation of historical narratives. They will be learning about both the strengths and weaknesses of relying upon personal stories in the construction of history. Finally, they will be able to develop a better appreciation of the effect of dialect or accent on our collective consciousness. Beyond the classroom, researchers and visitors will be able to hear the sounds of these informants preserved for future generations digitally.
In the future, I will help develop an electronic commons with relevant photographs, newspaper accounts, archival records, alumni and alumnae surveys, and music representative of the history of the University of Virginia. Such a website would create a model for understanding institutional and university history. Visitors will be able to find Jeffersonian and landscape drawings, archival materials such as Board of Visitors' minutes and some materials from Presidential Papers, surveys from alumni carried out as part of an institutional effort to have former students share their U.Va. experiences, visual images from the University Photo Archives, the Holsinger photography collection, sculpture and art of the university community, and music played by university groups. This University of Virginia History website will draw people together from across and beyond the grounds. It will create an exciting new site for creating a collective understanding of institutional history, making The University of Virginia a model for sharing its history.