The meetings will take place usually from 1:00pm to 4:00pm on the third Thursday of the month. All meetings will take place in E-255 unless otherwise specified.

• Thursday, September 21, 2023 (Meeting 1)
  • Topics: Introduction to Oral History; Orientation to the seminar objectives and goals
  • Activities:
    • CTL housekeeping announcements (handout )
    • Examining oral history and public history from interdisciplinary angles.
    • Establishing background context and theory of the unique field of oral history and its uses.
  • Readings:
    • General introduction to oral history
      • Sullivan, S. & Schreiner, M. (2023). If You’re Thinking About Starting An Oral History Project. The City Amplified: Oral Histories and Radical Archives. (https://bit.ly/46ahGyw)
      • Charlton, T. L. (1985). Oral History for Texans. Handbook of Oral History. (https://bit.ly/3Louw4a )
      • Smithsonian Institution Archives (2020). How to Do Oral History. Smithsonian Institution Archives. https://s.si.edu/3PH9Cj6
      • Byrne, H. (2020). An Introduction to Oral History. Smithsonian Institution Archives. https://s.si.edu/48e7Jlt
      • “Oral History Research Method”: https://bit.ly/3rcgQm3
    • Ritchie, Donald A. (2014). Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide. Cambridge, Mass.: Oxford University Press. (Only chapter 1, especially pp.11-14) (LaGuardia Library link: https://bit.ly/3PnC4FB)
    • Dávila Gronros, V., Hamilton, M., Collett, G., Thompson, K., Daly, L., Wantsala, N., & Riter, R. (2023). Developing a Student-Led Podcast on Community Archives. Archival Outlook, January/February, 3. (https://bit.ly/3PkRTgj; pages 3 and 17)
    • Making it here Women in New York City Politics (https://bit.ly/3reGqH4 )
• Thursday, October 19, 2023 (Meeting 2)
  • Topics: Introduction to Oral History: Different Disciplines
  • Activities:
    • Participants will listen to oral histories, learn about different projects, and practice listening closely.
    • Following this, participants will present and workshop their lesson plan in small groups.
    • Participants start to develop lesson plan ideas (How do you plan on incorporating OH into your class?)
  • Readings (link to the reading discussion page ):
    • Biddle-Perry, G. (2005). Stimulating critical thinking in the theoretically timid: the role and value of oral history assignments within an interdisciplinary context. Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 4(2), 85-99. (https://doi.org/10.1386/adch.4.2.85/1 )
    • Kenny, H. (April 15, 2020). Self-Care: The Social Worker’s Story. Electronic document, https://bit.ly/48fFZgg , accessed Monday, March 20, 2023.
    • DasGupta, S. (July 24, 2008). Teaching Medical Listening Through Oral History. Electronic document, https://bit.ly/44YVrdM , accessed Monday, March 20, 2023.
    • Tobar, C., LaNasa, N., & Feldmann, G. (May 13, 2022). “American Icons” (https://bit.ly/3LucYUf ), accessed Monday, March 20, 2023
• Thursday, November 16, 2023 (Meeting 3)
  • Topics: Invited Speaker #1 Natalie Milbrodt @ Queens Memory Project / Queens Library (flyer )
  • Activities: Participants will attend the talk by the invited speaker and will engage in Q&A/discussion.
  • Readings (link to the reading discussion page ):
    • Queens Memory Project (https://queensmemory.org )
    • Sommer, B. W., Mackay, N., & Quinlan, M. K. (2013). Project Design. (3). In B. W. Sommer, N. Mackay, & M. K. Quinlan (Eds.), Community Oral History Toolkit Vol. 2: Planning a Community Oral History Project. (pp. 43-56). New York, NY: Routledge.
    • Caswell, M., Douglas, J., Chow, J., Bradshaw, R., Mallick, S., Karthikeyan, N., Jules, B., Solis, G., Field, J., Robinson, M. D., Gonzales, P., Rodriguez, K. K., Saldaña Perez, J. A., & Robinson-Sweet, A. (2021). “Come Correct or Don’t Come at All:” Building More Equitable Relationships Between Archival Studies Scholars and Community Archives. UCLA. (https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7v00k2qz )
• Thursday, December 14, 2023 (Meeting 4)
  • Topics:
    • Invited Speaker #2 Bridget Bartolini @ Five Boro Story Project / 34th Avenue Oral History (flyer )
    • Connecting with community and building relationships through oral history projects
  • Activities:
    • Using readings and case studies, participants examine how we can use oral history to highlight individual stories within broader issues, especially those from the marginalized population.
    • Participants bring in notes from readings to discuss in to the next meeting
    • Invited Speaker #2
    • Working on the seminar projects
      • Project Planning Sheet: https://bit.ly/47LkF1q | https://bit.ly/487v9I9
  • Readings (link to the reading discussion page ):
    • Bartolini, B. (2022). Story of a Street. https://urbanomnibus.net/2022/07/story-of-a-street/ .
    • 34th Avenue Oral History
      • Pick a profile from https://34aveoralhistory.org/profiles/ and read about them.
    • Optional:
      • Explore the “Five Boro Story Project” website (https://www.fiveborostoryproject.org )
      • 34th Avenue Oral History: Manuela Agudelo Profile (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hfq9i5ObR8 )
      • Portelli, A. (2018). Living Voices: The Oral History Interview as Dialogue and Experience. The Oral History Review, 45(2), 239-248. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1093/ohr/ohy030 )
• Thursday, March 21, 2024 (Meeting 5)
  • Topics:
    • Invited Speaker #3 Johnathan Thayer: Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground: Oral History as Activism (flyer )
    • Activities: Discuss lesson plans, Invited Speaker #3
    • Readings:
      • Review Olde Town of Flushing Burial Ground Project (https://queensmemory.org/olde-towne-of-flushing-burial-ground/ ) and the related to the project (https://bit.ly/4anhaPT ).
• Thursday, April 18, 2024 (Meeting 6)
  • Topics:
  • Invited Speaker #4 Ross Perlin (flyer )
  • Activities:
  • Readings:
    • The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2024/02/new-york-endangered-language-city/677565/
    • The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/feb/22/disappearing-tongues-the-endangered-language-crisis
    • The New York Times Opinion: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/10/opinion/language-diversity-america.html
    • NYT Book Review: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/19/books/review/language-city-ross-perlin.html
    • WSJ Book Review: https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/language-city-review-the-words-on-the-street-55b91218
• Thursday, May 16, 2024 (Meeting 7)
  • Topics:
  • Activities:
  • Readings:
• Thursday, June 20, 2024 (Meeting 8)
  • Topics:
  • Activities:
  • Readings:
• An optional showcase event will be scheduled some time in May or June.

More information about each meeting will be posted here shortly.

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