University Library News

You are invited to join the Georgia State University Library Special Collections & Archives for Uncovering Hidden Narratives: 2021 Oral History Symposium.

Saturday, March 26, 2022
9 a.m. — 5 p.m.
University Library
100 Decatur Street
Atlanta, GA 30303

About Uncovering Hidden Narratives

This one-day symposium is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about oral history projects.  

In the morning, Althea Sumpter will kick off the meeting with her talk centered on trauma in oral histories. Throughout the day attendees can choose sessions that best suit their needs and interests for those that are just beginning or thinking about starting an oral history project to those that are part of established programs. We will wrap up with a meet and greet where attendees to network with other attendees and organizations who support and manage oral history projects.

Maximum capacity for this event is 75 registrants. Mask are strongly encouraged to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

We need a minimum of 25 registrants by March 10 in order for the program to proceed. All registrants will be notified by March 15 if the event cannot be held as planned, and will be reimbursed for their registration costs.

Registration Details

REGISTRATION TYPE	PRICE
General Public (non-GSU affiliated)	$30
GSU Faculty/Staff/Alumni	$20
Students (K12 or post-secondary)	$10

Schedule of the Day

9 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.	Registration & Welcome Reception
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.	Keynote Address – Althea Sumpter Althea Sumpter uses her ethnographic expertise to document cultures and preserve the Southern story of the United States. With her native Gullah Geechee culture as a prototype collecting the oral histories of elders, she teaches ways to research the cultural history within a community, then how to use documentation technology to memorialize and preserve the stories of a community for future generations.  She presents talks and workshops on documenting cultural history for others wanting to preserve stories in their own community or the cultural story of a family.
10:30 a.m – 10:45 a.m.	Morning Break
10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.	Concurrent Breakout Sessions Offering tracks for beginners, intermediate, and advanced, the breakout sessions will allow attendees to create a deeper understanding of oral histories, and how to better manage their time and results.
12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.	Skyline View Lunch on The Terrace at Library North
1:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.	Concurrent Breakout Sessions Offering tracks for beginners, intermediate, and advanced, the breakout sessions will allow attendees to create a deeper understanding of oral histories, and how to better manage their time and results.
2:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.	Afternoon Break
2:45 p.m. – 4 p.m.	Concurrent Breakout Sessions Offering tracks for beginners, intermediate, and advanced, the breakout sessions will allow attendees to create a deeper understanding of oral histories, and how to better manage their time and results.
4 p.m. – 5 p.m.	Adjournment & Networking on The Terrace

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Session Descriptions

BEGINNER	INTERMEDIATE	ADVANCED
The We Love Buford Highway Oral History Project: How We Did It and How You Can Too  Presenters: Rachel Ezzo, Seam Park, Alina Lee  We Love Buford Highway’s “In Whose Hearts Is A Highway” is a multi-year Oral History Project in partnership with Georgia State University’s Special Collections and Archives Department. This qualitative research project in the form of in-depth interviews was established in order to help people better understand the opinions, motivations, impact, and histories of the immigrant communities that make up Atlanta’s Buford Highway corridor. In this session, We Love Buford Highway’s board of directors will talk participants through the how-to’s behind launching its passion project while providing important tips the organization has learned along this journey. In this session you will learn about project design, marketing, and legal issues around conducting oral histories.	Oral History Projects from Start to Finish  Presenters: James Newberry, Adina Langer, Helen Thomas  Oral history projects involve a significant commitment of institutional time and resources. Understanding the needs and challenges of each stage is essential for project planning and success. This session will provide an outline of best practices over the total life of an oral history project, including definition of scope, startup needs, community engagement, and long-term preservation and access.	Managing Scope, Scale, and Growth in an Oral History Project    Presenter: Jonathan Coulis  This session focuses on the planning process involved in establishing, assessing, and expanding oral history projects. We will consider the different challenges faced by individual and institutional initiatives, and processes of establishing feasible parameters, workflows, and goals. We will also examine the demands of multi-year project management, and what a “finished” oral history project looks like.
Getting Started with Oral History  Presenter: Joshua Kitchens  This session will focus on the basics of oral history and how to get an oral history program off the ground. Topics covered include funding, legal and ethical issues, and how to design an oral history program at your institution. Lastly, this session will discuss preservation issues for your new oral history program.	Seeing the forest for the trees: understanding the potential and risk of oral history online**  Presenter: Christian Lopez  This session will include a brief history of access, and focus on management and uses of digital  oral history online. Discussion will cover basic preservation practices, ways to manage oral  history collection and interview access, including use of OHMS (Oral History Metadata  Synchronizer), and re-purposing interviews for use in social media, podcasts, and other public  history spaces. Evolving privacy issues and risks of oral history online also will be discussed. A Q&A will close out the session.	Trauma in Oral History (panel discussion)     Panelists: Morna Gerrard, James Newberry, Adina Langer, Jennifer Cramer, Pamela Schwartz This panel of oral historians will be discussing issues around recording oral histories that document traumatic events such as COVID-19 pandemic, racial injustice, war, the AIDS epidemic, and other current and past traumatic events.
I’ve Hit Record, Now What: Tips & Techniques for Great Interviewing Presenter: Daniel Garcia  You set up the interview, you brought all the equipment, you might as well get the best possible interview you can. This session will focus on methods for interviewing to help you get the beginning, middle, end, and reflection. We will cover listening, topics vs. questions, back-pocket questions, story arcs, and more.