Oral history addiction

Over the summer, I took a class with Dr. Debra Lattanzi Shutika and the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center on cultural documentation and fieldwork, largely in preparation for my Mary Kay project.  During the field school, we students were paired up and sent out to Arlington, Virginia's Columbia Pike neighborhoods to interview residents about their lives, the Pike's history, current changes along the Pike, and anything else they cared to talk about.  All our recorded interviews, photos, and fieldnotes are being archived in George Mason's folklore archive and the Arlington County Public Library. 

Over the last few weeks, I've been listening to recorded interviews that my fellow students did and creating ~ 3-minute clips that the Arlington County Library can put on their web site.  Everyone has such interesting stories to tell!  I had no idea there was an airfield where the Pentagon is now, and there you could catch a blimp ride to see DC from the air.  Afterward, you could walk down to one of the Potomac's public beaches and go for a swim.  I've listened to people talk about Cuba just after the revolution, people talk about their time in Kenya in the '60s, in New York City during segregation, in Hiroshima less than 10 years after the bombing. 

My second major is history (it's my first major when I'm talking to a history professor :), and I think it's always important to remember that history isn't about dates and wars, it's about people.  The History Channel presents history as this black and white linear narrative that's totally factual, and reality isn't like that.  Oral histories like this give us an insight into the world of every day people.  They give a texture and artistry to history.

I have a transcript coming in the mail any day now from the University of North Texas' oral history library of the pink lady herself, Mary Kay Ash, taken in 1974.  I only wish they offered audio files!

I'm really looking forward to sitting down with my new Mary Kay girlfriends and getting their stories on "tape."  I like to picture their grandkids or great-grandkids sitting down on the hover-couch in 100 years to listen to how grandma earned her first car and got herself out of debt and helped other women do the same thing.

"Mom, what does 'Shut it down! Done!' mean?"

"I don't know, Billy, it's just something grandma used to say."