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Institute Prepares Librarian for New Oral History Initiatives

22 March 2007
Story by Walter Floyd, OSU Communications Intern

For Immediate Release

STILLWATER - Associate Professor and Documents Librarian Tanya Finchum recently attended the Regional Oral History Office's Advanced Oral History Summer Institute.

"It was very intellectually stimulating to hear about what other people were doing and how they were doing it," said Finchum. "It also created an informal virtual advisory board to use for future reference."

The Institute, themed "Memory, Media, Meaning," takes place annually at the University of California, Berkeley. Finchum will draw on her experience at the Institute to begin work on two upcoming oral history projects through the OSU Library.

The first is "O-STATE Stories: an oral history project." Finchum is a coprincipal investigator along with Assessment Librarian Karen Neurohr. This is the first year of what is anticipated to be an ongoing alumni project. Initially, the project is focusing on OAMC-era graduates.

"The voices of alumni themselves will become a part of Special Collections and University Archives," Finchum said. "It's a way of recording history that would not necessarily make it into your standard history book."

The second project will chronicle the experiences of women who have been or are currently in the Oklahoma Senate or House of Representatives. In Oklahoma’s 100 year history, only 75 legislators have been women.

"Little has been written on Oklahoma women in politics, and this oral history project will create primary source historical documents," Finchum said.

This project is in the early stages and will begin with a pilot program of three to five women. However, over the course of the project, Finchum hopes to interview most, if not all, living Oklahoma women legislators.

For more information concerning these projects or other oral histories, contact Tanya Finchum at 405-744-9785 or tanya.finchum@okstate.edu.

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