Hi All--One of the best recent books on doing oral histories is Barbara
W. Sommer and Mary Kay Quinlan, THE ORAL HISTORY MANUAL, published
under the auspices of the the AASLH with Altamira Press. There is also
a nice short chapter in Kyvig and Marty's NEARBY HISTORY, also by
Altamira Press.
For research on the Underground Railroad, there is a brief guide on
the Oswego County Underground Railroad site (if you Google this, it
will come up under the State University of NY at Oswego), along with a
70-page overview of the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, and African
American Life in 22 counties in central New York, written by Milton
Sernett and myself as a context statement for the National Register of
Historic Places. We have been using this document as background for
nominating sites to the National Register relating to these themes.
Attached is a more detailed discussion of research methods and sources
that I and two others (Mary Edmonds, Chair of the Michigan Freedom
Trail Commission, and Dianne Swann-Wright, Historian at Monticello)
recently wrote for the National Park Service's Network to Freedom
program. This should be published sometime soon.
The Preservation League of New York State has worked with projects in
Oswego, Onondaga, and Cayuga Counties to document sites relating to
these themes, and they have just funded another such project for Seneca
County. Results of the Oswego and Onondaga projects are on the web
(Oswego County UGRR and for Onondaga County through the Preservation
Assn. of Central New York's website at www.pacny.net/freedom_trail).
Partial results of the Cayuga County projects (a database of almost
2500 names of African Americans listed in the Cayuga County census,
1820-1870) is available on the Cayuga County GenWeb site, and the rest
will be up on the web shortly. People in Madison County (Donna Burdick
and others) are also working with great success to document this
movement.
This is a very exciting project. As you begin especially to use census
records to look for names of African Americans and then check for
property records, you will find many homes of African Americans, who
names have been generally lost in the local oral tradition. Good luck!
Best, Judy Wellman
On Sep 28, 2005, at 8:39 AM, Suzanne Isaksen wrote:
> I am hoping that members of the New York History List Serv can help me
> with two projects I have undertaken as Historian for the Town of
> Montgomery in Orange County.
>
> 1) I have received a grant to purchase equipment for an oral history
> project. The original grant application was written by my predecessor
> and was based on purchashing desktop recorders and transcription
> machines - all of which were far more expensive than what is on the
> market today. When I came before the Town Board for a resolution in
> support of this grant, they were very interested in the project but
> asked me to look at purchasing a videocamera as well for this
> project. Fortunately, the grant will accommodate such an expense.
>
> I'm interested to hear from anyone who manages/has managed oral
> history projects - particularly with students - about what kind of
> equipment you would recommend. I'd like to spend this money wisely!
>
> 2) The Historian for the Village of Montgomery and I are embarking on
> an Underground Railroad History research project to determine what, if
> any, role residents of our area played in this very important part of
> our history. I am new to this field of research and would appreciate
> ANY guidance anyone can provide about resources.
>
> Thanks in advance for your assistance.
>
> Suzanne Isaksen
> Historian, Town of Montgomery
> Historian, Village of Walden
Judith Wellman, Ph.D.
Director, Historical New York Research Associates
Professor Emerita, State University of New York at Oswego
2 Harris Hill Road, Fulton, New York 13069
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Discovering extraordinary people and places in time.
"Right is of no sex. Truth is of no color." Frederick Douglass. North
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