Recording Oral History at the LibraryDo you have a friend or loved one who lived through the Dust Bowl or the Great Depression? Most likely they have plenty of stories to tell. There will be a digital voice recorder available at the library during the run of the exhibit, for the purpose of interviewing them and documenting those special stories. After making the recording, you will receive a digital copy online.
Reserve a 45-minute appointment slot to use the equipment in a private study room by calling the library at 309-274-2719. Tips for preparing for the oral history recording:
|
Oral History Workshop for TeensBecome a First-person History Sleuth!
Calling all sleuths and history buffs (grades 9-12): The year was 1931 and the first of the monstrous black dust clouds blotted out the sun above the American plains. Drought would usher in eight more years of crop failure across the southern plains. With no plant roots to anchor the bone-dry soil, the land became dust, swept up by fearsome winds that created enormous dark, swirling clouds. Here in Central Illinois, farmers were insulated from the direct broadside of those rolling walls of black, but they felt the shock waves that racked the entire country. Here’s your chance to discover how the Dust Bowl years impacted life on the prairie by going straight to the source—to the people who actually lived through those times. Your job will be to act as the sleuth to uncover long-buried stories or to pull pertinent gems from the stacks of memories. All you need is a little training and experience and you will don the journalist’s hat to ask the kinds of questions that generate interesting and even surprising responses. Click here for more information, session dates, and registration info. |