The Journey of a Story

October 14, 2019 Admin

*Photograph of a woman standing in the middle of a group of trees. The sun is shining directly on her, making a glowing circle around her. Her face is turned up to look towards the light.*

Telling someone else’s story is a lot of responsibility. After collecting narratives, oral historians often have to decide how to make that story accessible to the public. In Dr. Tim Raphael’s recent workshop talk, he called this process “activating the archive.” In this post current OHMA student, Lauren Instenes, will discuss the complexities of this process by taking you on the journey of a story she previously attempted to “activate.”

Times Square: It Shines Like Diamonds

May 16, 2019 Admin

Listen to the audio story below to hear how Times Square “shined like diamonds” to an immigrant seeing it for the first-time in the late 1940’s. OHMA student Christina Barba takes excerpts from oral histories to create an audio vignette about memory, culture and the joy of discovery in New York City.

Review: Say Something Bunny!

April 4, 2019 Incite Institute at Columbia University

Oral history and theatre have many natural intersections, performances crafted from interviews and then re-interpreted and embodied by actors. But what about a performance crafted from an unintentionally discovered piece of audio, whose narrators the creator has never met? In this post, OHMA student Caroline Cunfer considers how Alison S.M. Kobayashi implemented oral history-like practices in her groundbreaking performance, “Say Something Bunny!”

An Update from 2016 Alum Robin Miniter

June 30, 2018 Admin

In this post, Robin Minter, a graduate of Columbia University’s Oral History MA Program describes her time doing the Transom Story Workshop in Woods Hole, MA and her summer plans.

On the Edge of My Seat: Planning an Interactive Oral History Exhibit

May 12, 2017 Admin

In this post, OHMA student Robin Weinberg (2016) reflects on her experience creating Four Chairs for the recent Inside Voices exhibition.