Oral History Master of Arts

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Bridget Bartolini (2018)

Bridget Bartolini is an oral historian, educator, socially engaged artist, and writer who specializes in New York City history, place-based storytelling, and narrator profiles. 

Bridget has conducted oral history interviews for the Columbia Center for Oral History Research's NYC COVID-19 Oral History, Narrative and Memory Archive, Queens Memory's COVID-19 Project, Educational Alliance's Nonagenarians in the NORC, and family clients. She served as an audit editor for Columbia's Obama Presidency Oral History. Her thesis project, 34th Avenue Oral History, was awarded the 2021-2022 Public Humanities Fellowship from the SoF/Heyman Center and the Public Humanities Grant from Humanities New York.

Inspired by her love for New York City and belief in the power of storytelling as a tool for social justice, Bridget created the Five Boro Story Project in 2013 to produce community programs that bring New Yorkers together through sharing personal stories and art inspired by our neighborhoods. She has produced more than eighty community events with the Five Boro Story Project and has led numerous workshops on oral history, storytelling, advocacy, and social change. 

Before studying in Columbia's Oral History MA program, Bridget earned a Masters in Community Education and a Bachelors in East Asian Studies with a concentration in Japanese language.