UDO Archives Project

OSU's Center for Folklore Studies

Faculty from OSU's Center for Folklore Studies have continued their contribution to the University District Archive Project by training undergraduate students to conduct and record oral history interviews with area residents. In previous quarters sociolinguist Galey Modan and folklorist Martha Sims have devoted classes to this project, and this fall 2008 quarter folklorist Ray Cashman is teaching English 367.05 "Memory and Place in the University District."

In the first half of Cashman's course, students interviewed individuals identified by members of the University Community Association and the University Area Enrichment Association. Students then indexed topics discussed and transcribed some of the more memorable stories. In the second half of the class students built on previous interviews and added mapping and photography to compose multi-media essays on senses of place in the University District. Soon the oral historical materials will be available to the public at both the Ohio Historical Society and OSU's Center for Folklore Studies' Archives.

Most recently, OSU's Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities has funded hiring a student who will be trained by staff of the Center for Folklore Studies to organize the oral historical materials and make them accessible to the public. Over the winter and spring quarters, Clayton Buffer will identify topic keywords in each interview and enter these into a searchable database that will be made available online. Eventually anyone with web access will be able to enter a topic of interest (e.g., "development" or "Oakland Avenue" or "the Depression") and find which interviews include relevant discussion and at what point in the interview.