Oral History Centre

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Oral History Centre

• The Campus, the Community, and the Global Oral
  History at the University of Winnipeg

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Oral History Centre

• Located in Bryce Hall
• An innovative and dynamic component of the
  Canadian History Centre
• Supports the Universitys vision and priorities
  of accessibility, community outreach, and
  capacity building.
• Strengthens the Universitys research capacities
  and moves them forward in dynamic and new
  directions through enhanced opportunities for
  faculty and, potentially, graduate research and
  teaching, innovation in audio and video
  digitization technologies, and a program of local
  and international summer institutes, workshops,
  and conferences.
• Securing a national and international reputation
  for the Oral History Centre within fives years of
  its formal initiation is a realistic objective
  because it builds upon the Universitys existing
  human and physical resources and has significant
  potential to attract public and private sector
  support.

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Vision

• The Oral History Centre at the University of
  Winnipeg strives to become a national leader and
  global innovator in developing excellence in oral
  history teaching, research and collaborative
  community development. In so doing, the Centre
  promotes oral history as a means of democratizing
  history and thus of working towards social
  justice and human rights in a globalizing world.

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Mission

• The Oral History Centre serves as a hub for
  faculty and students at the University of
  Winnipeg, for members of Winnipegs and
  Manitobas diverse communities, and for the
  broader national and global communities of oral
  history practitioners to collaboratively learn
  about the practice and theory of oral history, to
  work together on improving the quality and
  widening the scope of oral history research, and
  to develop new ways of using oral history to
  improve the quality of life for diverse
  constituencies.

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To achieve these goals, the OHC

• promotes interdisciplinary practice, analysis and
  integration of oral history into academic
  research and teaching, public policy, and
  collaborative community development.
• leverages the existing skills, expertise and
  resources of the History Department, the Centre
  for Canadian History, the Canadian Oral History
  Association, and related activities, to establish
  and promote local, national, and global
  campus-community partnerships.
• enhances innovative student training to develop
  new ways of transferring skills and knowledge in
  diverse settings.
• provides a gateway for Canadians to learn about
  global oral history practices and for the global
  community to learn about Canadian oral history
  practices and projects.

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• serves as a virtual and real meeting place for
  oral historians from around the world.
• seeks external funding for projects of relevance
  to the communities within which its affiliates
  engage.
• promotes research projects and programs of
  research that are consistent with the goals of
  national funding agencies, such as SSHRC, which
  urge scholars to assess the relevance of their
  research in relation to non-academic communities
  and settings, and to develop knowledge impact
  strategies for their research.
• strives to develop a substantial grant-funded
  research program that includes scholars from
  across the disciplines and universities, as well
  as relevant partners from the public sector and
  community organizations.

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Relevance of Oral History

• Oral history is a method of historical and social
  scientific inquiry and analysis that includes
  life histories, story telling, narratives and
  qualitative research. The practice of oral
  history is universal we all engage in oral
  history practices in our everyday lives, in
  telling our stories or listening to others. At
  every step, oral history is grounded in local
  knowledge and is connected to global experiences.
  As a method of exploring the past, oral history
  builds peoples capacity to appreciate the
  complexities of history, to critically evaluate
  the role of history in society, and, perhaps most
  importantly, to participate in the making of
  history. Oral history has become a powerful tool
  for indigenous peoples, women, migrants, working
  people, minorities, and other groups to find out
  about their own past, to tell their stories, and
  to write themselves (back) into history.

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Democratizing History

• Oral history has emerged as a movement to
  democratize history to make history more
  accessible to a wider public, to include a
  greater diversity of people in the histories that
  are written and told, and to encourage more
  people to participate in the practice of history.
  The full value of oral history as an instrument
  for individual and community empowerment can be
  realized through teaching and training in the
  practice, and in interpretation and analysis of
  the meanings of stories.

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Why Do We Need the Oral History Centre Now?

• Canada has emerged as a major site of oral
  history.
• Canadians have developed a rare expertise in
  research on indigenous oral traditions.
• The Oral History Centre, in cooperation with the
  Canadian Oral History Association, will take
  leadership in building on the strengths of this
  local and national momentum, and to relate that
  learning to international settings in
  collaborative ways.

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Oral History is at 3 Critical Junctures

• A new generation of oral historians is
  transforming the practice of oral history towards
  more interdisciplinarity and innovation.
• The digital revolution requires institutional
  leadership to help researchers transform
  challenges into opportunities for creative new
  ways of doing oral history.
• Globalization has created massive socio-economic,
  political, and environmental changes that can be
  effectively researched and addressed through oral
  history. Oral history helps us better understand,
  for example, how to empower Aboriginal
  communities, think creatively of sustainability
  and environments, and develop public policy.

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OHC Achievements to Date

• Oral History in Canada International
  Workshop-Conference, 18-20 August 2005,
  University of Winnipeg).
• Transfer of the Canadian Oral History Association
  (COHA) to the University of Winnipeg in 2005.
  Nolan Reilly and Alexander Freund took over as
  co-chairs of COHA in 2005.
• COHA website developed (www.canoha.ca).
• Guide to Oral History Collections in Canada
  digitized and made available at www.canoha.ca.
• Transformation of the Oral History Forum into an
  electronic journal.
• All previous volumes of Oral History Forum
  digitized and made available at www.canoha.ca
• Allocation of space in Bryce Hall through the
  creation of the Canadian History Centre.

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• Abe and Bertha Arnold Oral History Research Fund
  established (so far, 40K) Seeded several oral
  history projects, including projects on human
  rights, palliative care, Filipino immigrant
  community in Winnipeg, and North End immigrant
  profiles.
• Additional investment and support for the Oral
  History Centre acquired (20 K)
• Informal partnership development international
  oral history societies and programs CBC Radio
  and TV historical societies oral
  history-related programs at UW, UM, Red River
  College local, provincial, national and
  international archives.
• History Dept. has developed and offered a
  third-year, six-credit-hour course on oral
  history since 2006.
• History Dept. has helped faculty to use of oral
  history in the classroom.
• Developmental work in establishing awards in oral
  history.

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Benefits of OHC Expansion

• The vision of the Oral History Centre builds on
  past achievements and has enormous potential to
  benefit the University and surrounding community
  in profound ways. The wide scope of the practice
  and theory of oral history lends itself well to
• promoting high-quality, relevant
  interdisciplinary research
• supporting the development of meaningful
  campus-community partnerships
• meeting the needs of students in the community
  (e.g., Aboriginal students, international
  students, adult learners and others) by giving
  them widely transferable skills through workshops
  and summer institutes
• supporting technological innovation in the
  digitization of oral sources and
• attracting external public and private research
  funding.

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OHC Benefits

• To Canadian History Centre excellence in study
  of history
• To UW position UW as leader in oral history
• To Winnipeg and Manitoba community development
• To Canada provide leadership in best practice
  (community and academic research)
• To international community provide leadership in
  discussion of integrating oral history and oral
  tradition research

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Funding Opportunities

• Private Donations (e.g. Arnold Fund, so far 40K)
• External Project and Research Funds (Heritage
  Canada, Manitoba Heritage Council, Parks Canada
  Canadian Council on Learning Canadian Institutes
  for Health Research Hannah Institute for the
  History of Medicine grants UW Marsha Hanen
  Global Dialogue and Ethics Program, SSHRC
  Knowledge Impact in Society (KIS) initiative,
  Leaders Opportunity Fund (Canada Foundation for
  Innovation Trudeau Foundation, MacArthur
  Foundation)
• Digitization and Enhanced Infrastructure Funds
  (SSHRCs Image, Text, Sound and Technology
  (ITST) grants Heritage Canadas Digital
  Future grants program, incl. the New Media
  Research and Development Initiative, the New
  Media Research Networks Fund, and the
  Partnerships Fund)

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NEXT STEPS IN OPERATIONALIZING THE OHC

• The initiatives towards the creation of an Oral
  History Centre at the University of Winnipeg have
  reached a critical juncture. Several steps must
  be taken to ensure that the past efforts are now
  given the support needed to bring the Centre up
  to the next level of achievement

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Director

• Most importantly, the position of a director
  needs to be established. The director is
  cross-appointed between the History Dept. and the
  OHC.
• Initially a sessional appointment, evolving to a
  probationary position as the Centre develops.
• Director will teach existing courses in oral
  history and developing the Departments
  methodological courses in oral history.

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Foundational Activities (First 2 Years)

• Director will be charged with these tasks
• Oversee the development of the OHC in Bryce Hall
• Develop a funding strategy
• Develop a community outreach plan
• Explore and develop partnership opportunities
• Develop a governance and advisory structure for
  the Oral History Centre
• Develop research road map to explore the links
  between oral history and oral tradition

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Long-Term Goals (1)

• OHC will become a virtual and real meeting place
  for faculty and students at the University of
  Winnipeg, for members of Winnipegs and
  Manitobas diverse communities, and for the
  broader national and global communities of oral
  history practitioners.
• Students, faculty and community members will
  learn oral history skills, collaborate on
  projects, improve oral history practice, advance
  oral history theory, and develop new ways of
  using oral history to improve the quality of life
  for diverse constituencies.
• They will leverage existing skills and resources
  of the History Department, the University and the
  community and develop new skills and resources
  through creative collaboration and multiple
  partnerships.

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Long-Term Goals (2)

• They will apply their newly-learned skills to
  enhance the practice and understanding of history
  in society, to advance their careers in
  fulfilling directions, and to develop their
  communities in constructive ways.
• They will learn from oral historians from around
  the world and teach them in turn about their
  Canadian experience and expertise.
• The OHC will be funded by diverse sources,
  including public funding agencies and private
  partners.

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CONCLUSION

• Oral History is a history built around people. It
  thrusts life into history itself and widens its
  scope. It allows heroes from the unknown
  majority of the people. It encourages teachers
  and students to become fellow-workers. It brings
  history into, and out of, the community. It helps
  the less privileged towards dignity and
  self-confidence. It makes for contact and hence
  understanding between social classes, and
  between generations. In short it makes for
  fuller human beings.

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• To make for fuller human beings is at the heart
  of academia. We have some way to go before
  achieving this goal within universities, and an
  even longer way to go in making this a reality in
  the communities in which we work and live. The
  Oral History Centre at the University of Winnipeg
  can play an important role towards achieving
  these noble goals.

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Oral History Centre Director tenured faculty
position in History Dept. History Dept. with
direct links to Riley, Plett, Mennonite St., GCS,
CRC
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COHA Website
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Oral History Forum - eJournal
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Staff Requirements

• Director
• Administrative Assistant

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Space Requirements

• Offices for director and admin asst.
• Library
• Editing Room
• Studio
• Teaching Lab
• Research and study rooms
• Visiting scholar office
• Conference room
• Seminar room

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