President's Message

OHMAR's spring 2004 conference in New Jersey this past March was another powerful reminder of oral history's remarkable popularity. Despite a severe snowstorm, we had a full house attend our full-day beginner's workshop on Friday. On Saturday, the conference's morning sessions highlighted current New Jersey oral history projects. Saturday afternoon featured a plenary session on oral history and performance.

I want to write about this final session: it was utterly entrancing, and kept the audience on the edge of our seats well past the conference closing.

The most memorable moment for me was the presentation by an African theater student. As part of her instruction, she interviewed her mother to learn about the family's decision to emigrate to America. In a dramatized presentation, the student interspersed her mother's heart-rending recollection of separation with the young woman's own story. The audience witnessed oral history in dialogue, hearing and watching how a complex movement of population between two continents was encapsulated by the sorrow of a mother and daughter long kept apart. I was in tears by the end of the performance, moved by these deep emotions shown in tandem.

That afternoon I learned oral history is used not only to create plays and inform dance, but to impart the pathos and experiences of everyday life embedded in the swirling forces of our times. "Duh!"--I felt like saying to myself regarding my cultural ignorance and preoccupation with the written word. Then I reflect: this is why I value OHMAR so much--one can't help but learn from the conferences, marvel at the field's next stage and newest vista, and be humbly educated about life itself.

So, I hope our members who privately equivocate about attending an OHMAR gathering will take the bold step to just us this October for the Fall Workshops Day or next March for the spring conference. I invite you to be stirred and challenged by the range and depth of this marvelous field.
--Roger Horowitz, OHMAR President

Background:
In this issue, we consider digital recording equipment for Mac computers. This query was recely posted on the oral history listerve (h-oralhist@h-net.msu.edu.) The writer purchased a new digital recorder, the iRiver iHP-120, and wanted other
professionals to "weigh-in" with their experiences. The review below is purely a one-person perspective; it is presented in this newsletter because it may be a viable option for Mac usersin recording and transcribing oral histories.

Advantages

• It is Mac-compatible for OS X.
• It downloads digital sound to the Mac, via USB, very quickly: a 65 minute interview recorded on a Powerbook G4 was downloaded to WAV format in under three minutes.
• The writer reported excellent sound quality from the microphones tested, including a Sony Electret condenser mic, the external mic packaged with the machine, and aCrown PZM. Sibilants were considered a little "overly-hissy" as compared to recordings on the Marantz PMD-201, but the sound quality was considered comparable to the ear. The tone was not as warm as the Marantz, but the sound was "true."
• The iRiver is light and compact (about the size of a pack of cigarettes). In the writer's experience, this was the best digital unit found for size and ruggedness.
• The writer was able to record 60 hours in WAV format before downloading. Files saved quickly onto the hard drive: it took approximately one second of recording time to capture each one minute of interview.
• The iRiver makes it possible to moniter sound-in with headphones while recording. The writer noted that the monitoring mode also picked up the "pulsing click" of the hard drive, but noted that the click was not present on the saved sound files when an external mic was used.
• For sending files over the internet that must be
  kept small--e.g., for borrowing internet time to costly satelite uplinks from medical stations in remote areas--the recorder's mp3 format could be used.
• The iRiver comes with a carrying case, USB cable, "outstanding battery" (the writer reported that it lasted 14 hours), a "serviceable" external mic, AC power, remote, patch cords and other items "yet to use."

Disadvantages

• It is not PC compatible.
• Pushing the wrong button can have serious consequences. The writer reported losing a recording because at the close of the interview, the PLAY button was pushed instead of the STOP or PAUSE buttons.
• There is possibility for confusion as a result of buttons having multiple functions. Depending on the mode, REC toggles between REC and PAUSE. PLAY in some modes moves to song files instead of voice files. "Long push, short push, and toggle on the same buttons do different things," the writer commented.
• Time can also be an issue. The writer noted that it could be difficult to move quickly through the menus to select the appropriate mode. WAV, external mic, and standby to record must all be set. One false push, and the writer was required to repeat a series of steps before being able to record.
• The writer concluded that "it is not easy to just set the machine without thinking yet.

• Maryland

Bridge to Boardwalk--An Audio Journey Across Maryland's Eastern Shore has just been released! Created in collaboration between the Maryland Historical Trust and the MidAtlantic Arts Foundation, this long awaited project has been called a "tour de force of oral histories." The CD is an evocative collection of stories capturing the many voices of the people who live on the Shore: watermen, bridge workers, muscrat-skinning champions, duck hunters, and gospel singers. The price is $25.45 ($19.95 plus MD tax plus postage). To purchase, either call The Maryland Historical Trust at 410/514-7653, or go to the MAAF website <www.midatlanticarts.org/ programs_traditionalarts_delmarva>.

Goodwill Industries International is a world-wide network of 207 community-based, autonomous member organizations that serve people with workplace disadvantages and disabilities by providing job training, employment services, job placement opportunities and post-employment support. Each year since 1995, Goodwill has awarded the "Graduate of the Year" to an outstanding person who has graduated the career services program and is competitively employed by a non-Goodwill employer. Last year, the first graduate from 1955 was interviewed to record what had happened to her since 1955. This is just one interview of many conducted by Learning Resources Specialist & Archivist Jason Wieshaupt, who works out of the Goodwill Industries Rockville, MD office. Interviewing clients, staff and volunteers, Jason archives the information for institutional record, interweaving the stories and information into articles for Goodwill Today and for public historical displays.

• Pennsylvania

Routes to Roots--Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area's driving guide now available! Get your guide to steel-related cultural and industrial sites, events and activities in southwestern Pennsylvania. The 228-page book covers the seven-county Pittsburgh area, with lots of photos, ethnic and industrial heritage profiles, community histories, folklife event calendars, and more. As you drive, listen to stories about rolling steel, smelting iron, and life in coal-patch towns. Copies cost $21.40 ($20 plus PA tax), and can be ordered either online through the website <www.riversofsteel.com> or by calling the Rivers of Steel office at 412/464-4020.

Be on the lookout for the imminent release of The Philadelphia Folklore Project's new documentary videos and a childrens' book. Check out these new publications on their website <www.folkloreproject.org>.

• Washington, D.C.

The American Red Cross website has posted excerpts of its oral history collection relating to Red Cross Service to the military during World War II. The interviews are paired with photos from the Red Cross photo archives. To see the project, go to <www.redcross.org/museum/historyWW2d.asp>.

• New Jersey

Jeff Friedman, Dance Department faculty at Rutgers Uniersity, is seeking contact with researchers using oral history methods in connection with dance and other performing arts. Contact him directly at <jfdance@rci.rutgers.edu>.

• Delaware

Delaware news was submitted by the Delaware Heritage Commission, which supports the efforts of Delaware oral historians through financial, technical and other means. For more information on these and other DHC projects, go to <www.state.de.us/heritage>.

In "sleepy waterman's hamlet" of Bowers Beach, Dr. David Schulz is interviewing retired and active fishermen for a book chronicling life on the Delaware Bay.

Within the city of Wilmington, the Greater Brandywine Village has begun collecting the stories of former residents.

Fort Miles--now known as Cape Henlopen State Park--is the largest coastal defense fortification of its kind ever built. Constructed to protect the Delaware River and Bay, and the citites of Baltimore, Wilmington and Philadelphia from Nazi warships during World War II. Fort Miles is having its history pieced together by Delaware State Park historian Lee Jennings. From building paint schemes to Friday night dinner menus, the goal of this comprehensive survey is to collect information to use in a new interpretive program at the Old Fort.

Dover and Wilmington both have projects to capture the oral histories of two former Delaware Governors. In Dover, Jim Flood will interview members of the late Governor J. Caleb Bogg's administration. Gov. Boggs had the rare distinction to have served as a US Senator and as a member of the House. In Wilmington, Larry Nagangast is interviewing former Gov. Pierre S. duPoint IV and his administration. One story to explore is the state's Financial Redevelopment Act, which passed during Gov. duPont's tenure, that encouraged the credit card industry and many other companies to choose to do business in Delaware.

• New York

Linda Cousins/Amasewa Okomfo, a Brooklyn educator, writer, historiacl researcher and director of Ancestral Storytellers Promotions, just finished a book entitled Mama Moses and Mother Truth--Life Links of Harriet Ross Tubman-Davis and Sojourner Truth as Mystics and Freedom Masters. This work is available in print, as an electronic book (through Amazon.com), and as CD. Cousins, also the creator of the online curriculum "Inspiring Tales from the Underground Railroad," can be reached at <akan@aol.com>.

The annual meeting of the OHA will be held at the Hilton & Executive Tower in Portland, Oregon from September 29-October 3, 2004. The theme of the conference is "Telling Stories: Narratives of our Times." The focus of the papers and presentations will be the practice of oral history and the capability of the practice to capture stories that are meaningful and significant. The theme is especially urgent at this historical moment as American wrestle with, participate in, and react to powerful events, such as the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, the attacks occurring on September 11, 2001, and war. In addition to hearing papers that touch upon national and international concerns, the conference's location in the Pacific Northwest offers participants the chance to examine stories particular to this unique region: native populations, viniculture, logging, water, environmentalism, protest movements, art, music, and Pacific Rim heritage. Learn more about this conference by going to the OHA website: <www.dickinson.edu/oha/ org_am_port04.html>.

Contact OHMAR at ohmar.contact@gmail.com