1. Oral History and Beyond: An Interdisciplinary Model for Creating Oral History Documentaries in Undergraduate Classes John Hepp, History, and Mark Stine, Communications Studies, Wilkes University
Goal
The project’s goal is to develop an interdisciplinary, team-building project for history and communications studies undergraduates that combines local history with videography and results in a product that can be shared with the community.
Methodology
Small (three to five student) teams are formed in both undergraduate history and video classes to examine in the course of a semester a defined local history topic and to produce a short (thirty minute) documentary. If class size and interest exist, form multiple teams examining multiple topics. As not all history nor video majors are interested in the historical documentary format, have alternative assignments available for students (conventional papers for history students and public service announcements for video students are examples).
The Wilkes Experience
Since 2002, the History and Communications Studies departments have produced a total of six half-hour local history documentaries covering a variety of topics: An Economic History of the Wyoming Valley, Trolleys of the Wyoming Valley, Iron Horses: Railroads of the Wyoming Valley, The Revitalization of Wilkes-Barre, Wilkes-Barre: A Bicentennial Celebration , and Did You Boscov Today?: Memories of Retailing in Northeastern Pennsylvania. All documentaries appear regularly on the Wilkes University Educational Access Channel on Wilkes-Barre cable television.
Project timeline
Video students
Introduce project Week 1
Form teams (joint class meeting) Week 2
Develop production schedule Week 3
Scout locations and seek permissions Week 4
Begin to shoot static images Week 5
Revise script and begin interviews (joint class meeting) Week 6
Continue with images and interviews Weeks 7-8
Begin assembling final documentary Week 9
Continue assembling documentary and film final images Week 10
Present documentary to class Week 11
Correct any errors Week 12
Share with community Week 13+
History students
Introduce project
Form teams (joint class meeting)
Begin research and community outreach
Continue research and community outreach
Draft script
Revise script and begin interviews (joint class meeting)
Continue with interviews and research
Complete interviews and research
Assist video students with images
Comment on documentary
Assist video students with correcting errors
Share with community
Legal issues
One of the great advantages of these documentary projects is they force students to confront legal issues involving property rights and privacy in a real world setting. They must obtain permissions to conduct and use interviews and images and understand where and when they can capture images without permission. Students often have to negotiate with local historians and historical societies for the use of their holdings. Although most texts in video production and oral history contain information on these issues, having students actually deal with legal issues while on a tight timeline highlights the importance of both planning and execution. There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to use an image or an interview (and to have to reedit the documentary) because a permission is lost or refused.
Community Outreach
Both the video and history students have the opportunity of dealing with a variety of community members in the course of the production of the documentary. Our students have conducted interviews with professors, archivists, park service employees, local politicians, shoppers at department stores, retail and factory workers, experts in local history, the president of the university and the head of the local history society. They have conducted research in local public libraries, regional universities, and historical societies,, and state and national historic sites. They have filmed in local stores and factories, on the streets of Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Philadelphia, and in studios and archives. Without the active cooperation of community members and groups, these local history documentaries would not be possible. These documentaries can be shared with the community in a variety of ways, from television programs to museum displays to content on the web.