Evansville – Oral histories, shared stories and memories of lived experiences are too often lost as people and time pass, yet humanity learns from looking back and reflecting on our history.
The Evansville Oral History Archives, a new EVPL digital collection funded by the EVPL Foundation, captures stories that preserve and share the history of Evansville and the region.
The project was initiated by local journalist, documentarian and educator Joe Atkinson, who filmed and edited more than 240 hours of interviews that led to this series. These interviews, initially part of WNIN’s Top 9 series and other documentary projects, feature unique and first-hand accounts from current and past residents, as well as conversations with current and former leaders and journalists in our community.
“There are so many stories of Evansville’s history in these interviews,” said Atkinson. “These archives will include first-hand accounts with people who had survived the 1925 Tri-State Tornado, which was, at the time, the worst tornado on record. There are interviews with people who lived through the 1937 flood; people who had worked in the factories and in the shipyard during World War II; people who had rushed to the site of the 1977 UE Basketball Team’s plane crash to try to help the victims, and parents who lost their sons that night.”
Each month, EVPL will release a themed collection of interviews. For this initial launch, the archives will feature Weather Disasters, with interviews from those who experienced, warned, and/or reported about these historic weather events. In July, the archives will share interviews from people who lived through the triumphs and tragedies of significant Historical Events for our community. Historic Buildings—community landmarks that help define Evansville’s past—will be featured in August.
The collection will be available via EVPL’s Digital Archives, as part of EVPL’s Online Learning & Research collection, as well as on EVPL’s YouTube channel.
“Over time, the Evansville Oral History Archives will grow to include hundreds of categorized and searchable hours of oral histories that will be added to EVPL’s Digital Archive,” said Kate Linderman, Director of Collections, EVPL. “Our Digital Archive already hosts more 76,000 images of photographs, postcards, cartoons and documents representing people, places and things in and around our community. This project adds oral histories into that collection, which has been a goal since its inception.”
As part of EVPL’s Digital Archive, the project will also be included in the Indiana State Library’s Indiana Memory collection and will feed into the Digital Public Library of America national collection.
Future releases of new sections of the Evansville Oral History Archives will often be tied to dates of significant events in local, national and world history. Additions to the archives will be announced via EVPL’s social media and monthly e-newsletter. More details about the project are available at evpl.org/oralhistoryarchives.
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