Find out the background and see a demonstration of oral-history interviewing in this video of the Jan. 26, 2017, “Telling Our Westside Stories” reception of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society.
Held at our “Birthplace of Seattle” Log House Museum, the reception celebrated the culmination of the “Telling Our Westside Stories” project launched in 2010 and producing exhibits at our museum unveiled in 2012 (theme of “Land”), 2014 (theme of “Work”) and 2016 (theme of “Home”). The project was funded in part by a grant from 4Culture.
The unusual aspect of this project is that it teamed middle-school interviewers and elders on the Duwamish peninsula.
Leading the project was then-president of our board Judy Bentley, who secured the involvement of Amy O’Donoghue, Madison Middle School teacher, and her language arts/history students.
At the reception, Bentley and O’Donoghue provided background on the project (in the video, Bentley from 1:18 to 6:20, and O’Donoghue from 6:25 to 16:30).
The interview demonstration featured interviewee Detlev Kroll of West Seattle’s Kroll family, and student interviewers Zoe Harper and Lola Demerger, now 16-year-old sophomores at West Seattle High School, who participated in the project while they were middle-schoolers at Madison.
The demonstration runs from 16:30 to 27:00 in the video, and the students provide reflective comments from 27:00 to 29:00.
Emcee for the reception was Lissa Kramer, curator, and providing closing comments was Clay Eals, executive director.
To learn more about “Welcome Home,” the third exhibit installment of the “Telling Our Westside Stories” project, click here.
