Oral history interviews are a method that people use worldwide to preserve original information and enrich education for future generations, according to siarchives.si.edu.  They serve as a window to the past, focusing on specific moments rather than broad historical events, according to staughs.com.  The Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis, Missouri holds recordings of alumna-conducted interviews from across the Network of Sacred Heart Schools.  As a part of the Network, Sacred Heart Greenwich students will begin conducting interviews to preserve alumna stories.

In an oral history interview, the interviewer captures the interviewee’s responses on audio.  An oral history interview focuses on the individual’s memory and its historical significance.  At the end of the interview, the interviewer keeps the audio in a archive so individuals can refer back in the future, according to usm.edu.

Ms. Jillian Wolf, Director of Library Services, has partnered with Ms. Ellyn Stewart, Director of Media Studies, Design, and Innovation, and the Sacred Heart Greenwich Alumnae Department to initiate the incorporation of oral history into the Network schools.  Ms. Wolf and Ms. Stewart are working to connect the alumnae with students who are participating in the pilot program.  The students will conduct interviews with alumnae and turn them into podcasts to share with the Sacred Heart community.  Ms. Wolf discussed the significance of Sacred Heart Greenwich’s involvement in capturing oral history.

“It’s a great opportunity for students to practice their oral history skills, their interviewing skills, and expand the podcasting program we have,”  Ms. Wolf said.  “It creates a kind of chronology of stories and builds relationships with folks who have graduated.  Whether they’ve recently graduated or graduated many years ago, […] it showcases the similarities and differences and to see how the school has shifted over time.”

The Academy of the Sacred Heart was the first Sacred Heart school in the United States and holds all of the Network’s archives within their campus.  In the archives are historical documents, books, and personal belongings from St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, a founding member of the Society of the Sacred Heart.   Sacred Heart Greenwich’s oral history project recordings will go to these archives so that future generations can use them, according to ash1818.org.

Although oral history is the oldest form of historical questioning, it persists in modern times, according to usm.edu.  Ms. Wolf emphasized how preserving these interviews for future generations forges stronger community bonds and helps to keep the past alive.

“You can look at a timeline or watch a video that shows old pictures and old photographs and all of these big highlights from the school, but it’s those day-to-day moments that are really what the school is all about,” Ms. Wolf said.  “It’s those micro-moments that I think do not get highlighted in those big celebrations or anniversary reels, so I think this personal oral history, this personal conversation with folks, is going to bring a light and bring a vibrancy […] to our history in a way we have not necessarily been able to see before.”