Oral History Workshop, Conference, and More....

Would love to see more NJ folks involved in OHMAR! We are a small, welcoming group doing meaningful work in the field. Please feel free to reach out to me personally with any questions! Best, Melissa (mziobro@monmouth.edu)

News and Notes from OHMAR

Virtual Conference Registration Open! 

Registration is now open for our annual conference, “Time to Chat? Oral History as Conversation.” The conference will take place via Zoom Friday April 29 – Saturday April 30, 2022. We look forward to our panels, business meeting, a special documentary screening, Martha Ross Prize and Pogue Award presentations, networking session, a skill-building workshop, and much more. Stay tuned for the announcement of our keynote speaker. Click here for the draft schedule at a glance, and click here to register. We welcome oral history practitioners and enthusiasts at all levels! 

LAST CALL! Now Accepting Applications for the 2022 Martha Ross Prize

Named in honor of our late founding member, OHMAR’s Martha Ross Prize is awarded annually to an undergraduate or graduate student creating original work in oral history. This award recognizes the achievements of the student and their contributions to the field of oral history. It also provides financial assistance for the student’s current project (i.e., for travel or transcription costs, research, archiving, technology purchases, etc) in the amount of $500. Applications will be accepted until March 8, 2022. Recipients will be notified by March 31, 2022. See more here. 

2022 Pogue Award Winners Announced

Since 1979, OHMAR has recognized and promoted high standards in the field of oral history through the Pogue Award, an annual award for outstanding and continuing contributions to oral history. The award honors Forrest C. Pogue. Pogue pioneered the use of oral history in combat during World War II and also served as an early president of the Oral History Association.

Our 2022 Award goes to the LGBT Center of Central PA History Project, with the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections.

The LGBT Center of Central PA History Project was created in August 2012 with the mission to engage people in discovering, documenting, collecting, preserving and presenting the history of the LGBTQ+ community in central PA through oral histories and material culture. The History Project works in partnership with the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections which serves as the repository of the collection and provides professional archival care, digitization and preservation of the collection. The collection includes oral history interviews with more than 150 people and more than 120 linear feet of archival and artifact collections.

The History Project has created numerous temporary, traveling, and digital exhibits, sponsored symposia, lectures and story circles, partnered with more than a dozen history, art and community organizations, and worked with more than 20 college and university interns and several classes. The History Project collaborated with author William Burton and Penn State University Press to publish the book Out in Central Pennsylvania: The History of an LGBTQ Community that won the Arline Custer Memorial Award in 2020 from the Mid Atlantic Regional Archives Conference. In 2014 the History Project won the J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award from the Society of American Archivists.

Thanks to Dave Caruso and all who serve on the Pogue Award committee.