Saving the Stories of Kentucky's Past
Personal stories innately have the power to captivate audiences, as the speaker is the only source that can transport a listener back in time to a place in history, whether it is on a field of battle, serving the poor or sharing a message delivered on the floor of Congress.
Doug Boyd, director of the University of Kentucky Libraries Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, has a keen understanding of just how powerful one's personal account can be and is charged with leading the center as it diligently works to preserve the stories of our past.
"We are building a collection that attempts to represent and document all facets of Kentucky history and culture and Kentuckians' roles in national events," said Boyd, who previously served as director of Digital Programs at University of Alabama Libraries and as director of the Kentucky Oral History Commission.
The Nunn Center's mission is concentrated on collecting stories from Kentucky history with an emphasis on interviews related to politics and public policy, military history, Appalachia, Kentucky writers, agriculture and the history of UK. Two such collections currently being worked on at the center are the Horse Industry in Kentucky Oral History Project, capturing the stories of individuals working in this important industry, and the Kentucky General Assembly Oral History Project which documents the growth and development of Kentucky’s legislative branch. This fall, the Nunn Center will feature a series of unique interviews with William B. "Mr. Wildcat" Keightley in which he recounts the history of UK men's basketball from his most unique perspective as longtime equipment manager of the team.
But these are only two collections of numerous hours of interviews collected and housed at the Nunn Center on some of our richest history. With more than 7,000 interviews representing 100 different projects, the Nunn Center is also one of the nation's largest collections of oral histories which often detail the story of our nation as well. Among the thousands of interviews at the center are personal accounts from individuals ranging from Supreme Court justices, U.S. senators and civil rights leaders to farmers, soldiers and medical practitioners, including collections of interviews with and conducted by celebrated Kentucky author Robert Penn Warren that have been presented on C-SPAN Radio and by the Who Speaks for the Negro? Archive at Vanderbilt University Libraries.
More than 500 of these interviews are used by researchers annually. And a growing number of the oral history collections are available online for researchers and the general public to access, capitalizing on Boyd's own personal research into audio and video digitization, digital preservation, and usability and Web interfaces in oral history. Boyd, a nationally recognized expert on digital oral history, is focusing on new and innovative approaches that will allow researchers anywhere in the world to access this rich collection to hear both the interviews and to read the transcripts.
According to Boyd, "The 'promise of oral history' has been to save first person accounts of our history and culture. With that well underway, our challenge now is to utilize the latest technologies to provide researchers, students and the public efficient and accurate access to this priceless collection of memories."
