The Housatonic Heritage Oral History Center, working with four local history organizations – Sharon, Kent, and Salisbury, Connecticut, and Sheffield, Massachusetts – will hire someone to conduct oral history inventories in the history organizations of the four towns. The goal of the project is to document numbers and types/formats of oral history recordings and related materials. The findings will help the four towns and the OHC to determine next steps for safe storage, digitization, and online archiving of those materials. The project will take up to 40 hours to complete, and will require travel to the four sites.
This person will be someone who has experience working or volunteering in a local history or similar organization, in particular with collections. An inventory form will be provided, and using that form, the she/he will carefully document each item, and then, when the four collections have been inventoried, using a prepared format, he/she will write a report.
The HH Oral History Center director will serve as coordinator of the project, helping to set up schedules and answer questions. The consultant will then work directly with each history organization’s director.
TIME FRAME
Each of the four inventories will take up to eight hours, conducted over one or two days/visits. In some cases, the inventories will have been started by the local history organization. In all cases, he or she will work with the directors to determine how to access and handle materials. The project will take a total of approximately 40 hours.
After the inventories are completed and a brief report written, she/he will participate in an online meeting with the Oral History Center director and representatives of the four history organizations.
COVID-19 related considerations. In each state – Connecticut and Massachusetts – clear guidelines on face masks and social distancing will be clearly communicated. At all times, he or she will observe guidelines as set forth by the states. In some cases, there may be additional guidelines put forth by the local organizations and those guidelines will be followed as well.
For more information, please contact Judith Monachina at jmonachina@berkshirecc.edu
