The field school project focuses on integrating local knowledge with expert ways of reading the city and seeks to create a critically informed citizenry who may serve as advocates and stewards of our urban built heritage. Recounting stories of everyday places where we live and work can spur active engagement with others who share these spaces with us, revive interest in our built environment and encourage stewardship of our patrimony. The need for collaborative storytelling to create a public culture takes on a sense of urgency when established traditions and ways of life disappear and new ones emerge. But merely telling stories is not enough in these cases - rather citizens should be inspired to participate and contribute in a collective retelling of stories thereby producing a public discourse that is invested and engaged.
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During the field school we collected oral histories from many residents. These were hour-long informal interviews where individuals spoke to us about their values, identity, their sense of community, stewardship and their life histories. Here is a list of people whose oral histories have become part of the BLC field school archives:
Amine and Kristen Benbazza Andy Nunemaker Angela and George Jacobi Arthur Smith Barbara Brown Lee Barbara and Robert Elsner Beth Chapman Blair Williams Chris Bauer Christine Anderson Dan Welk Dawn McCarthy Delphine Cannon Dennis Buettner Donna Neal Gail Mosser Gregory Clerlik |
Jane Shero John Schmidt John Scripp Jared Salisbury Joe McLean Joe Libnoch John at True Value John Sterr Lisa Sadagopan Lloyd Dickinson Laurel Maney Lynn Hartwig Margaret Howland Mark Kuehn Mark Heffron Michael Connor Michelle Mooney Nik Kovac Pat Van Alyea Randy Bryant “Ringo” Mike White Sal Sendik Steve Wolf |
