Congratulations to our 2021 SOHA Mini-Grant Recipients!
Here is some more information about them and their great works:
Ceci Durazo Lewis, Beth Henson, and Ginny Jordan of the Douglas Oral History Project in Arizona
From left to right: Ceci Durazo Lewis, Beth Henson, and Ginny Jordan
The Douglas Oral History Project has been busy! We have conducted fifteen interviews since March 1, including three couples. While our focus is on the oldest members of our community, we have interviewed business owners, activists, schoolteachers, and smelter workers. We’ve heard stories about ditching school, finding long lost cousins on foreign soil, and crossing into Agua Prieta when the border was wide open. We’ve heard about relatives who fought with and against Pancho Villa. We are beginning to assemble the outlines of a shared portrait of Douglas in its earliest days.
We have been doing video recordings of our interviews. The technical demands have been a learning curve. We hope to produce short clips or trailers to post on our forthcoming website. Until then, we have posted several stories and photos on our facebook page. We are also transcribing every interview to share with the public.
We have received enthusiastic support. The mayor and county officials gave us a spacious downtown office. We are planning an open house celebration for Labor Day with an exhibit of Douglas workers from 1901 through the 1980s.
We are grateful for SOHA’s support! The $750 donation went towards the purpose of a desktop computer. We have since received a larger grant which will go towards better recording equipment and printing costs associated with our upcoming exhibit. Thank you!
The Ikigai Legacy Project
The Ikigai Legacy Project core team: Leslie Kitashima-Gray (Top left), Ayame Skelton (Bottom), and Caitlin O’Brien (Top right)
Based in the Little Tokyo area of Central Los Angeles, Centenary United Methodist Church (UMC) has been a driving force in multiculturalism, community outreach, and the preservation of Japanese-American cultural heritage for the Greater Los Angeles region. In the 125 years it has been open, it has not only acted as a location of spiritual growth but also as a central hub for statewide cultural festivities such as the annual Nisei Week Grand Parade.
With the approval of Centenary’s Board of Trustees, Centenary is launching the Ikigai Legacy Project to collect the oral histories of longtime Little Tokyo residents of Japanese-American descent. This project will allow us to spread awareness of Japanese-American history in Los Angeles by creating a space in which these community members may be seen, heard, and supported in the sharing of their stories, especially those related to Japanese relocation and internment in World War II. Thus, Centenary UMC will utilize this project as a medium through which we may foster communication, understanding, and healing in the community, as Centenary always has.
The Ikigai Legacy Project logo (created by their team member Ayame Skelton)
Denise Lopez and Angie Sullivan of HD SOUTH, Home of the Gilbert Historical Museum
HD SOUTH, Home of the Gilbert Historical Museum is pleased to connect with the Southwest Oral History Association to aid in the preservation of Gilbert’s oral histories.
Originally opened as Gilbert Elementary School in 1913, HD SOUTH is the oldest building still standing in Gilbert and is the only one on the National Register of Historic Places. The Gilbert Historic Society had been meeting since 1960 and was incorporated in 1979 but had no official building to call their own. When the school closed in 1977 and the building became available, the historical society leased it from Gilbert Public Schools and opened the historical museum in 1982. Then, in 1985, through the generous donation of Otto and Edna Neely, the Society purchased the building and the land.
The museum was volunteer operated until 2005 when the first executive director was hired. Over the next several years, the museum made great strides to become one of Arizona’s premier community history museums. In 2010, the Society began searching for a new direction that would sustain them over time. The staff and board of directors held many strategic planning sessions and conducted many meetings with community stakeholders.
With over 37% of Gilbert under the age of 19 and almost 25% over 50, a new programming model called Communities for All Ages (CFAA) seemed to fit this community. CFAA is an intergenerational model where the generations can learn and grow together. The programs and events at HD SOUTH are designed for all generations.
HD SOUTH currently has a collection of over 20 spiral bound transcribed oral histories and books containing oral histories. The project HD SOUTH is looking to achieve is the digitization of these oral histories to make them available digitally to the public and to preserve them in a digital format.
We appreciate the Southwest Oral History Association’s dedication to help provide funds to preserve the history of the Southwest.
HD South, Home of the Gilbert Historical Museum
Southwest Oral History Association 