History Students Capture Stories to Preserve History

Every day, we are witnessing history in the making, and viewing it all through the lens of our own experiences and points of view. Everyone has a story, and College of Coastal Georgia students are helping to preserve some of those stories as part of an oral history project. Assistant Professor of History Dr. Hector Montford’s public history course students interviewed several residents of Marsh’s Edge Retirement Community to learn more about their lives and record their stories.

Oral history allows people to share their experiences in their own words, voices, and through their own understanding of what happened and why. It is like a sound portrait of the past and present being preserved for future generations. Montford explained that public historians often do oral history projects to preserve what can be lost over time.

“We wanted to find people who’ve led interesting lives, and reached out to Marsh’s Edge to see if anyone there would be interested in sharing their story,” Montford said. “Often, people say that they don’t have anything important to talk about, but that’s not true. These are people who have just gone about their daily lives, and whenever you talk to them, they have these interesting stories.”

Ten participants came to the Brunswick campus for the interviews and were asked life history questions about college, their neighborhoods, family life, and growing up in the 60s and 70s. For her interview, Mary Lynch brought along photos of her family and from her childhood. Leslie Wright Dow talked about her grandfather serving in the U.S. Navy, and how her parents were afraid when he went off to serve. Charlynn Clayton shared that her family lived in Liberia during a time of civil unrest. Many years later, when she saw a car on fire in Atlanta, it brought back memories of the civil unrest she witnessed. She recalled having to duck down on the floorboard of her family’s car out of precaution.

“People often focus on the big moments throughout history,” Montford said “but the day-to-day moments are just as important, as they’ve witnessed history. It’s important to preserve these stories.”

The interview recordings will be kept at the College and will soon be accessible to the community to listen and download. Montford hopes that the project will remain ongoing in order to capture other community members’ stories and special memories.