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Bristol History Collection of Oral History Projects

 Collection
Identifier: GA.BH.12

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of digital audio recordings of oral history interviews from all three projects, as well as a small amount of background information about the projects and interviewees, and transcripts.

Documentation of the first Bristol Borough Oral History Project, 2007-2008, includes a small amount of background information/flyers about the project, copies of photographs of the tri-fold poster boards created by students about the residents they interviewed (filed alphabetically by interviewee), and digital audio files of the interviews in Windows Media Audio/Video (.wmv) format.

Documentation of the World War II project, 2010, consists of digital audio files of the interviews in Windows Media Audio/Video (.wmv) format, transcripts in alphabetical order by interviewee, a small amount of background information about each interviewee, including photocopies of photographs and primary-source documents, and digital photographs of the students' poster boards.

Documentation of the "Our Boys of Summer" project from 2012 consists of digital audio files of the interviews in Windows Media Audio/Video (.wmv) format and transcripts.

Dates

  • 2008 - 2012

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Margaret R. Grundy Memorial Library (archive@grundylibrary.org) for information about accessing this collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright interests for this collection belong to The Grundy Foundation. For more information, contact the Grundy Archivist (archive@grundylibrary.org).

Biographical / Historical

In 2007, the Bristol Borough Community Partnership organized the first Bristol Borough Oral History Project, in which 7th and 8th grade students from at several schools in Bristol Borough (including St. Ann School and Bristol Middle School) interviewed some of the borough's longtime residents. The project was conducted from 2007 to 2009 and approximately 15 residents were interviewed.

In 2010, the Oral History Initiative Committee organized another oral history project, this one focusing on World War II. High school students interviewed 13 veterans. At the same time, Committee members interviewed the same number of Bristol residents who stayed local for the war for the "On the Home Front" part of the project.

In 2012, the Bristol Oral History Initiative Committee conducted six oral history interviews for "Our Boys of Summer: Remembering Bristol's Baseball History."

Extent

1 Linear Feet : Additionally 23 GB of digital files

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

From 2007-2012, the Bristol Oral History Initiative Committee organized three oral history projects with residents of Bristol Borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The first project was conducted by Borough students in the 7th and 8th grades. The interviewees were family members and community leaders, each discussing their life growing up in Bristol. The second series of interviews was conducted by 10th and 11th graders, and focused on Bristol veterans and residents on the home front during World War II. The third series interviewed Bristolians who were involved with baseball in Bristol during the 1930’s, 1940’s, and 1950’s. The Bristol History collection of oral history projects, 2007-2013, consists of digital audio recordings of oral history interviews from all three projects, as well as a small amount of background information about the projects and interviewees, some transcripts, and copies of photographs of some of the tri-fold poster boards created by students about the people they interviewed. The collection of oral histories continues as an initiative between the Bristol Cultural and Historical Foundation and the Margaret R. Grundy Memorial Library.

Accruals

Possible future accruals expected.

Processing Information

Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.

In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact the Grundy Archivist directly for more information.

Title
Bristol History collection of oral history projects
Status
Under Revision
Author
Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Faith Charlton (PACSCL)
Date
2013
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English
Sponsor
This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Repository Details

Part of the Grundy Archive Repository

Contact:
680 Radcliffe Street
Bristol PA 19007 United States
215-788-7891