Preserving Stories: An Oral History Workshop
Taught by Lauren Taylor
Lauren Taylor, M.A., M.S., L.C.S.W., psychiatric social worker and oral historian, is an adjunct lecturer at the Columbia University School of Social Work, and, until recently, served as project coordinator of the Hartford Partnership Program on Aging Education. Ms. Taylor has been on staff since 1994 at the Service Program for Older People (SPOP), a mental health clinic for older adults, providing mental health services both in the clinic and, for the frail elderly, in their homes. Ms. Taylor has also served as a field advisor and field instructor for Columbia University social work students interning in a range of aging agencies. In addition to her clinical work, she has received a degree from Columbia University in oral history.
Ms. Taylor gives seminars and workshops on a wide variety of mental health issues related to the aging process. In 2002, in conjunction with CUSSW, she made an educational film about sexuality and aging, funded by the Hartford Foundation and distributed by the New York Academy of Medicine. In 2005 Ms. Taylor created a second teaching film, in which she brought together young social work students and older women for a dialogue about the challenges facing women across the life span.
As an oral historian, Ms. Taylor has conducted dozens of life history interviews with older adults, both in the United States and abroad, and is studying the subjective experience of aging through the medium of narrative, in a cross-cultural context. Ms. Taylor has lectured and published on the therapeutic use of oral history and life review for an aging population.
Please note that this is a two-session class meeting on Saturday, 2/18 from 11am-1pm and Saturday, 2/25, 11am-2pm.
Did you ever wish you could hear your great-grandfather talk about what life was like in the “old days”? Or what it was like growing up in Williamsburg many years ago? Maybe your grandchildren will wonder someday what life was like for you when you were young. Oral history can preserve these stories for posterity.
What is oral history? Oral history is a means of collecting and preserving the stories and memories of both individuals and communities, through the medium of recorded interviews. It is both the oldest form of recorded narrative, dating back before the written word, and the most up-to-date, thanks to modern technology.
This two-part, hands-on workshop, taught by a Columbia University oral historian, will help guide you through the process of recording and preserving stories. The first part will cover the meaning and structure of stories, interviewing and transcribing techniques, the relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee, and methods of preserving the interviews. Between sessions 1 and 2, participants will be asked record a short interview, and come to class prepared to share and critique their interviewing experiences.
