Oral history involves collecting historical information about individuals, families, events, or everyday life. Interviews are transcribed, saved digitally, or recorded on media as a record for future generations. The stories often yield information from perspectives that cannot be found in written sources.
The initial project lasted until 2011. A dozen interviewers captured two hundred recordings on various media. Those histories are now available for viewing or listening in the Archives.
In 2018 a second project captured 22 additional interviews and made them available through the Kutsche Office of Local History at Grand Valley State University. The “Stories of Summer” project used oral histories, objects, photographs, and ephemera to documente the area’s rise to become a destination for the LGBT community.
