Oral Histories
The PAGE Oral History Project teaches girls to honor the old while embracing the new.
Storytelling and listening are ancient human practices that allow us to connect with others and learn more about the places we inhabit. PAGE girls use modern technology to record interviews, photograph narrators, and share the content they generate through oral histories. These tools can help girls connect local stories and traditions with global communities.
Each year we choose a different theme for the Oral History Project. Our teaching team works within the Madison County community to locate people who are willing to share their stories. No matter the subject, PAGE girls learn to prepare questions for interviews, practice deep listening, interact respectfully with older community members, and think critically about the stories they hear.
Our program honors the rich tradition of storytelling in Madison County, North Carolina, and the Southern Appalachian Mountains. We are proud to be collecting these stories and humbled that people offer us their time and memories.
To learn more about the PAGE Oral History Program by year, follow the links below.
Spring Creek School
7th grade girls in PAGE worked to create Spring Creek School Oral Histories.They spent weeks poring over books, interviewing local men and women about their experiences at the school, and honing new audio and video editing skills needed to transform interviews and photographs into multi-media oral histories.
Spring Creek School Oral History
Foodways in Appalachia
7th grade girls in PAGE worked to create an Appalachian Foodways Oral Histories.They spent weeks poring over books, interviewing local women about making and growing food, and honing new audio and video editing skills needed to transform interviews and photographs into multi-media oral histories.
Foodways in Appalachia Oral History- Southern Oral History Program (SOHP)
- Listen to an SOHP collection called Developing Madison County
- Catch the Spirit of Appalachia, Stories of Mountain Folk
- Center for Cultural Preservation’s:
- “Mountain Elder Wisdom Oral Histories” — https://saveculture.org/oral-histories-mountain-elder-wisdom/
- “A Great American Tapestry”
- Western Carolina University Oral History Collection
- Mountain People, Mountain Lives: A Student-Led Oral History Project
- Southern Foodways Alliance
Explore other PAGE project types:
