A historic collaboration between three statewide organizations will make it easier for Connecticut organizations and residents to collect, share, and preserve their stories. CT Humanities, the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, and the University of Connecticut have teamed up to support a state license for TheirStory, an end-to-end oral history recording, project management, and transcription platform.
“This collaboration is an opportunity to showcase the importance of stories as artifacts,” said University of Connecticut public historian, Fiona Vernal, who is spearheading the creation of an oral history infrastructure across the state. “If we want to build more inclusive collections, oral histories are the most effective artifacts for engaging with communities and sharing authority. It is fitting that three statewide entities are leveraging their partnership to use the humanities to collect and promote new histories of Connecticut–especially with the country’s 250th anniversary on the horizon.” Through UConn’s EPOCH (Engaged, Public, Oral, and Community Histories), Vernal will coordinate oral history consultations, training, and onboarding to TheirStory.
TheirStory’s platform will allow Connecticut museums, libraries, faith-based organizations, educators, students, and individuals to build their capacity for collecting, transcribing, and disseminating fuller, more inclusive stories about Connecticut. TheirStory provides integrated project management to record, transcribe, and index interviews all in one space, while providing seamless access for interviewees. Connecticut organizations will be able to quickly transcribe, edit, clip, and share content in record time.
“We are excited to partner with the CT Museum and UConn to provide free access to this technology for any Connecticut based organization interested in undertaking an oral history project,” said CT Humanities Executive Director Jason Mancini. “Oral histories are an important medium to document the voices of diverse people and communities in the state. With the planned integration with the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA), this platform becomes another critical piece in the cultural infrastructure we have been supporting for the past five years.”
“We are committed to collecting and preserving our state’s culture and history, and one important aspect of this work is the collection of stories today from our many communities in the form of oral histories,” said Robert A. Kret, executive director and CEO of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. “These histories not only transfer knowledge from one generation to the next, but illuminate, uplift, and add depth to the many perspectives of our communities. A real record of our history is found in the lives of ordinary people who lived it. Through collecting and digitally archiving these stories in partnership with the University of Connecticut and CT Humanities, we aim to establish a state infrastructure for an inclusive form of storytelling.”
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