DALTON, Mass. — The Historical Commission is interested in participating in the Housatonic Oral History Program to collect, preserve and share the personal stories and memories of local residents. 

 

During a meeting last month, the commission heard from Judith Monachina, the director of the Housatonic Heritage Oral History Center at Berkshire Community College. 

 

The center was established in May 2017 during the Oral History Symposium at BCC, because many organizations had legacy collections, such as old interviews on tapes, CDs, or other formats. 

 

The program is part of the national network of heritage areas, Monachina said. 

 

She outlined how the center partners with groups and communities to aid in digitizing old recordings, archiving materials, and documenting stories and memories from residents. 

 

They would train the commission on how to digitize its collections through the state or public archive, such as Digital Commonwealth, Monachina said. 

 

The oral history center has previously partnered with organizations including the local chapter of the NAACP, the Sheffield Land Trust, Housatonic Valley Regional High School, and others. 

 

As part of the initiative, the commission needs volunteers willing to share their memories of the town. 

 

Those interested in participating in the program can email the commission or sign up in a notebook soon to be placed at the Senior Center.

 

The hope is to capture the life experiences, often of long-term or older community members, using interviews, story circles, group discussions, one-on-one interviews, or other methods that ensure these perspectives are archived for public consumption. 

 

The commission's approach to collecting these narratives is not yet clear. However, commission co-Chair Debora Kovacs mentioned that they plan to begin on a small scale. 

 

To start, they intend to create opportunities for interested community members to speak during small events featuring food and drinks, during which they share their stories, to be audio recorded and archived. 

 

Kovacs highlighted the different possibilities the project presents, including maybe having themed events. 

 

The prospects opened up even more upon the arrival of the Senior Center's Program Assistant Lisa Turner. 

 

Turner noticed the commission's sign-up sheet for the initiative at the Senior Center, but there were no sign-ups and the document disappeared. 

 

However, the initiative piqued her interest because the stories she hears from the seniors are priceless, which drove her to attend the event and offer her assistance. 

 

Commissioners were excited to hear this and agreed to correspond with her to set up future events for the seniors. 

 

The commission voted to establish an ad-hoc committee dedicated to the planning and organizing of the town's project. Who will be serving on the committee will be determined during a future meeting when more members are present.