Connecting with local community partners in the American South is crucial to the Native American History Project’s mission. Since 2008, SPOHP has partnered with a variety of local church and political organizations to advance oral history collection of African American history with funding by the UF Office of the Provost, building from Joel Buchanan’s pioneering work in the Fifth Avenue Blacks Collection.
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians, Atmore, Alabama
Doris Duke Foundation
With financial assistance from the Doris Duke Foundation, in 1967 UF Oral History director Samuel Proctor urged locally connected historians, anthropologists, and tribal members–trusted members of the community–to conduct interviews in place of a University of Florida researcher. As might be expected, the style, content and questions varied widely, and informants ranged from a witness to the Indian Wars of the 1890s to a Mississippian teenage minister preaching in the 1970s.
Over 900 reels and cassette tapes were shipped to Gainesville, one by one, to be transcribed and edited by UF students and staff. Today, the research staff at SPOHP and UF Libraries work to digitize recordings, develop searchable transcripts, and most importantly, secure deeds of gift from interviewees to ensure responsible use. With over nine hundred interviews, SPOHP’s Native American History Project is its nonpareil.
For additional information, contact SPOHP, call the offices at (352) 392-7168, and connect with us online today.