London Regional Network
Verusca Calabria
Freelance oral historian
www.veruscacalabria.co.uk
Telno: 0779 1092850
Email: info@veruscacalabria.co.uk
Sarah Gudgin
Curator of Oral History and Contemporary Collecting
Museum of London, 150 London Wall, London, EC2Y 5HN
Telno: 020 7814 5756
Email: sgudgin@museumoflondon.org.uk
Rob Perks
Curator of Oral History
British Library, National Sound Archive, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
Telno: 020 7412 7405
Email: rob.perks@bl.uk
Pam Schweitzer
Director, European Reminiscence Network
15 Camden Row, Blackheath, London SE3 0QA
Telno: 0208 852 9293
Email: pam@pamschweitzer.com
Solomon Yohannes
Curator of Oral History and Contemporary Collecting
Museum of London, 150 London Wall, London, EC2Y 5HN
Telno: 020 7814 5765
Email: syohannes@museumoflondon.org.uk
European Reminiscence Network
During the year, I have responded to enquiries via the OHS website concerning life story and reminiscence work. This has been in three main areas: life story work with ethnic minority elders, life-story work with individuals and groups living with dementia, and theatre and visual arts-based reminiscence projects. Specific projects which might interest readers are as follows:
Reminiscence in Dementia Care: India:
In autumn 2010 I was invited to India by the Alzheimers Society. My task was to introduce reminiscence work to staff, volunteers, people with dementia and family carers. Through training sessions for staff and volunteers, and practical workshops for families living with dementia in each city, I hoped to show how group reminiscence and individual life story work could increase communication, build identity and personalise care. My husband came with me (as a volunteer and photographer) as he has many years experience as a volunteer in the UK on the “Remembering Yesterday, Caring Today” projects for families living with dementia, which I have been running since 1997.
Over 3.7 million people currently have dementia in India. Families are the main carers and they need support. Most people with dementia live with their families and are cared for at home in large households with extended families and 75% of carers are women. These family care-givers receive no allowances. In the cities there is increasing demand for paid carers, but currently there is no formal training programme for such workers. Formal short training programmes for these workers are very much needed. I gave practical workshops and illustrated lectures in Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore, with three or four events in each centre focusing on positive approaches to dementia care using life-story and reminiscence approaches, valuing the person and supporting the remaining key abilities and relationships. The response was very positive and the groups visited have incorporated regular reminiscence activity into their support programmes. There is an illustrated article on the outcomes of this visit in the September 2011 issue of the Journal of Dementia Care.
Life Story and Reminiscence Work in Dementia Care: London & Europe:
Also in autumn 2010, a new project of the European Reminiscence Network was launched entitled “Remembering Together: Reminiscence Training for families living with dementia”. Partners in the Network from 10 EU countries UK (London and Northern Ireland, Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ireland and Germany) are collaborating to introduce Life Story and Reminiscence work into dementia care. The are all following the same guidelines as published in the manual “Remembering Yesterday, Caring Today” (pub 2008 Jessica Kingsley Publishers) but adapting the ideas and exercises to suit local conditions and sensibilities.
The partners are funded to conduct two sets of reminiscence sessions with groups of up to 10 families tracing the life story and involving the participants in drama, music, dance, drawing and painting and other creative activities. They are meeting 4 times in different participating countries to compare results and to produce a website sharing their experience.
I am co-ordinator of this project, but also have been initiating the London project element. Three projects have taken place since September 2010: one in Greenwich (in partnership with Oxleas NHS Trust), one in Westminster (in partnership with Westminster Arts) and one in Woolwich aimed at Asian elders and their relatives. All have involved creative artists working alongside health care professionals to support the families, with special focus on the enabling creative expression on the part of the people with dementia.
The Indian project was difficult from a language perspective as several Indian languages were spoken within the group. However, we had excellent support from Indian care staff and we employed a Bengali speaking artist on the project. She and the Indian group have collaborated to produce a beautiful wall-hanging which will be displayed in the day centre where they have their weekly meeting.
Incidentally this same “Remembering Yesterday, Caring Today” project has been subject of a research study supported by the National Institute of Health Research with 700 families involved and this study will report in November 2011. As consultant and trainer to this project, I have had to run a series of training courses, many in Greater London, for group leaders, health and social care staff and volunteers.
This last year, I have also been running reminiscence training sessions in London for Dementia UK and for the Reminiscence Network Northern Ireland in four of their centres.
Learner Workshop for EU Lifelong Learning programme:
The European Reminiscence Network has just been funded to run a week-long workshop entitled “Year Ahead”. This is a development of last years “Transitions in Later Life” workshop attended by 25 delegates from 13 countries.
The new project is now in preparation and will take place in London in spring 2012. This Learner Workshop aims to enable participants to undertake an informal life review and a forward planning exercise at a point of change in their lives. Participants may be coming towards the end of their working lives, or wishing to make significant changes, or have already started a new phase of their lives. In any case, they will have years ahead which need planning and this planning needs to take account of their past work and life experience.
The workshop will use creative reminiscence and life review exercises to reflect on our life journeys to date, and will use theatre-based exercises to envision the futures we hope for. Working in small groups and as a whole group we shall test these creative approaches and consider their effectiveness in enabling us to manage change at a personal, psychological and social level. The workshop will be led by reminiscence and theatre practitioners and psychologists with experience in the field. We shall present a written documentation of the processes undertaken, with a view to testing them more widely with groups in our own countries.
Archiving tapes, transcripts, play-scripts, images and related material:
I have been in discussion with several agencies regarding archiving material relating to the first 20 years of Age Exchange Theatre Trust’s work. London Museum, V & A, Greenwich University, Rose Bruford College and Keele University have all been most helpful. I hope to resolve this matter in the coming year.
Writing:
This last year, 3 books have come out in which I have chapters:
- Bruce, E. & Schweitzer, P. Working With Life History in (ed. Downs, M. & Bowers, B.) Excellence in Dementia Care. Pub: McGraw Hill & Open University
- Schweitzer, P. Experience Shared and Valued in (ed. Bornat, J and Tetley, J.) (2010) Oral History and Ageing. Pub: Open University and CPA
- Schweitzer, P. Innovative Approaches to Reminiscence in (ed. Lee, H & Adams, T. (2011) Creative Approaches in Dementia Care. Pub: Palgrave Macmillan
Administrative support:
Finally, this last year I have been helped by Anna Kirow, a Polish assistant provided to support European projects through the European Commission who has played an active role in all projects and been a pleasure to work with.
(Pam Schweitzer)
Museum of London
It’s been a busy year with work underway on the Recorded Media Project, and preparations to upload oral history extracts from interviews in the oral history collections onto Collections Online, an ambitious project which will give greater access to all the Museum’s collections available through the Museum’s website. http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Collections-Research/Collections-online/
We have continued to build our oral history collection, with new interviews ranging from people talking about their experiences of being mixed race, interviewees with ex-employees of the printing and newspaper industry in Fleet Street, to interviews with people whose lives have been affected by the experiences of human trafficking and modern day slavery in London. We also conducted ten interviews with Portobello market traders and local residents to capture the market’s history, its contribution to London and the challenges facing it currently.
The Recorded Media Project
Last year work began on the Recorded Media Project which was funded by a grant from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. The project team has been busy ensuring that the Museum’s oral history and film collections are being conserved and will be available in high quality digital versions for preservation purposes and lower quality versions for the purposes of access for the future.
Bill Lowry sound engineer and Hilary Young project assistant have assessed the extent and stability of the recorded media collections held between the Museum of London, London Wall and the Museum of London, Docklands. The Recorded Media Project activities have included the digitisation of 1/3 of London History Workshop Sound and Video Archive audio cassettes and all mini discs held in the Museum’s Core Collection. The cataloguing of all the Port and River Collection and 500 new records for the London History Workshop, with another 1000 about to be uploaded onto our Museum database. The new cataloguing profile which the project team developed for the oral history section of the Museum has made searching the digitised collections much easier. The team have also assessed the Museums Film and Video Collections (over 400 objects).
Funding for the project finished in May 2011, and since June 2011 the RMP team have been digitising and cataloguing the Sainsbury’s Archive audio collection. In total: 17 reel to reels digitised; 607 cassettes digitised; 10 DATS digitised. The RMP team are about to digitise a small collection of reel-to-reel tapes for Royal Institute of British Architects for preservation and access. The team have also been researching commercial digital archive providers for disaster recovery solutions. Plans are underway for the Recorded Media Project to produce a Tool Kit for other organisation hoping to digitalise their collections.
Freedom From: modern slavery in the capital
This temporary exhibition which will run until 20 November 2011 at the Museum of London, is a partnership with Anti Slavery International and explores the personal impact of human trafficking and slavery in London in the 21st century. The exhibition features a series of large-scale commissioned photographs by Chris Steele Perkins which form the centre-piece of the exhibition, alongside the personal stories of individuals who have survived trafficking, as well as those who are working in London to eradicate modern slavery in the capital. http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Corporate/Press-media/Press-releases/Freedom+from+modern+slavery+in+the+capital.htm
Portobello Market oral history project
Collecting work on the Portobello Market oral history project is complete. The aim of the project was to collect oral histories of people who are directly or indirectly involved in the market, to capture the recent history of the market, its contribution to the economy and cultural life of London through the narration of individuals. The project recorded 10 new interviews with traders and buyers at one of the liveliest open markets in London and Europe as well as 40 minutes film footage of the market, a number of visitors were interviewed on the spot to highlight the reasons for their visit.
Mixed oral history project
The Mixed project recorded the experiences of 13 people of mixed or multiple heritage born since 1945. The project provided an opportunity to collect new material reflecting a growing shift in society and to consider how far this mirrored attitudes towards communities, race and identity, giving a voice to people of mixed or dual heritage whose stories are unrepresented in all the Museum of London’s collections. The main focus of the project was the collection of personal narratives collected through the use oral history methods. In addition, participants donated personal photographs, ephemera, costume and personal belongings to the collection. (Unfortunately Turquoise Association were unable to participate in the project as planned).
Other activities
The Oral History Department participated in an online workshop/introduction to Story Matters software hosted by Concordia’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, March 2011. We highly recommend this innovative software, but have so far not managed to implement it into our own work.
The Museum continues to provide advice in response to a steady stream of enquiries from people from a range of backgrounds and sectors working on oral history collecting and display projects, as well as from an increasing number of students looking at oral history as part of museum studies and migration studies courses among others.
(Sarah Gudgin & Solomon Yohannes)
Other London projects
I returned from Asia to the UK in the spring of 2011. From May to July I have been collecting oral histories of former and current staff and students of the former Hatfield Polytechnic, now University of Hertfordshire, to inform a publication about the rich and varied history of the institution due to be published in September 2012. The digital audio interviews will form part of an oral history archive in the making at the University of Hertfordshire library.
In June/July 2011 I ran a number of oral history training days for Hackney Voices, an oral history project run by Family Mosaics (www.familymosaic.co.uk), a supported housing scheme, to train volunteers with experience of the UK mental health service to interview other service users from migrant communities in Hackney about their experiences of mental health and racism. The interviews will be included in an exhibition at Hackney Museum as part of Hackney’s council’s initiative Mapping the Change (www.hackney.gov.uk/mapping-the-change.htm).
In July/August 2011 I have offered my oral history expertise to the Photographers Gallery (www.photonet.org.uk); as part of their project The World in London, the gallery has commissioned 204 portraits of individuals from each nation represented in the Olympics who currently reside in London. The gallery is currently collecting some interviews of the ‘sitters’; I designed an interview protocol around notions of identity and belonging and I carried out sample interviews and prepared audio clips for the projects’ website. I am currently delivering some oral history training for a large group of volunteers who will conduct more interviews in conjunction with this exciting new project. The portraits will be unveiled to the public in 2012 in conjunction with the opening of the Olympics’ games; the sound bites of the interviews will be used on the project’s website.
Lastly, it is worth mentioning that I have been managing a ‘members only’ Oral History Network on the social network Linkedin. The network was set up in October 2008 by fellow oral historian Caspar Below (www.oralhistorymatters.co.uk), and now there are 461 members from all over the world that actively engage in discussions relating to oral history. For more information and to send a request to join visit Linkedin. (www.linkedin.com)
(Verusca Calabria)
Spring School in Oral History
Venue: Institute for Historical Research, LondonStarts on: 26th April 2012, Finishes on: 28th April 2012
More information can be found at this link here.
The inaugural Spring School in Oral History will be held on 26-28 April 2012 at the Institute for Historical Research, London, in association with the Oral History Society. The first two days will focus upon six major themes, or issues, within oral history: memory; experience; the researcher’s habitus; re-use of recordings; representativeness and generalisability; and outputs and impacts.
We will start with memory, and the first session will investigate current memory research in psychology and sociology, and discuss the ways in which these findings can help us understand and interpret oral sources. One problem faced by oral historians is the concept of experience. Are attempts to reveal ‘experience’ through recorded testimony naïve? This session will explore the status and representation of experience in oral history through the work of three oral historians, Alessandro Portelli, Luisa Passerini, and Alistair Thomson.
Given that the interview is at the centre of oral history’s method, the role of the researcher in generating and interpreting oral history evidence tends to be an abiding issue of debate and discussion. In this session the notion of ‘habitus’ is used to consider the significance of the researcher’s positioning and identity. The researcher may decide to re-use existing recorded interviews, and in another session we will consider the rewards gained from returning to archived qualitative data.An enduring issue within oral history is the problem of generalisability and representativeness in oral history research. In part this is an issue of scale, but it is also about representing the uniqueness of remembered lives while addressing issues of historical significance. Of cutting across biography in order to make sense of a common past. Finally we will explore the production of public outcomes from oral history research, including books, journal articles and exhibitions.The third day of the Spring School will be in part devoted to best practice in teaching oral history. Our aim here is to share ideas about teaching oral history in Higher Education, including resources, course structures, and future developments.Those enrolling in the course should have some prior experience in recording and writing oral history, and will be asked to complete readings in advance, available through a dedicated online website.
The tutors for the course are all members of the Oral History Society and will be: Professor Joanna Bornat (Professor Emeritus, Open University), Dr Graham Smith (Royal Holloway), University of London), Dr Anna Green (University of Exeter), and Dr Shelley Trower (University of Hull).
Course fee£160
Telephone:
Email: ihr.training@sas.ac.uk