Storytelling through Community-Driven Archives

Our unique approach to archival workflows is one thing that sets community-driven archives approaches apart from mainstream archival methods. Traditionally, archivists stick to access and preservation and leave interpretation and storytelling to the researchers. But what happens when we listen to what our audiences want? We find ways to help them tell meaningful stories about their communities’ history.

Our Core Audiences and Understanding What Matters to Them

Within our community-driven archives (CDA) project, audience means a lot to us. This has been true since the beginning of our grant project, and it is getting clearer as we head towards wrapping it up and sharing what we have learned.

Our project strives to support and amplify historical projects by and for communities underrepresented in institutional archives. Our priority audience is community-based archive projects: groups of people who are interested in creating an archival project documenting their own community. We also work with individual history keepers: people, like family genealogists and community organizers, wanting to document and share histories currently missing from dominant archives and narratives due to legacies of injustice.

While brainstorming for what will go on our new project website (coming soon), our team looked at all the tools and resources that we have created with our project partners since the start of the grant. We asked ourselves, what kinds of resources are most useful to our core audiences?

Title page of Storytelling webinar with UNC logo
Learn about documentary storytelling in this CDA webinar with Theo Moore of Hiztorical Vision Productions.

We noticed that one of the most common resource requests that we receive from our community collaborators is for more tools about storytelling. In response, we have created new resources on topics like “the art of storytelling” and “how to create an exhibition.”

But what do we mean by storytelling and why should archives professionals care?

Making a Case for Storytelling in Community Archives Projects

Archives have historically prioritized the access and preservation of historical records over the interpretation of history, leaving the latter to researchers. For community archives projects, we believe it must be different.

Community archives projects address gaps in the dominant historical record and complicate mainstream historical narratives. Communities want their stories told on their own terms. Through building an archive, the collecting of history supports the (re)telling of it.

In many cases, the stories uncovered through community-based collections are not otherwise known. Due to legacies of racism, settler colonialism, patriarchy, and other forms of oppression, histories by and for Black, Indigenous, people of color, women, and LGBTIQ people have been hidden or silenced. As a result, beyond building their collection, many history keepers also want to broadcast the stories they’ve researched and curated through their archive. Many history keepers want to control how their community’s stories get told, rightfully questioning outside researchers’ and institutions’ motivations.

a museum exhibit with a backdrop of a church featuring men's and women's clothing on two mannequins near a table of historical artifacts
One section of the EKAAMP, one of our pilot partners, exhibition on the Eastern KY Social Club, 2018.

Our collaborators and partners share their communities’ stories through a variety of methods: exhibitions, public programs, websites, social media and blog posts, documentaries, short videos, and more.
We believe that archival professionals like ourselves working with community archives projects must consider the importance of storytelling. Through community collaboration, we have the opportunity to support both the safeguarding and sharing of stories.

Ideas for Archival Institutions

Since the beginning of our community-driven archives project, our work has extended to train and resource history keepers to share stories they uncover through developing a collection.

Oral histories easily lend themselves to exhibitions and other vehicles for sharing stories with visitors. Members of our team have trained local history keepers to conduct oral histories as a path to preserving memories. From there, we have worked with our community partners to incorporate oral history clips and collections materials into physical and digital exhibitions and short documentary videos that narrate important stories. One of our pilot partners, the Appalachian Student Health Coalition, created a web-based storytelling project that draws on video interviews and data visualizations to share its members’ contributions to rural healthcare in Appalachia.

Through our Archival Seedlings program, we help our ten resident Seedlings develop an archival collection and share their historical project with chosen audiences. For some Seedlings, the websites, videos, blog posts, and exhibits they create to highlight their collection are the only places their audiences can find those histories. While some Seedlings are working with traditional institutions and repositories to preserve and share their finished projects, others are choosing to keep their collections with history keepers in their own communities and to take on project promotion and outreach themselves.

A Black person seated in from of a sign in the background reading "Swift Memorial Jr. College Reunion"
Stella Gudger, Founder of the Swift Museum in Rogerville, TN, from Archival Seedling William Isom II’s interview with her.

One Seedlings participant, William Isom II, is compiling a collection of video interviews with alumni from the historically Black Swift Memorial Institute in Rogersville, TN into a video that will be on view in the museum located on Swift’s historic campus. In addition, one of our pilot partners, the Eastern Kentucky African American Migration Project (EKAAMP) has recently launched an exhibition sharing the oral histories and archival materials it collected through community-based research. These are great examples of how a collection can be “put to work” to share stories.

Storytelling Resources

Storytelling resources are available along with other related tools and trainings on our website.

For more about community-based archives on the Southern Sources blog:

What’s in an Archive? Deciding Where Your Historical Materials Will Live

The Community-Driven Archives Project at UNC-Chapel Hill is supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Follow us on Twitter @SoHistColl_1930 #CommunityDrivenArchives #CDAT #SHC

“Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away”

Still from the Zapruder film, which was shot on Kodachrome
Still from "the Zapruder film," which was shot on Kodachrome

The Eastman Kodak Company announced this week that the camera film, Kodachrome, would be taken off the market, citing declining demand for the film in the era of digital photography

During its 74 year history Kodachrome has been relished by professional and amateur photographers alike, both for its exceptional color quality and archival longevity. Over the years, many historically and culturally important moments were documented with some form of Kodachrome film. In fact, Abraham Zapruder’s 8mm reel (the so-called “Zapruder film”) of President John Kennedy’s 1963 assassination was shot on Kodachrome motion picture stock.

Making the transition

Although Kodak has halted production of Kodachrome effective immediately, the company states that the film will be available until it sells out – which they predict will be sometime this fall.

Many Kodak and independent laboratories once processed Kodachrome film, but now only one Kodak-certified facility remains: Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas. Dwayne’s Photo’s website proclaims that they will continue processing Kodachrome until December 31, 2010.

Kodak will donate the last rolls of Kodachrome to the George Eastman House photography museum at its headquarters in Rochester, New York.

“Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away”

Still from the Zapruder film, which was shot on Kodachrome
Still from "the Zapruder film," which was shot on Kodachrome

The Eastman Kodak Company announced this week that the camera film, Kodachrome, would be taken off the market, citing declining demand for the film in the era of digital photography

During its 74 year history Kodachrome has been relished by professional and amateur photographers alike, both for its exceptional color quality and archival longevity. Over the years, many historically and culturally important moments were documented with some form of Kodachrome film. In fact, Abraham Zapruder’s 8mm reel (the so-called “Zapruder film”) of President John Kennedy’s 1963 assassination was shot on Kodachrome motion picture stock.

Making the transition

Although Kodak has halted production of Kodachrome effective immediately, the company states that the film will be available until it sells out – which they predict will be sometime this fall.

Many Kodak and independent laboratories once processed Kodachrome film, but now only one Kodak-certified facility remains: Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas. Dwayne’s Photo’s website proclaims that they will continue processing Kodachrome until December 31, 2010.

Kodak will donate the last rolls of Kodachrome to the George Eastman House photography museum at its headquarters in Rochester, New York.

SHC In the News: SHC to Join SFC on Film Grant; Wilson Accessibility

There have been two very nice articles published in recent weeks highlighting the work of the Southern Historical Collection and our partner collections throughout the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library.

The first is an article by the UNC General Alumni Association covering two newly-awarded grants for film preservation that were awarded to the Southern Folklife Collection and the Southern Historical Collection (both headquartered here in the fourth floor penthouse of Wilson Library). These grants will provide critical funds for a project that will allow over 2,350 hours of rare film to be made available to the general public.

The second article is a piece by Ashley Bennett of UNC’s student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, discussing some of the great work going on in Wilson Library (and particularly in the Southern Historical Collection) to make our collections more accessible to our patrons

We really appreciate the great press and are excited to see these projects unfold.

Newly Revised and Described (11 July 2008)

Harry Lee Harllee Films (#4773)

Harry Lee Harllee was a naturalist, ornithologist, taxidermist, and founder of the Harllee Museum of Natural History in Florence, S.C. In 1927, he founded the Harllee Construction Company, also in Florence, S.C. In 1947, his nephew, Alexander McQueen Quattlebaum (1913-1987) joined the company as a partner, and it was renamed Harllee-Quattlebaum, Inc. The collection consists of 41 reels of silent, black and white, color and tinted 16-mm film, including both home movies and commercially released films. The home movies were shot, edited, and titled by Harry Lee Harllee. Subjects include members of the Harllee, Quattlebaum, Blackwell, and Dargan families; friends; former slaves; hunting and fishing scenes in North Carolina and South Carolina; Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston, S.C.; members of the Woodstone Hunting Club; and trips to Washington, D.C., the Florida Keys, and Elon College, N.C., in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Many of the films are extensively edited and contain numerous intertitles identifying people and places. Some also have identifying information written on paper inserts or on their boxes. The commercially released films are primarily short nature documentaries.

Lawrence Foushee London Papers (#4958)

Papers of Lawrence Foushee London (1908-), a retired Curator of Rare Books at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an active member of Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, N.C., and the Episcopal Church of North Carolina, and an avid family historian. The collection includes personal, church, and family papers documenting London’s relationships with family, friends, and colleagues, and his interest in research and preservation of church history and family history. Correspondence documents family life, including the experiences of his son, Alexander Claypoole London, at boarding school during the 1960s, and later in the Navy Hospital Corps during the Vietnam War; family history and church history research; the response to publication of London’s book on Bishop Joseph B. Cheshire; the experiences of friends serving in the South Pacific during World War II; friendships that grew from common interests in collecting Caruso recordings and bird watching; and the North Caroliniana Society Award that London received in 1991. There is a small amount of material relating to library administration matters. Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina materials document London’s efforts to research and preserve the history of the Diocese and the Chapel of the Cross (Chapel Hill, N.C.). London family papers chiefly consist of 18th- and 19th-century correspondence, indentures, deeds, and other papers of John R. London, Henry Adolphus London, William Lord London, and other family members. Included are deeds transferring ownership of slaves and land, and letters with news of family, business, and political affairs of various family members, chiefly in Chatham County, N.C. Civil War materials include letters from William Lord London regarding camp life and news at home and an 1863 muster roll for the 32nd North Carolina Regiment. Letters of Frank Marsden London to his parents document his art school experience and life in New York. Other materials include miscellaneous writings, a memorial, and genealogical materials.

Matthew Cary Whitaker Papers (#768)

Matthew Cary Whitaker was a physician and planter of Halifax County, N.C. The collection contains family correspondence and other materials, 1728-1870. Included are letters received by Whitaker when he was studying medicine in Baltimore, Md., 1823-1824, and bills, receipts, accounts, and business papers related primarily to plantation operations, including records of slave transactions. Items before 1823 are deeds, accounts, and other papers of the related Fort family, including letters concerning plantations in Lawrence County, Ala. Letters from Fort family members in Alabama to Hilliard Fort of Halifax County, N.C., indicate that Alabama land was more productive than North Carolina land and encourage him to speculate in unclaimed lands in Alabama. Letters to Matthew Whitaker from his brother, Spier Whitaker, and other family members discuss family news, Halifax County political news, opinions of presidential candidates, monetary and other changes made by President Andrew Jackson, and the rising price of grain due to scarcity in Europe. The Addition of 2006 contains correspondence between Whitaker and Fort family members and friends. Topics include family news, Halifax County news, plantation matters, and politics. Included is an 1864 letter from Jefferson Davis to Mrs. Ransom, a Whitaker family friend, discussing the whereabouts of her husband, Major General Robert Ransom Jr. The Addition also contains financial records and receipts including records of slave transactions.