When I originally started this course, I was told I had to create a photo essay using images from the university's digital archives. For the first couple of weeks I had no clue what my topic would be, and before taking this course I didn't even know that the digital archives existed! I had a few ideas, including one that would focus on the campus' old architecture. When I was a student at Northeast Texas Community College, however, I had attempted a similar topic and was admonished by my professors who insisted I write about monuments instead. So I shied away from this topic (even though I still believe in the beauty of these old buildings!) and asked my friends what they thought I should do.
My roommate's fiance, then still her boyfriend, is a history major and involved in the TAMUC War and Memory Project. The project involves students visiting veterans and other people and videotaping their stories. Most of the interviewees discuss their experiences in whichever war they were involved in. He recommended that I look up information about the Army Specialized Training Program.
So I did. I found a large collection of images available for my photo essay. The ASTP that was held on the Commerce campus was intended to provide educated soldiers for World War II. Many of the images I used featured ASTP cadets in uniform in Commerce. This project was turned into both a Prezi presentation and a YouTube video.
My roommate's fiance, then still her boyfriend, is a history major and involved in the TAMUC War and Memory Project. The project involves students visiting veterans and other people and videotaping their stories. Most of the interviewees discuss their experiences in whichever war they were involved in. He recommended that I look up information about the Army Specialized Training Program.
So I did. I found a large collection of images available for my photo essay. The ASTP that was held on the Commerce campus was intended to provide educated soldiers for World War II. Many of the images I used featured ASTP cadets in uniform in Commerce. This project was turned into both a Prezi presentation and a YouTube video.
So I survived round one of digital storytelling, but I still wasn't very excited about my project. Whenever I thought about how I would start my DMP2 my mind went to the stories my great-grandmother would tell me. I was inspired by my great-grandmother, Naomi Webb, who led an extraordinary life. She was born in 1919 and passed away in 2008, so she lived during some of the most interesting and progressive times in American history. I loved to hear her stories and I wish she was still here to talk to me, but I am sure she would be excited for this history project. My mother is always thrilled to talk about her grandmother, and I remember sitting at the wooden oval dining room table in my great-grandmother's little green house in Tyler, TX, listening to her talk to my mom about absolutely everything. She seemed to enjoy talking about her youth and her family, most of whom she outlived.
It seemed like hers was the only story I really wanted to tell. As class carried on I managed to find a few photos in the crumbling old photo album on the weekends I went back home, and I used as many as I thought could be used for my project.
Fortunately a search in the Digital Archives also provided me with some wonderful oral histories from two women that tied in neatly with my new topic. Jeannette Foust reminds me of my great-grandmother. She grew up picking cotton like my great-grandmother had, and she was born September 26th, 1922, just three years after Naomi Webb. Ms. Foust also worked in a sewing factory in Commerce, TX, while my great-grandmother worked in a uniform factory in Tyler, TX. Both women grew up in small towns in East Texas and both had husbands who served in Europe during World War II.
I was thrilled when I found Ms. Foust's interview because she had such a similar life to my great-grandmother. Ms. Foust is also a great speaker, even though she didn't prepare a speech for her interview.
I also found Ms. Allene Hulen's oral history interview. She was 99 years old in the video and it was more difficult for her to speak than it was for Ms. Foust. Ms. Hulen passed away in August of 2010.
For my DMP2 I decided to use the same images and focus on the same time period, but I tweaked the focus of the project to what life must have been like for the people who weren't soldiers. It was very fortunate that I could use both Ms. Hulen's and Ms. Foust's interviews for my video essay. I also used the images from DMP1, some family photos, and the oral histories to tell a story about some of the experiences of people who were from East Texas during World War II.
This project has demanded a lot of time for me to work on it, and even now I am not finished editing the video. It has been a great experience learning about some of East Texas' local history, and if I had more time I would expand on the information I have already gained.
For more information visit the following links:
Jeannette Foust's Oral HistoryTexas A&M University-Commerce War and Memory Project
English 333 Class Blog
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