Mississippi Headwaters Oral History Project
Voices of the River; Tributaries from the Past

Mission

The mission of the Mississippi Headwaters Board Oral History Project is to collect and preserve, through the use of tape recorded interviews, unique and valuable information about the Mississippi River Headwaters history that exists only in people's memories and that otherwise will be lost. The Mississippi Headwaters Oral History Committee strive to accomplish this through its own interviewing programs, conducted by volunteer advisory committee members and local citizen volunteers and by encouraging and assisting historical researchers and other like interested groups to carry out related oral history projects.

Goals

To contact and seek financial support for the Mississippi Headwaters Oral History Project through various grants and donation applications that are available from funding sources. This process enables specific funds to be planned and specified during the various stages in the Oral History programs development.

To enhance the research skills of volunteers by providing training in oral history methodology through workshops and classes and by making high quality field recording equipment available to these volunteers.

To provide assistance to colleges and high school classes that promotes the inclusion of oral history in their classes, thus helping area students to see Mississippi Headwaters River history as something in which they and their families may participate.

To contribute to the history resources of the Mississippi Headwaters River collections by encouraging outside researchers to deposit history materials they collect as well as providing an accessible deposit library of our own tapes and transcripts.

To publish and disseminate oral history materials and information through a proposed newsletter and publication of booklets.

To help other individuals and groups throughout our area collect and preserve their important river related family and local history.