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OVERVIEW OF THE

TEMPE HISTORICAL MUSEUM

ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

The Tempe Historical Museum’s Oral History Program is  dedicated to documenting the history  of Tempe and the general development of the Salt River Valley.  The program strives to meet the highest standards of research, interviewing, transcription, and archiving in the field of oral  history.  It is the goal of the Oral History Program to make its work available to the public through programming and museum exhibitions.

The early focus of the program was to interview long-time Tempe residents.  The collection also has interviews on cotton farming, Arizona State University football, Tempe high schools, and Tempe City government, among other topics.  One notable aspect of the collection is the Barrios Oral History Project, a series of seventeen interviews conducted in the early 1990s that details the previously unrecorded history of Tempe’s large Hispanic community.

Beginning in 2007 the focus of he program shifted to the four themes outlined in the Museum’s interpretive framework: Arizona State University, Living Together (Pluralism), Surviving in the Desert, and   Building Our Community.  

An Oral History Committee was formed with diverse representation from various groups in the community as well as the Museum’s Advisory Board and the Tempe Historical Society Board.

The collection currently contains over 300 interviews.  Transcripts exist for about 120 of the interviews; many of these are on the Museum’s web site: www.tempe.gov/museum.  Tape logs have been created for all of the other interviews, providing an outline of the topics included.

The Oral History Committee has identified nearly 200 people they would like to have interviewed.  Staff time is presently very limited because of the renovation project.  To keep the Oral History Program moving forward we are

providing training for oral history volunteers.  The more volunteers we get the more interviews we can do.

Interviewees have been identified and questions have been developed.  Museum staff is currently inviting people to be interviewed.  Oral history volunteers will work with museum staff, scheduling and conducting interviews and assisting with creating tape logs and transcriptions.

All workshops consist of the same information.  Choose the one that works best for your schedule.  If you are interested in participating please contact James Burns, Curator of History, at 480-350-5110 or James_burns@tempe.gov.

The collection currently contains over 300 interviews.  Transcripts exist for about 120 of the interviews; many of these are on the Museum’s web site: www.tempe.gov/museum.  Tape logs have been created for all of the other interviews, providing an outline of the topics included.

The Oral History Committee has identified nearly 200 people they would like to have interviewed.  Staff time is presently very limited because of the renovation project.  To keep the Oral History Program moving forward we are providing training for oral history volunteers.  The more volunteers we get the more interviews we can do.

Interviewees have been identified and questions have been developed.  Museum staff is currently inviting people to be interviewed.  Oral history volunteers will work with museum staff, scheduling and conducting interviews and assisting with creating tape logs and transcriptions.

All workshops consist of the same information.  Choose the one that works best for your schedule.  If you are interested in participating please contact James Burns, Curator of History, at 480-350-5110 or James_burns@tempe.gov.

Workshops are scheduled for:

Friday April 17th from 1:30 – 3:00 p.m.

Friday May 22nd from 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Friday June 5th from 1:30 – 3:00 p.m.

Friday June 26th from 3:00 – 4:30 p.m