Special Collections collecting oral history of Cache Valley
The Special Collections division of the Merrill-Cazier Library is making an oral history about Latino culture in the area.
The project began in 2007 and 45 interviews have been conducted so far, said Randy Williams, folklore curator and USU oral history specialist. Thirty-seven of the interviews were done in Spanish. Williams is working to translate the 45 interviews into English and Spanish so that more people can understand them.
Every year or two, Special Collections conducts oral histories, Williams said. Williams has done oral histories on projects involving experiences of Utah War Veterans and many others.
Williams and Elisaida Mendez, doctoral student in psychology, launched the project together. Jorge Rodas also helped with the project.
The Latino oral history received a Human Ties Award in 2009, Williams said.
Mendez said she co-directed the project with Williams and that together, they trained people to do the interviews.
Williams said the reason for the project was to gather and preserve the history and heritage of Logan. Williams said she noticed years ago that Special Collections lacked information about Latinos in the local community.
“It’s for student at Utah State,” Williams said. “It’s for family members of the people interviewed. It’s for somebody 60, 50, 80, 100 years from now who wants to understand what 2007-2010 Utah, culturally, was like.”
According to the Folk Collection 38 document, “The Latino/a Voices Project began as a way to better understand and acknowledge the local, state and national story for the largest minority group in Cache Valley.”
Williams further explained the reasoning for the Latino oral history.
“Why do any of us preserve something?” Williams asked. “You want to give it to somebody else to teach them about a period of time in your life. You’re helping people understand something.”
Williams said the Special Collections division is always adding to the collection.
“We never stop adding to a collection,” Williams said. “We might stop actively pursuing doing the oral history component of it because we need to continue to add to our collections with different voices.”
Williams said she’s been doing various oral history projects at USU since 2001.
The project helps people understand what it was like for Latino people in Logan years ago, Mendez said.
“It revealed the struggles that some have undergone in their pursuit of a better future in the context of work, school and personal life,” Mendez said. “These recorded interviews are a valuable resource for future generations to know about their ancestors and for researchers who would want to examine and analyze life patterns or peculiarities of Latino contributors to society.”
Williams said she and Mendez are looking for help from the community.
Williams said she wants “anything that is also telling this story of the Latino community in Utah, especially northern Utah.”
The oral history interviews can be read and listened to online, Williams said. Some of the interviews also have pictures.
The interviews can be found online at library.usu.edu/folklo/folkarchive/FolkColl38.html or at Special Collections in the basement of the Merrill-Cazier Library, Room 305.
Williams said she is pleased with the way the project turned out and hopes to be able to continue to add to it with the help of the community.
Williams also said that if people have information about the Latino culture in Cache Valley, they should go to Special Collections.
– blaze.bullock@aggiemail.usu.edu