Since 2012 Kingston Frontenac Public Library has been
recording audio interviews with residents of Frontenac County and the City of
Kingston for posting on our StoryMe blog at www.kfpl.ca/storyme . Participants are asked to bring along
an old photo or small object, which we scan and return immediately, to use as a
talking point for the interview. Those photos or artifacts may be of historical
interest or just significant personally to the participant; we don’t ask that
they relate specifically to the history of Kingston/Frontenac.
Within a week of the interview each participant is sent
online links to the interview so that they may share their reminiscences with
family and friends. The photos and audio interviews are published online in two
places: first an edited version of the interview, about three minutes long, is
posted with the photo on the KFPL StoryMe blog and second, the photo and the
complete interview, of whatever length, are posted on the Internet Archive at https://archive.org . All the
full-length interviews may be found at https://archive.org/search.
Until now we have recorded the interviews at a library branch
or at community programs where the library has a presence, but recently we have
been awarded a Seniors Community Grant to allow us to expand the program to
seniors, particularly those outside of the City of Kingston. Between July 2016
and February 2017 we will be able to visit long-term care homes and retirement
residences and collect interviews from seniors who may be unable to come to a
library branch. We have already begun contacting activities directors at those
facilities to schedule interviews with their residents.
We would also like to reach seniors who are not residents of
such facilities and so we are contacting organizations and clubs who might have
senior members. My late father (William V. Hall) was a member of your club and
so I thought of contacting you. Would there be Signallers or Linemen in the
City of Kingston or Frontenac County who might be interested in participating?
Perhaps some would like to talk not just about their own family history but
also (or instead!) about the early days of the Signals Corps and the Signallers’
Club. We would be happy to send our interviewer out to a meeting or other
activity to interview anyone interested. All that is needed is a quiet spot
where we can sit down one-on-one for twenty to thirty minutes, where we can
minimize background noise on the recording – perhaps at the C & E Museum.
If participants are able to complete a copy of the attached Permission Form
ahead of time we can quickly scan the photo or object, then settle down to an
interview. We can schedule more than one visit if there is enough interest.
I am attaching a copy of our brochure and Permission Form.
If you’d prefer I can send large-print versions. I do hope we can include at
least a few Signallers and Linemen in our StoryMe oral history
program.
Please feel free to share this email and to let me know if
you have any questions.
Anne
Hall
Librarian, Programming
& Outreach
Kingston Frontenac
Public Library
130 Johnson
Street
Kingston ON K7L
1X8
fax: (613)
549-8476
email: ahall@kfpl.ca
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