Changes
by Doug Boyd
Through oral history interviewing, we record personal experiences navigating narrative changes through time. Speaking of changes, the Oral History Association has grown profoundly through the years.
During last year’s anniversary celebration, I would periodically glance back at council minutes from the 1970s as a small and dedicated group of historians and archivists collaborated and organized to keep this new upstart organization afloat. Periodically, I would pause to consider the transformation of this organization and of our practice through the years.
Once more, the Oral History Association is experiencing change and I wanted to check in with you.
Under the leadership of Dan Kerr, Linda Shopes, Rina Benmayor and Allison Tracy, we have been conducting a thorough search for a new institutional home and a new executive director and this search is nearing completion. We have conducted interviews, site visits, and we hope to have an announcement about our new home and director this summer.
At the same time, under the leadership of Susan McCormick, Martha Norkunas, Seth Kotch, and Kathy Nasstrom, we have been conducting a search for a new editorial team for the Oral History Review. The editorial team led by Kathy Nasstrom and Troy Reeves transformed our journal over the past six years, raising the level of discourse and scholarship. I am excited to say that the search committee has concluded and we will have an exciting team in place.
I know you are all thinking right now that the specific announcements regarding the results of these searches would be perfect for this paragraph. In both cases, loose ends are being tied up and contracts are being negotiated, so we cannot make specific announcements just yet, but stay tuned, change is on the way.
