Forging future access to memory: Library contributions to a multi-disciplinary oral history project​

Abstract

Over the last six years, Puerto Rico has been shaken by a surge of stratified disasters-multiple overlapping catastrophes that affect the population in different but interrelated ways. Unrelenting economic depression provoked the establishment of a fiscal control board appointed under the PROMESA Act, which led to the imposition of harsh austerity measures. In September 2017, hurricanes Irma and María struck, causing extreme devastation. Furthermore, late 2019 saw the onset of a swarm of earthquakes which generated widespread displacement and structural damage, and 2020 brought the COVID-19 pandemic. As recently as September 2022, Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico, causing extreme flooding and damages to an already weakened infrastructure and leaving thousands without power or running water for weeks. Our university has not been spared, as it has been subject to severe budget cuts causing the elimination of faculty positions and deterioration of infrastructure and services, with student precarity on the rise. In response to this scenario of stratified disasters, the university library, in tandem with the English Department and Film Program, have initiated a collaborative project involving the creation of an oral history laboratory (OHL). The OHL, which will be housed in the library, will be a space dedicated to the collection, preservation, and broad dissemination of oral histories from around the Puerto Rican archipelago, particularly those that capture the experiences of community members as they have navigated the many challenges of these difficult times. The creation of the OHL shows how academic libraries, especially those serving communities facing precarious circumstances, can forge alliances and design creative projects to address local events and produce unique primary source collections. The digital oral history collections generated by the OHL are a significant contribution to the historical record, as they augment the visibility of narratives and perspectives coming from sectors of the population whose voices have been historically underrepresented or silenced. In the context of overarching problems like climate change and economic precarity, this work has a potent social justice component, as it highlights the experiences of those who, due to deeply entrenched social inequities and government neglect, are forced to endure the most severe aspects of the recent wave of calamities that has battered the Puerto Rican archipelago. The methodology used in developing the OHL is fundamental to the work, as the narrative transactions conducted through oral history interviews contribute an intersectional lens that encourages approaches to historical study that are more informed by personal human experience, thus cultivating empathy and solidarity. Additionally, oral history practice has the ability to resituate those disempowered by tragedy through the act of storytelling, where the narrator is positioned as the agential protagonist, an act more and more relevant in the face of Puerto Rico’s ever-growing list of cultural traumas. This session will present the groundbreaking methodological approach employed for the creation of the OHL and its digital humanities collections, and presents an example of how libraries can develop strategic multidisciplinary alliances for projects that promote social justice and equity in their home communities.