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Students to present oral history project

By Staff | Apr 19, 2013

Shepherd University students will present a report on their “Soldiers to Scholars” oral history project at the Shepherdstown Museum’s Opening Party on Friday, April 19 at 6 p.m. at the Museum, located in the Entler Hotel building at the corner of German and Princess streets. The event is free and open to the public.

The students, who are in Dr. Keith Alexander’s Oral History class, will report on interviews with soldiers who served in recent or earlier wars and then transitioned to university studies. Many are current Shepherd students, and all are local residents. The project was made possible by a grant from the West Virginia Campus-Community Compact. The goal of the project was to capture and document the experiences of local citizens who have made the difficult transition from wartime service to peacetime studies.

“My students have been working very hard on this all semester and are very much looking forward to sharing their results with the community,” said Dr. Alexander. “Once again, the Historic Shepherdstown Commission has been a terrific partner, and we’ve also benefited from the help and support of the Office of Student Community Services and Service Learning under the direction of Holly Frye.”

The grant provided funding to purchase equipment for conducting and transcribing the oral history interviews, as well as for presenting them to the public. The grant also is helping to support the celebration. The oral histories, along with transcriptions and videos, will be presented to the Historic Shepherdstown archives. They will remain on file there and be available for public use.