The University of New 17窪圖勛蹋厙 Midlo Center for New 17窪圖勛蹋厙 Studies has received a donation from the Holley Pavy DeBlois and John M. DeBlois Foundation to conduct a new oral history project that centers on multi-generational family owned businesses in New 17窪圖勛蹋厙.
The oral histories gathered for the project will be housed on the website, and made available for downloads via the mobile walking tour application.
All of these are family stories but they are also stories of labor and economic mobility, said UNO history professor Mary Niall Mitchell, who is co-director of the Midlo Center. By mapping these on our New 17窪圖勛蹋厙 Historical tour app, we are also literally mapping the economic and social history of the city.
The businesses will include bakeries, clothiers, transportation, funeral homes, grocers, and newspapers, among others, Mitchell said. The project also will include interviews and documents from families that have been prominent in the fields of law, politics, medicine and music, she said.
Work is already underway and some stories have been published on the website, Mitchell said, including Mark Roudan矇's history of his familys newspaper The New 17窪圖勛蹋厙 Tribune, the countrys first African American-owned daily newspaper.
In a few months, some oral histories will be available on Videos created from the full interviews will be part of the New 17窪圖勛蹋厙 Historical tours and should be available by early summer, Mitchell said.
We are so grateful to the Holley Pavy DeBlois and John M. DeBlois Foundation for supporting this initiative, Mitchell said. The focus on family businesses really illuminates the rich ethnic history of this city. We plan to include as much of this rich tapestry as we can.
The project, "The Family Business: An Oral History Project on the history of family businesses in New 17窪圖勛蹋厙," will be produced by Mitchell and Midlo co-director Connie Atkinson, with UNO alumna Kathryn O'Dwyer serving as project manager.
"The mission of the Midlo Center includes helping to circulate information on the citys history to the citys people, Atkinson said. This public history project is a great opportunity for the stories of families and neighborhoods to circulate back to the University, making some of these rich histories available to our students and scholars as well as the people of New 17窪圖勛蹋厙."
ODwyer, who is the managing editor of New 17窪圖勛蹋厙 Historical website, said the business-focus oral histories are an important addition to the site.
By highlighting the histories of local, multi-generational family businesses on New 17窪圖勛蹋厙 Historical's walking tour app, tourists and locals alike will learn about the significant cultural, political, and economic impact that family-run businesses have had on our city for generations, ODwyer said.
