Middle Tennessee Oral History Project
A new year, a new millennium, a new beginning are all gifts of the year 2000. But new beginnings are driven and shaped by events of the past. As MTSU approaches its 100 year anniversary, the Gore Research Center is embarking on a new phase of the oral history project started in 1995. This project will continue to capture the spoken memories and perspectives of students, staff, and faculty who have shaped MTSU history, but the project now involves uncovering more of the stories of everyday lives that shaped the history of the surrounding region. These memories will personalize and fill in the gaps of existing written histories of Middle Tennessee. The richness and variety found in the oral histories are illustrated below:
"I was tickled that the first time I went to vote for president, my husband
and father-in-law were for one candidate and my mother-in-law and myself were for the
other candidate. They should have just as well stayed at home that day, because our
vote cancelled their votes! I don't know who got elected, I think the one I voted
for did"
Mattye Rion remembering women getting the right to vote in 1920.
Q.M. Smith/MTSU Oral History Project 1995
"When I first started teaching it was included that I was expected to see that
the fire was built in the big pot-bellied stove on cold mornings......I remember one year
we had an ice storm and it was cold and we were out of coal to burn in the stove.
Some of the parents came and went in the woods nearby, cut wood, and brought it in for us
to have fire during those cold days."
Vera Covington remembering her first teaching experience in 1932.
Middle Tennessee Oral History Project 2000
"It was a wonderful, wonderful time, because it was a reunion. We all
had been gone, scattered all over the war for three years. We came back and we were
serious students then....I think that most of the veterans that came back from World War
II were excellent students."
Bob Womack remembering returning to MTSU following WWII.
Q.M. Smith/MTSU Oral History Project 1995
"We had all kinds of destructive ships, metal ships, and so on in that convoy. Every night torpedoes, depth charges, we couldn't even get out on deck or anything afraid we would get blown over."
Harry Patillo remembering serving in WWII.
Middle Tennessee Oral History Project 2000
The Gore Research Center is seeking people to interview as part of this project. If you have memories to share or just want to know more about the project and the interview process, please contact Betty Rowland at the Gore Center at 615-898-2632 or browland@mtsu.edu.