WIX Archives
EAA's Timeless Voices of Aviation Video Oral History Program
Posted by Zack Baughman on Thu Apr 17, 2003 04:54:21 PM
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Timeless Voices is a major new video oral history program for the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. As far as we know, it is the only program of its type collecting video oral histories from all aspects of aviation, without any one particular focus (such as WWII). It is an extremely important undertaking, and I am both proud and lucky to be a part of it. The great thing about it is, so can any of you.
Our motto is, "Let No Story Go Untold." To achieve this we have a four-part goal: 1) to collect thousands of first-person video oral histories from men and women for whom aviation has played a major role in their lives, whether it be through military service, airlines, air racing, homebuilding, restoration, flight instructing, and so on; 2) to document and preserve the recordings in an archive for future generations; 3) to make the recordings accessible to family members, students, educators, researchers, and others through an online video history archive and other educational initiatives such as museum exhibits; and 4) to engage thousands of volunteers in the rewarding process of gathering oral histories.
Part 1 & 4 is where you folks come in. Many of you have had a career in aviation, or have been involved in restorations and the like. Many more of you know someone else who has been in aviation, such as a WWII, Korea, or Vietnam vet. If you do know someone you think would be important to add to our archive, or is you yourself would like to tell your story, please send me their name and/or contact details.
If you would like to participate as an interviewer, I will send you a Timeless Voices Project Kit that explains in detail how to record and interview. You need not be a member of the EAA to participate. This is your chance to speak to your heroes and perserve their legacies. WWII vets especially are "going West" at a tremendous rate, and time is running out to record their memories. We already have a small core of dedicated volunteers collecting interviews in their hometowns. A small group of people can accomplish great things, but time is against us.
The Timeless Voices program needs your help. If just one person who reads this gives me the name of someone to interview, or volunteers to be an interviewer, this posting is worth it.
If you have any questions, check out our website at www.timelessvoices.org, or email or call me. My number is 920-426-6839. I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have about Timeless Voices.
Now, some of you may think that your story is not important, or that you don't know anyone that would be a good interview subject. Let me just say that EVERYONE has a story - it is just a matter of digging through the memory to get to it. And all stories are important, who can say what information a researcher will want to know 20, 30, 50 years down the road.
Just to give you an example of some of the interviews we have done, I spent the last week and a half at the Sun n Fun Fly-In/Convention in Lakeland, Florida gathering interviews. Our subjects ranged from a P-47 pilot who flew with the 358th "Orange Tails" during WWII to a missionary bush pilot in Brazil. We interviewed Ray Maule, owner and operator of the well-known Maule Aircraft Company, and Sophia Payton, a female pilot who competes in women's air races today. We interviewed twenty others with very diverse and interesting aviation backgrounds. Most of them are people you probably have never heard of, but the information they provided is invaluable to the program. You don't have to know someone famous to talk to, because sometimes it is the "ordinary" folks that have the best stories to tell.
So, that's about all I have to say. Please don't glance this over and forget about it. It's an important venture and it really is a chance to help preserve aviation history. Thanks all!
Zack Baughman - Timeless Voices of Aviation Program Coordinator