Dr. Carl Keyes to Speak at WWOHP December Event

The Worcester Women’s Oral History Project is pleased to host a presentation by Dr. Carl Keyes of Assumption College on December 3 at 5:30 p.m. at the Worcester Public Library. Dr. Keyes’ lecture is entitled Under-graduates Doing History: Integrating Oral History Projects into Humanities Courses. In this presentation Dr. Keyes will discuss the value under-graduate students in humanities courses derive from not only conducting oral history interviews, but also from the preparation of transcriptions and other documents for deposit in an archive. The permanent repository for the 300 oral histories collected by WWOHP is the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at the Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University.

Dr. Keyes said, "This process makes the students active participants in the unfolding of history and, especially, the recording and shaping of history since it requires them to act as scholars themselves rather than relying on resources (books or lectures, for instance) produced by other scholars for their consumption. As a result, many students make better connections between the content and skills emphasized in their courses and so-called "real life" applications. In addition, oral history projects integrate students into a community of scholars in ways that writing essays or exams do not."

The presentation in December will focus on how Dr. Keyes has integrated oral history projects into his history courses, and will also include examples drawing from other disciplines, including Spanish and Women’s Studies.

Dr. Keyes holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. Degree in History from Johns Hopkins University, an M.A. Degree in History, American University, and a B.A. Degree from Univ. of Michigan.

This event is part of the ongoing mission of the Worcester Women’s History Project to promote the research of local women’s history and to offer educational programming to the Worcester community. This presentation is free of charge and open to the public. For further information, you may contact Maureen Ryan Doyle at MRyandoyle@aol.com