Field Research
Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments -- Arctic
Seward Peninsula, Alaska
University of California, Berkeley
and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
2018
In August 2018, I assisted research in Nome, Alaska and the Seward Peninsula for the U.S. Department of Energy initiative Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE Arctic), a 10-year project to improve predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic system processes and feedbacks to climate. We took soil cores, vegetation surveys, and measurements of soil temperature, moisture, and permafrost depth.
This data supported long-term research into how tundra ecosystems respond to climate disturbances over time with special attention to greenhouse gas emissions from permafrost degradation and revegetation patterns after fire events.
Southern Foodways Alliance
American Southeast: AR, AL, GA, FL,
LA, MS, NC, SC, VA
University of Mississippi
2018
In 2018, I supported research at the Southern Foodways Alliance, based at the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture. The SFA explores diverse food cultures of the changing American South.
I conducted oral histories for the COVID-19 Project, documenting the experiences of farmers and food workers during the pandemic. I also transcribed for collections including Career Servers, Faith and Foodways in Alabama, Highlands Bar & Grill At Work, Saltwater South: Forgotten Coast, Sorghum: Southern Sugars, South Asian Arkansas, Southern Baking, Women Food Journalists, and Women Cookbook Writers,
Samuel Proctor Oral History Program
American Southeast: AL, FL, MS, NC, VA
University of Florida
2012 - 2016, 2020
From 2012-2016, I worked as senior research staff at the University of Florida's Samuel Proctor Oral History Program (SPOHP). I coordinated the Poarch Creek Project, a digitization initiative of a legacy oral history collection originally conducted in the 1970s with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. I also worked on many other efforts to document Southern history, including the Mississippi Freedom Project, the Virginia Tidewater Main Street Project and the Appalachian Social Change Project, coordinated the volunteer program, and managed our web presence.
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SPOHP teaches the craft and intellectual traditions of oral history as an interdisciplinary methodology, drawing on ethnography, literature, social theory, and memory studies. A central goal is supporting communities in gathering, preserving, and promoting living history. By engaging participants in the research process from conceptualization to interviewing, and from transcribing to processing to archiving, my goal was to ensure participants were foundationally prepared to use humanities skills.
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As manager of SPOHP’s heavily-accessed web presence, I maintained the program website, University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC) portal, Wikipedia, iTunes, official press announcements.
At the Oral History Association annual meeting, presenting on legacy archival work with the "Celebrating a 50-Year Oral History Collaboration Between the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and the University of Florida" roundtable.
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At the Oral History Association annual meeting, presenting on"Teaching and Connecting through Native American Oral History" and "Standing with Elders: Fieldwork in the South" panels.
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Recording traditional music and folklife interviews at the Appalachian State Old-Time Fiddlers Convention in Boone, North Carolina.
Interviews undergoing processing.
Read "Historical Researching Reaching a Peak" on UF History Department blog.
Learning to crab on the Chesapeake with AJ Hurst (TMP-035).
Explore the Tidewater Main Street Collection interview archive.
At the 60th Anniversary of Freedom Summer with veterans of the civil rights movement.
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Interview: Judge Leonard Edwards (MFP-180) Read transcript or listen to audio.
Attending an "Evening with the Elders" history gathering and celebrating four successful years of partnership in digitization and archiving. Interviews are held with Poarch Creek Nation.
Released June 2014 for the Freedom Summer reunions, volume contains over 100 MFP interviews were processed and transcribed between 2013-2014 thanks to generous support from George A. Smathers Libraries. Project won the Elizabeth B. Mason Small Project Award from the Oral History Association.
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At the Oral History Association annual meeting, presenting on beginning and sustaining SPOHP's volunteer program at the "Recording Voices and Empowering Communities: Oral History, Community Engagement, and Social Justice" panel.
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Interviewing students at the Sunflower County Freedom Project and exploring the Delta.
Interview: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Founder Lawrence Guyot (MFP-078) Read transcript.
Oral History Association Annual Meeting (Maryland/Virtual), Oct. 2020
Regional Initiative for Collecting Histories, Stories, and Experiences (RICHES) Project
Orlando and Sanford, Florida
University of Central Florida and
the Museum of Seminole County History
2011
In 2011, I volunteered with the Museum of Seminole County History and began to conduct oral histories for the first time.
The Museum highlights history and culture of Seminole County, a historical gateway to interior Central Florida via the St. Johns River. All oral histories were collected for the Regional Initiative for Collecting Histories, Stories, and Experiences, an interdisciplinary digital project partnering the University of Central Florida with other sectors of the community.
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Interviews can be accessed on the University of Central Florida RICHES portal.