A Blaine County Museum Director Sam French's goal to begin an oral history collection involving local seniors has started. French said at a meeting last month that conducting an oral history collection has been one of her goals since she came to the museum five years ago. The first interview was conducted last week and more interviews are soon to follow.

Last month, at a monthly meeting of the Chinook Lions Club, Sam French laid out her plan to attract volunteer interviewers and interviewees. She explained, "I'm hoping volunteer interviewers will locate and recruit locals born in the 1930s and 40s to be interviewed about their own history for the project."

French asked for volunteers to think about people they knew who had stories to tell that would help preserve the county's history and noted, "You likely have some family members who would make great interviewees." She asked potential interviewers to identify folks they would like to interview, list those names as well as the area of Blaine County represented and the general topic of the interview. From that process, that ended in January, nine interviewers were recruited and ten locals to be interviewed. There was a good representation of all parts of the county.

The volunteer interviewers met in mid-February for some basic training about the project's goals and to learn tips for successful interviewing. Interviewers and their interviewees were to meet for a "pre-interview meeting" to get a better notion of what topics would be covered and to understand the interview process. The goal of that meeting was for the two participants to jointly produce a list of topics that would be covered when the actual interview was held later. Many of the pre-interview meetings have been completed and the first interview occurred last week when interviewer Theresa Danley interviewed long-time Blaine County resident Lois Butcher.

Both were asked why they agreed to participate in the Oral History Project. Lois Butcher, who grew up in Harlem but has lived most of her adult life in Chinook, offered two reasons for her interest in the project. "First" Lois shared, "I'm a big fan of Theresa Danley and if she is involved in a project I wanted to participate. Secondly, my son Ron has been after

me for years to record stories for my family. This seemed a good way to get that done and have it preserved for others in the future."

As to why she volunteered to conduct interviews, Theres Danley said, "I like history and knew a couple of people whose story would be beneficial to the project." Theresa signed up to conduct two interviews for the project. Both her interviewees are members of the Chinook Presbyterian Church where Theresa co-pastors as part of the Milk River Churches (MRC). Theresa's also a published author.

What's next?

Other interviewers are working to begin their interviews. Sam French acquired the necessary recording equipment and things should be moving along toward completing the planned interviews. French says she hopes the interviews can be completed by the beginning of summer. She noted earlier that once summer comes people start being more active and harder to pin down for interviews.

Once the interviews are completed the museum staff will begin 'editing' the transcripts from the interviews. French said the tapes would be tidied up (inadvertent mistakes removed, for example) and then sent to Helena where they will become part of the Montana History Portal, an online service where historical materials can be downloaded, in this case digital recordings by Blaine Countians. She's not sure about how long that could take but hopefully the tapes could be available within the year. Sam hopes the local museum will also be able to make copies of these interview available as well as through the state portal.

Is it too late to participate?

Like many readers may be doing as they read this story, I have thought of people I've run in to that have great stories about the local area that would be interesting to preserve. I asked Sam French, knowing the original deadline for volunteer interviewers to sign up was the end of January, if she could still accept new interviewers and new candidates for interviewing. She assured me it was still possible for more interviews to be accepted.

Sam asked that if folks were interested in doing interviews, or being interviewed, they should contact her at the Blaine County Museum on Indiana Street, just south of downtown in Chinook. She's interested in potential interviewers as well as folks with stories and memories that may help preserve Blaine County's history. You can call Sam French at 357-2590 or stop by the museum, Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm.