Upcoming: On February 25, 2021, Kate Rizzi is hosting a virtual oral history training workshop for the Cap & Skull Alumni Society of Rutgers.
ROHA staff person Donald Koger, SAS ’18 GSN ’21, regularly attends meetings of Veteran Alumni of Rutgers University (VARU), most recently on February 22, 2021.
Over the course of 2020-2021, Kate Rizzi and Shaun Illingworth have consulted on oral history methodology with School of Arts and Sciences undergraduates and graduate students, along with staff and faculty members in the Departments of History, American Studies, Latino and Caribbean Studies, English, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Religion.
Kate Rizzi has worked with community partners throughout the state, including the Mountain Lakes Historical Society, Somerset County Historical Society, Northern New Jersey Community Foundation and Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.
On December 3, 2020, the Rutgers Oral History Archives hosted the third annual John W. Chambers II Oral History Graduate Fellowship Lecture. The event featured Ph.D. candidate Carie Rael giving the lecture called "'I don't see this happening anywhere else': Reflections from the Grassroots in the Anaheim/Santa Ana Region." The virtual event was co-sponsored by the Rutgers Living History Society, Department of History and the Office of the Executive Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.
In partnership with the Queens Public Library, Shaun Illingworth gave a series of virtual lectures in the fall of 2020 as a part of the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Program, analyzing Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried.
Shaun Illingworth, in partnership with the Indian American Club in Monroe Township, hosts an ongoing lecture series focusing on the oral histories of foreign-born Americans in New Jersey, with the most recent event occurring on October 13, 2020.
On September 23, 2020, Shaun Illingworth was a guest speaker in a School of Arts and Sciences Honors College class.
On August 25, 2020, Kate Rizzi presented a workshop entitled "Testimony and Trust" at the Graduate Public Humanities Virtual Workshop Series, sponsored by the Center for Cultural Analysis and the School of Arts and Sciences Dean of Humanities.
On February 25, 2020, Kate Rizzi appeared in the "History Workshop" Class of Anthony Dibattista to discuss oral history methodology and share excerpts from oral histories conducted by the Rutgers Oral History Archives.
On February 22, 2020, Shaun Illingworth delivered an oral history training workshop to the Saratoga County History Roundtable in Saratoga Springs, New York.
On February 4, 2020, Donald Koger, SAS ’18 GSN ’21, gave a presentation to the staff of Horses For Forces, a veterans’ service organization in Long Valley that provides equine therapy to veterans.
On December 14, 2019, Caitlin Wiesner delivered the second annual John W. Chambers II Oral History Graduate Fellowship Lecture, entitled "Breaking the Silence, Healing Themselves: Black Women’s Stories from the Anti-Rape Movement." The event was sponsored by the Rutgers Oral History Archives, along with the Rutgers Living History Society, Department of History and the Office of the Executive Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.
On November 11, 2019, the Rutgers Oral History Archives launched the ROHA Podcast, with the first episode commemorating Veterans Day. Written and narrated by Shaun Illingworth and Zach Batista, SAS '19, "A Veterans Day Account of World War II" features the story of Rutgers alumnus Edwin Kolodziej (1924-2018). This podcast draws on many excerpts from Kolodziej's oral histories to reveal, in his own words, what life was like for a combat infantryman during the Second World War. (Click on the Podcast tab on the main menu to listen.)
On November 11, 2019, Donald Koger, SAS ’18 GSN ’21, attended the New York City Veterans Day Parade along with the Rutgers Veterans Services offices. Don gave a presentation and distributed pre-interview surveys to attendees.
On November 1, 2019, Lauren Smith, SAS '19, and Kate Rizzi hosted the "Women in New Jersey Exhibit" at New Jersey Women Make History, sponsored by the New Jersey Historical Commission, at Douglass Residential College.
On October 25, 2019, Zach Batista, SAS '19, and Kate Rizzi hosted the "Oral Histories of Livingston College Exhibit" at the Livi 50: Celebrating 50 Years of Livingston College. The event was sponsored by Rutgers University Libraries and held at James Dickson Carr Library on Livingston Campus.
On September 28, 2019, Donald Koger, SAS ’18 GSN ’21, gave a presentation on the importance of oral history and the efforts made by ROHA to document the histories of military veterans at the September 2019 meeting of the Air Force Association Chapter 195.
On September 25, 2019, Donald Koger, SAS ’18 GSN ’21, gave a presentation at the fall meeting of the Veterans Alumni of Rutgers (VARU) meeting.
On June 15, 2019, Donald Koger, SAS ’18 GSN ’21, attended the Wings & Wheels event, in Teterboro, New Jersey. The expo was hosted by the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame.
On May 21, 2019, Kate Rizzi gave a presentation entitled "Oral Histories of American Veterans" at the Hillsborough Library, Somerset County Library System, to commemorate Memorial Day.
On March 12, 2019, Shaun Illingworth appeared in Dr. Belinda Davis' class to analyze oral history and activism.
On April 27, 2019, Donald Koger, SAS ’18 GSN ’21, Lauren Lauren Smith, SAS '19, and Zach Batista, SAS '19, hosted a ROHA table at Rutgers Day. Donald, Lauren and Zach spoke to students, alumni, and other attendees about ROHA and distributed pre-interview surveys and return envelopes.
On January 24, 2019, Donald Koger, SAS ’18 GSN ’21, gave a short presentation about ROHA in Dr. Steven Diner’s US Immigration History class.
On December 6, 2018, Kate Rizzi hosted a workshop entitled "Oral History and Activism" for the Public Engagement Workshop series, sponsored by the Institute for Research on Women.
On December 1, 2018, the Rutgers Oral History Archives hosted the inaugural John W. Chambers II Oral History Graduate Fellowship Lecture, featuring Ph.D. candidate Pamela Walker. In the lecture entitled "Down in the Delta: Oral Histories from a Hallowed Home," Walker discussed her oral history research in examining the relationship between motherhood, race, activism, and political consciousness in women's social movement networks in the 1960s. The event was co-sponsored by the Rutgers Living History Society, Department of History and the Office of the Executive Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.
On June 25, 2018, the Rutgers Oral History Archives hosted Congressman Frank Pallone on behalf of the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress. The event also featured Dr. Ellen McHale, Executive Director of the New York Folklore Society.
On February 24, 2018, the Rutgers Oral History Archives partnered with the New Brunswick Free Public Library, the New Brunswick African American Heritage Committee and Dr. Kristin O’Brassill-Kulfan, Director of Public History at Rutgers-New Brunswick, to collect oral histories, letters and photographs of African American community members.
