Amanda McLaren, Director of the Benzonia Public Library, told us about the library's exciting oral history project.
Working under a federal grant, the library selected four seniors from Benzie Central High School as interns. The students attended weekly meetings with an intern coordinator from the University of Michigan during which they were trained on interview protocol and videography.
Once trained the interns interviewed 8 local veterans whose stories have been archived in the Library of Congress. They then conducted open-ended Story Corps interviews of whole families. Now they are gathering names of people from Benzie County for a Legacy Project. Each student will conduct two interviews, and the results will be part of a movie that will be shown on May 17th at the Garden Theater in Frankfort.
To learn more about Remembering Benzie and the many other projects of the Benzonia Public Library, check out the library's website.