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For those of you tuning in for the first time, this "roughly"
quarterly newsletter is designed to tell you just a little bit about
what we have been doing here at Houston Arts and Media for the last
three-ish months.
Please take a little time to read about what's going on in our community,
and the many exciting projects we're working on. Our need for volunteers
is as great as ever. If you or someone you know shares a passion for
education and Houston history, please let
us know. Our Neighbor to Neighbor Oral History Project, in particular,
is time sensitive. We need about 100 active volunteers to help us collect
750 hours of stories from long-time Houstonians before they're gone.
Thanks again for reading,
Laurie Feinswog
Vice President and Secretary
Houston Arts and Media
Olivewood Cemetery
We have had the pleasure of knowing Margott Williams and Charles Cook
from the Descendants
of Olivewood Cemetery for well over a year. We have watched as they
have put their hearts and souls and gallons and gallons of sweat into
cleaning up and protecting Olivewood Cemetery, Houston's first incorporated
cemetery for African Americans. We have tried to help them everyway
we can, including trying to get our own supporters interested in their
cause.
Ms. Williams and Mr. Cook frequently attend our meetups, so many of
you know them already. But what you might not know is that they are
currently having to fight outsiders for the right to protect the land
that their own ancestors are buried in. This group, claiming the support
of Prairie View and TSU, but no affiliation with the cemetery at all,
wants to prevent the Descendants of Olivewood from creating the kind
of sanctuary in which they would want to visit their loved ones.
It would be a real shame to let such an intimate piece of our community
fall into the stewardship of someone so disconnected from the neighborhood
it is supposed to serve. We are doing everything we can to show the
Descendants of Olivewood our support, and we hope that you do as well.
We'll keep you up to date on what's going on.
In the meanwhile, we would like to take advantage of the "cooler"
weather of October or November to get a group of HAM people (volunteers,
interview subjects, generally interested folks) to have a HAM day at
Olivewood to help cleanup. It will undoubtedly involve sweat, scrapes,
brambles, and mosquitoes, but it is for a great cause. If you're interested
in helping out, please let
us know and we'll start working on a date.
Meetups
Our monthly meetups are gaining momentum. Last Saturday we had
nearly 20 people at Mojo
Risin' Coffeehouse. Barbara and Marks Hinton were there and Marks
talked about his Houston Street Names book (which you can purchase here).
JR Gonzales, who writes the Bayou
City History blog for the Chronicle was also there, as well as Margott
Williams from the Descendants
of Olivewood Cemetery. And Beth McLaughlin, from Adept
Word Management, a transcription company who has graciously donated
some transcription services for our interviews was there. Plus there
was the usual array of HAM volunteers, lovely people we've interviewed,
historians, and a few innocent bystanders.
There are many, many people doing great work in historic preservation
and history documentation in Houston, and many more who just love to
hear about it. We are thrilled to be able to offer all these people
an opportunity to share their work and their questions in an informal
setting. It's really just a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon, so
you all should come out some time to join us...
So far we've been meeting on the second Saturday of the month at 2pm.
Click here
if you'd like to be included on the mailing list.
Houston History on CH 55
In other exciting news, Mike Vance, HAM president, has been
working with the powers that be at Channel 55 (where he has his day
job) to create a weekly half hour TV show on Houston Area history. They
have already begun pre-production, and are aiming for a debut in early
2008. HAM will be an advisor to the show.
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N2N Oral Histories
We have slated this coming 12 months for Phase II of our N2N
Oral History project. We need about 100 dedicated volunteer interviewers
who are willing to do on average, 7-10 interviews a piece. This will
give us about 750 hours of oral history that will then be donated to
both the Houston Metropolitan Research Center at the Houston Public
Library and the Woodson Research Center at Rice University's Fondren
Library. We have already donated our first 50 hours to them earlier
in the year, and we're looking forward to making another drop in the
next few months.
We would love an opportunity to talk to the community and civic organizations
you may be involved with to share the work we're doing and to look for
people to interview as well as volunteer interviewers. Please contact
us here if you would
like us to come speak to your group.
HAM Slices
We've started working on a new project called HAM Slices. Short,
30-second, bite-sized bits of video: Houston facts, history, people,
pirates, etc. We're aiming to put a new one on the website every week
to keep you coming back for more. Keep checking the new and improved
website often!
What's Your HQ?
As many of you know, we have completed a prototype of our educational
Houston trivia game called What's Your HQ?. We are currently looking
for a Houston corporation who wants to contribute to the community.
Historic Schools of Harris County
We are still working on research for the book Historic Schools
of Harris County, the first in our Houston Neighborhood Series. We're
hoping to have the research completed and the book ready to go to print
(pending financial support) by spring.
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GoodSearch
We have signed up with GoodSearch, a Yahoo-powered search tool
that donates a small amount to our organization each time you use the
engine. To support us with this tool, go to www.goodsearch.com,
and type in Houston Arts and Media into the "Who do you search
for?" field. Couldn't be simpler!
Amazon
As always, we want to remind you that if you do any shopping
at Amazon.com, please use the search engine at www.houstonartsandmedia.org.
We get a small percentage of your purchase. It won't pay for office
space, but it might cover a ream or two of printer paper, and that works
for us.
HAM Store
We also have some nice t-shirts and other merchandise with our
new logo and look available through our CafePress store.
I'm a particular fan of the mugs, myself. They make great gifts!!
Recent Donors
We would very much like to take this time to thank the Phillips
Family Foundation for their donation that allowed us to purchase
several new digital recorders for our Neighbor to Neighbor Oral History
Project.
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Volunteers
We've been working non-stop for more than two years on our projects,
and we've made a lot of progress. But we need your help. We need volunteers
to:
- interview long time Houstonians
- interview the owners of long-time Houston businesses
- identify Houstonians with stories to tell about their neighborhoods
- transcribe interviews
- photograph historic Houston buildings, parks, landscapes, bridges,
schools, businesses, industrial areas
- do library research
- SPREAD THE WORD!!!
Donations Needed
We also need donations of:
- digital voice recorders
- video lighting
- tripod
- and, well, money.
Thank you so much for your support and your interest in Houston Arts
and Media…
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