Oral History Collections Now Online

The Hudson Area Library has announced that two oral history collections are now accessible online: the Hudson Area Library Oral History Project, an open collection of interviews collected locally over the past decade, and the Black Legacy Association of Columbia County (BLACC) Oral History Project collection from the 1980s. The archiving of these collections and development of the digital archives, as well as related community programming offered over the past three years, was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services Accelerating Promising Practices for Small Libraries grant and in partnership with Oral History Summer School.

The Hudson Area Library Oral History Project includes oral histories produced by participants in a 2013 workshop at the library led by Suzanna Snider, with assistance from Melinda Braathen, as well as recordings collected by contract and volunteer community members on the library's behalf over the past decade. To learn more and explore the collection, visit oralhistory.hudsonarealibrary.org.

The BLACC collection was donated to the library by Columbia Opportunities, Inc., in 2018. All of the material in this collection was originally assembled by the Columbia County Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). Marcella Beigel, the RSVP Director, devoted much time and attention to the creation of this unique and inspirational project. To learn more and explore the BLACC collection, visit blacc.hudsonarealibrary.org. To view images from the collection, visit the History Room website at historyroom.hudsonarealibrary.org. To view the full archived collections, including research documents and images, email history@hudsonarealibrary.org to request an appointment.