Upload Complete!

Erin Rose and Heidi Margold have been working on transcribing, editing, describing, and uploading the Marshall Public Library Oral History Project to Illinois Digital Archives since July 2019. At the end of it all, 256 interviews, approximately 187 hours, were uploaded to the Illinois Digital Archives on July 30, 2021. The interview uploads on the site consist of the audio file, .pdf, and .txt copies of the transcriptions, and photographs to accompany the interviews. The interviews describe the history of Marshall, Ill., and how different events in the area affected and informed the lives of its residents—past and present. Topics cover James Jones and the Handy Writers’ Colony, businesses like the Candy Kitchen, local events, organizations, and more.

The public may now browse the Marshall Public Library Oral History Collection on the Illinois Digital Archives site.

Erin and Heidi presented the project at the Amigos Adventures in Archives virtual conference on Aug. 11, 2021, and will present on this topic again with Alyson Thompson and Jamie Poorman of Marshall Public Library at the Illinois Library Association Annual Conference on Oct. 12, 2021. We hope to see you there!

If your library has a project similar to this that you would like to have the Cataloging Maintenance Center work on, please contact them at cmc@illinoisheartland.org for more information and to see if it qualifies for free services.