"Our mission is to help preserve and share the memories of our elders. It is a
vital
mission because the window of time glides remorselessly across the face of
history. And its most distant edge can only still be seen through the
earliest
memories of the oldest man or woman still living today. That person is the
only
one among all the billons presently living on earth who can say with
complete authority, 'This is how it was. I know. I was a witness to
history.'"
--Terryl M.
Asla, Director of I, Witness to History
Introduction
By Dennis Trinkle, PhD
Executive Director, the American
Association for History and Computing
As a professional historian and as Executive Director of the American
Association for History and Computing, it is my sincere pleasure to commend this
site to you. I am
certain that others can speak to the high value of the I, Witness to History
program in fostering
intellectual vitality and an estimable quality of life for the residents of Larksfield
Place retirement community where the program originated in 1996. For my part, I want to focus on the value of the
I Witness to History program in the preservation and
teaching of history.
The I Witness to History web site carries Alex Haley's aphorism: "Every
time an old person dies, it is as if a library had burned down."
It is easy to accept the literary value of this statement too casually, for it
is all too simple to slight the centrality of human connection in understanding
and sharing the past. Historians often neglect this dimension themselves,
because the possibilities for creating authentic connection are so rare.
The great value of the I Witness project is that it makes it possible to tap
this human spark and impossible to dodge the hard-learned lessons that the past
brings to us.
The I Witness to History program has already captured a wealth of resources
from among Larksfield Place residents that
will be invaluable to teachers of history at the elementary, secondary, and
college level. Sylvia Muse's digitized collection of holiday postcards,
Esther Wenzel's recollections of the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, and Robert
Kasha's memoirs as a World War II army surgeon are precisely the materials which
educational studies show most successfully engage students in an authentic and
eager appreciation of the past. Historians often refer to such history as
heritage preservation and oral history, but the efforts of the I, Witness to
History team transcend what historians have been able to accomplish heretofore. They
are true innovations in the purest sense and are pointing historians to new and
key partnerships with retirement communities and to the possibilities in using
technology to foster these relationships.
A personal anecdote will illustrate the importance of the this project.
On a recent occasion, Larksfield Place retirement community resident, Robert Kasha, joined my college course on Twentieth-Century
Europe through a videoconference arranged by Larksfield Place. My students
had all read Kasha's memoirs on the I Witness web site, and they brought a
wealth of questions about the Second World War, ranging from D-Day to the use of
Atomic Bomb. The dialogue and excitement ran both ways--with Kasha and my
class immersing themselves in the intense conversation of the day. My
students greatly enjoyed the opportunity to speak with an eyewitness to the
events in their textbooks and to hear an account that resonated with their
humanity. Some weeks later, they still refered often and excitedly to the
teleconference. This is testimony to the power and value of the I Witness
project.
As further testimony to the value and innovation of the project, the American
Association for History and Computing is urging Larksfield Place to share its program
nationally, and we hope to help them secure National Endowment or other funding
to extend their valuable efforts. The Resource Center mission statement
deserves to be recognized and to be honored with imitation:
"Our mission is to help preserve and share the memories of our elders. It is a
vital mission because the window of time glides remorselessly across the face of history. And its most distant edge can only still be
seen through the
earliest memories of the oldest man or woman still living today. That person is the
only one among all the billons presently living on earth who can say with complete authority,
'This is how it was. I know. I was a witness to
history.'"
I should also add that these accounts will also be of great
benefit to historians as a research resource. The transcripts, digitized
materials, and oral interviews will help historians extend their interpretations
of many topics and recognize new vantages on already well-explored topics.
This yeoman work of the historian joins naturally with the teaching and
mentoring dimensions of the Larksfield Place Resource Learning Center and Cramer
Reed Center for Successful Aging, of which I, Witness to History is a
major part. Historians owe a debt of
gratitude for this significant initiative.
Finally, and perhaps most important, the true stories on this web site are
"great reads." The accounts, written by persons in their 80s and 90s,
bring the past to life with an unmistakable ring of authenticity and attention
to detail that can only be captured by those who actually lived it.
Sincerely,
Dr. Dennis A. Trinkle
Executive Director
American Association for History and Computing
DePauw University
Greencastle, IN 46135
Copyright
© 1996, 2000, "I, Witness to History" and logo are
trademarks of Wesley Retirement Communities, Inc., d/b/a Larksfield Place. All rights reserved.
7373 East 29th
Street North, Wichita, KS 67226.
Email: tasla@larksfieldplace.org.
Phone: 316/636-1000.
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