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About the Program I. Who Sponsors I, Witness to History? When did it start? I, Witness to History is a program of Larksfield Place Retirement Community, 7373 East 29th Street North, Wichita, KS 67226. Phone: (316) 636-1000 Fax: (316)636-5790. Since 1996, I, Witness to History has been preserving the past for future generations. In the process, it is offering residents an opportunity to meaningfully spend their time assisting with the development of the program in addition to writing their life stories. I, Witness to History is a multi-faceted program designed to preserve, publish, and promote these life stories that works in cooperation with the state historical society, local schools, and universities across the country. Within the limits of available resources, Larksfield Place Retirement Community is actively encouraging and assisting other retirement communities, and senior organizations who wish to establish similar programs. What is the nature and purpose of your program? “When an older person dies, it is as if a library burned down.”—Alex Haley, author of Roots Every day, thousands of “libraries" burn down as the oldest members of our society pass away. Today it is almost impossible to collect eyewitness accounts further back than the early 1920s. I, Witness to History is helping preserve those stories for future generations and enhance the quality of life for participating residents at Larksfield Place Retirement Community. By doing something for future generations, residents enjoy more positive self-efficacy, strengthen their mental abilities, make more meaningful use of their time, and engage in life review and reminiscence—all actions that have been shown to prolong life and increase the quality of those years. The Three P’s: “Preserve, Publish, and Promote.” I, Witness to History preserves residents’ life stories by audio-taping and transcribing residents’ oral histories, through Questors, the creative writing group, and by helping them write accounts of incidents in their lives. The stories are published both in hard copy and on the Web at http://iwitnesstohistory.org. Finally, residents’ stories and accomplishments are promoted to historians, educators, other senior organizations, and the general public through articles, presentations, and on the internet. The goals of promoting the program are to encourage its use by historians and educators, and to encourage other organizations to take part in the program. II. How long has the innovation been in operation? I, Witness to History was established in 1996 as the first program of our then newly-opened Resource Learning Center. III. Whom does it serve? How many? I, Witness to History serves Larksfield Place residents and staff, older persons, historians, educators, and the general public:
Robert Kasha, MD, answers questions about his book in a teleconference with history students 630 miles away at DePauw University in Illinois. IV. What is the role of staff and/or others involved? Terryl Asla, Director of Resource Development, founded the program and oversees its development. Rita Pearce, Manager of the Larksfield Place Resource Center, is responsible for overseeing the taking of oral histories and acts as staff liaison to Questors, the creative writing group. Dennis Trinkle, PhD, President of the American Association for History and Computing (AAHC), Ken Dvorak, PhD, AAHC Secretary-Treasurer, and Mike Kelly, Director of WSU Special Collections, help provide professional oversight. Faye McCoy, a Larksfield resident, chairs the steering committee made up of residents and staff. Resident volunteers help conduct oral histories, chair Questors, provide writing assistance, help with fund raising, and assist with the in-house publication of residents’ life stories. V. What is the cost? Have you realized any savings from this program? Resident gifts have paid for all of the necessary equipment, including state-of-the-art computers, software, scanners, and commercial quality printers. There is a restricted fund of about $13,000 for future equipment and remodeling. Currently, gifts also currently provide $11,000 to offset staff time. Another $3,600 in revenue was generated in FY2000 through fees charged for photo retouching and reproduction, book printing, and other related services. VI. Are there any unique approaches in implementation or creative use of resources? Unique approaches. Involving residents in the planning and operations of I, Witness to History and in writing their life stories provides them with an opportunity to make meaningful, challenging use of their time and knowledge. By showing them they can still master new technologies and that they have something important to offer younger generations, we enhance their self-efficacy. This concept of finding ways of doing things with the older residents we serve—rather than for them—may be one of the most important changes we face in our industry today. I, Witness to History is pointing the way while making an important contribution to the education of future generations. Creative use of resources. The equipment and software donated to I, Witness to History and the Resource Center is also used for organizational needs, including in-house publications, publishing two monthly newsletters, maintaining an online information and education network, and staff training. VII. How is the program evaluated? Describe any results already measured? We evaluate the program by the number of residents who provide their life stories (70) and the number of residents (46) who have gone on to volunteer for this and other Resource Center programs, such as mentoring foreign-born employees. Because we are dependent on gifts for the continuing operation of the program, we also evaluate our success by the number of donations I, Witness to History attracts from the residents and friends. On the educational side, we look at the growing number of schools and universities who are willing participants in our program. VIII. Is it replicable by other organizations? I, Witness to History is replicable and we are presently diffusing the program through training, presentations, and publications. Training.
Presentations. 2000 Mid-America Congress on Aging, Springfield, MO I, Witness to History, 2000 National Conference of the American Association for History and Computing (AAHC), Baylor University, Waco, TX A Practical Guide to Establishing A Resource Center, 1999 National Conference of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), Chicago, IL The Future of History, Sixth International Conference, Computers in the History Classroom, Skidmore University, Saratoga Springs, NY I, Witness to History, 1999 AAHC National Conference, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA I, Witness to History, The Oral History Program on the Internet for Retirement Communities, 1998 AAHSA Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA Seniors on the Internet, Technology and You, 1998 AAHSA Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA I, Witness to History, The Oral History Program on the Internet for Retirement Communities, 1998 KAHSA Annual Conference, Wichita, KS Embracing the Internet; How Not-for-Profits Can Effectively Use the World Wide Web—conference sponsored by Grant Thornton, 1997, Wichita, KS Publications
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