Letty Wickliffe | Ann Arbor District Library

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Media

I Remember When (Bicentennial Remix)

Fri, 11/29/2024 - 11:40pm

In 2022, the staff of the AADL Archives discovered and had digitized a collection of interviews that had gone into the making of the library's I Remember When series of television programs for Ann Arbor's sesquicentennial in 1974*. We all knew what the folks in 1974 had made from these interviews, but we thought it might be interesting to see what someone from 2024 would do with the same set of footage. So we handed the whole lot to filmmaker Aaron Valdez, who combed through 17 hours of footage to create this 15-minute remix for the bicentennial. Aaron explores the personalities of the interviewees, the stories they tell (complete with contradictions), and the mishaps they all left behind in creating this now 50-year-old work of local history.

*See Ann Arbor 200 release #169

Media

There Went The Neighborhood - Studio Interview: Russell Calvert

Wed, 08/07/2024 - 2:01pm

Russell Calvert attended Jones School from kindergarten through sixth grade in the post-WWII era. He recalls the strong influence of Black business owners like his father, Burgess Calvert, and Charlie Baker. He tells the story of “The Old Neighborhood” before it became known as Kerrytown.

This interview was filmed during the making of the documentary film There Went The Neighborhood: The Closing of Jones School, produced by the Ann Arbor District Library and 7 Cylinders Studio. More interviews are available in the There Went The Neighborhood Interview Archive.

Media

There Went The Neighborhood - Studio Interview: Cheryl O'Neal

Wed, 08/07/2024 - 1:58pm

Cheryl (Jewett) O’Neal grew up in “The Old Neighborhood” before moving to the North side of Ann Arbor in 1960. Although she only attended Jones School in kindergarten, she had strong ties to friends and family in the neighborhood. She remembers the Dunbar Center and the Student Parent Center in the Jones building.