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

Sesquicentennial Interview: Linnia Knox Carpenter

Wed, 11/06/2024 - 11:49am

This interview was conducted in 1974 as part of the I Remember When  television series produced by the Ann Arbor Public Library.

AACHM Oral History: Sandra Harris

Thu, 06/29/2023 - 4:30pm

Sandra Harris was born in 1952 in West Virginia, where her father was a coal miner. Her family moved to Ann Arbor when she was in second grade. Harris remembers being on the homecoming court at Pioneer High School and participating in student-led marches during the late 1960s. She received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from Eastern Michigan University. She was a school administrator in the Ann Arbor Public Schools as well as other districts. In addition to her service as an educator, she was also a longtime caretaker for her nephew and her mother.

View historical materials.