Creating A National Network
July 25th - 27th, 2003
The HistoryMakers National Planning Summit was held on July 25 to July 27, 2003 in Chicago. The theme of this important meeting was "Creating A National Network". This meeting had been in development for two years and was funded by a grant from the Chicago Community Trust.
This provided a rare opportunity for The HistoryMakers National Advisory Board, Board of Directors and Scholar/Consultants to convene. This diverse group included talented individuals with accomplishments in a variety of corporate and not-for profit areas, including media, technology, history, education, archives, community, and more. They were brought together from across the nation for two reasons: first to ensure that The HistoryMakers mission and vision was properly communicated and second to provide a forum to identify how The HistoryMakers network could be expanded across the nation. Funders and staff members also attended. The two days of sessions included a tour of The HistoryMakers facilities, presentations and facilitated discussions. Larry Levy, CEO of Levy Restaurants hosted a special dinner party at his four-star restaurant, Spiaggia. The goal of The National Planning Summit was to ensure the long-term success of The HistoryMakers.
Interviewer/Videographer Training Summit
September 8th – 10th , 2005
The HistoryMakers’ Interviewers/Videographers Training Summit was held between September 8 to September 10, 2005 in Chicago, Illinois at the organization’s national headquarters. The meeting was organized and planned by Julieanna Richardson and Ivy Jackson.
The purpose of the training summit was to give new, potential interviewers and videographers a chance to train and learn how to shoot and conduct interviews following The HistoryMakers’ guidelines. It also allowed existing interviewers and videographers a chance to discuss their techniques and learn from each other. The HistoryMakers’ National Advisory Board member and archivist, Walter Hill, was invited to discuss oral histories and how The HistoryMakers’ process can be tweaked to make it better.
Walter Hill
The HistoryMakers Training Summit 2008
The HistoryMakers held another interviewer training session in July of 2008. The University of Illinois history professor and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Leon Dash was invited to train some of The HistoryMakers’ interviewers on his oral history interviewing techniques. The HistoryMakers also interviewed Leon Dash for its archive. The interview lasted nine hours, a record for the longest interview session in the history of the project!
Home
