Page 39 - Storytelling - Storylistening

X. Publish or Perish: “I, Witness to History” Preserves Residents’ Life Stories in Race with Final Deadline
A Human Face for History; An Identity for Residents
Founded at Larksfield Place in 1996, IWH has helped over 100 elders publish books or tape record their life stories – giving, in turn, a human face to 20th Century history and personal identities to residents sometimes better known by room number than by name.
Selected stories are posted on the Internet at http://iwitnesstohistory.org, or archived in the Kansas State Historical Library and in Special Collections at Wichita State University. IWH usually prints only enough copies for family, friends and the Larksfield Place library, though one resident’s book of poetry has sold hundreds nationwide.
Their notoriety has brought the authors, most of them 80- or 90-something, recognition in the news media and invitations to speak at national conferences and universities.
IWH works closely with residents and family members to tape record interviews, do research, produce a manuscript and print a book in color with photographs. The organization uses in-house, state-of-the-art computer and binding equipment provided through private gifts.
“It is an interactive process of putting the elder in control and providing them encouragement and technical support as long as needed,” says Asla.
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