Oral History & "Appalachian Understories" of the Forest

We have been working on the "Remembering the Reedys" documentary project for almost 10 years, and we owe its origin to the forethought of Frances Reedy who kept so much valuable family history and memorabilia and to Appalachia--Science in the Public Interest (ASPI) for including her story in an oral history project on experiences of the Appalachian forest with elder folks in the 1990s. This interview inspired a follow-up oral history with Frances about her and her husband John's Bluegrass music history, which ultimately spawned the ongoing research and documentation of their stories on this blog.

Source: ASPI Facebook page photo of forest hike along the
Zalla Trail with Notre Dame service-learning students (2016).

 

Some interesting synchronicities have recently developed around the ASPI oral history project on Appalachian forests. The Appalachian Studies Association (ASA) conference will take place at the University of Kentucky in 2020, and the conference theme will be "Appalachian Understories." The deadline for the preliminary call for proposals is October 7, 2019, and the conference description emphasizes forest commons, oral history, and gender, all of which are important themes and understories of the Reedy project.

"We human Appalachians are fortunate to have the world’s richest temperate forests grace our region. Inspiration for the 43rd Annual ASA Conference is rooted in these forests, and particularly in the easy-to-overlook portion of the woods known as “understory.” In the forest understory, plant and animal life grows between the earthen ground and the more visible canopy, in both shade and sunlight. Recognizing that forest understories are places of beauty and strength, the 2020 ASA Conference will bring to light the many voices of Appalachia that are often obscured. In the understories, people confront stereotypes, myths, marginalization, and violence and meet them with resilience and hope. In addition to native forests and forest-based human experiences, this gathering will highlight stories of Black Appalachians, women, gender, and sexuality, health and healing, and hope spots. Oral history and film-making, along with literature, music, photography, and other art forms, will be among our featured “understories” exploration methods. We also celebrate Appalshop’s 50th anniversary, revisiting the Whitesburg studio’s important documentary legacy and learning about the “understories” it continues to produce today. Like the forest that inspires us, and like the 42 previous ASA conferences, this gathering offers growth, beauty, hope, and nourishment."

The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky includes the “Appalachian Simple Lifestyle Expression and Experience Oral History Project,” which was an ASPI project conducted by Mark Spencer with whom Timi worked on the forest project. We are currently researching the status and location of these oral histories, which were recorded on VHS cassettes, and exploring the possibility of digitizing some or all of them to include as part of the ASA 2020 exhibits and collections related to the forest commons. We actually have a digitized copy of Frances Reedy's forest oral history, so we are also working with ASPI to share this with the broader public in the near future.

Source: ASPI Facebook page 
(Mark Spencer, Calendar Guru)

We recently discovered an interesting and prescient historical document about a "Forest Commons Conference" that ASPI sponsored in 1995. Father Al Fritsch is the original founder of ASPI, and he also self-published a book called Reclaiming the Commons that he wrote in 2007 and has updated several times since. Father Al is still doing really awesome "Earth Healing" work in the region, so we hope to connect the overlapping understories of ASA, ASPI, and the Reedy family in new and exciting ways over the next year!

Meanwhile, today also marks the day that Timi and Tammy assume primary leadership of the ASPI board along with long-time volunteer Father Jack Kieffer. We are grateful to outgoing ASPI board President Shane Barton and director Suzi Van Etten for their near decade of service and their commitment to ASPI's mission of practicing and promoting simple and sustainable living and livelihoods in Appalachia. 

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UPDATE: 
(31 March 2020 1:20 pm)
 
Unfortunately, this year's ASA conference was cancelled. However, we have two other positive pieces of news to share. First, Father Al Fritsch made the excellent suggestion that we convene our ASPI panel at a later date for a YouTube discussion about the past, present, and future of the organization. Second, is that ASPI partnered with Berea College Special Collections to apply (successfully!) for a Preservation Grant from the Kentucky Oral History Commission to digitize the "Appalachian Historic Forest Conditions" oral history collection, which consists of 14 Hi-8 video tapes, one VHS tape, and one audio cassette tape.