CREATING AN ONLINE ORAL HISTORY DIGITAL ARCHIVES: A COMMUNITY COLLABORATION PROJECT BETWEEN SACRAMENTO STATE UNIVERSITY AND THE FILIPINO AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM

The Department of Ethnic Studies at California State University-Sacramento (also known as "Sacramento State University") has "community-based research" and "community collaboration" as its core principles. These are predicated upon the founding principles of the "Third World Strike" at San Francisco City College in 1968 and the subsequent 1969 Strike at UC Berkeley that gave birth to the field of Ethnic Studies. This online oral history archival project is collaboration project between Sacramento State University students enrolled in Ethnic Studies 119 (Filipino American Experience) and the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Museum in Stockton.

Problem:
The FANHS Museum is a national museum for Filipino Americans, and it is located in Stockton, California: 50 miles (80.5 km) from Sacramento State University. Stockton is the traditional "Capital" of the Filipino American community in California. At one time, Stockton was home to the largest population of Filipinos in the United States. The Museum is operated by volunteer community historians of the Filipino American National Historical Society: they needed help with their oral history documentation project of Filipinos living in Stockton and California. As part of their major class research project, students in the Ethnic Studies 119 class are already required to conduct an oral history interview. Dr. James Sobredo is an associate professor at Sacramento State University who teaches the Ethnic Studies 119 course, and he is also a National Trustee of the Historical Society. FANHS National Museum staff asked Dr. Sobredo for assistance in creating an online oral history archives. The majority of the FANHS members and Museum volunteers are of an older generation who do not have the requisite oral history research skills and computer/internet skills to 1) conduct an oral history project and 2) create an online oral history digital archives.

Solution:
This "Online Oral History Digital Archives" is a collaborative project between Sacramento State University and the FANHS National Museum. Dr. Sobredo redesigned his Ethnic Studies 119: Filipino American Experience course to address the community needs of the Museum. The course was redesigned so that college students visited the Museum and met with Museum staff who explained their need of an online oral history digital archives. Back at their university classes with Dr. Sobredo, students were then trained in oral history methodologies, procedures and ethics: that is, how to explain the project to interviewees, obtaining signed consent forms, structure and mechanism of conducting an oral history interview, the ethics of oral history research, human subjects research protocols, how this is a "low risk" research project, how to ask open-ended questions and follow-up questions, transcriptions and editing of transcripts, and proper presentation of oral history content.

Towards the end of the semester, students compiled their completed oral history projects and submitted them into two digital archives: 1) at the Wayne Maeda Oral History Archives at Sacramento State University and 2) at the FANHS National Museum Oral History Archives.

This presentation will have a demonstration of the completed online digital archives and a discussion of the challenges and rewards of a collaborative community project between Sacramento State University and the FANHS National Museum.