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Ellen McHale, will speak about oral histories at our monthly meeting on April 7, 2009.  The Schenectady Gazette has called her the "champion of oral histories" and we hope she can help us get jump started on our Returned Peace Corps Volunteer oral history project.  

Her bio is here...

Ellen McHale, Executive Director of the New York Folklore Society, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Ethnomusicology and American Studies from Wesleyan University, as well as a Master’s Degree and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. A Fulbright Senior Scholar, she was a visiting lecturer at the Institute for Folklife Studies (Institutet for folklivsforskning) at the University of Stockholm, Sweden (1988-1989).  Ellen has been a folklore and oral history consultant to numerous cultural institutions, including the Smithsonian’s Festival of American Folklife, the Robert Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, and the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.  Currently she is collecting narratives about occupational folklore and folklife from workers in the backstretch of the Saratoga Thoroughbred Racetrack, for a book to be published by the University of Mississippi Press.  Ellen McHale is a frequent workshop leader on the topic of "Doing Oral History."

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