The City of West Monroe in partnership with the West Ouachita Senior Center is pleased to announce it has received funding from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and National Main Street Center to complete a community Oral History Project in celebration of the City of West Monroe’s 140th Birthday.
The City of West Monroe will partner with the University of Louisiana at Monroe School of Humanities to interview citizens who have served as important figures in the community, recording their oral histories of West Monroe over the past several decades. Other project partners include the West Ouachita Senior Center and KEDM Public Radio.
All full-length oral history interviews will be stored in a digital repository at ULM and shared on the City of West Monroe’s website. A video summary will be produced of the videos as well as a podcast that will be produced featuring audio clips from the interviews and aired on KEDM Public Radio.
The oral history project will culminate in a free, public symposium in the celebration of West Monroe’s 140th anniversary, highlighting the project and honor the contributions of the interviewees, ULM humanities scholars and ULM students.
This project is made possible by a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project is also made possible by a grant from the National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
For more information about the project, please contact the West Monroe Mayor’s Office at (318) 396-2600 or mayorsoffice@westmonroe.la.gov