GVSU partners with community on oral history project

Celebrating the lakeshore's diverse Hispanic population will continue through an oral history collection scheduled at Grand Valley's Meijer Campus in Holland.

"Nuestra Comunidad Hispana" is set for Tuesday, October 18, from 3:45-6:45 p.m. in the lobby of the Meijer Campus, 515 S. Waverly Road. Holland area residents are invited to drop in during that timeframe to be interviewed by trained volunteers.

The project is a collaborative effort by Grand Valley's Kutsche Office of Local History, Meijer Campus in Holland, City of Holland, Herrick District Library, Latin Americans United for Progress, and St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church. LAUP received a grant for the program from the Michigan Humanities Council's Heritage Grant Program.

Kimberly McKee, director of the Kutsche Office of Local History, said the project will document untold stories of Holland's Hispanic residents. “The project reflects a commitment to bring together the region’s diverse and multi-generational Hispanic communities as part of efforts to create a shared community,” McKee said.

Copies of participants' photographs and oral histories will be permanently housed in the collections of the Herrick District Library where it will be made available for use by researchers and the public.