Creating  A Community Oral History

We learn about our community and who we are, sometimes, through stories from the past.  Most often, these stories come from books written long ago or by outsiders.  Oral history projects that include testimonies of everyday people offer a different perspective.

Starting in 2023, the Old Mystic History Center began a project we call Memory Bank to collect and preserve stories told by people who live or have lived in the Greater Old Mystic area.  A team of dedicated staff members, led by George Crouse and Bob Mohr, are video-recording several current and former Old Mystic residents at the Center or at their homes.

Our collections at the Center also include many taped older oral histories, some from the late 1960s.  Additional speakers were videotaped in the 1980s.  Recently, we have digitized these materials and will be transcribing them for public viewing.

Soon you will be able to listen to voices long silenced by their passing: Anthropologist Eva Butler, Narragansett elder Princess Red Wing, and local historians Mary Virginia Goodman and Carol Kimball.   Hear about the history of B. F. Clyde's cider mill from Jack Buckland.  Recent additions this year include the living memories of JoAnn Fontanella and Charlotte Williams Bogue.