Oral History Collections / Archives
Rights and use: Each repository sets its own terms. Berea’s digital collections note that some materials are for personal research and educational use. Read the notice on the destination site before reusing audio or video.
ASPI has helped document Appalachian life since the 1990s through interview projects with elders and community members. Original recordings and papers live with archive partners (and in some cases with ASPI’s organizational records at Berea College). This page gathers authoritative links so you can browse, cite, or request access without hunting through the hub.
In the mid-1990s, Mark Spencer and Timi Reedy conducted a video oral history project with elder Appalachians about recollections of the forest in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. The collection is part of the Southern Appalachian / Appalachian Region Oral History Collections at Berea College Special Collections and Archives.
Notable participants named in collection metadata include wood carver and shingle river William McClure, banjo player and performer Dora Mae Wagers, Bluegrass musician and songwriter Frances Reedy, and weaver and spinner of yarns Minnie Yancey. All have since passed. ASPI partnered for a Kentucky Oral History Commission preservation grant (2020) to support digitization; interviews are now available online through Berea’s systems.
- Browse interviews — Berea Digital Collections / Preservica
- Catalog record — ArchivesSpace (identifier BCA 0286; citation; staff contact)
Collections at the University of Kentucky (Nunn Center)
From the early to mid-1990s, ASPI conducted oral history projects with elders (over 65) on Appalachian life, culture, technology, and ecology. Two projects are cataloged at the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History:
Appalachian Appropriate Technology Oral History Project (1992–1994) — appropriate technology in food, building, waste utilization, and related daily life
Appalachian Simple Lifestyle Expression and Experience Oral History Project (1994) — mountain life, change over a lifetime, skills, and creativity around basic necessities
Kentucky Oral History Commission
The Kentucky Oral History Commission supports preservation, grants, and statewide oral history infrastructure. ASPI has partnered on preservation work tied to collections above; the commission is a useful starting point for Kentucky-wide programs and funding.
Current and Recent ASPI Interviews
ASPI’s strategic plan includes designing and implementing new oral history projects as well as providing ethical and technical training for conducting oral history interviews. Recent work includes:
- Father Jack Kieffer — Before long-time residential volunteer Father Jack Kieffer retired in 2020 after 28 years working on behalf of ASPI, Board President Timi Reedy conducted five oral history interviews about his life and service.
- Father Al Fritsch — In 2023, Timi Reedy and Mark Spencer completed a series of life history interviews with ASPI founder Father Al Fritsch before his retirement.
- George Brosi — A new interview series with Appalachian author, activist, and icon George Brosi was begun in 2023 and is ongoing.
- Creative Aging Project — ASPI received a 2022 Creative Aging and Lifelong Learning grant from the Kentucky Arts Council to conduct a community-engaged interview project with creative elders and artists who exemplify an active commitment to lifelong learning. See Creative Aging Project.
- Kentucky Community Scholars — In summer 2023, ASPI served as the organizational site for a pilot hybrid cohort of the Kentucky Community Scholars Program in partnership with the Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Folklife Program. Four new graduates — Aaron Banther, Bugz Fraugg, Kyra Higgins, and Mark Spencer — completed folklife and fieldwork training and joined more than 250 certified Kentucky Community Scholars.
All of these interviews are being added to ASPI’s organizational archives at Berea College as they are processed. For what is publicly streamable today, rely on Berea’s catalogs and announcements.