FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: LOCAL ORAL HISTORY PROJECT WANTS TO WORK WITH BEAVER COUNTY TEACHERS

PITTSBURGH, PA – The Social Voice Project^™ (TSVP) is an educational non-profit organization specializing in high-definition archival and creative audio recordings of people’s life stories.  TSVP wants to reach out to local humanities and social science teachers to promote and celebrate the art and science of personal narratives and oral historiography. 

Life stories are personal histories—unique accounts of lived experience.  Educators across disciplines have long understood the pedagogical usefulness of first-person narratives and their instructional use has been effectively applied at all levels—from elementary to graduate school.  Teachers often use such stories as starting points toward creating and understanding what is sometimes referred to as authentic texts.  Such expressions can range from the typical “what I did on my summer vacation” writing assignment to a structured interview with a local WW II veteran.

Veteran Voices Sampler (World War II)

This brief audio sampler previews the September 1, 2011 release of TSVP's latest project, Veteran Voices of Pittsburgh: Lighthouse Pointe, featuring the stories of Robert Riethmiller, Chuck Kelley, Paul Hanna, Jack Rominger, Francis Burket, William Fisher and others.

New from StoryCorps: Frank Kovac

“I built my own planetarium in my backyard.”

Deep in the North Woods of Wisconsin, some 230 miles north of Milwaukee, sits the world’s largest rotating-globe planetarium.

It’s the brainchild of Frank Kovac, a former paper mill storeroom clerk, who built this roadside attraction in his backyard. Entirely homemade, the project took nearly a decade to complete.

Frank’s planetarium is one of only four of its kind ever built, the oldest dating back nearly 400 years.

At StoryCorps, Frank spoke about how his lifelong fascination with the stars turned into a project of cosmic proportions.

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PRESS RELEASE

LOCAL VETERAN STORIES WANTED FOR CREATIVE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

PITTSBURGH, PA – The Social Voice Project, a nonprofit education organization that specializes in creative audio recordings, wants to give veterans a chance to tell their stories.  Now those who have served in all branches of the military—in war and peacetime—can leave a legacy of their experiences for family, friends, fellow citizens, and future generations.  The project is part of TSVPs expanding Veteran Voices Initiative. 

“This is rare opportunity to give local veterans a chance to document, preserve, and share their experiences and opinions in their own words,” said Kevin Farkas, founder of The Social Voice Project and a US Navy veteran.  “If they’re not considered war heroes, too many vets believe that their stories of national service aren’t worth sharing.  Oftentimes, veterans think that no one wants to hear about their experience—about what was like to step up and take an oath to defend the people and the Constitution of the United States. Every military man and woman takes on that awesome responsibility, and that’s worth recognizing. Those stories can teach us a lot about who we are as Americans.”

PRESS RELEASE

HISTORICAL AUDIO RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC

VETERAN VOICES OF PITTSBURGH: LIGHTHOUSE POINTE

PITTSBURGH, PA – As part of its ongoing Veteran Voices Initiative, this audio project continues The Social Voice Project’s mission to capture, archive, and share the experiences of local veterans.  This is TSVP’s second recording of World War II veteran stories.

Eight World War II veterans (residents of Lighthouse Pointe independent living community in Pittsburgh, PA) tell their personal stories of military training, combat, and the home front during the war years.  They served on land, sea, and air in both the European and Pacific theaters. 

Tom Brokaw called theirs “the greatest generation,” but nearly one thousand of these elderly veterans die each day while never having the chance to tell their stories of sacrifice and bravery in defense of this country.    

New from Story Corps: George Robinson and his daughter Katie

“He put his hands on my face like he was trying to feel was I really his son.”

George Robinson’s parents never married, and growing up, he never knew his biological father. But he always wondered what his dad was like — especially when he went to the doctor for his yearly physical.

“On the form, they would always ask you information about the illnesses that your parents had,” George says. “But I could never tell anything about my father, and I used to make stuff up.”

It took more than 40 years for George to find his father, eventually tracking him down on the internet. Turns out, his father never knew he had a son. At StoryCorps, George told his daughter Katie about finally meeting his dad.

New from Radio Diaries: THE LAST MAN ON THE MOUNTAIN

In West Virginia, people say that in the old days, communities turned into ghost towns when the coal ran out. Now, they turn into ghost towns when mountaintop mines move in.

Jimmy Weekley has lived in Pigeonroost Hollow, West Virginia for 70 years. He worked as a coal miner, as did his grandfather, father, uncles, and sons. And like most West Virginians, Weekley saw coal as the economic lifeblood of his community. Then in the 1990s, Arch Coal moved into his area and began work on the Spruce Number One mine. It was one of the largest mountaintop removal mining sites ever proposed, and it was virtually in Weekley's backyard. Almost overnight, Weekley became an unlikely anti-mining activist.

Over the last decade, Weekley has watched his family and neighbors take buyouts from Arch Coal and leave the area. But Weekley refuses to sell. Now he's the last person remaining in Pigeonroost Hollow.

Veteran Voices of Pittsburgh: Lighthouse Pointe--Jack Rominger

As part of the American occupation force in Nagasaki, Marines Jack Rominger and his buddy Roland routinely patrolled the quiet neighborhoods of the devastated city.  Their job was to enforce the peace among the Japanese civilians, but one day it was Jack who would learn from the Japanese what peace was all about.  Listen as Jack shares his most memorable war souvenir. 
      


Jack Rominger, USMC



Nagasaki, Japan 1945

Lighthouse Pointe is a retirement community in O’Hara Township, PA. TSVP recently spent two days interviewing and recording several senior veterans of World War II and the Korean War.These personal audio oral histories, soon to be available on disc and digital mp3 format, are remarkable stories of military training, combat missions abroad, and home front service.In addition, many of the participants recall civilian war-time hardships such as metal shortages, rationing, and civil defense drills. Perhaps the most remarkable story is an eyewitness account of the aftermath of the atomic destruction of Nagasaki, Japan—from the perspective of a Japanese survivor!