NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

2/26/2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES - Charles T. Morrissey, a nationally recognized expert on oral history, recently led a workshop at Northwestern State University. The workshop was co-sponsored by the Cane River National Heritage Area and NSU's graduate program in Heritage Resources. Participants, which included students and agency personnel, received an overview of the process of conducting oral history interviews and directing oral history projects. This workshop is the first step in training personnel to undertake oral history projects in the area.

"Mr. Morrissey has a lot of energy and focus. As a national expert with years of experience, he was able to give the workshop participants a unique view into oral history as a practice," said Northwestern Assistant Professor of History Susan E. Dollar.

Morrissey is the oral history consultant at the Center for Collaborative and Interactive Technologies of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He has more than 40 years' experience as a professional oral historian, beginning when he served as an oral history specialist for the Harry S. Truman Library, interviewing former members of the White House staff during the Truman administration.

Morrissey has published more than 50 articles on interviewing techniques, project evaluations and the application of oral history as a research method to diverse topics ranging from institutional philanthropy and tenure decisions in higher education, to (with two co-authors) the impact of computer technology on biomedical research laboratories. His essay about oral history interviewing is a chapter in the Handbook of Oral History, published in the spring of 2006 by the Altamira Press. He also has a section in Preparing the Next Generation of Oral Historians: An Anthology of Oral History Education (Altamira, 2006).

He has served as a consultant on a variety of history projects at the University of California and elsewhere, has twice been a Fellow at the Aspen Institute in Colorado and has received the Harvey A. Kantor Award for Outstanding Achievement in Oral History. From 1985 to 1989, Morrissey was editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Oral History. Morrissey also serves as a consultant for the William J. Clinton Presidential History project being conducted by the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Oral and Visual History.

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