AGRICULTURE
IN ILLINOIS
Agriculture is central to the story
of Illinois, and for that reason, this is one of our highest
priority projects. In this collection you will find interviews
that address nearly every aspect of agriculture in the
state, not just corn, soybean and livestock production,
but also an amazing array of crops and commodities and
a rich diversity of professions and outlooks. We've interviewed
scores of farmers and farm families, but you will also
find interviews with Future Farmer of America members,
extension agents, university professors, researchers,
farm leaders, government officials and broadcasters. There
is something for every one and every interest.
AV BARN
The A-V Barn is an exciting new collection of oral history
interviews conducted in partnership with the Illinois
State Museum. The collection encompasses nearly every
aspect of agriculture as it is currently being practiced
in Illinois. These interviews also include many fascinating
stories about the early days of agriculture in Illinois.
The A-V Barn project was funded via a generous National
Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library
Services.
Patrons will be able to access an individual's interview
through the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library (ALPL)
website by activating the icon, above. Each individual's
profile page includes the interviewee's abstract, audio
and video files, searchable transcripts, and accompanying
photographs. Additionally, the Google style search feature
allows patrons to search all collections posted on ALPL's
Oral History web site.
In contrast, the Illinois State Museum's A-V Barn website
allows patrons to search the collection using an innovative
new audio/video-indexing process. The A-V Barn collection
includes over 140 interviews, including roughly 70 audio
interviews from Northern Illinois University and the University
of Illinois Springfield collections, and over 70 brand
new video interviews conducted exclusively for this project
in 2008 and 2009. Altogether, the A-V Barn collection
includes approximately 300 hours of interview material.
All audio and video interviews have been painstakingly
‘indexed' by subject and theme, using a process
similar to film editing. Because of this indexing process,
patrons can search the entire collection by subject or
keyword. The search engine won't just point patrons to
a specific interview; it will generate a list of interview
clips based on patrons' search requests, allowing them
to watch or listen only to that material most relevant
to their search. No longer do you have to wade through
hours of audio or video material hoping to find what you're
looking for. This innovative new approach means that the
entire collection of interviews is remarkably assessable.
It makes searching this rich and diverse collection easy.
Busy students and researches will no longer have to rely
primarily on transcripts. Finally, we are able to restore
‘the voice' to oral history. |
