Earth's Bounty Project sign up now open

The State Library is launching an exciting Oral History project, Earth’s Bounty in Iowa: Then and Now.   Members of the public will be able to tell their own stories about growing up on a farm in Iowa.  Their recorded narratives will focus on the firsthand experiences of ordinary Iowans.  The interviews will be posted on The Iowa Heritage Digital Collection website, along with verbatim transcripts of the interviews.  

If you would like to listen to two sample recordings, and to read the verbatim transcripts, please click on this link:

Search Omeka (152 total) · Iowa Heritage Digital Collections

Here are some commonalities for each interview

 - Library staff at participating libraries will schedule the interviews and provide a staff member to ask the questions and record the interview.
 - Participants will be asked to sign a written release, allowing the State Library to record and put their recorded words on the IHDC web site, and to allow researchers and the public to use the content of their interviews.
 - Interviews will also be transcribed through a commercial service (Rev.com), and posted on the IHDC web site.
 - Each interview will be recorded on the same kind of portable recording device (Zoom H5); devices will be sent from the State Library and returned to the     State Library via IA Shares.  
 - Each mailing will include a packet of information, instructions, and forms.
 - State Library staff will transfer each interview to the IHDC web site.
 - Interviewees will be asked the same set of eight questions (whether currently farming or no longer living on a farm).
 - Each interview will last up to 45 minutes.
 - Library staff and the public will be invited to fill out a short written evaluation of the process.

Helen Dagley will serve as the staff contact for the project at the State Library.  If you have questions or would like to book an interview, please contact her by phone or email: 515-281-3063 or [email protected]