Volunteer Opportunities for Western Connecticut

In partnership with United Way of Western Connecticut

Through the act of recording a conversation, memories are preserved, and a permanent source record is created. Stories live on for future generations. The Danbury History Project has initiated a community oral history project entitled "Danbury Remembers: Conversations with a Community." The interviews that comprise Danbury Remembers will be transcribed, indexed, and stored in Archives and Special Collections at Western Connecticut State University. They will be made available for research use to a diverse group of researchers.

Description:
The Danbury History Project represents a collaborative effort to make history come alive for area public school students. We hope to work with the area school system to address two curriculum issues in particular: the desire to develop a more substantial twentieth- and twenty-first-century local history unit and the desire to make the process of learning history a more interactive experience for students. The organization is focusing on three areas in particular:

·Curriculum revision and the production of a play entitled Sybil and Friends. This play, intended to bring Danbury's past to life on the stage, was presented for the first time in May 2003 at the Ives Auditorium at WCSU. All third graders and their families were invited.
· The development of a web site that brings together Danbury history resources from the school system, WCSU Archives and Special Collections, the Danbury Public Library, and the Danbury Museum and Historical Society.
· The development of the oral history program. Information from these oral histories will be included in the revised curriculum of the Danbury school system and on the web site.

History:
The Danbury History Project emerged in the fall of 2002 from the desire to revise the existing third grade curriculum for the Danbury school system. Educators from the Danbury school system and WCSU came together to work on a revised social sciences curriculum addressing Danbury's twentieth-century history. To address these needs Dr. Darla Shaw established the Danbury History Committee and invited a number of groups to participate including the Danbury school system, Western Connecticut State University, the Danbury Public Library, Danbury Museum and Historical Society and community cultural organizations.

Contact person: Darla Shaw, Professor of Education, (203)837-8412, (email)

Address:

181 White Street Danbury, CT 06810 (See a map)

Directions:

To the Haas Library (Midtown): From the West * Take Exit 5 off I-84 to first traffic light (Main Street). * Turn right and continue on Main Street to White Street (fourth traffic light).. . . (more)