Students' Oral/Public History Projects

Here are some of the historical resources created by Dr. Ettinger's students:

COVID-19 Interviews - 2020-23 - New York Heritage Digital Collections site

Between 2020-23, students in Dr. Laura Ettinger's courses conducted audio interviews with relatives, friends, and fellow students about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their interviewees and/or their interviewees' families and communities. The majority of the interviews were conducted in September 2020 and in late January/early February 2023 by students in her History of Public Health in America courses. Two were conducted in late January/early February 2021 by students in her History of the American Family course, and two were conducted in December 2022 by first-year students in her Clarkson Seminar course. The collection also contains an interview that Dr. Ettinger conducted with her mother in May 2020. With the permission of the interviewees, Clarkson University students, along with Dr. Ettinger, shared their interviews with this project so that people in the future can learn about what it was like to live during the pandemic. Click here to view the collection on the New York Heritage Digital Collections site.

History of a North Country Childhood Exhibit - North Country Children's Museum

Audio clips of oral history interviews with people 60 and over who grew up in New York State's North Country, conducted by students in Dr. Ettinger's History of the American Family course (Spring 2019). Part of a permanent exhibit (beginning in November 2020) at the North Country Children's Museum, created in collaboration with Clarkson, SUNY Canton, and the Potsdam Public Museum. Read about the exhibit here, and visit the museum site here.

Voices of the Past: Student-Made Oral Histories

Oral history interviews conducted by 16 students in Dr. Ettinger’s Voices of the Past course (Spring 2014). Topics include: war, politics, and society; growing up; the North Country (in New York state); professions and vocations; the LGBTQ+ community; and organizations and institutions. Site includes project descriptions, audio interviews, transcript excerpts, and photographs. Learn about the oral histories here.

Video Interviews with Local Women Pathbreakers

Video interviews with women pathbreakers from the North Country (in New York State), conducted by five students in Dr. Ettinger’s History of Women and Gender in America course (Spring 2011). Accompanied by discussion guides for secondary school teachers. Interviews are with two pioneering engineers, two founders of a high school Gay-Straight Alliance, and a founding member of the Women’s Air Force Band. These were service learning projects for the American Association of University Women – St. Lawrence County Branch. Watch the interviews here.