Hidden away in the Agnes Morris House on Raphael Semmes Drive is a place where University and Louisiana history come to life.
The T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History serves as a processing office for more than 1,760 tape-recorded interviews from a wide variety of individuals, including former politicians and business leaders.
“The mission of the Williams Center is to collect and preserve, through the use of tape-recorded interviews, unique and valuable information about Louisiana history that exists only in people’s memories and would otherwise be lost,” said the center’s Web site.
Jennifer Abraham, Williams Center assistant director, said the center itself serves as the processing center for tape-recorded interviews.
“Once it’s all edited and processed, it goes to Hill Memorial Library,” Abraham said. The tape recordings are then made available for public use.
Abraham said a wide variety of people use the recordings, including University faculty, students, community members and even out-of-state visitors.
While some use the recordings for research purposes, Abraham said others are simply interested in community and state history.
Mary Hebert Price, Williams Center director and University archivist, said the center has collected interviews from such individuals as former Louisiana Govs. John McKeithen and Jimmie Davis, former U.S. Sen. Russell Long and former U.S. Rep. Jimmy Morrison.
Based on a list generated from individuals on campus, the Williams Center also initiated several interviews on campus history with various faculty, administrators, alumni and students.
Price said the process of interviewing individuals to preserve campus and state history is ongoing. The center currently is working with a group of at least 100 interviewers to collect more historical information.
“That’s our main mission,” Price said.
In addition to collecting interviews, the Williams Center uses other methods to preserve history, including working with professors to introduce oral history into the classroom.
Abraham said the center also offers workshops and training for people who are interested in the oral history process.
“We get a lot of our help from the LSU community, the Baton Rouge community and the Louisiana community in general,” Abraham said.