About this Collection
The Restored Voices Oral History Project showcases archived interviews from earlier initiatives to interview faculty, staff and senior administrators of the University of Michigan-Dearborn. This initiative was launched in 2023 by The 1959 Project, which is part of the Inclusive History Project. Access to the oral histories and other historical resources showcased here are provided in partnership with the University of Michigan-Dearborn's Mardigian Library and the Campus Archive.
While each of these oral histories should be understood on its own terms, they tell a collective story also. They provide windows to the diversity of people and experiences that transformed this institution from an extension campus for University of Michigan juniors and seniors in co-op programs to a four-year regional campus. They tell the story of the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s own mission to expand access to undergraduate and graduate education to traditional and non-traditional students alike. They help us see a legacy of resilience in the face of frequent financial setbacks for the campus. They remind us of work unfinished and debates unresolved even as they remind us where - or rather who - the durable parts of our campus’ legacy come from. They are invitations to dig deeper into our common history.
Collection Origins
Interviews in this collection were recorded in waves: 1979, 1984, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2009. Some were done as research for two official histories of the campus. Some of the archived interviews exist only as transcripts, but most have been digitally archived from legacy media (reel to reel, cassette or CD). Many of those also had transcripts prepared. What all these recorded interviews lacked, however, was any form of digital curation to render them discoverable, accessible and searchable.
Shedding New Light
Restored Voices Oral History Project (RVOHP) uses the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS) to connect metadata with digital recordings on a Kaltura platform for display in an Omeka S-powered database, along with other contextualizing information. RVOHP is a free public database in the Mardigian Library digital collections. The first curated interviews were posted in June 2025, with more to be added each month until the entire collection of 60 interviews is curated.
University-Wide Partnerships through the Inclusive History Project
Restored Voices Oral History Project is a part of The 1959 Project, a core project of the University of Michigan’s Inclusive History Project (IHP). The IHP is a multi-year initiative in which scholars and research teams across the three campuses and Michigan Medicine of the University of Michigan reexamine the institution’s history of inclusion and exclusion. The Inclusive History Project provides the funding for The 1959 Project and all its research initiatives.
The Team
This digital curation has depended on the energy and commitment of our student interns (Furqan Al-Tamimi, Nada Elzein, John Ray, and Wallace Bowie III) and our Research Associate, Dr. Kandra Polatis. Their work was supplemented by the work of dozens of students in the Fall 2024 cohort of Liberal Studies 450: Integrative Studies, who did digital curation as a practice-based-learning assignment. All of their efforts were supervised closely by our Digital Humanities Coordinator, Ms. Marlaine Magewick. Ms. Magewick also designed this Omeka S page.
We are also proud to acknowledge and celebrate our colleagues who recorded these interviews: Bob Fraser (Associate Director of Mardigian Librarian, 1994-2019), Tim Richards (Director of Mardigian Library, 1989-2011 ), Karen Morgan (Librarian Etmerita and Campus Archivist, 1990-2015 ), Elton Higgs (Emeritus Professor of English, 1965-2001) and Ron Stockton (Emeritus Professor of Political Science, 1973-2021).