HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - For generations, Appalachian history has been passed down through word of mouth. Marshall University officials are hoping an app will make it easier to share that past with an even broader audience.
Marshall staff and Preserve WV AmeriCorps were hoping to collect some of those stories as part of the school’s homecoming weekend, The Herald-Dispatch (https://bit.ly/2ecsDe3) reported. The goal is to get a sense of how the university and town have had a lifelong impact on alumni.
Librarians and university staff members were recording the Marshall memories on Saturday.
Matt Hayes, executive director of alumni relations with Marshall, said of the school’s approximately 91,120 alumni, 400 had pre-registered for the tailgate, but hundreds more were expected to stop by.
Hailey Horn with Preserve WV AmeriCorps said staffers would ask alumni questions about their favorite memories on campus, how the university prepared them for their careers and what it means to be a son or daughter of Marshall.
By collecting these memories, Horn said, she hopes to create a more compete history of Marshall.
“People know Marshall for the one event: the plane crash,” she said. “But this is going to give a different side to Marshall’s history; it’s going to tell our story, the sons and daughters of Marshall’s story.”
The recordings will be housed at Marshall University Special Collections with the goal of featuring them in a new virtual campus tour via Clio, a free mobile application and website that connects people to information about nearby historic sites.
Horn said the Clio campus tour will connect people with historic images, video and written information relevant to each location on campus, including buildings and locations that no longer exist, such as the old football field.
With the shared memories of alumni, Horn said the virtual tour will show how Marshall’s campus has changed over time.
Currently the app, launched in 2014 by David Trowbridge, an associate professor of history at Marshall University, provides a summary and backstory for each location, along with links to more information.
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Information from: The Herald-Dispatch, https://www.herald-dispatch.com
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